Days 13 & 14: Friends, Family, and Ferries

After our long walk to Kaş over the last couple of weeks, this little seaside town has been a great place to rest and recuperate before the next big pushes. We happened to arrive during the Kaş Jazz Festival, so even though we're slightly out of high season for tourism the town is bustling with both an aging marina crowd and way too cool for school hipsters. Not to mention the posters everywhere with the festival logo that looks like a psychedelic sock puppet but we're told is actually a sleeping giant rising.

While we lost Erin here, we were joined for the long weekend by Zeynep's parents, Emin and Feyza. In addition to enthusiastic support of calorie replenishment, they brought Epi-Pens to thwart the bees (or at least not die from them).

Beyond resting weary legs, one of our two other tasks in Kaş was a visa run, as mine was about to expire. Normally this might entail a flight abroad, but just off the coast of Kaş is a tiny Greek island called Meis (in Turkish) or Kastellorizo (in Greek). So we hopped on the twice-daily ferry for a chance to swim in a different country and obtain a nice fresh stamp in the passport.

The island is simultaneously sleepy and touristy, which was a bit disappointing, but we were visited by several giant turtles in the harbor. Which gives me the opportunity to share with you my favorite Turkish word: kaplumbağa.

Our second task, of much greater importance, was to acquire me some tasty İskender kebap, which I had been seeking in vain for the last two weeks.

Finally, in Kaş we've picked up our friend Jordan, who will be joining us for the next several sections, and will likely be pressed into service writing our next update!