Edith and I head to Demra where we visit the church of St. Nicholas (yes, Santa Claus) as well as Myra for more Roman ruin fun. We see a snake and a tortoise.
It's been days since I had a kebab, so I go hunting. Once I've located one Edith and my paths split, with her heading back to Kaş and me going onwards to Olympos. I'm staying in a ''tree house'' (more like a log cabin, but who's counting?). The whole place has a bit of a kooky air about it, but nothing I reckon I can't handle.
I ramble through more ruins and eventually meet up with the Irish Patrick, who I was on the bus with. We go for a drink and I hang around my campsite until it is painfully clear I am staying in a God-damned hippy commune. I beat a Turk at backgammon and he agrees to give me a lift to Antalya tomorrow afternoon. Result.
Saturday, 11 April 2009
Friday, 10 April 2009
Kaş - Success
Get up quite early and visit the market. Breakfast is a potato pancake with chocolate spread. Edith and I wander about half a mile out to the beach - I dip my toes in and we head back to town.
We get on the boat for the third time and head to another new site. After about two hours we've done everything we need to do (and we're at about the safe limit anyway) so back we go.
It just takes a little bit more admin and then both of us are PADI Open Water Divers. I scuba-dived to 18m today and since Wednesday we've been doing all kinds of skills underwater - taking various bits of kit off and replacing them, simulating out-of-air scenarios and also floating about and looking at fish.
Scuba diving is awesome.
We take our instructor Oray out for dinner at the same place we went to yesterday, and after a few drinks and a quick backgammon lesson it's the end of my last night in Kaş. It is a brilliant place, especially out of season.
Thursday, 9 April 2009
Kaş - Wow. Just wow.
I get up and it's another beautiful day. I wander down to the bakery for breakfast and pick up two rolls, and hit the fruit shop for an orange. The guy at the shop refuses to sell me the orange - he gives it to me for free instead. Either I have a healthy birthday glow about me, or he doesn't actually work there. Either way, a free orange along with a nice cup of Turkish tea and some soft olive-flavoured rolls make for a great start to the day.
Edith (who changed hostels yesterday and is now in the room opposite mine, as the hostel I found is nicer than hers for the same price) and I wander down to town for Day 2 of treat. It's excellent - I get into the swing of things very quickly, and I'm a lot more comfortable than yesterday. We learn a lot and I see some very cool things.
My jaw achs a bit in the afternoon due to my exertions but that soon clears up. After some admin and tests at the office, Edith and I head out for dinner. We find a nice restaurant and I have a fish supper while I watch the sun set over the mountains behind Kaş town. While we're eating, some representitives of the local feline population are amusing themselves next to the table. The fish costs less than advertised, which means I get a fantastic supper, drink and pudding for under a tenner.
I need to head back to the hostel and when I catch up with Edith she has a present - some Turkish delight.
I could not have planned a better birthday.
Edith (who changed hostels yesterday and is now in the room opposite mine, as the hostel I found is nicer than hers for the same price) and I wander down to town for Day 2 of treat. It's excellent - I get into the swing of things very quickly, and I'm a lot more comfortable than yesterday. We learn a lot and I see some very cool things.
My jaw achs a bit in the afternoon due to my exertions but that soon clears up. After some admin and tests at the office, Edith and I head out for dinner. We find a nice restaurant and I have a fish supper while I watch the sun set over the mountains behind Kaş town. While we're eating, some representitives of the local feline population are amusing themselves next to the table. The fish costs less than advertised, which means I get a fantastic supper, drink and pudding for under a tenner.
I need to head back to the hostel and when I catch up with Edith she has a present - some Turkish delight.
I could not have planned a better birthday.
Wednesday, 8 April 2009
Kaş - Serendipity - April 8th
As I wake there is glorious sunshine. I wander down to town. As it's my birthday tomorrow I have planned myself a special treat, and I find the tourist office because I need more information. When I am there I bump into the Austrian Edith who has the exact same plan as me, though she is slightly further along. I join her on the first of three days of treat.
By the afternoon I am slightly sunburnt. I am looking forward to tomorrow.
By the afternoon I am slightly sunburnt. I am looking forward to tomorrow.
Kaş - It was the best of bus rides, it was the worst of bus rides
It's cold and rainy so when I get up to visit the Hierapolis ruins I'm not really feeling it. Still, needs must, and after I pay an extortionate tourist tax to visit, I gain access to the Travertines.
The Travertines are natural pools formed by calcıum-rich water. As the water evaporates it leaves the calcium carbonate deposits behind, making the entire hillside look white. From far away it appears like grubby snow but up close it's actually pretty cool. I paddle in the pools in the rain - they must be volcanic because they are hot.
The weather has worsened, so I get pretty wet wandering about the ruins of Hierapolis, just above the Travertines (built by the Romans to take advantage of the natural mineral-rich water). They are reasonably impressive. Had the weather been nicer I could have had a great day wandering all over the huge hillside area but after seeing the main attractions I had had enough and wanted to move on. Besides, it was full of French people.
Had the weather been nicer I think this would have been a trip highlight, but to guarantee that you'd need to come in season, which would be intolerable. There seems to be nothing in Pamukkale but tourism. Well, onwards.
Minibus to Denizli bus station, and try to get on a bus to Kaş. They tell me I need to get to Antalya first, and then get the dolmus (minibus) from there, which run often. All the buses cost the same so I follow the advice of a Turk I've befriended and take the 'best' bus company.
