Fethiye, Lake Köyceğiz, and the missing Kareta Kareta's

Another weekend trip means another long delay in posting. We left for Fethiye at around seven in the morning on Saturday and didn't make it back until after nine on Sunday night, leaving me to play catch-up with my homework and sleep for the rest of the week. The trip itself was great though so I'll start with that. We started off with about a seven hour bus ride from Izmir to Fethiye on the Mediterranean coast. This was our longest trip so far but well worth the discomfort of the bus ride. As we approached the city we were coming down from a tall mountain range and saw the city and the beaches laid out below us. The transition from the mountains to the seashore is dramatic with a noticeable change from the fir trees and rocks in the mountains to the olive trees and pebble beaches on the coast. We spent around three hours enoying the salty water and rocky mediterranean shores before piling back on the bus to head to our hotel. This hotel was not quite as nice as the last one (really an unfair standard) but still very comfortable. We checked in, had a quick dinner, and then headed back into the city center to relax for a bit. Tony and Lorena and I broke off from the group and enjoyed a few beers at one of the many patio restaurants that every city seems to have. We've been told that in Turkey if there is a choice between eating inside or in a garden-like patio atmosphere 90% of the people will choose the latter. I have to say I agree with the decision. However, as we didn't make it back to the bus until a bit after eleven it did make for a long day. Luckily, I slept pretty well and was energized for our boat trip the next day. We headed about an hour and a half to the northwest to the town of Dalyan on Lake Köyceğiz. It's a largely freshwater lake that connects to the Mediterranean via a stretch of marshlands that makes for a very interesting landscape. It's also the site of a turtle sanctuary that is very popular around breeding times when the beaches are full of newly hatched baby turtles (Kareta Kareta's in Turkish). Unfortunately, we missed the hatching season and I didn't see any turtles during the tour. But we did enjoy another all-day boat trip with a quick thermal mud bath, swimming in the lake, another delicious fish lunch, and another trip out to the Mediterranean coast for an afternoon swim in the sea. The beach was much sandier this time and shallow enough that I was able to swim out pretty far and just float in the water. I apparently had so much fun that I completely forgot to take pictures of the last area. Luckily there are some others of the lake and the ancient Lycian tombs carved into the cliff face. We have another two-day excursion this weekend to Assos on the northern Aegean coast line that I'm sure will feature more beach time and possibly boat tours. It's hard to tell sometimes whether this is meant to be a language program or a Carnival cruise, but I'm learning a lot and having fun at the same time, so I guess I shouldn't complain. After this weekend there are only two weeks left in the program and then Amanda and I will be meeting up in Antalya to begin our honeymoon. The time has gone fast but I'm really looking forward to this next part of the trip. I will try to post pictures earlier next week around my preparations for finals, etc.