Szczecin, Polen
February 29th, 2008
I was in Berlin visiting Lena, and decided I wanted to see a bit of Poland one day while she was busy. From Berlin you can buy a Brandenburg regional train ticket for €29, which is good for one day, anywhere in the state of Berlin-Brandenburg, for up to 5 people. The great thing is that this region ends at Szczecin 2 hours away in Poland, so it makes for a nice day trip, especially if you split it with 4 others… which unfortunately I was not doing. I didn’t know anything about Szczecin before going, so I first found my way to an information centre. The woman there didn’t speak English, und ein bisschen Deutsch, so she explained to me where the old city was, and the major things to see, in German. I schön gedanked her and went out to explore. Since I only had about 8 hours, I wasn’t digging very deep into the town or the Polish life and culture with this quick adventure. In cases like this, I resort to my 3 favorite travelling activities… beer, food, architecture. This time, I started with the architecture. Read the rest of this entry »
So at 9.00, I boarded my dolmuş that would take us to the yacht, which was really docked in a port about 2 hours from Olympos. Also on the boat were 6 Flemish Belgians- three 35-40-something women, one man, and two 6 year old girls, three Quebecer 22 year old guys, a 40-something Texan couple, two upper 30’s Turkish sisters, a father-son Turkish pair, and two other 30-something Turkish guys, along with our crew of about four. So it wasn’t looking like this would be the huge party with heaps of Aussie girls that the other boats had. Probably one of the results of going “backwards”. Naturally, I fell in with the Quebecois. They were a cool bunch, and heading the same direction in Turkey as I, and heading to Amsterdam the same time I was going back as well. It was nice having the Belgians with the kids, because I was able to understand whenever they talked to them, and I could talk to the girls… which shows that I have the vocabulary and Dutch language skills of a 6 year old… We were a little worried about the Texans, especially when we found out they were preachers… but it turns out they were some of the most liberal and democratic people I’ve met, and even smoked nirgile with us the last night. She was from So-Cal and both of them originally engineers, not preachers, so that explained a bit. The Turkish sisters didn’t speak much English, but I still found myself talking to them… or at least trying… quite a bit. The father-son Turks lived in Switzerland, so it was easier to communicate with the father in German, though the son spoke decent English. The father whooped us in poker one night… I didn’t talk at all the with the other two Turkish guys, and they got off the boat on the third day because of sickness. Of our crew, only the captain really spoke English, but did so well, when he actually talked. We were worried at first that we’d have no clue where we were going or what we were seeing, as I’d heard complaints from others that had taken the cruise, but he did keep us informed. 
After taking a night bus (22YTL) from Göreme, I found myself in Olympos, along the coast of Turkey on the Mediterranean. Olympos is just a little tourist town… and to say town is pushing it. It’s really just a bunch of pensions, set in treehouses, restaurants, and agencies to book travel tours or adventure sports. The only ATM in the area is a mobile truck that drives in daily. But what brings people here is the chillout factor. There’s a beautiful beach surrounded by mountains and ruins, although it’s a rock and pebble beach, which takes some getting used to to find comfort. And other than the beach, there’s nothing to do but chill. The pensions are treehouses, which is cool, but we’re not talking about the shitty kind you built as a kid. Many have (much needed) air-con, and are quite comfortable. It’s really more like cabin camping. I stayed at Bayram’s, known particularly for it’s chill atmosphere, as compared to some other which also have discos, and hordes of drunk Aussies. For 20YTL a night, you get a bed, breakfast (with a choice… not just Turkish!), and a dinner (which, after a couple days, started to get a little dull. But Saturday is protein day with meat. Woo!) And since there’s nothing else to do, it makes a cheap little stop. Although the bar drinks are overprices, and they ask you not to bring any from outside… but as long as you’re still drinking what they have and aren’t obvious about bringing it in, no problem, and buy from the cheaper market down the street. 
nerokerr1