Turkey 2013

Back to Fethiye on the Gulet AlaTurka 2

So far, our two day stay in the small fishing village of Kekova was a highlight of the trip. Scattered with Lycian tombs, it lies right across the Sunken City that dates back to the 4th century B.C. - the Hellenistic and Roman times. There are ruins of a castle up at the very top of the hill and along side of it there are numerous intriguing Lycian tombs.

As they had promised, in the early afternoon, after watching several gulets come through the harbor, the AlaTurk 2 motored into the harbor and moored right in front of our pension. She backed in towards the pier and extended the gangplank onto the pier. We said our good-byes to our host couple and boarded AlaTurk with our baggage. What service.

Mustafa, the contact with whom we had been communicating welcomed us aboard and showed us to our stateroom. We went below deck, down a hallway past several doors to either side, towards the bow of the boat. Stateroom #1 came with a double bunk below, a single bunk on top, two portholes, a hanging locker, drawers and an ample size head with shower. Nice, clean and comfortable.

There were a total of 19 passengers and three crewmen aboard - Ausies, Dutch, German, Austrian, Portuguese, American and the Turkish crew. Quite an international group. The gulet is twin masted ,75 feet long, Turkish built vessel. Although capable of sailing, when heading north, they only motor. The wind is typically northerly or non-existent. On top of that, they have tight schedules to meet. Well, I really hadn't counted on sailing anyway.

On the aft deck, there is a long table that tightly seats twenty passengers. There, breakfast, lunch, tea time and dinner is served. The food is wholesome, tasty and varied. Although there appeared to be an ample amount of food served, with several young, healthy males aboard, the food vanished as quickly as it was served. You really had to focus on getting some on your own plate. (We found out later that there were an extra couple of passengers aboard who they hadn't counted on.)

As soon as we left Kekova, the skipper took us across the bay to the Sunken City. We hugged the coastline and could see structures, columns, stairs coming out of the water and what looked like possible docks. Then, in around 200AD a strong earthquake,  placed much of the village ten meters below sea level.

Ruins from the Sunken City

After the Sunken City, we stopped at a cave and had a chance to jump off the boat to swim into the cave for a peek. It was just a big hole, but the swim was refreshing. We then motored to a small bay on the back side of an island, and along side several other gulets, anchored for the evening.

Taking a dip by the cave

The next day we went to Kas, the quaint town the four of us had visited by car. It was just as interesting coming into Kas the second time - this time by boat. Diane and I walked around the pleasant town to another part of it where there is a marina and haul-out facilities. We then returned to the boat.

Arriving in Kas by sea

This probable Anatolian mix dog had incredibly light blue eyes

Typical tour boat being built 

There's always a carpet shop along the way

Chow time on board

That evening we again anchored in another bay, had a chance to swim and mingle with the other passengers and then had dinner.

The next day, we were awakened early by the starting of the engine. I peaked out of the porthole - it was still dark. I could hear the crew bringing up the anchor. Shortly we were on our way. I went back to bed.

By breakfast time we were anchored in Butterfly Valley, a narrow, steep, almost mystical looking cove that would be suitable for a Steven Spielberg film. The area is a fertile agricultural one, best known for its figs, citrus fruits, mulberry and carob. Although we didn’t it spot it, the valley is named after the Jersey Tiger butterfly.

Coming into Butterfly Valley

After breakfast, a few of us swam ashore. The Dutch family disembarked here and planned to camp and hike out to somewhere. Those Dutch seem to have a real adventurous spirit.

After a brief walk around the bay, we swam back to the boat. We pulled up anchor and went onward to Oludeniz, a town known for having one of the top ten beaches in the world, the Blue Lagoon and paragliding.

We anchored next to a thirty foot high rock cropping that quickly called out to our Ausie boys to climb it and jump off of it. Pretty soon, a bunch of the young folks were climbing it and doing swan dives of the rock.

When we were settled into the anchorage, the skipper asked if anyone was interested in paragliding. Hesitant at first, a few minutes later I agreed. Four other young passengers also opted in when it became evident that Oludeniz was one of the premier places in the world to paraglide, with a take-off spot that was 6500 feet in elevation!

Panoramic view from the take-off area

It took an hour to drive up to the take-off area, so high in elevation that snow remained in the shady, north-facing spots. When we arrived at the take-off area, the five of us were assigned pilots after which we got together with them to get specific instructions for take-off, in-flight and the landing. The flight itself was going to be about one half hour.

Preparation for take-off

A few minutes later, I was fitted into the tandem gear, with me in front and the pilot behind me. The mild breeze quickly lifted the wing off the ground after which we began to run towards the end of the take-off area. Suddenly we were airborne and picking up momentum as we glided away from the mountain.

