It is beautiful here.

I am typing these words from a terrace overlooking Kargi Bay, an idyllic inlet dotted with yachts, schooners, cabin cruisers, sailboats, wind surfboards and, I'm just guessing here, pirate ships.

A gentle sea breeze mitigates the rays of a blazing Mediterranean sun beaming from a nearly cloudless azure sky. The braying of semi-wild donkeys is the only sound wafting up from the ruins of thiok-walled houses built by early Ottoman Christians and Moslems. The daily calls to prayer are too distant to intrude on an appreciation of this verdant rock strewn oasis.

The colorful town center is about 5 km down the mountain, an easy 30 minute walk, or a 15 minute direct taxi ride costing between $8 and $20, an adjusted sliding scale which depends on your facility with Turkish, your perceived net worth and your level of friendliness to the cabbie.

As ever, on this trip, I am primarily fascinated by the people I've met and by the unique and unforgettable stories they have to tell. The leisurely pace of life in this idyllic paradise provides plenty of time to listen to all of them.

Soon, deeply tanned local children will be splashing in the neighbors' pool, and Svetlana will set out cheeses, fruits, chai, lavosh, preserves and several kinds of bread for Professor Bill Hansen's and my first meal of the day.

Afterwards,Bill, American University of Nigeria, and I will relive memories of the Civil Rights Movement - he was the SNCC lead organizer for Arkansas in 1962 - and Svetlana will bring us strong coffee. Bill will proudly show us pictures of handsome, infant multi-racial grandson and regale us with anecdotes about his recently ex-monster-in-law, Ludmilla, the dragon lady.

I am very fond of William, but his stories of love are tinged with poingnancy and loss.

"When my third wife, Irena (Ludmilla's daughter), learned she had not married a rich American, then the "age thing" began to be a problem", he told us wistfully. Now that Bill is teaching in Nigeria, he has fallen for a fully-covered, Muslim lady with dance-like movements and a laughing voice.

In the two years he has been enthralled by her, he has never seen her face.

Our lovely hostess, Svetlana Khamarova and our mutual friend, former Champlain Vice-President, David Huwiler, are the owners of this incredible villa on the south coast of Turkish Antolya. One can see the Greek Island of Simi across the straights and Rhodes is a half day away by ferry.

Svetlana is a brilliant and beautiful Russian/Kyrgiz young woman who speaks several languages and who is pursuing an online graduate degree while simultaneously dividing her time between Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria and Datca, Turkey.

As a teen-ager, Svetlana was honored by being sent to Moscow to train in a prestigious swim program for Olympic hopefuls. She didn't quite make it to the "Big Show" but some of her classmates did. "Svets" as Bill calls her, is one of the kindest, most thoughtful people I've met. She walks, swims and climbs daily, tends to a house full of visitors and still has time to read "Foucault and Chomsky Debate, 1971" as well as "Sex in the City."

The "locals" I met were largely employed in the tourist industry. German/Turkish couples running restaurants, craft shops and restaurants as well as young people selling, renting or cooking every conceivable item a visiting Spaniard, Italian or Istanbullar could want.

Gary, our globe-trotting neighbor to the North, speaks fluent Australian,Turkish and German makes a good living buying land and building mansions which he re-sells to wealthy Europeans.

He has traveled the Trans-Siberian Express from Japan to Moscow, he taught English in Germany,hitchhiked from Sidney to Singapore and from Vermont to Venice Beach. He worked for some time as an educational program developer for Mercedes Benz inTurkey. Note: M-B is slowly transferring its truck and coach factories from West Germany to Ankara and beyond.

Gary operates his converted natural gas 1986 Nissan/Datsun B11 "Sunny" sedan like a typical suicidal speed racer, but he can get us into town in between three and six minutes, depending on the wild burro population on the two lane road on any given day.

The neighbors to the south are "Ropp" and Jeannetta who spend most of their summer swimming and sunning only to return to Rob's growing student apartment rental operation in Utrecht for the academic year. Rob owns two houses in Datca, a large house in the Netherlands and another in Spain.

Rob, one of eleven children of a window washer, had built a multimillion euro office cleaning empire until his older brother sued him for control of the company. Within two years, Rob lost everything, his fortune, his wife, his home and his self-confidence.

His life improved when he met the "love of his life" but she was killed in an automobile accident and he had to start all over again. He is now with the lovely Jeannetta and her 16 year-old son.

Today, less than a decade later, his rentals have grown from four small apartments to more than 180 properties. It would be the American Dream, except it happened in Holland.

This afternoon, I will celebrate my 61st birthday with cake, paper hats, colorful banners and a soak in the Jacuzzi with half a dozen new pals. Facebook "friends" can't really beat the flesh and blood kind, .

It will take me several weeks after I return to VT to sort out all the adventures, obstacles, discoveries, misfortunes and joys I've experienced this summer, but, oddly enough, I can't wait to get home and to get started.

Allahaısmarladık, salaam aleikum and may all your travels bring you joy,

Ken Wade