Статья на тему Turtle Island

Gulshat Garaeva, an English teacher, a freelancer. I am from Tatarstan, Nab. Chelny. I like travelling. My last visit of Turkey impressed me the most, that's why I've decided to write about it.

Contacts:

My telephone number: +79874162459

My mail: [email protected]

Turtle Island

Travelling is a source of inspiration and fascination. It makes me relax from troubles and unnecessary thoughts. People are fond of travelling for different reasons - for pleasure or business. What concerns me, travelling is an inevitable part of my life. I prefer travelling by plane as it is more comfortable, more convenient and, of course, far quicker than any other means of transport. Travelling gives people a lot of possibilities: to discover new places, to get acquainted with cultural and historical heritage of different countries, to meet many foreigners, to communicate and to make friends with them. It is impossible to count all the advantages of travelling.

From very early childhood I was dreaming of travelling. A little girl's dream came true. I began to travel and I really fell in love with it, if I may say so. I found that it is very useful and interesting to visit all the parts of the world. Nowadays I have only little experience about travelling but I am not going to stop. The life is beautiful only when you see it from different sides…

"Turkey is a wonderful country with a lot of sights. This country attracts many tourists", said the guide Diana after greeting us on a bus.

The day was hot… The day was so hot… All in all, we've enjoyed our spiritual trip to Kemer. This city is considered to be modern as it offers an unforgettable entertainment to its guests. Endless cafes and shops, green parks and avenues, huge mountains and rocks make Kemer more attractive and marvellous. In brief, this city absorbs you completely with its beauty.

"Look, my dears!" exclaimed Diana. We stared at the windows. There was such an incredible view that you couldn't believe your eyes. It looked like a lost mountain in the sea. Oh, no. It looked like a hill with forests. Oh, it is so unbelievable. I can't find any words to express my emotions.

It's a pity that we hadn't enough time to admire this miracle as we were to continue our trip to the exhibition of sandy figures. I hardly could take photos of this "wonder". The guide saw our admiration and excitement. "Every year all the tourists visit this island because of its catching view. This "wonder" is famous as Turtle Island", said Diana and looked at her curious audience. At once everybody asked her: "Why is it called Turtle Island?" A young man at the age of thirties questioned: "Are there a lot of turtles on the island?" A load of questions were waiting for answers. A lady with a red hat and with a fan in her hand murmured: "An amazing name".

The guide gave us a tender smile and went on: "This island is really like a turtle with a small head and a huge carapace. Besides, it is surrounded with rather big-sized turtles". Having seen our interest Diana added: "Don't be surprised so. This island has one more amazing name". She made a pause. For a moment it seemed that the guide was waiting for question. We held our breath. Diana mystified us by saying "Mouse Island". A thin man showed his disagreement: "It doesn't look like a mouse. Strange to hear that…" He could not express his opinion completely as the guide interrupted him: "But if you have a look from top, you can find some similarities between this island and a mouse". Her last phrase sounded interesting. All the tourists were a bit excited.

After a minute of silence the guide told the Turkish legend about this wonderful island. It turned out that this extraordinary island has one more name. When Diana said about this fact, I don't know why, but I reflexively began to compare this island with frogs, crocodiles. Why not? I even found some resemblance. The island is green as a frog or a crocodile. It is situated in the sea, these reptiles also like the sea. But what's the third name of this "wonder"? Nobody expected that it is also known as the Island of unfaithful wives. Probably, every person would ask the guide: "Why did this island receive such a name?"

According to the legend, desperate husbands sent their unfaithful wives to this island. Sometimes upset husbands sent their wives with all the golden things which they had given their beloved. Why did the husbands act in that way? They just organized some competitions to their unfaithful wives. Having heard that, we were a bit confused. What kind of competitions did the wives take part in? Everyone wanted to know the answer to this question. It turned out that the husbands wore their wives in heavy gold. Greedy wives took all the golden things with themselves without any words. They were covered in heavy golden necklaces, bracelets and earrings. The rule of the competition was to swim to the island with all the golden things and to prove her innocence. If a lost soul could swim to the island, she would be forbidden and her husband would take his wife back. Of course, it is not impossible to swim to the island as the heavy golden things would pull the wife to the deepness. I thought at once "Was there at least one woman who could deal with that terrible task?" Yes, there was only one clever wife who put all her golden clothes off and swam to the island. She was rather crafty.

Anyway, the amount of the betrayed wives increased in the island, and it fell down, and all the trustless women sank. Their greediness killed them very cruelly. From that moment this "incident" became a lesson to other wives. The guide finished her speech with spiritual expressions: "Second thoughts are best or Measure twice, cut once".