Holiday of a lifetime - cruising/sailing the coast of Turkey & Greece

It just doesn't get any better....

Salmakis our wonderful home for a week.

Sailing from Marmaris to Bodrum off the coast of Turkey on a 90 foot ketch with 5 staff to cater to our every whim and 10 lovely people to enjoy it with... this is now my idea of heaven.  Amazing holiday with some wonderful and interesting friends and we will certainly be trying to do it again.... never knew it before but it was just the perfect holiday..... not that I don't want to have horse riding holidays, as they are pretty special as well, just different.

Our wonderful crew - L to R 17 year old Emre on work experience who was an utter gem and ran whenever you asked him to do anything, Crew - Kadir or Richard as he was called by some - who served meals and was also so happy to do anything for us and mixed a mean drink, Captain Ahmet - always with a smile but extremely professional, , Crew Ali - just a gem and such a nice person and of course the most important person Cook Kadir who did a sterling job of serving us the most wonderful meals morning, noon and night plus of course morning and afternoon tea. I won't go into the description of all the meals but suffice to say they were just superb.

 As you can see from this picture it was a very relaxing time for everyone on board and obviously the boat was big enough for us all to feel that most of the time we were the only couple on board and if you wanted to talk to someone you really had to go looking for them.

 Swim before and after breakfast, lunch and before dinner was a general rule with snorkeling also wonderful although the visibility wasn't quite as good as the Red Sea and it was certainly a little colder but after the initial sharp intake of breath hitting the water it was comfortable to swim for at least 30 minutes or more.
We meanded in and out of quiet little coves and around small and even tiny islands of the Turkish coastline where the rugged scenery changed quite dramatically but the water was calm and the weather for the weeks cruise was beautiful although we had a bit of a shower one day it wasn't enough to bother anyone.

 All meals were taken around the highly polished table on deck which was just a wonderful way to dine

 Even the locals were very relaxed and enjoying the beach.

We moored in two ports during the week, once at Bozburun and once at Symi the small Greek Island not far from Rhodes.

 Symi with Salmakis moored in front of a lovely restaurant where we actually had the only meal we off the boat.

Knidos ruins were extremely impressive, still today, after being built in the 4th Century BC. It was actually at it's peak 330 - 331BC and was an impressive trading port much in evidence still today and I just wonder how many buildings built today will be in existence 5,000 years from now

Looking one way over the gorgeous rugged coastline and the other over the two ports and an amazing amphitheatre the other way.

More of the ruins at Knidos.

More of the incredible ruins of Knidos.

From the boat it was obvious the vastness of this ancient site.

On our second last night Nigel had written a Murder Mystery (now the 5th one he has written) for us all to enjoy and it was a fantastic night with everyone getting into the spirit of things which can be seen in the above photo of our costumes.  The only thing lost overboard was the magnificent red hat which fortunately was very hastily retrieved by a couple of the crew. The crew also had a wonderful time and dancing & frivolity was the order of the night.

A superb cruise was had by all and I couldn't thank our friends for making it so special for us and the crew and staff her work for Salmakis also made a huge difference to our enjoyment.

After sadly saying goodbye to the crew and some of our friends 6 of us travelled back to Istanbul by car visiting Ephesus, Izmi, Gallopoli, Troy and many other wonderful places.

An amazing two week holiday and one that really recharged the batteries for both Nigel and I and really whetted the appetite for another sailing holiday somewhere else in the world, but not sure if will ever be as good as the week we have just had on Salmakis.

Take care

Orphanage - Notre Dame - Sponsorship

Notre Dame Orphanage.

Sponsorship of a Child.

Fraternite Notre Dame's NGO was approved by the Mongolian Government through its Immigration Bureau in 1994. It was also recognized as a Church by the Mongolian Department of Justice, in November of 2002.   For the past 2 years, the Notre Dame Orphanage has had a major French sponsor but this is no longer the case.

The orphanage has been having problems of many different kinds but of course they can’t continue to operate unless they have financing.

The orphanage is involved in many activities that help not only the  children but also the local community:   22 children are housed and fed, 60 families are assisted with the food pantry program and very poor families and children are helped by relocating them in a village 30 minutes from the city and giving them houses and everything they need. They also have two schools, a kindergarten with 20 poor children and a primary school with 70 children – everything is provided free to these children.

They need all the expenses for the orphanage, food pantry program, school and salaries for the employees, at least 5,000 euro per month.

We have set up a program where you can now sponsor a child at the orphanage and help just a little with their expenses.

They are asking US$50 per month to sponsor a child and you will be given the child’s name, birth date and photo.  Every three months you will receive an update on the child and they will also have an open day once every 3 months for you to visit the child if you would like. I am sure you can make visits at other times by appointment with the sisters.

There are 10 girls and 12 boys and the names of the children will be drawn out of a hat unless there is a specific request.

Obviously if you could donate more it would be very welcome by the sisters who seem to be existing on fresh air at the moment. Or if you don’t wish to sponsor a child a ‘one off’ donation would be very gratefully received.

There are only 22 children and it will be the first who apply who actually get to make a difference in a child’s life.

For obvious reasons all sponsors must come with personal recommendations and or references.

This is what will be happening when the children are all sponsored.

Please they need your help and do remember that it doesn't matter how small a contribution it will all help.

Send me an e-mail at mongolianmumbles@gmail.com if you can help in any way.