Assos/Behramkale

Assos is a most gorgeous spot. We're staying here an extra day because we are enjoying it so much. I'm finally feeling more relaxed. And I think yesterday was the first day I didn't actually have a headache. Assos is basically a group of beautiful old stone hotels by the seaside with fishing boats tied up at the pier and the Greek island of Lesvos not far in the distance. At the top of the mountain/cliff is the charming town of Behramkale with beautiful old stone buildings, an ancient cobblestone street and Greek ruins at the very top. Later today we're planning on hiking up there. Hopefully when the sun isn't quite as hot. When we were there the other day we just wandered through the main street. Lovely vendors sell their wares all the way along, woven cloths, knitted socks (though it's way too hot for them now) spices, soaps... The hotel we're staying in is perfect. It has loads of charm and the room with the seaside view and balcony is lovely. We're spending our days sitting outside on the patio, listening to Turkish music, hearing the water quietly lap up against the pier, strolling along the two streets here and swimming in the Aegean Sea.

One of the things I'm loving about Assos is the idea that Paul was here. He met up here with Luke before going on to continue his missionary journeys on the island of Lesvos that we see here. There's a pier with an old stone post on it. It looks pretty ancient to me so I've taken to calling it Paul's post. I'm imagining he tied his boat up here while he was visiting.

One of the bizarre things about this place is the Jandarma right next door to the hotel. The gendarmes/military personnel seem completely unnecessary in this sleepy little town. There's usually always one standing on guard out front with a machine gun, although I don't see him there right now. Often more of them are hanging out front, smoking, washing the car, playing a game, always with at least one of them having a machine gun. The other day one was holding a baby and the one with the machine gun was cooing and kissing and playing with the baby all the while having his other hand still on the gun. Very strange.

The other strange thing is the ice cream. I had my first Turkish ice cream yesterday. When we were in Istanbul we saw ice cream vendors who were trying to convince us to get some by taking their long speer like scoop, stabbing it in to the ice cream and then waving the whole clump around in the air. Here in Assos it's definitely the smell of the waffle that entices you to buy. The consistency is very odd; a little rubbery, maybe some sort of pasty marshmallow type stuff.

One of the noisy fishing boats that went out at sunrise this morning has just returned. We've been having very delicious fish here for dinner.