II am determined to show more of the turquoise coast of Turkey before I am finished with this part of the country. There were more surprises along the road- in fact at every turning. The next surprise was the Noel Baba museum, or as my brochure called it, the Santa Claus museum. It sounded kinda kitschy, and we just happened to see a sign for the turnoff, so we thought we'd take a look.
Turns out that it was the church of St Nicholas, patron saint of children and seamen! Here he looks a bit like Father Christmas , no? Say Santa Claus fast, and it sounds a lot like St Nickolas, doesn't it? That was an aha moment for us! His church was cool, too, with some well preserved floor tiles and interior frescoes.
Such intricate mosaic work on floors..
The well preserved church
We bought our postcards( though I swore I was never going to buy more postcards after all I have given away! ) and hit the road, after an educational side trip to see the origins of Santa Claus. We hit it just right, as the buses full of tour groups were just arriving as we left. I'm sure it is an important stop on any religious tour.
It was now only 11 in the morning, so we still had time to find a nice place for lunch farther down the road. Of course I found an alternate route that took us up into the mountains, past old stone houses and scenic vistas.
And every little village has a mosque.
Finally we found our way back to the sea, and Kas, in time for a late lunch. You could tell that in high season this would be a prime vacation spot, but the winds were wipping up whitecaps and it was still chilly. Workers were readying the resorts for the tourist onslaught that begins around Easter.
We were the only diners here, and possibly the only tourists in town! But we had a nice lunch in the seclusion of this garden.
A delicious beef stew served on a bed of eggplant purée, and a big fresh salad of arugula and chopped vegetables.
A llast look at the harbor before hittin the road again.
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