Beautiful southern coastline

This week is going to go by quickly, as we have to be in Antalya by Saturday morning for our eye doctor appointment. We did that on purpose though, otherwise we wouldn't get through this area fast enough!

Part of our goal on this Turkish trip is to see some of the area east of Antalya towards the Syrian border and if we're going to do that we have to get a move on. So booking the eye doctor for Saturday gives us the push we need.

The ancient city of Pinara, Turkiye

Sunday is market day in Calis Beach, so we walked over with Aly and Martin at about 10:00am and did our weekly fruits and vegetables shopping. When things are so cheap, it's actually fun to go out and do the shopping!

After that, we needed to get going, so we said our goodbyes. Much thanks to Aly and Martin for looking after us, and Max feels great too with a full fresh water tank, and empty toilet tank!

It was another beautiful day!

We hopped back on the bikes Saturday morning, and Martin came along with us. 

This time, we headed north up along the bay to an area where they have built a huge five star resort complex. There's still a lot of construction going on in the area, and there are rumors of a cruise ship port that is going to be built up there as well.

It's days like this that we're so glad we have the bikes with us

I am reminded why we liked Fethiye. And I don't blame the 10,000 or so British expats for living here. It's a really nice city.

Yesterday, we got the bikes off and went for a ride. We knew that there is a 6 km cycle path that runs the length of the coastline here at Fethiye. It is lined with park space, and a running/walking track, and cafes. It's really pretty, especially on a beautiful blue sky day. 

Made it to Fethiye

Woke up to a gorgeous blue sky and sunshine and the forecast says it's going to be the same thing for the next week or more. Finally. It seems like ever since we left Germany at the beginning of October we've been constantly searching for nice weather. 

It's still not tropical by any means, but with highs of 17C to 19C over the next week, it's not bad when the sun is beating down on you.

One of the best things about living on the road

Tuesday was quite the change from the beautiful day we had on Monday. Tuesday was a stormy day. Overcast, showers, and a really strong wind. We just stayed put in the parking lot of the municipal beach at Sarıgerme. 

Fortunately, it was only a one day event and we were back to sunshine and blue skies on Wednesday.

How did it all begin?

Yesterday, we heard from Beth, a long time reader who says she never comments. But she sent us a very nice email instead. She had some questions about our history and how we got into this abnormal lifestyle and how we can afford to travel full time. She apologized for being nosy, but we don't mind telling the story! I did write about it once about ten years ago, but there are more details I should have included. And of course we've got a lot of readers who would have never read that particular post from so long ago.

So here is the whole story...

Finally got out for a bike ride!

I had a great birthday, thank you all for the birthday love!

This area is really fantastic for bike riding. And yesterday was perfect weather for doing exactly that! So I got the bikes off, and we went for a bike ride. I had a route planned that led to a cave, but I wasn't exactly sure what we would find there.

Today is a special day

Late Sunday morning, we drove from Marmaris to Sarıgerme Beach. About 100 kms (60 miles). Not a very exciting drive, mostly on a four lane highway. But the road was in great condition. Max really enjoyed it!

We arrived at a large paved beach parking lot. It was about 1/3 full, and we parked at the back away from everybody else. But by mid afternoon, the lot was packed and Max was no longer on his own!

A question for the boaters out there...

Woke up to another beautiful day. This is the kind of weather we came here for! 

In the morning, we hiked up to the antenna towers on the hill in behind where we are parked. We figured it would give us a great view of Marmaris, and it did...

A beautiful day in Marmaris, Turkiye

We woke up to blue sky and sunshine, and it stayed with us all day. Even better, it looks like it's going to be a beautiful weekend as well, and right through into Monday.

We drove into Marmaris for a few reasons. We needed to do laundry, and there is one here that gets great reviews, and it has a big grocery store that is likely to have our gluten free bread. Also, because we had been here in November of 2020,  we knew that it has a nice waterfront walkway that goes for 5 kms (3 miles) in each direction. Great for people watching, and enjoying the nice weather.

Lots of water!

Wednesday night we had a lot of rain, together with a lot of thunder and lightning. We even had some hail. Surprisingly, we felt like we slept okay! Good thing we were parked on high ground though, as you'll see in the photos. 

The weather turned out worse than forecast and we ended up sitting right where we were until just before the noon hour. Katja and Yves had taken off a little earlier than us, but not by a whole lot. They were taking a different route, but we will see them again down the road at some point.

We might do one of the world's great train rides

We didn't do very much yesterday because the weather wasn't the best. We did do a short drive just for a change of scenery though. We ended up parked at a playground/park just outside the village of Kargicak. They even have a couple of electric outlets, and it's free. So, a good spot to spend the night when the solar panels aren't getting much charge during the day.

I wasn't going to tell you about our plan just yet, because it might not actually happen. But we don't have much else to talk about today, so here it is...

A tough hike to start off February!

We were itching to get out for a hike yesterday, and they were calling for afternoon rain starting around 12:30pm, so we tried to get out as soon as it warmed up a little bit. We got dressed for the weather, put our boots on, stepped outside.... and it started raining!

Fortunately it was just a quick shower, and we were soon on our way.

January Expenses

Well, it wasn't as cheap of a month as we originally planned, but we're still happy with the way it turned out.

We spent a total of $1,921 CAD ($1,515 USD, €1,347) during the month of January. We always set our budget goals low to start off with, and adjust as the month progresses. Most categories turned out higher than we expected, however we were under budget in Meals Out, and Entertainment.