Gocek

Monday, September 21st, Gocek
It’s Tuesday morning, I have been up since 6:00, awakened by the call to prayer, and I have been sitting here driniking my coffee and watching the matchless mountains of pine turn from black to green. Yesterday was another spectacular day, beautiful blue skies, temperatures in the 70’s, filled with travel around Gocek. We began with a great breakfast of socuk eggs, fruit, toast, olives, cheese and Turkish tea. We then relaxed and took our time, and headed to the Swissotel beach, which is a private beach club which Hasan belongs too, just to the East of the village proper. We were given towels, the chairs were set up, and we basked in the sun, swam off the pier in clear blue waters, people watched, and just took it easy. For lunch, we went down to the restaurant, with a porce built over the water, sat on the deck table right next to the water(disappointing a couple who thought they had our table; they didn’t. Hasan had told the waiter we would like it). Evie had a shrimp salad, I had a couple of lahmacuns (Turkish pizzas), and we sat in the shade for close to an hour, just enjoying the view, the conversation, and the day. Hasan is a wonderful story teller, and he slowly has revealed his work, which even he cannot explain. He seems to have friends from all over the world, most certainly in Europe, which he made when he was Dean of the Paul Nizer School of John Hopkins in Bologna, Italy. He was there for about ten years, till the early 90’s when he started to go in to business for himself. He has done various things over the years, even going bankrupt I think for a few years, when he Turkish partners company went under. His wife, however, works as a Economic ambassador to various countries, so he said he was fine, especially since health care in Austria, where they lived, was free. He rebuilt everything in bits and pieces, and I think he seems to be a fixer, in the best sense of the word; if you want something done, he will figure out a way to do it. He connects people, companies, banks, businesses, and ends up being a partner or owning parts of many things, scattered all over the world. One of his best friends seems to be the Governor of the island of St. Vincent, whom he calls Freddie, a black leader, tremendously charismatic, who Hasan loves to tak about…Freddy has children ranging from age 8 to 58. He and Hasan own businesses, even parts of banks, I think. Though Hasan is on vacation, he must have gotten or made 20-30 calls during the day, many just friends, some maybe business, a number with his sons and wife. He and partners have bought a small pharm company in Iowa, which makes products sold exclusively at spas, called the Vine, I think. He also told us about a great friend who lived in Archbold, Ohio, the home of a Mennonte furniture maker, which he imported to Europe, even all over the world before the Chinese changed things. Every place we have gone, the restauranteures and waiters know Hasan, give him marvelous treatent, and he treats all of them like old friends. He is a great guy, a wonderful friend, and we have know idea how to thank him for these wonderful days. After the beach, we headed to Fethiye, a larger town of 30,000 people, strangely an enclave of British retirees, replete with Irish pubs, beachs full of Brits, and masses of small apartments and condos for retired British citizens. We stopped along the road for views, drove above the city to look at Lycian tombs carved into the side of mountains, and drove to a beach, just outside of the city, where we watched hang gliders, at least 30-40 over a period of an hour, land, right on the beach, in front of four or five hundred bathers, promenaders, locals, and the like. They put bean bag chairs on the beach, at least 50-100 for people to sit in, as they watch the sun set over to the West. Drinks are served, music blares, and it seems like the entire colony of Brits is there, with a smattering of locals and tourists, watching the sun set. It is beautiful, looking both ways, a mountains, the sea with a few boats, the sky with hang gliders carving lines in the sky. We walked for awhile, had a beer, and headed back into the city to eat at The Fish Marketm, in the center of the city. It’s named for the fish market in the center of the area, which is surrounded by at least 8 restaurants and I would estimate 400-500 seasts, outside, and most of them were filled with people eating and enjoying the night. We, of course, had prime seats, were welcomed like kings, and enjoyed meze of patlican with roasted red peppers, rocket, corban salata, followed by grilled large shrimp, and then a three or four pound sea bass, whole, served by the waiter and placed on our plates. We went through two bottles of wine, too much, but really enjoyed the atmosphere. We met a young couple who lived in Kansas City of all places, who were heading to Dubai for a few days. WE are sorry we did not get to talk to them more; we also met an attractive couple from Britain; Mom thought the girl looked like Therese Charon; we made some small talk, shared a bit of our fish with them. We headed home, drove for about 30 minutes back to Gocek, arriving around eleven and went to bed and slept soundly until being awakened, as I mentioned by the call to prayers.