The following four hours are the best I have ever had on a bus. The seats were huge and comfortable, the headset radio distracting, the tea and cake complimentary, the scenery captivating and, best of all, the further from Pamukkale we got the nicer the weather, until we arrived in Antalya in glorious sunshine.
I was then told I needed to get the dolmus to Kaş (expected) and that it would take four hours (unexpected). Looking at the map it seems I must have been conned somehow, but I can't work out who benefitted. Oh well, I've lost a maximum of four hours and less than a tenner, so we chalk this one up to experience.
The following four hours are not the worst I have ever spent on a bus, but for a long-legged fellow like me they are pretty miserable. I get into Kaş at night, find my hostel and dump my stuff. Despite 8 hours of bus ride and a full morning it's not quite late enough for me to crash, so I find a bar, get chatting to some Turks, get ripped off horribly for drinks, and go to bed.
The Travertines are natural pools formed by calcıum-rich water. As the water evaporates it leaves the calcium carbonate deposits behind, making the entire hillside look white. From far away it appears like grubby snow but up close it's actually pretty cool. I paddle in the pools in the rain - they must be volcanic because they are hot.
The weather has worsened, so I get pretty wet wandering about the ruins of Hierapolis, just above the Travertines (built by the Romans to take advantage of the natural mineral-rich water). They are reasonably impressive. Had the weather been nicer I could have had a great day wandering all over the huge hillside area but after seeing the main attractions I had had enough and wanted to move on. Besides, it was full of French people.
Had the weather been nicer I think this would have been a trip highlight, but to guarantee that you'd need to come in season, which would be intolerable. There seems to be nothing in Pamukkale but tourism. Well, onwards.
Minibus to Denizli bus station, and try to get on a bus to Kaş. They tell me I need to get to Antalya first, and then get the dolmus (minibus) from there, which run often. All the buses cost the same so I follow the advice of a Turk I've befriended and take the 'best' bus company.
The following four hours are the best I have ever had on a bus. The seats were huge and comfortable, the headset radio distracting, the tea and cake complimentary, the scenery captivating and, best of all, the further from Pamukkale we got the nicer the weather, until we arrived in Antalya in glorious sunshine.
I was then told I needed to get the dolmus to Kaş (expected) and that it would take four hours (unexpected). Looking at the map it seems I must have been conned somehow, but I can't work out who benefitted. Oh well, I've lost a maximum of four hours and less than a tenner, so we chalk this one up to experience.
The following four hours are not the worst I have ever spent on a bus, but for a long-legged fellow like me they are pretty miserable. I get into Kaş at night, find my hostel and dump my stuff. Despite 8 hours of bus ride and a full morning it's not quite late enough for me to crash, so I find a bar, get chatting to some Turks, get ripped off horribly for drinks, and go to bed.
Monday, 6 April 2009
Pamukkale - We built this city on rock and tourism
Up later than I'd hoped, but I've had a few early starts recently so I refuse to feel bad. Wander around the Ephesus Museum in Selçuk for a few hours, and get on the bus to Parmukkale in the middle of the afternoon.
It gets there late, and I'm jumped on by a hostel owner who's trying to get me to stay in his hostel. As it's mentioned in the guide book I feel it's probably legit, so get in his minibus with a few other backpackers and off we go.
As we arrive the signs aren't good - there's a massive blue neon sign above the entry road saying, in English, ''Welcome to Pamukkale''. This place may be slightly touristy.
I meet three French travellers at the hostel, go out for dinner and a drink, and head back. My brief excursion has confirmed my fears - all the restaurants have menus in English and it's clear I'm well on the beaten track. Oh well.
It gets there late, and I'm jumped on by a hostel owner who's trying to get me to stay in his hostel. As it's mentioned in the guide book I feel it's probably legit, so get in his minibus with a few other backpackers and off we go.
As we arrive the signs aren't good - there's a massive blue neon sign above the entry road saying, in English, ''Welcome to Pamukkale''. This place may be slightly touristy.
I meet three French travellers at the hostel, go out for dinner and a drink, and head back. My brief excursion has confirmed my fears - all the restaurants have menus in English and it's clear I'm well on the beaten track. Oh well.
Selçuk - Ephesus
Up early enough that well before noon I've moved about 80km, found a hostel in Selçuk and started walking towards the ruins of Ephesus. I bump into two Americans at the entrance to the ruins, Kat and Kim, and we wander around the remains together.
The Ephesus ruins are much bigger and grander than at Troy, though slightly less legendary. They cover a huge area and it takes us a good few hours to walk over the whole thing. You can go right up to a lot of the ruins (which may be why there's less here than there otherwise might have been, but I'm not complaining). They have a monstrous theatre here, which I estimate could hold something like 10,000 people, as well as a library with a statue of Science outside. Yay! The entrance to the library is in good condition / has been restored well; it must be 20m high, and very ornate.
The girls are heading off to Greece so after lunch I say goodbye and wander round Selçuk town a bit more. There are some ruins of an aquaduct which would have been incredible back when it worked, and more ruins of a basilica above the supposed tomb of the apostle John. I meet a New Zealander called Sam here, and we wander to what was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Temple of Artimis. In its day this was a massive temple, on the scale of the Acropolis, with about 200 columns. Today only one and a half columns remain on swampy, boggy ground. There are storks nesting on top of the tall column.
Back at the hostel we chill with some of the other guests for a bit, before we all turn in.
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