On Thursday, July 9th, we went on a (mediocre) guided tour of the Dalyan river area. A tour boat picked us up from the Ugur and took us on a day trip to Turtle Beach, the ruins of Kaunos, the King's Tombs, and the town of Dalyan, It seemed odd to have such a large boat for only 7 of us – the boat easily could have held 30. I’m pretty sure we paid a bit of a premium because our group was so small, but so be it. 

The first leg of the boat ride was fun, since the crossing to Turtle Beach was though somewhat rough water. Edwina, who’s afraid of the water, was a trooper! The boat pitched and rolled and she held on for dear life. She’s so brave! Turtle Beach looked like a lovely place to swim. It is 4 km long and appeared well used by the locals. The beach is off limits to developers and is closed between 8pm and 8am because it is a nesting ground.  There's apparently a conservation and animal rehab center at the far end of the beach but the guide said it was too far away for us to visit. :-(

Our boat headed up river through a maze channels winding through reeds and bamboo. I'm guessing that the tour guide had to spend some time learning the route. That said, it would be challenging to get lost in since there were SO MANY BOATS! Undoubtedly this is a popular tourist destination. We did see a few Loggerhead turtles, but mostly just glimpses of their heads, and it was reminiscent of whale watching. Blink, and you’ll miss it. We stopped at the boats selling Blue Crab (they are truly blue) and got to have a taste. Very similar to our delicious Dungeness, but smaller. There were TONS of little Grey Mullet (fish) around and they would make the water boil when you tossed your crab shell in the water. 

The ruins at Kaunos were interesting to wander around. It actually felt good to walk the 1.5 km to get there! The life of a yacht wench is fantastic, but I have been missing my daily dose of exercise. The highlight of the ruins for me was the Roman amphitheater. I sat quietly wondering what life must have been like so long ago.

Ice cream treats at the gift shop and then back to the tour boat where we went to Dalyan town. It is overrun by Brits – apparently a package deal destination, and it sure looked like it. Ticky tacky shops everywhere! We did go for a good lunch – traditional Turkish food. No menu (so no prices) and you pick from the display case and they cook it for you. Felt strange to have to pay for food!

 Our guide tried desperately to get us to go to the thermal mud baths further up the river, but since we were underwhelmed by the experience so far, we opted to go back to the Ugur and play in the water.