Blue on Blue: Living on the Mediterranean

It is getting pretty hard to try and narrow down what exactly I wish to say about Turkey. I learned so much, I am grateful for the journal I kept, lest the information leak out of my ears. Everythhing between food and history was covered.

So for my second entry I settled on the boat ride around the Lykian Peninsula, in which I had an equal part good time and equal part learning experience.

I don't need a journal to remember the first time I glimpsed the Mediterranean. I have never glimpsed that shade of blue before, it only exists in that sea. The smell of the salty air, the wind whipping at my face and air, it was a feeling of returning home, like I have always belonged on the Mediterranean.

Living on a boat has a charm all its own, and here I was harboring a secret fear I'd be getting sea-sick on this leg of my journey. The first night I have seen the sea go from deep soul blue to evening glow pink to liquid hematite. The colors were breathtaking.

Onto the educational part.

I was surprised to learn that Santa Clause, St. Nicholas, originated from Turkey, he was born in Patara. He was the bishop at Myra, a Lykian city. St. Nick was born in the 400's A.D. in Turkey. He is the most popular and the most different of all the saints. He was close to the people, and patron saint to sailors and childen. This could be a link to the Santa Claus we know and love today.

On an interesting, mythological note, Apollo and Artemis were also born in Patara. Coincidence?

I noticed how time was softer on that sea as if I was floating not on water, but on the very ether of life.