At one point, I counted over thirty paragliders in the air 

There were dozens of other paragliders in the air, some higher, some lower in altitude, some higher. But they were all heading down to the same landing spot in Oludeniz. What a sight it was! Having had my one day of paragliding training in Santa Barbara some months back, I was pretty relaxed and knew much of what to do. I settled into the flight as we glided, made turns, encountered some updrafts that took us even higher.

What appeared to be our boat at anchor was a tiny speck in the water. Far more visible were the cities of Fathiye, Oludeniz and another one far away. I could see for many miles in spite of a bit of haze in the air from the humidity.

View of the Blue Lagoon, soon after take-off

Our boat is actually visible anchored near the rock

Towards the end of the flight, to descend more rapidly, the pilot spun the wing into a series of sharp turns. We were then positioned right over the beach front area of Oludeniz. Then, to prepare for landing, he instructed me to be ready to run as we our final descent. All went smoothly as we glided over the roof tops of the buildings and dropped down onto the pavement.  What a great ride.

Once back on the boat, it was tea time. The crew brought out tea, coffee and an assortment of cookies. At the same time, the skipper was busy trying to fix the windlass, which was preventing us from pulling up the anchor. As it turned out we had to wait for a welder to come from town to weld a piece that had broken off the windlass.

Welding the broken part of the windlass

After the repairs we done, we proceeded onward to St. Nicholas Island, another one of those spots that reportedly had been the home of St. Nicholas, the real Santa Claus. Apparently, there is good reason to believe that the tomb of St. Nicholas is on this island.

We anchored just in time to afford a short hike on the small island before sundown. It was extremely interesting because of the numerous ruins and that we were totally free to roam and explore every part of it. Diane and I hiked to the peak and were lucky to get there and see a marvelous sunset.

The next day, with one more stop for lunch and a swim, we headed into Fethiye and disembarked. An agent from the cruise company was there to welcome us and show us to our hotel. We said our good-byes to all the other passengers we had become acquainted with and to the crew, who had been such a great team.  

The skipper and his crew

St. Nicholas Island

Ruins of one of the 7th century churches

The AlaTurka 2 at anchor (far right) in St. Nicholas

Turkey 2013


Kekova

Arriving at our pension (our room is upstairs on the corner). At the top is a third century castle.

After a long four hour bus ride, one that retraced the route that we had driven just days earlier, we arrived at the tiny fishing village of Ucagiz. Since the pension where we were staying was on a peninsula with no road to it, upon arrival we were to call our host, after which he’d come and pick us up by boat. To our surprise, it all went off like clockwork. Soon we were on a skiff captained by our host, headed into the azure Mediterranean waters. We sped through rocky islands with ruins and tombs, places that were inhabited by the Greeks and the Romans over two thousand years ago.

Our host taking us to the pension

It only took ten minutes to arrive at the dock of the Sahil Pansiyon, where after unloading our luggage, we were shown our tiny and rustic, but waterfront room. After having a cool Efis, a candle-lit dinner was served on the dock consisting of freshly caught fish, a tasty salad, fries and bread. A nice way to end a long travel day.

Breakfast and dinner is served under the umbrellas at the end of the dock.. 

A typical Turkish breakfast.

Kekova is a very sleepy village dating back from 300 B.C. Here one is surrounded by ruins on land as well as in the water (apparently, the water rose nearly 30 feet over the years and left the remains of cities underwater). One can view columns, tombs and other ruin remains from atop the water.

View of the castle and Lycian tombs.

Goats do roam.

We stayed in Kekova for two lovely days with not much to do other than relax. We took some hikes to see the remains of a third century A.D. castle, climbed around Lycian tombs, went kayaking and swam.

Today we are moving on. Our gulet (Turkish sailing vessel) is coming by at noon for a four day cruise along the Turquoise Sea. Life is good.

Early morning view of harbor from our balcony.

Turkey 2013

Antalya

Hadrian's Gate built for the Emperor's visit in 130 A.D.

Driving in from the south, we could see Antalya from miles away. As we approached the city we could see one of the mega cruise liners in port. As we weaved through the streets, it wasn’t easy finding and getting access into the old walled city where our hotel was awaiting our arrival. But with some skillful navigation and with the help of a couple of friendly locals we managed to get in and find our hotel.

The Atelya Art Hotel is an old refurbished Ottoman house built out of wood, straw and clay. Inside, the rooms have high ceilings and dark wood floors all decorated with antiques and many colorful carpets and kilims (a thinner, woven carpet, that resembles the Mexican serape).

Atelya Art Hotel

One of the things Diane and Jill wanted to experience was a Turkish massage in one of the old Turkish bath houses. I too was up for it, but Rich opted to enjoy some peace and relaxation along with some Efis beers. So the three of us headed for a six hundred year old Turkish bath house that was near to our hotel.

