28 February 2015 - Picnic at the old windmills and hillside of wildflowers

As today is Saturday, the kids wanted to do something different to differentiate weekend days from school days as every day was feeling same-ish.  I was in agreement with them as I feel I have been on a treadmill of doing school with Luke which seems all consuming and I need a break, too.

Tim and I went on another lovely walk to the shore just to look at the Aegean Sea!  The thunderstorms last night were so noisy but in such a hilly place, the water drains quickly and there were virtually no puddles.

Twisting side streets and interesting buildings

Always eager for a cat chat...

We played some Skip Bo and did a bit of school work.  I packed a picnic and we set out for the old windmills.  We can see them in the distance from our window and as they are mentioned as a tourist site, we thought it would be good to go there for a picnic.  Built in the 18th Century for milling flour, they were used until 1970's.  It was a pity to see them run down and graffitied.  The walk up the hill (s) kept our muscles pumping and as we neared the wind mills were good see a path through wildflowers to get there.  Unfortunately, there are broken bottles and rubbish  along the path but the wildflowers were lovely!

Group of men singing and dancing to their friend's Turkish version of bagpipes - mournful sound.

This guy had 5 dogs with him.

 There are beautiful planters all along the marina - all different and all depicting Bodrum!

Olive planters

Prickly pear planter

Octopus!

 As we walked up the hillside, the wildflowers are just starting to herald springtime.  Beautiful daisies and an orchid and dozens of wild red poppies..

Wildflowers

So many wild red poppies!

Approaching the mills.

Panorama looking northwest

Panorama looking north

Looking over to Gumbek - next town.

We were offering chocolate chip biscuits after lunch but weren't entirely sure that they didn't contain peanuts so we told Luke he couldn't have one.  He told us that "It was beginning to feel like a "deservement" - a punishment (!) due to his biscuit nicking episode earlier in the morning.  I think the word will stick around in our family for a while!  "Deservement" - love it!

Lunch with a view!

Windswept!

Panorama looking north

 

Shame about the graffiti

One of 7 windmills

Distant mountains

Semi-restored mill

Sad that it is in ruins but beautiful none-the-less

Stately!

Bodrum Castle from a different angle

Old city walls

We walked back along the marina with Luke pulling us towards the fishermen but we were not going to buy any more fish.

Dolphin phones!

More beautiful planters

Plenty of these cock-a-doodle-doing around Bodrum

Saturday night menu: home made kebabs and sitting to watch : Jason and the Argonauts.  We all enjoyed the meal and the movie.  It was good to claim Saturday as a different day.  Everyone was so much happier at the end of the day!  The movie was perfect. Good choice Tim!  We could relate to the old buildings and bit of marble here and there in the scenes.