The road over to Gokova was impressive. We had a run up over mountains with terrific views. For some reason we could not fathom a lot of people had arrived at the top of one of these mountains and were gathered at the sides of the road. There were so many people that the police were there to direct the traffic. We were not sure if we should stop to see what it was or if that would be intrusive so we carried on. Helen spotted a helicopter and some Turkish flags on the other side of a valley so maybe some VIP?
The guidebook described Gokova as a beautiful place near the beach with a selection of places to stay. We wound up following the signs in only to find a single place to stay and no beach. We asked the price which we were told was “fifteen“ but this later transpired to be a pronunciation thing and was in fact “fifty“. I managed to ask where the nearest cash-point was and we had to go up the road a couple of km to another town. We saw our mistake immediately. Gokova is obviously the name of the area as well as the town centre. The other town was beautiful and it was the same price to stay there as the place we were (and had unpacked). So we stayed a while and had something to eat before dragging ourselves back.
It was depressing and felt like a dark cloud was following us so the following day we left the place we were in (with no breakfast and a grumpy owner when I asked) and went the couple of km back up the road and booked into a nice seafront hotel with balcony overlooking the beach and breakfast included for 25 eur. Totally the right thing to do – the place was deserted and we had all day to ourselves without even hassle from people selling stuff.
We went for a walk up the road and noticed a small kitten playing in the street. We got talking to the owner, Ozgur, who had an estate agency business and also a TDM 900. He invited us in for a chai and we had a nice chat about our travels and his. As we shook hands to leave he gave us his card and offered translation service if we got stuck somewhere. All this without trying to sell something was quite strange but very welcome to us.
Leaving this idyllic place the following day was difficult but we had arranged to meet a guy off Horizons Unlimited in Kas and still were unsure exactly where it was…
