"Let's do less and leave some in reserve"

I read this in another blog I enjoy by Leo Babauta, Zen Habits. It goes hand in hand with another of my Travel Rules, You can't see everything, so don't try. As Leo says, about life and travel, in particular,

"When you travel, don't try to see everything. See a few things and take your time. Leave the destination knowing there is more to see that you're leaving for next time. Leave yourself wanting more." I couldn't agree more. I have often counseled friends to cut out some travel destinations and spend more time in fewer places. I can say from experience that you don't remember as much if you race from city to city, trying to cram it all in. The places we remember most are the ones where we have stayed a little longer and really settled in, sometimes by choice, and sometimes by necessity. We knew that we weren't going to drive the entire turquoise coast, nor did we want to push ourselves to drive too far. 

That being said, we have a lot of ground to cover here, so make a cup of tea and enjoy the view.

Just to refresh your memory, we stopped in Fethiye for the night, then headed toward Marmaris on our way to Datca. The road wasn't especially pretty after we left the coast, but there was always something interesting to see. Marmaris is a big, not very beautiful coastal city from what we could see.  And on a Saturday morning, most things seemed to be closed, or maybe not yet open for the tourist season? 

So we continued down the looong road down the hill to the peninsula. We decided to take the yellow road , indicated by stars, to see some ruins.We actually never found the ruins, but instead we drove along some beautiful turquoise bays, any one if which I would have been happy to stay at overnight, but accommodations at this time of the year were few and far between. We did stop at a little market, and I was beginning to realize that every market sold the same basic veggies and fruit, plus some nuts , dried fruits ,and of course, Turkish delight. 

Jim is a good sport about going down these little winding ,unimproved roads- to a point. Then we have to agree to get back to the main road again and focus on our destination. And that destination was Datca. When we finally strived, it was a little bit jarring to both of us to see this white, very modern city that appeared to have been built yesterday! Maybe that wasn't quite what I envisioned, but my requirements for the night were 1) a view of the water, 2) heat, 3) wifi. They were all met by the beautiful 

Kumluca hotel, so I was satisfied. And jim was happy to stop driving early in the day. 

The only thing that marred our view was the two navy ships anchored in the bay.. I had thought to mention this to the captain when we saw him come by our restaurant, but decided against it. It was pretty perfect, and at night they had lights strung on the ships. 

You might think we'd be happy to sit and enjoy the view, but it was still a bit windy, and we had some ruins to discover at the end of the road...

Those roads I mentioned are small and narrow- usually little more than a donkey path. Afterall, there were no cars back then. So we drove, and drove, and asked directions 3 times to Karakoy. We really had no sense if how far it was, and we were running a bit low on fuel.

At various times we were both about ready to give up and turn around,when finally we saw a sign saying 8 kilometers to Karakoy. Jim threw up his hands but I encouraged him to go further-- haha, that is the story of our life! Well, we each encouraged the other until finally we saw a ticket booth. 

This was an impressive city even now, set between two harbors. They really knew how to pick the best locations! 

Of course there was an amphitheater, facing out to sea.

And row upon row of broken stones.

They know this was a very wealthy trading center and believe it was eventually abandoned because of a series of powerful earthquakes. 

I found even these piles of stones thrilling to see, and the photos cannot adequately convey the stunning setting of this city. It was well worth the long and sometimes scary drive to the end of the road.

This prompted us to come up with another travel rule Sometimes the best things lie at the end of the road. Luckily we are both the kind of people who like to see what is at the end of the road! 

After a sound sleep we had another typical breakfast in the Land of Milk and Honey.

Sitting on the patio in the sun- finally no wind! 

On the road back, we stopped at a beautiful camp ground and picnic spot. People were just arriving with their picnic things, which consisted of big bags full of loaves of bread, gallons of water for tea, and some kind of stove to heat the water.

I would happily camp here for a few days.

We had a lunch date in Mugla however so we continued along the road. Mugla turned out to have a charming older center, which we found just by chance. That was where the old Turkish men hung out chatting and drinking tea. 

I saw someone selling these and asked jim to stop so I could investigate . The kind owner gave me these for free! They are little doughnuty things lightly sweetened with honey, called Loukma. Yum.

A door I'd like to go through...

The cool cobblestone courtyard..

Quaint Ottoman era buildings

And a wonderful little door that I told Jim to go through, to which he replied" I'm not going through that door!" 

Haha! It just led to the courtyard, which I could see. Isn't he a good sport, though? 

On our way out of town we came upon a big market, which I just had to visit.

And there we saw the little stoves that the picnickers carried that morning. I want one! 

I would have bought some of her hyacinths if I didn't already have some.