Day 43 to 44 - Marmaris

Our ferry to Greece (Rhodes Island) departs from Marmaris on the 19th of May at 5:30pm. Its roughly two hours away from Bodrum, and so we decided to make a day and night out of Marmaris, especially considering we had to head that way anyway. Our bus trip was great - except for realising, when on the bus already, that we left our Granny Goose travel pillows behind in our Bodrum hotel room. They were amazing, and I was deeply saddened that the one thing that made traveling so easy, was now gone. On well, Bruce's shoulder will have to do.

We arrived in Marmaris and headed towards our hotel, a bit sceptic. There were only two reviews for the hotel, it was so cheap for what it was and it got a whopping 10 out of 10? We started wondering if the hotel even existed, while dragging our 20kg backpacks along the promenade of beautiful Marmaris. To our amazement, a beautiful white and new looking hotel was perfectly located on the beach - with the name "Beach Front Hotel" written all over it. We checked in and they tightened white armbands to our wrists, which immediately entitled us to any food or drink item from the bar or restaurant. Yes, believe it - R200 pp for a beautiful sea facing room and ALL-INCLUSIVE! That includes beer, wine, and copious amounts of delicious food.

We lay on the beach on a lounger with drinks in our hand, we swam when it got too hot, and we did a bit of research on Rhodes Island. There was even wifi on the beach, as well as a lovely Turkish man who kept bringing us more drinks before we had even finished our last ones. This was paradise, and for the first time and most probably the only time on this trip - we felt so content not looking at the menu before ordering for more food or drinks. For the first time, we felt less like South Africans in Europe - and more like a British couple with pounds in our pocket.

Okay there is one downfall, if you stay for more than a week - be prepared for heavy cardio session upon your arrival back home. We were only there for one night, and our clothes felt tighter. But how do you possibly say no?

Without this sounding too much like a commercial for The Beach Front Hotel, if you are planning to go to Turkey - then definitely consider this one. We said our goodbyes the next day, and then walked with our bags for about 4km's in the afternoon heat (to save R50), to our Rhodes Island Ferry port.

Before we knew it, we were back in the Shengen Zone after a 1 hour ferry ride and holding up the whole line when throwing a dummy and pulling out South African passports at Passport Control. Its amazing, as soon as you flash your green mamba the man behind the desk and glass window always looks at you like you are playing some sort of joke on him. Like we're about to shout surprise, pull off our masks and show him the camera's! Oh well, they manage to always eventually work and we got a fat GREECE stamp to welcome us in. Secretly inside, we both knew that the count to our 90 day limit in the Shengen Zone had begun again.

Goodbye Turkey. We'll most definitely be back again one day!