Class 12 Europe Trip: Day 17

Rhodes - Day 17

“Marmaris is in Turkey but it is not Turkey!” says Arzu, our guide, to me when we get in to the coastal town of Marmaris.

“ All new residential developments here are not for the Turks but for the retirement market in Britain.”

Fish & Chips shops, water sport parks, tattoo parlours, and hotels full of sun and booze lovers from the cold, dull island of England dominate the scenarie.

So the last night of our Turkey tour we spend in an environment, which could be anywhere in the Mediterraneans and it totally lacks that particular taste of a special place – everything is reduced to the question of the size of the beer mug, the availibility of bacon and eggs for breakfast (Marmaris is one of the rare places in the whole of Turkey where you can get pork which is not approved as benefical in the Koran) and making sure you get a beach lounge for hire so you can sleep during the day and recuperate while your pastry skin is getting slowly roasted and you take home the proof of a great time before your skin and life fades back into the dismal of drizzle and darkness.

So, on the morning of our 17^th day we escape by catamaran ferry to the 6^th country of our trip, Greece. Security and passport check at the ferry departure gate and an hour later we are outside the walls of the Old Town of Rhodes.

We spent fours hours mainly frequenting cafés and can’t believe the amount of shops provided here catering for everything, the tourists need to satisfy their infinite desire to shop for the querky, redundant, soooo exotic piece of souvenir – the motto: I spend so I am ok - from the fire into the frying pan.

Some of the kids went for a swim in the Aegean Sea (God thanks!!!) and at 3 pm we do our 17 people procession across to the Blue Star Ferry terminal in the commercial harbour section and board our ride to Santorini.

Stefan