The beaches of Çeşme

After a long day in the sun I had to put up a post, but I'm not sure how much I can bring myself to write. We finished out the week of classes and had our first weekend day trip. We loaded onto the bus early this morning and headed west for a trip to the market in Alaçatı and the beach at Çeşme. After a long trip getting to Turkey and an intense first week of classes, the chance to just relax on a beach sounded great. I never could have imagined how great the beach would turn out to be. It combined the white sand and clear blue water of the Caribbean with the surrounding mountains and cute market towns of the Mediterranean. It was great to set my things down and head off into the water for a few hours. The town is on the outer edge of the peninsula on the Aegean Sea with the Greek island of Chios visible on the horizon. The water was warm and so salty that you could easily float on your back without trying to keep yourself up. I may be a little sunburned but it was a small price to pay for a day of swimming, sunbathing and beach soccer! We also had a trip planned for the Çeşme castle at the end of the day but we arrived just a half hour after it closed. Luckily Amanda and I are planning on traveling back this way on our trip in August so maybe I will have some better pictures then. For now I hope you enjoy the shots of the beach and the little town around it. I'm off to bed.