Upon entering, it was very apparent that the bath house was historical. Diane and I were assigned to an old, wooden changing room, while Jill was in another one next to us. We disrobed and were given a cotton piece of cloth to cover our bodies. We were then taken to one of the hot marble sauna rooms. It was steamy, to be sure. And within ten minutes we all were breaking a good sweat.

The next process was the scrub down. A masseuse came and got me and took me to another room. There he set about to scrub me down with a rough mitt-like cloth with soap after which he used a towel with warm water in it, to roll over my body. The process was finished with a massage, also using soap. Very relaxing. (Apparently, the ladies got the same treatment.)

The last step was a massage with oil. By the end of the process one definitely feels relaxed. All this for about thirty dollars.

Men socializing just outside the walled city.

Backgammon is popular.

Jill and Rich were ending their Turkey trip in Antalya and dropping the car off at the airport. So the following day, after we said our good-byes Diane and I were then on going to depend on public transportation.

The following day, after our traveling partners left, Diane and I managed a thorough walk through the old walled city and had an Efes beer in the lovely harbor setting. We also got talked into stopping in at a couple of carpet stores, in which endless numbers of carpets were paraded in front of us while we sipped hot apple juice. We did buy one runner that we could not resist.

On Sunday morning, after packing, we said good-bye to Atelya Hotel and took a taxi to the main bus station. Soon we were on a bus to Kesova.  

The harbor in the walled city

Diane enjoying a yummy ekmek

Carpets galore

Spices are displayed  in various artistic ways.

Turkish sweets look very enticing.

Turkey 2013


Dalyan

We arrived in Dalyan in the latter part of the afternoon after a fairly long drive from Pamukkale and checked into our hotel. As we drove through Dalyan's center, it looked a bit sleepy with not much activity.

Dalyan is known for its ruins of the ancient city Caunos that date back to 3000 B.C. Although you're supposed to be able to reach them by foot, we just appreciated them from across the river as we strolled around town.

On the left is our hotel

Along the river boat tours are offered

In the evening, we had a superb dinner next to our hotel. We all had different things to eat, Jill having the clay pot dinner that’s actually more typical of Kapadokya cuisine. More on that when we get to Kapadokya. 

The next day we drove to Fethye, probably best known for its great harbor and marina. But above the town there lies Telmessos, a place from antiquity with numerous Lycian rock tombs and ancient buildings cut into the face of a cliff.

We walked around the town’s marina area and were soon off to Kas (pronounced Kash). The road to Kas resembles Highway 1 around Big Sur. It runs right along the water with steep, rocky cliffs on one side and on the other, the sparkling turquoise sea of the Mediterranean.

The harbor in Fethye

The ubiquitous carpet shop

Kas is a touristy village that has been around for centuries. Physically, it’s very quaint because it is the quintessential Mediterranean town that lies on a hilly incline with a small harbor. Originally built and inhabited by the Lycians, over time it was ruled by Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Ottomans and finallyTurks.

We stayed in a small hotel right on the water. No beaches though, only rocky shorelines. There were swim ladders built into the rocks for those wanting to go for dip. I took advantage of it. But finding the water temperature a bit nippy, it wasn’t long before I was out toweling myself dry.  

Looking down on Kas

The view from our hotel room

Early morning walk through Kas

A Lycian tomb in Kas

Enjoying the view from our balcony

We had a difficult time deciding whether to stay one more day in Kas or move on to  Antalya. Jill and Rich had more of a schedule to keep - they were flying out of Antalya in two days. We took the less risky route and chose to get closer to Antalya.

Mosaic inside St. Nicholas church in Demre

This church and the saint it was named after is where the notion of Santa Claus originated.

Demre was an important stop mainly because it was known for having the church of Saint Nicholas - yes, the one that old St. Nick (Santa himself) originated. Also known as Myra or Kale, Demre was the capital of the Lycian province in the 5th century A.D. and played an important role in the religious authority of the period. Today it is a sort of a dusty, non-descript town and isn’t known for much other than the church of Saint Nicholas,


In spite of some rebuilding that went on due to an earthquake, it remains one of the best examples of architecture from the Middle Byzantine period. Although what remains (and what has been reconstructed) is just a small part of the church, you get the picture of what it once used to look like.



After another beautiful drive along the rugged coast we came to a large marina and the town of Finike. Although the city isn’t even mentioned in our guides, we found it to be an attractive beach city, with inexpensive hotels and friendly folks.

In front of our hotel in Finike

The beach in Finike

That night we decided to eat in our rooms. So Jill and I went scavenging for food. We came back from the hunt with store bought bread, olives and cheese and two orders of lamb shish kebabs from a mom and pop restaurant. It was all delicious.



The next morning, after enjoying our typical Turkish breakfast of bread, cheeses, olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, jelly/honey and hard boiled egg, we headed for Antalya, to the old walled city of  Kaleici, where we were staying.