Bodrum, the Turkish Riviera

I've walked into a completely different world in this town - coastal Turkey and very much a tourist town with hundreds of holidaymakers everywhere.

The bus trip was excellent - new bus with TV  screens in the back of all the seats, a guy serving drinks all the way. Much, much better than the very poor transport provided by TJs - if I'd known, I'd have insisted on taking the public system. Downside was when I arrived here and had to make my own way to the hotel. Got here eventually and I'm just glad it's such a lively holiday place: wouldn't have enjoyed having to walk down seedy alleyways to get here. Set out a few minutes after check-in to find the port - by an almighty fluke, I found the ferry company running the ship I'm going on (guys playing backgammon out the front, luckily). He found my booking and told me I  had to go to the new port in the morning - there was no way I'd have  known this otherwise.

It's a beautiful day again today and will get up to about 30 I imagine. So it's goodbye to Turkey and hello to Greece. The harbour here in Bodrum is ringed by an endless sequence of restaurants, cafes, nightclubs, and sundry other tourist-oriented businesses. The harbour is full of expensive-looking boats which appear to be for the tourist cruising market.

This is by far the nicest hotel I've stayed in but I'm bidding it farewell in a couple of minutes. That tanker/minibus crash has been major national news - was repeated endlessly on a current affairs show last night (along with various other car-related incidents), including chilling footage of the crash, caught on CCTV. The tanker was turning left across the intersection on a orange/red light and the minbus came shooting through. 13 people killed.