24 January 2021 – ROADTRIP – Alanya Marina Turkey
Even though COVID-19 restrictions are in place here in Turkey (like nearly everywhere in the world), we were still able to take a well deserved break from the Alanya area, primarily to visit Mamure Castle about 130km East along the coastal highway 400 – situated on a sandy beach near the town of Anamur (Mersin province). Mamure is reported to be the best preserved Roman castle on the Mediterranean coast in Turkey. For our trip, we had beautiful blue skies but cool weather, starting at 12C in the morning and 16C in the afternoon.
There is snow in the mountains, a good thing because it is very dry here in the summertime.
Unfortunately, when we reached Mamure Castle, it was CLOSED. Consequently, it will be forever remembered as “Manure” Castle in my mind. In the days before departure, we did our research – did everything except actually phone the place, which is pretty difficult for us to actually do. We were attracted to the place based on a Facebook post on the Alanya Expats site a few months ago. When we arrived, it was obviously in a state of disarray and a worker told it was under construction/renovation – something I thought was finished last year. Bummer. We didn’t even try to bully our way inside, just drove away and took a few external photos.
We drove on, heading back in the direction of home in Alanya – and picked up some take-out food in Anemur (all the restaurants in Turkey are closed due to COVID-19 restrictions) and then took a few minutes recalibrate. We discovered that there was a very good alternative site, only a few minutes away. These are the ancient ruins of Anemurium.
But first – our take-out lunch.
Anemurium dates back to the Hellenistic period and is nearly 2000 years old. The ruins are completely vacant now, and stand within view of the Turkish city of Anemur. This is a tourist sign or placard at the entrance to Anemurium. Based on my experience to date, ruins like this in Turkey are always accompanied by good signage written in Turkish, English and sometimes other languages as well.
There are bits and pieces of the aqueduct still in place, although obviously not serviceable. We were looking into a window to the past.
This is “The Odeon” (dating to the 2nd century AD), a special covered structure which was built for musical performances in ancient times.
In addition to performances by the arts, it is known that these buildings also facilitated council meetings. This particular Anemurium Odeon is one of the best examples still standing in the province of Anatolia. It measures 31m X 21m, is 10m high, has four facades and two stories. It has the capacity to accommodate 925-1130 people, consisting of 15 rows of seats, an orchestra, scene backstage and vaulted gallery. Unfortunately, the top canopy or sun cover has long since fallen to ruin.
Here are Eric and Pam (from SV PIED-A-MER III) and Diane.
I was there too!
Diane took these flower photos, and I thought they were cool too.
We had an uneventful drive back to the marina, and I can offer an update on my solar project. I’ve changed out 4 of the 10 solar panels (the back 4, since they are nearly 20 years old), bumping up our solar production to 1820W. I replaced 4 X 75W panels with 4 X 190W panels in “nearly” the same footprint. The new panels actually hang out the back a little bit, which isn’t a bad thing. This required me to move around a few antennae, but things are all working fine.
I also replaced the Blue Sky MPPT solar energy controllers with Victron MPPT controllers (100/50) in order to handle the current, leave room for future expansion and so that I can follow the systems on my iPhone with the Bluetooth app.
A few days ago, I had a record 56A coming into the battery bank (after satisfying the loads). This will only get higher as we move towards summer! The extra current goes into the water heater, as planned.