Today is a quiet day, getting ready to start our travels home. We had a late breakfast and wandered off to the village around noon. It’s a 15 minute walk and not too steep in either direction. A nice change.
We walked most of the “downtown” streets in about 15 minutes, with all the shop keepers trying to sell things. We tried to find simple gift like things to take back with us. The region is known for its olive oil and olive oil soaps.
I encountered a very friendly and gregarious jewelry shop keeper who asked, as most do: Where are you from? When I said Washington, DC, he smiled and said he lived in the states for 6 months, in Baltimore. I thought that was funny.
We chatted for a while and he tried to get me into his shop to look. He said his father, a jeweler, made all the jewelry in the movie Troy. Who knows. He went in and came back out, where I was still on the street, and showed me a ring with a massive stone in it. He asked what color I thought it was. I said ginger/copper colored. He said to come in and then he asked again, and it looked green. He then held up it up near the flame from a lighter, and asked – it was a deep garnet red. He explained it’s a gemstone called Zultanite. It’s extremely rare and only found in one mine in Turkey's Anatolian Mountains which is similar to the gem Tanzanite found only in mines in Arusha, Tanzania. I bought earrings there and decided to buy some Zultanite earrings here. A special souvenir that will always remind me of this spectacular trip. As the tanzanite earrings remind me of that trip three years ago. I supposedly got a special, end of season price, I’ll never know, but they are pretty and I spent much less on these gems than I did on the Tanzanite.
We wandered some more around this tiny village of 600 residents and found a place for a sandwich and a beer before walking back to the cottage. It’s time to relax a bit, get the packing done, have a nice dinner at the onsite restaurant where we’ve had simple meals with the valley’s famous fruit wine. Dry and fruity, it’s fun.
Akim is the jack of all trades here – he cooks breakfast, cleans up the rooms when guests depart, manages the water system at the top of the hill, and prepares dinner for whomever is staying here and wants dinner. We’ve decided the road to/from the village though very short, is very narrow and we don’t want to make the drive at night. Akim bought fish today for dinner which will be a fitting last dinner from this part of Turkey.
Tomorrow will be an early start to get to the Izmir airport in advance of our 10:40 flight to Istanbul. We’ve booked in an apartment/hotel a few miles from the airport. I’m hoping it’s also in an area where we can take a walk after our midday check in and find a nice restaurant for dinner.
