Knidos and lemon squash


Our next objective was to visit Knidos, an archaeological site at the very tip of the Datca peninsula. It is the ruins of a very ancient city and civilisation going back some 3,500 years B.C.
Our plan was to visit the site the following morning before returning up the Gulf towards Selimiye. We set off early and arrived late morning, mooring up to the rather tottery pontoon for a couple of hours, at a fee of 50 lira, which is a bit steep for these parts. We noticed that there was no receipt given, which is also unusual, and decided there was probably a bit of private enterprise going on!
Trireme harbour
Lots of old stones

2 boats came alongside us whilst we dithered with lunch. The pontoon could probably have accommodated 4 boats , but the 3rd [ Turkish flag] left a big gap, hogging a rather excessive space. A 4th boat with German flag arrived and tried to enter the space. It didn’t go well, since it clearly crossed the anchor of our neighbour, boat number 2, and tension mounted as the skipper had difficulty extricating it.
Voices became terse and voluble as skippers from both other boats emerged to monitor the situation.
Old stuff
Eventually the new arrivals shouted to the Turkish skipper ‘ We would be Ok if you would move your boat and let us in !!!’
The retort ‘ There would be no problem if you could lay an anchor properly !!!’
The red mist descended … ‘ But I have been sailing for 30 years !!!!’
And the wonderful reply ‘ Pity you didn’t learn anything in 30 years !!!’

Fish walks into a bar, Barman says why the long face?
Priceless

Harbour at Knidos
No blood was spilled, but we did fear a pistols at dawn.
Tempers cooled and the incomers parked elsewhere. They then brought over beer as an apology to our immediate neighbour, whose skipper had been absolutely polite and nonchalent throughout the torrid exchange . He graciously said ‘ No need. No harm done. Don’t worry about it. ‘ but the German skipper was still muttering at his nemesis as he slunk off.

We spent the afternoon wandering through the Knidos site. Placed at a strategic point at the end of the peninsula, one can understand why this was the perfect spot for a trading maritime town. It’s a fabulous place with ruins rising up the adjoining slopes on either side of an isthmus. On one aspect of this, there is a shallow bay, which apparently was the anchorage for the triremes and as we climbed through the ancient ruins, the views were increasingly spectacular.
Although there is little in the way of intact buildings, the scale of the site and the intricacy of the carved stones shows that it must have been a spectacular town.
Livianda arrived to join us in the afternoon and a decision taken to stay there overnight. A peaceful night with a beautiful sunset reflecting off the ruins.

The weather forecast that 2 days of higher winds were expected So we wended our way back to Datca
as the safest harbour nearby. The harbourmaster greeted us as old acquaintances and once again I enjoyed a good rummage at the market.

This time I had a mission. One thing we just cannot get in Turkey is lemon squash. I don’t know why because it is wonderful and readily available in Greece. I scoured the shelves of every supermarket to no avail. One of the assistants shook her head sadly… ‘ we used to have it but I haven’t seen it in Turkey for years ‘
So I downloaded a recipe. 10 lemons at the market 6 lira and set to work . Surprisingly easy and successful so that’s another nautical first for me !

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