On the way to the boat we stopped at Ölüdeniz, a beautiful beach and lagoon. It also had a Turkish bath (Haman). I was in need of a scrub down and massage as my back and shoulder was not happy with the lifting of bags.
A Turkish bath is as follows-5 minute sauna to start sweating it out. Then you go to a large communal circular room with a heated flat stone in the middle. The bath attendant (either the large hairy turkish man or the young turkish man who sings constantly) will beckon you onto the stone. First you are scrubbed all over, then rinsed off. Secondly you are covered in bubbles and foam and have like a soapy massage. Your hair is washed and then buckets of water are thrown over you to rinse off. Sounds weird. But it was actually really good. Although im glad I went with a couple of girls from the group. The massage was next and was amazing! Although I got the standard telling off from my massuse for too much tension in shoulders for my age. She did a good job with the persistent kink I have in my right shoulder though.
Next up was the boat.
The boat was run by a husband and wife team-he drove, she cooked. It was big enough for 16 people to sleep on (outside on the deck), one toilet, no shower. So more than sufficient although you probably wouldnt want to spend more than a few nights as the only place to escape is into the water (no one had space of their own).
I swam off the side of the boat in the warm, salty Med. It was lovely. The water was still. We were anchored off a tiny cove somewhere. The sunset. Dinner was amazingly good traditional Turkish food. Absolutely lovely.
Sleeping on the other hand was interesting. Theres always a snorer. And the mattresses were small so you ran the risk of rolling onto someone if you moved to much. It was, however, a small price to pay for the scenery and sea.
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