Yitti

Presently, the Muslim world is participating in the holy month of Ramadan.  For the next 4 weeks, Muslims do not eat or drink from sunrise to sunset.  In our part of the world, this occurs from about 6am to 7pm.  It is a long time to go without water.  For the most part, people only work from 9am to 1pm during this month.  The rest of the day is spent at home, mainly sleeping.  As a result, shops, grocery stores, and other businesses are open only during the early part of the day. Then, at 7pm, people have big feasts and all the restaurants are full.  They eat, go to shops (which open again after 7), pray and generally celebrate for much of the rest of the evening and often into the early morning hours.  As non-Muslims, we are allowed to eat and drink during the day.  However, it is supposed to be done in private or very discretely if in a public place.

Yesterday, we decided to spend the day at Yitti, one of our favorite beaches.  It is a sandy cove nestled between the mountains, about a half hour from our house.  As we expected, we had the beach to ourselves.  The locals were home, resting and preparing for that evening's feast.

Making sand "burgers."  Laura lounging in the distance.

Strolling around the beach. Our Jeep and pop-up shade tent can be see in the distance.

The air outside is a little warm, but the ocean temperature is perfect.  It was easy for us to spend several hours swimming and playing in the waves.

We left the beach at around 6:30pm and hit town just as restaurants were opening.  We decided to have dinner at Bollywood, a local Indian restaurant specializing in vegetarian dishes.