Boat trip to Manavgat Bazaar

A Coastal and river trip to the Manavgat Bazaar

We got picked up from our hotel in Gündoğdu by a bus of indiscernible age, but it is always part of the adventure of traveling to get on board one of these swaying, bumping, grinding rickety coaches.  I remember well the Maltese busses alas now but a memory!

There was a stiff breeze as we set sail (well not technically correct, though it had 2 masts this boat couldn’t sail anywhere it had a motor) from the small fishing harbour of Evrenseki

 halfway between  Gündoğdu and Side, it was nice to feel the sea air and view the coast and Taurus mountains from the seaward side. We passed the monstrous hotel complexes, many still in a state of construction and eventually rounded Side with its temple to Apollo on the headland.

 

We motored along the coast, with the crew getting the photgraphs of amorous couples in clinch!

  We reached the mouth of the Manavgat river, the mouth is protected on one side by a long sand bank, this is an area that the pleasure boats that travel up the river with their cargoes of tourists, the price is very reasonable for the whole trip it is only €11,- but don’t book it through your hotel, book it from Capt. Aspirin on the beach.   Here the boats have a break while you can have a dip if you wish or buy a few trinkets of a cheese and spinach filled Dürüm wrap freshly made for you from a little stall on the beach.

 

The principal reason for pulling alongside is to victual, they have no galley on board, so the sand bar is where the BBQ,s have been set up and the Cap’n phones ahead with the numbers, there is a choice of chicken or fish (bream), to this is served a village salad and those smashing flat bread (they remind me so much of the stotties of my childhood). Alas it was my fast day so no food for me, I went to the poop deck, sunned and watched the world go by.

We got to the landing berth after passing the river boat yards, repairing and building new  Black Pearl’s, Barbarosa’s you name it but it seemed that Cap’n Jack Sparrow and Kieth Richards would not be out of place on this river. 

At the berth a bus was waiting to whisk to the bridge that leads into town.

Luckily we had been to Manavgat earlier in the week so we knew the covered Bazaar, it would seem that there are two Bazaars, the Monday one adjacent to the covered Bazaar and the Thursdays on the other bank of the river, this is held in the open with makeshift stalls.

 

We wandered through the rows of vegetables and fruit, the piles of herbs and spices,

the fish stalls and the sweet meats and honey's 

The array is enormous, there are trestle tables with the produce piled high and old ladies (and some not so old) sitting on small stools (we would have call them crackets in Geordie land)  with their little pile of produce laid out on a multi coloured carpet in front of them.

 

Linda done a bit of soft bartering for some spices, more than likely paid twice what they were worth!

We then wandered the covered Bazaar and bought a few odds and sods, it is a real tourist Bazaar and they start at 100% of what they know you will pay and are still making a good profit for the real counterfeit Nikes, Puma, Adidas, Camp David as well as the perfumes, aftershaves, you name it and you can buy it in Manavgat Bazaar!

We then went back to the meeting point and boarded the bus to take us back to the boat for the return journey down the river, passing once again the ship yards and the fish Aquaculture farms.

Then it was out into the open sea, just in time for me to do my Angel of the North impression!

rounding Side just as the sun was sinking below the horizen

 

 

 and entering Evrenseki harbour to get the bus to return to our hotel in time for Dinner.