San Clemente Pier, California

Yesterday we went to San Clemente Pier to meet my aunt and uncle for lunch.  San Clemente is a city of about 65,000 people about a half hour drive, 42 km (26 miles) southeast of Irvine roughly half way between Los Angeles and San Diego.  

San Clemente is known as the "Spanish Village by the Sea" due to its Spanish Colonial style architecture.  

It's a popular California beach town that gets about 300 days of sunshine and an annual average temperature of 23℃ (73℉).

The most famous landmark is the San Clemente Pier.  

Me and mom

It was first built in 1928.  It was rebuilt in 1939 and again in 1983.  The pier is a popular fishing site and home to a nice seafood restaurant.  

It was nice seeing ma aunt and uncle and lunch was nice.  But for dinner, I finally got my In-N-Out fix.!!  

My niece decided that we needed to wear the hats during dinner.  Though not everyone was on board with that one. 

Some Beach Time

I've lived in Czechland, a landlocked country, for 14 years now.  Before that, I lived in Atlanta for 13 years and from Atlanta it's a good 5 to 7 hour drive to the beach in Georgia, South Carolina, or Florida.  

So yesterday was some long overdue beach time!  

We headed over to Dana Point and went to Strand Beach.  It's a popular spot for surfing but we just wanted to lay out and catch some rays.

The sun was strong and we did get a little red but, to me, it was so worth it.  I guess that, deep down, I will always be a bit of a California boy.

Kuşadasi, Türkiye

Kuşadasi is a beach resort on the west coast of Türkiye, about 95 km (59 miles) south of Izmir.  With a population of almost 114.000 people it is the 117th biggest city in the country.  However, during the tourist season, which kicks off in about another week, the population reaches almost 2 million people.

Big cruises ships arrive daily with many tourists opting for a tour of Ephesus.  Others come to enjoy the 25 km (15,5 miles) miles of beach along the Aegean.

Kuşadasi is old and many of the locals refer to the town as Ada.  The earliest settlements in the area date back to around 3000 BC.  Over the centuries it has been part of the Persian Empire, the Roman Empire, and the Byzantine Empire.  In 1413, it became part of the Ottoman Empire.  After WWI, it was controlled by Greece until it became part of Türkiye in 1922.  In 1923, the local Greek population was exchanged for Turks as part of the population exchange under the Lausanne Treaty.

Güvercinada, "Pigeon Island" is an island connected to the city by a 350 metre (1.150 foot) causeway.

The island has a castle which was built back in the 1770s.  In 2020 the castle became a tentative UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

Near the harbour is the Öküz Mehmed Pasha Caravanserai that was built from 1615 - 1618.  It was a safe place for merchants to stay with their goods and later as a customshouse.  In 1968 it opened as a hotel and in 2022 the last hotel owner ceased operations.

Kale Kapisi, the Castel Gate, was part of the city walls built in the 17th century.  The upper floor was once used as a police station but there is now some kind of micro miniature art centre.

The Kaleiçi Mosque is the old town mosque, in the middle of the bazaar area that was built back in 1618.

The clock tower was built in 1996.

The Ibramaki Art Gallery originally opened as a hospital at the end of the 19th century.  In 2009, the local municipality restored the building and turned it into a gallery.

The old cemetery has graves from the 1700-1800's.

More than 400 homes of the Tepe neighbourhood are being revitalised under the city's "Let's Colour" programme with homes pained in various shades of pink, yellow, blue, orange, green and purple.

At the port, there are daily 1,5 hour ferries between Kuşadasi and the Greek island Samos.  We wanted to check it out but the ferries only run from April to October.

About 30 km (19 miles) south of the city is the Dilek Peninsula-Büyük Menderes Delta National Park.  There are dense forests, hiking trails, and beach, plus wild boars running around.

It was still just a wee bit too cold to lie out on the sand but it felt good to at least be at the beach.

Near the national park is the Cave of Zeus.  

There is a 10 metre (33 feet) deep pool that is off limits to swim in.  Legend has it that this is where Zeus would take refuge whenever his brother Poseidon would whip up a deadly storm.

Another story goes that Zeus would slip away here, from Mount Olympus and his wife Hera, to swim with local girls.

Yedi Uyurlar Mağarası is the Cave of the Seven Sleepers.  The story is that in 250 AD, the Roman Emperor ordered everyone to perform a sacrifice to dedicate themselves to the empire and to the Roman gods, or be executed.  Seven Christians refused and hid in the cave.  Romans found the young men asleep in the cave and sealed them in.  

One day a farmer opened the cave and found the men asleep.  When they awoke, they pooled their money to buy food but when they tried to pay they discovered their money was over 150 years old.  The cave, located outside of Ephesus was excited in the 1920s and found a number of Christian games from the 5th and 6th centuries.  

