A Dolmus Ride to Check Out Cesme

Today we took a local dolmuş to the main town area of Çeşme. At first, we waited in the wrong place, but a driver heading in the opposite direction kindly gave us a lift to the corner and pointed out where we could catch the right bus.

Çeşme is a much bigger seaside town/city than both Alaçatı and Ilıca Beach. We walked down the main street and stopped at a pharmacy to get sunscreen and moisturizer. The man in the shop spoke a little English and, once he found out we were from New Zealand, told us he was a big Lord of the Rings fan. He asked if we had been to Hobbiton (we haven’t), but I did show him photos on my phone of the Arthur’s Pass rocks where some scenes were filmed.

We continued towards the seafront avenue and then walked alongside the sea. There were a number of tourist day-cruise boats lined up, but it doesn’t look like they go out much now that the summer season is over. We walked as far as one of the local city beaches, which had beautiful clear water.

Next, we returned to the main street and passed the large castle that sits on the coast. It was only €6 to visit inside, but we decided we’d had our fill of castles recently. Instead, we walked to the marina to check out the many expensive-looking yachts and boats, but couldn’t find a good vantage point for photos.

A 4 km walk was enough for today, so we headed back to the dolmuş stop and returned to Ilıca Beach. We made a quick stop at the supermarket for lunch, which we had back at the apartment. It turned into a late lunch, and the afternoon disappeared quickly with trip research—and a nap for me. 😂

Takeaway pizzas finished off the day.

There’s rain forecast for tomorrow, so plenty of time for more research and/or more sleep!