February 10th-23rd

One of the restaurants at the marina had a wonderful dinner for Valentine's
Day. including unlimited the wine, beer and soda, delicious food and a
flower for the ladies. We have been socially busy with bowling.Rudy's
bowling shoes have helped his average and mine (highest average142 among 14
people!)  Also, we have started a Game Nite with over 20 people
participating and more waiting in the wings.  We play dominoes and Rudy has
taught a group of people to play progressive rummy.  We have been going to
the gym on a regular basis and one of the managers speaks English very well.
  He keeps tabs on me like a mother hen.if I am late, he yells at me on my
arrival from the 2nd story window in a warm and friendly way.  He now gives
me the sweetest oranges I have tasted, right from his yard.

We traded the Bug for a scooter because it spent more time being repaired
than on the road.  The final problem being a leak in the gas tank that they
couldn't afford to fix.

Our mast is being repaired and painted and that is almost finished.  The
only problem is that they do not have a part and we are now in the process
of finding someone in the states to bring it back to Marmaris, Turkey, so
that we can put the rigging back in place!!  Do I hear any volunteers????

We went to visit Aphrodisias, which was about 3 hours north of the marina
with 12 other cruisers. Aphodisias is the city of the Goddess of Love,
actually called a "love cult" in those days.  She is not the Aphrodite that
we know about today.  This goddess came from way back in history.the
Neolithic era (8000 years ago) and she was the fertile mother of goddesses
who developed the Anatolian land in Turkey.  Enough about the history!!!! 
When we got there we were greeted by many artifacts like columns, crypts,
vases and many statues all from the Roman and Greek era.  We visited the
museum which housed more of the same, but in better shape and more
impressive.  Then we walked around the city and visited the many baths, the
Tetrapylon which is a monumental, ornate and very impressive arched gate,
the three amphitheaters, the Bishop's Palace, Aphrodite's Temple and the
stadium.  The stadium is the largest and best preserved of its type in the
entire world!  The ellipse shaped stadium, almost still completely intact
with a semicircle on both ends, had seating for 30,000 people.  The stadium
was used for foot races, chariot races as well as Gladiatorial combat, and
Christians and lion competitions!!! (I think the Lions ended up in history
with a shutout!!)  We found a hill that had a view of the entire site and
everyone opened up their picnic lunches and ate in awe.  After lunch we
walked thru the city back to our bus for the ride home. We were pleasantly
surprised on the beauty and the quality of the site.A FANTASTIC TRIP!!!

As we rode home, we were again impressed with the landscape of Turkey.  The
countryside changes with every direction you take and one is more beautiful
than the other. And most important, the country is filled with the kindest,
gentlest people we have come across and we feel very much at home here!!!

We experienced the religious event called Kurban Bayrami.  This is the
Festival of the Sacrifice, in which the sacrificial offering of a sheep or
sometimes a cow represents Abraham's son Ishmael. The wealthiest families
donate the sheep and the meat is given to the poor.  Rudy and I observed
this offering and it seemed very human with little to no suffering of the
animals.