Turkey, Day 6: Yakakoi to Derekoi

Yakakoy nestles into the hillside. We were dropped off and we quickly climbed up into the hills that rise above the village.

The night had treated us to some rain and a considerable amount of wind. When we got up for breakfast and walked outside we saw that the drainage at Zeytinada was not up to the challenge of keeping the place from flooding. The sky was full of fairly high clouds and it seemed as though the worst of the heavy weather was probably done. It turned out that we were wrong about that. Not long before we were all to pile into buses to go to the starting points of the easier and harder walks the skies darkened and thunder rumbled. Then it began to pour. Clearly from a safety point-of-view walking along a rather exposed ridge through a thunderstorm was not really a good option.   The walks were cancelled pending a vaguely hoped for change in the weather. We settled in to see what would happen.The storms rolled on through and the rains slowly abated. Some people decided as the weather cleared that doing any sort of walk was just not worth it and went out and about on their own. The decision had been made to see what things looked like around 11:30 and it became clear that as that time approached we would do a walk after all. The walk was abbreviated from what was originally planned but many of us clearly felt that it was better to be doing at least some walking then either stay at the hotel or go wandering about the districts of Bodrum. We boarded the buses to ride to the village of Yakakoi (also spelled Yakakoy) which seems to be built neatly into a hillside. This meant that our walk started out climbing steeply out of town on a cobblestone road. We climbed out into the hills under leaden sky but at least the rain had passed on to somewhere else.We reached the top of a ridge an gazed out on to rock formations like Cheese Rock. This more mountain-than-rock didn't really make me think of a lump of cheese but I suppose to some it clearly does.We were walking, once again, along what can best be described as mountain lanes. The valley we were walking down into now seemed more verdant than anything we had seen so far. There was a small trickle of water, a rivulet that would eventually turn into a river (a small one - a very small one). This lushness made the hike a bit more interesting than it otherwise might have been. In time we picked up another dog. This fellow was bigger than the others we had met with a massive head. He had a thick coat that was definitely in need of a good grooming but he also was clearly quite comfortable with people. That seems to be a trait of the roaming dogs in this country: they get along well with people.  We walked past a couple farms with bulls (one standing by a gate who didn't seem to mind people tromping by). We slowly came into the town of Derekoi (also spelled Derekoy) where we would spend a bit of time visiting an art gallery/cafe. The place is housed in a tower-like house that is really quite something. It was a neat place to visit and we arrived just before the rain that had been holding off finally returned.

The mountain lane we followed that connects the villages of Yakakoi and Derekoi is well lined with rich foliage (left) like this blue-green plant here. Not long after passing an intersection we came upon this bull (top-right) in his farmstead. I believe that is Cheese Rock in the distance. We had lunch just beyond an intersection where a farm lay. Perhaps that is where the dog I have been thinking of as "Big Head" came from (bottom).

We then piled into a local bus for the fairly short ride to the seaside village of Gümüslük (Goo-moos-look) to spend one last afternoon on the shore of the Aegean.The waters lapping against the shore and upon the islands not far off shore (there is a causeway to some old ruins that we couldn't walk across). Nestling right up against the sea itself are shops and places to eat. There is a strip of sand that I suppose technically can be called a beach but really I don't think deserves the name  It was nice to walk in this village and sitting down for a late-afternoon snack of Turkish pizza (made on a light bread. They called them Turkish Pies and we tried a potato one and meat one). The food was flavorful and hot both of which were such welcome changes from the fare we had been consuming at the hotel.