After we arrived back to Kosmos, we rested for a little while, and then went into Turgutreis for dinner. Once you finally manage to escape from the enormous marina complex, downtown is only a few short blocks away.

Earlier in the day, when we went to and from the bus, it had been pretty quiet. There weren’t many people out. What we gather to be the center of town consists of a large open area along the water. There is a small park and a beach. The opposite end of the square is lined with restaurants, with a large mosque dominating the scenery, looming magnificently just behind the restaurants.

Tonight was a whole different story. In the previously completely empty town square there were now several rides set up for kids, including little cars and an astro jump. The previously deserted playground near the town square was full of children. There were quite a few families out walking around, and a lot of people gathered in the restaurants around the square. It felt like a family oriented community. It has a completely different feel than inside the marina complex, just a few blocks away.

We wandered along the town square until we found a restaurant that caught our eye. We ordered an appetizer platter. Out came a large plate with small piles of assorted foods around it, accompanied by a basket of bread covered in butter and herbs. The first thing we tried were the grilled, marinated red bell peppers (capsicum). The marinade tasted good, but had so much vinegar in it that our eyes teared up. There were some beets, which were pretty standard tasting. There was a thick sauce that we think was made of hot peppers. Eric liked it, Christi found it to be much too spicy for her. There were some cooked greens that looked like some heinous weed one would desperately try to eradicate from their garden. They tasted great. We found out later it was actually seaweed. Seaweed here looks nothing at all like seaweed in California that is for sure! There was a bland yogurt sauce with dill. There was a second yogurt sauce that was more flavorful. It had some carrots in it, but we couldn’t figure out what the other ingredients were. It was quite good. There was some okra marinated in a yummy sauce with a hint of vinegar. There were some boiled potatoes seasoned with mint, dill, and onion that were very tasty. And finally, a mashed vegetable that looked like hummus, but wasn’t chickpeas. We couldn’t figure out which vegetable it was, but it was good. We couldn’t believe they were able to cram so many foods onto the one plate!

We can’t remember the name of the other Turkish dish we ordered, but it is pictured below. It was a tower of eggplant, meat, tomato, cheese and yellow mashed potatoes in a bland tomato sauce. It was accompanied with white rice and more yellow mashed potatoes. It was really good.

Yesterday’s post about Bodrum and the castle was really long, so we cut out the part about stopping for lunch. While we are on the topic of food, now is a good time to back track and mention it. We had stopped in a little fast food sort of place, pretty typical to many that we have seen around Turgutreis and Bodrum. The menu consisted of kebabs, hamburgers, a soup, and doner served 5 different ways. Doner is basically gyro meat, and it is very popular in Turkey. Pretty much every restaurant has a sign announcing it serves doner. Eric got his in a tortilla (which the waiter called a pita) and Christi got hers in a hamburger bun. The thin slices of meat were served lettuce, tomato and French fries inside the bread. The meat was light and color and looked like pork, but it tasted like lamb. The waiter assured us it was 100% beef, which we were dubious of. Whatever the meat, it tasted pretty darn good.