As I have been staying the summer in the Aegean region of Turkey in a little town called Ilica, I have been exploring and photographing about. A few days ago my wife and I walked to a nearby town in the peninsula, Chesme and a dog…that I named Paxota (see article)…followed us and walked with us seven kilometres.

Well, today, we were strolling around Ilica’s “fisherman’s wharf”, really just a makeshift marina, and a group of cats started to follow us around as well. I have been a cat lover all my life and I know that cats are curious and they come to you to see what you are all about but then they lose interest and leave. However, this cat family thought they were dogs! After all there are dozens of stray dogs wandering all around this town. They followed us everywhere as dogs usually do around here.

So the cats followed us. They stuck to us, playing at times, exploring things and getting into the most difficult nooks and crannies but went with us as we walked around the three hundred meters or so of marina. As it is my custom to name things, animals and even people, I have named the three males, Badoret, Manalet and Gasparó. The female kitten is Josefina.

I thought it was quite unique. Perhaps it isn’t so and you might have many stories of incidents such as this one. But for me it was out of the ordinary. Here in Ilica, nature is all around us. This is, after all, a village but an interesting one that behaves as a city would during the summer season.

After the middle of September, everyone leaves. The population reverts to about nine hundred souls. There are many beach places here, many bars and cafes along the waterfront and in summer they are bustling. Yet, come this time of year…end of September…it begins to look like a ghost town.

The beach is still beautiful and people still get in the water and swim, although the temperatures are going down. But you get a sense of closure, of something fun and lovely that has finished when you look around and see everything closed. After all, just days before everything was out, all the chairs, the umbrellas, the chaise longs, and most importantly, the people. Now there is silence and instead of tourist families there are packs of barking dogs…

All photographs and artwork in this blog are my original work. (C.2019) I am an artist living and working in Valencia, Spain. If you are interested in seeing more of my artwork, I cordially invite you to visit my Instagram galleries @Francisco_Bravo_Cabrera and to see my online gallery where I have posted my 2019 “JaZzArt en Valencia” collection, please go to http://www.ArtPal.comrfbravo1155

THANKS!