Before heading to Mykonos, I had one more night in Santorini. After dinner Raffaele took us to the Highlander (anoher favourıte whıch keeps croppıng up everywhere) and a few clubs, which were just gettıng started at 3 am on a weeknight. Luckily we got to sleep on the ferry the next day on the way to Mykonos. It was a flying visit, wıth the afternoon spent on the beach and an evenıng wanderıng around the town. Ashlin, Katja and I opted for Ag. Iaonnis beach, whıch was a bit more relaxed than the famed Paradise and Super Paradise beaches, which are a Mecca for gay men with a penchant for partying. The next morning Rosie and I wandered the streets and ran into the island's resident pelican, saw the windmills which have been more or less abandoned since Mykonos discovered the tourism industry, and took some photos at Little Venice.
After a ferry trip back to the mainland, then an overnight ferry we arrived in Lesvos. It was still early morning so we grabbed breakfast and Katja, Ashlin and I went straight to the beach. We went to a great beach which was a bit like a community pool. You paid 1.50 euro to get in, buT then you had your pick of beach umbrellas and lounge chairs, there's also a cafe/bar and a playground and plenty of table for the old guys to play backgammon. We swam and had more cafe frappes and watched some of the local kids having their swimming lessons. I should also mention the beach backed onto a pine forest and a castle. It was back to town for lunch then Rosie had planned for us to visit the Monastery of Taxiarchi in Mantamados which was a short bus ride from the main town. It houses a miraculous icon of the Archangel Micheal, which is made of mud soaked in the blood of the masacred monks, one of whom was saved by the Archangel's appearance. That evening we had dinner by the port so the others could enjoy some seafood and then we retired to our hotel, where Rosie was thrilled to find a documentary on TV.
Moving on, we had a short ferry ride before arriving in Ayvalik. We had just enough time to dump our suitcases and run to the port to get one of dozens of tour boats. Rosie and I left the others on a quiet boat and hopped aboard one of the party boats! It turned out to be a good decision, there were games and live music. This old turkish guy had a quite a voice and an impressive keyboard with backing tracks on it. He was singing lots of very popular Turkish songs which everyone knew the words to. At one point a few people got up to do a zorba/tarantella-style dance with many joining in as the music picked up pace. On the day trip we stopped at Rabbit island for a swim in the very clear and very salty waters and have some lunch, which consisted of deep fried little fish and salad and bread (I ate a lot of bread) and then came the watermelon! One of the teenagers obviously doing these trips as a summer job figured out we wanted seconds of watermelon despite the language barrier. It turns out Ayvalik is the batemans bay of of Turkey. We were the only foreigners on the boat, the others were mostly families from Istanbul on holiday. Luckily the guide/host on our boat spoke a little english and always gave us the shortened version of the info he gave everyone else. Then we stopped at two more swimming spots before finishing the day at a little town outside Ayvalik where there is an old church with same badly preserved frescoes of Jonah. It took us a while to figure out who they were of because the guide's first attempt to translate came out as 'Joseph' so we had to go through the story and get to the bit where "he get thrown out of boat and big fish eat him" to realise. From there a lovely uni student from Istanbul started chatting to us to practise her english and help us with our Turkish (I can now say please, thank you, excuse me, and I can count to five, while Rosie learnt to ask for milk in her tea). It turned out she was actually on one of the other tour boats and she goes to Ayvalik every year with her family because there's a place for old servicemen and her dad was in the army. When we got back, we found the others badly sunburnt and we all trooped out for dinner under the moolight at a nearby restaurant. Next came another long bus/ferry journey to Istanbul. More on that later, I have to get another cocktail before the end of happy hour at Atilla's getaway in Selcuk!
After a ferry trip back to the mainland, then an overnight ferry we arrived in Lesvos. It was still early morning so we grabbed breakfast and Katja, Ashlin and I went straight to the beach. We went to a great beach which was a bit like a community pool. You paid 1.50 euro to get in, buT then you had your pick of beach umbrellas and lounge chairs, there's also a cafe/bar and a playground and plenty of table for the old guys to play backgammon. We swam and had more cafe frappes and watched some of the local kids having their swimming lessons. I should also mention the beach backed onto a pine forest and a castle. It was back to town for lunch then Rosie had planned for us to visit the Monastery of Taxiarchi in Mantamados which was a short bus ride from the main town. It houses a miraculous icon of the Archangel Micheal, which is made of mud soaked in the blood of the masacred monks, one of whom was saved by the Archangel's appearance. That evening we had dinner by the port so the others could enjoy some seafood and then we retired to our hotel, where Rosie was thrilled to find a documentary on TV.
Moving on, we had a short ferry ride before arriving in Ayvalik. We had just enough time to dump our suitcases and run to the port to get one of dozens of tour boats. Rosie and I left the others on a quiet boat and hopped aboard one of the party boats! It turned out to be a good decision, there were games and live music. This old turkish guy had a quite a voice and an impressive keyboard with backing tracks on it. He was singing lots of very popular Turkish songs which everyone knew the words to. At one point a few people got up to do a zorba/tarantella-style dance with many joining in as the music picked up pace. On the day trip we stopped at Rabbit island for a swim in the very clear and very salty waters and have some lunch, which consisted of deep fried little fish and salad and bread (I ate a lot of bread) and then came the watermelon! One of the teenagers obviously doing these trips as a summer job figured out we wanted seconds of watermelon despite the language barrier. It turns out Ayvalik is the batemans bay of of Turkey. We were the only foreigners on the boat, the others were mostly families from Istanbul on holiday. Luckily the guide/host on our boat spoke a little english and always gave us the shortened version of the info he gave everyone else. Then we stopped at two more swimming spots before finishing the day at a little town outside Ayvalik where there is an old church with same badly preserved frescoes of Jonah. It took us a while to figure out who they were of because the guide's first attempt to translate came out as 'Joseph' so we had to go through the story and get to the bit where "he get thrown out of boat and big fish eat him" to realise. From there a lovely uni student from Istanbul started chatting to us to practise her english and help us with our Turkish (I can now say please, thank you, excuse me, and I can count to five, while Rosie learnt to ask for milk in her tea). It turned out she was actually on one of the other tour boats and she goes to Ayvalik every year with her family because there's a place for old servicemen and her dad was in the army. When we got back, we found the others badly sunburnt and we all trooped out for dinner under the moolight at a nearby restaurant. Next came another long bus/ferry journey to Istanbul. More on that later, I have to get another cocktail before the end of happy hour at Atilla's getaway in Selcuk!
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