The Çamlik Railway Museum is home to one of the largest largest collection of steam locomotives, with more than 30, from 1891 to 1951.  The outdoor museum isn't well known but thanks to Atlas Obscura we went to have a look at it was well worth the visit.

We really enjoyed our week in Kuşadasi.  It's definitely worth a visit with lots of places to explore.  I wish the weather would have been just a little warmer but I'm quite glad that we managed to visit before all of the tourists rush in.

Here's a short Rick Steves video I found out on YouTube.

©Rick Steves

Müggelseesingen

This evening we met up with a few people for dinner at our favourite sushi place on Bölscherstraße.  Afterwards it was on the beach at Müggelsee, where we went ice skating before, for a a Christmas sing-a-long.  

It was fun.  There was a stage with choir singers and there a few mini-bonfires and candles while people drank glühwein and sang Christmas songs.  

Some of the songs I knew but there were several German songs that I'd never heard before.  Fortunately the programmes contained the lyrics to all of the songs.

After a few hours of singing it was back to the flat.  I needed to make the buletten for tomorrow's Christmas dinner.

I still can't believe that Christmas is tomorrow.  

Authentic Island Tour, Jersey

On Friday, I took a seven-hour bus tour around the island with Waverly Coaches.  The Authentic Island Tour was £27,50 (€32 / $34) and it was well worth it. 

The coach picked me up at my hotel in Saint Helier and in seven hours we drove all around Jersey, checking out all twelve parishes.

St. Matthew's, also called the Glass Church, is an Anglican Church in Saint Lawrence parish.  The unassuming church was built in 1840. 

In 1934, it became the "Glass Church" when a French glassmaker was commissioned to decorate the church. 

The moulds used were destroyed after they completion so there is nothing similar in world by artist René Lalique.  

Battery Lothringen is a WWII artillery battery at the top of Noirmont Point in Saint Brélade parish.  It was built in 1941 by the Germans to defend against the Allies when the Channel Islands were occupied.

There's a memorial stone for the men and women of Jersey who perished in the war from 1939 - 1945.

The site overlooks la Tour de Vinde that the British built in 1915.

Janvrin's Tower, also known as Janvrin's Tomb, was built by the British in 1808 on Île au Guerdain in Portent Bay in Saint Brélade Parish.

The beach at Saint Brelade's Bay is one of the island's most popular.  Even in November, it felt so good to be on the beach.

Next to the bay is the St. Brelade Parish Church.  The church dates back to around the 12th century.  

Next to the church is the medieval Fisherman's Chapel.

The Corbière lighthouse was built in 1874.  There's a causeway from the shore to the lighthouse at low tide.

Near the lighthouse is a sculpture commemorating the 1995 rescue of the Saint-Malo catamaran.  On 17 April 1995, a French catamaran was sailing form Jersey to Sark when it hit a rock.  Nearby ships came to the aid and all 307 passengers and crew were rescued.

There are also more German defensive positions that once made up the Atlantic Wall during the war.

The seven-story German observation tower was converted in 2004 to the island's only self-catering holiday accommodation.

The Channel Islands Military Museum is housed in a German bunker.  We only drove past the museum as it's not one of the tours designated stops.  It wouldn't have mattered as the museum closed in November and won't open for the tourist season until April.

In Saint Ouen parish we stopped at Jersey Pearl for a lunch break.  They café was quite good and there was enough time for a short walk out to the beach.  

I didn't have any interest in buying pearls but one interesting thing was a replica of the pearl jacket and dress worn by Princess Diana which sold at a charity auction in 1996 for $151,000.   

After lunch it was on to Grosnez Castle on the north-west corner of the island.  It was built in 1330 to provide local farmers with protection fro the French at the start of the Hundred Years' War.  It has been in ruins since the mid-16th century.

At the St. Ouen parish church is a memorial for Louisa Gould who during the Nazi occupation, took in a hid an escaped Russian POW for 18 months.  

She was caught and sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, 90 km (56 miles) north of Berlin.  She was gassed and died in 1945 just two months before the camp was liberated.

In 2010 she was posthumously honoured as a British Hero of the Holocaust.  Her story was the inspiration for the film Another Mother's Son.

We later stopped off at Gorey Harbour, in Saint Martin parish, for a tea break.  Above the village is the Mont Orgueil Castle, also simply called Gorey Castle, which was built from 1204 to 1450.  It was the island's main fortress until Elizabeth Castle was built in 1594.  

I suppose that no visit to Jersey is complete without coming across a Jersey cow.  This tour ticked that box too.

I was surprised that we got to see as much as we did.  There were a few times that the tour guide provided some cultural references which were lost on me.  

I did have to chuckle when one elderly English guy asked me what my native language is.  He seemed shocked when I said 'English'.  Good times.