Experience Bodrum

The most treasured part of the year has arrived in Bodrum; the 'altin yaz', the Indian Summer of October has arrived right on schedule on the heels of variable, but enjoyable, weather for the long week of Bayram.

For now, for a little while, we hope to enjoy this languorous golden calm in short sleeves and to have time to watch the sunsets. They are beautiful long ones that allow people to pause, stop for a drink on the beach side, for a quiet chat and enjoy the moment as the skies turn blue, rose pink, and then dim to a shimmering gray overhead.

The holiday visitors now are fortunate as there is plenty of relaxing space on the beaches, relaxed wandering on the streets where even the shop touts have lost their urgency and space at the cafes around the peninsula. They may even meet a local resident or two, as we saw last night when tables were drawn together and conversations sparked.

The international crews of women sailors have set off from Bodrum for Turgutreis this morning on their last day of sailing races, though with a gentle breeze they have to work hard to coax out a competitive edge. The competition will be greater in the evening as to which crew will have had more fun or more trophies.

Regular visitors, visiting relatives, or former residents are catching up with local friends, others are enjoying their last days here before they fly out to grayer climates and others are settling in for a quiet winter.

Yes, winter draws closer, and we even have the token deciduous trees whose leaves are just starting to show a change in color. Summer visitors sometimes have a hard time believing that Bodrum has a winter, or any seasons other than a long, hot summer. Thankfully, we do, and they are the favourite times for locals, when we can restock our energy and start anew on friendships, activities and our lives.

This week, of course, the splendor and loveliness of this weather has an unreal edge to it. The pleasure of being here is magnified a thousand times when contrasted to the grim news coming down the airwaves from other, grayer parts of the world.

I was here first in 1987, the year they are now comparing stock markets with (at this point), but Bodrum was further away then, or we were just younger and more oblivious. Then there were no SMS updates, continual TV reports (the reception was so bad then!), no Internet then, of course, and only teletext. The effect of that crash took a long time to filter through; we carried on, and the following summer wasn't too bad either. We didn't have to worry about taking credit card payments, or using the plastic fiends much, the inflation rate was high enough to hold anyone, and any tourist town, afloat on cash and currency exchange.

We have seen the cycles since then. We have heard the doomsayers and the optimists, the reassurances and the alarms, and seen the cycle of the seasons.

Here on the coast we will not be immune from the global turmoil as we are all tied in closer to the system, though we may have first come to places like this to be as far away as possible from the 'system.' Inexorably, we have been drawn into being part of this fabulous 'shared risk,' even as we may have worked for independence. Bodrum, for all its luxury labels, has seen the hardest of times in the past century and there is always the reference to looking forward to a 'tarhana' winter; a winter of budget living on the local dried tomato and yogurt powder made for soup.

This week, we will remember again the Fishmerman of Halikarnas who came here in the worst of times and, with his words and delight in this wondrous place, he found light dancing between the whitewashed buildings and enticed the world to come to Bodrum, for the best of times.