This is a relatively big deal, as Chris is allergic to wasp and bee stings. Within a couple of hours his left hand had swollen to twice it’s normal size.Clare and Rec arrived, and Jan and Mike appeared not long afterwards, and we had a good time cooking outside, before moving indoors as it got darker and chillier. Iain and I stayed the night, and next morning Chris’s swelling had moved up to the wrist, and was itching like mad. Pat had to go to a village meeting early afternoon, so after a lazy brunch, Iain drove Chris and I in the Gas Fired Monster out to see a village in the hills behind Yanikla called Cenga. It was a very small village, with a mosque in the centre, whose claim to fame was to have the grave of Osman Effendi. The villagers from the house next door were outside when we pulled up and offered us tea and cake while we exchanged pleasantries in our limited Turkish. We had a walk around the mosque and looked at the grave. After a while we said our good byes, and as we got in the car to leave, one of the village ladies rushed from the house, and thrust a hand-edged head scarf into my hands as a gift! You never get over how generous the Turkish people are. I don't think they get many visitors and we'd made their day. We carried on along the dirt track over the hills and came out near Uzumlu, and the main road home. Chris’s swelling was now nearly up to his elbow, so we called into the chemist in Ciflik on the way home to pick up some antihistamine gel and tablets.
Pat was back when we got home and filled us in on the happenings at the meeting, followed by a lovely dinner of leftovers from the night before. We decided the time was right for the deciding Trivial Pursuit match before the set has to go back to Yakamoz for the summer. Lady luck favoured the lads and Pat and I were trounced, ending the winter season of 2007 4:3 down.
That was the night of the lunar eclipse, so we sat poking the fire, occasionally bobbing out in rotation to check on the moon. Eventually we saw the start of the eclipse, so grabbed jumpers, stools and drinks to head for the roof terrace to watch the show. It was truly wonderful, although we could only be bothered to stay up until 1.30am.
Ahmet Kizen had invited us to his organic farm for a tea and pancakes on the Sunday morning, so we arranged to meet Jan and Mike there. They had a village women ensconced by the open fire, rolling, filling and cooking the pancakes as fast as we could eat them. Chris stayed at home as the sting had really knocked him out, and also seemed to having a further reaction to the antihistamine gel – causing blisters to appear around his wrist.
After brunch, we’d decided that we’d try and fine an historic site which was a few miles up the road called Daedela. Allegedly the spot from which Iccarrus had made his leap for the sky with wax wings. We arrived at the place we thought we needed to start from and found a bee-keeper nearby with his little wooden hut, surrounded by hives. We dispatched Pat to ask him about directions. Yes we were in the right place, but it was hard to get to from here, we’d be better off approaching it from the top road. He and his wife were just about to have their lunch and did we want to join them? Pat explained there was five of us and demurred.
It was lush up there, with many flowers and herbs around so we decided to have a wander around anyway and see what we could from the bottom of the gorge. After a while we headed back to the car, and the bee-keeper waved us over for tea. It would be impolite to refuse, so we went over to them. Him and his wife were lovely and explained all about the process. He had some 300 hives, each housing around 10,000 bees from which he netted 10 tonnes of honey a year. In addition to this he sold the wax and the pollen – so he was doing very well for himself. His wife made us all tea, and gave us some pollen to try. He explained that the hives would remain here until the 15 March, whereupon he’d load them into his lorry, along with his little hut, and move to a village near Seki. A month or so later, they move it all again to Elmali, before returning here in August. Incredible.
We thanked them for the tea and said goodbye, thankful that Chris had decided to stay behind and avoid this chance exposure to 3,000,000 bees!
Monday night we all met up again for Fish and Chips and Quiz night. Always a good crack, and even better because we won! We said goodbye to everyone as the next day we were heading off on our driving adventure and Jan was going back to
Next morning, we were up at 6.40am to get packed and ready for the trip, said goodbye to Adem and Nese and were fuelled, car washed and on the road out of Fethiye by 10am. Our first destination was Tlos, an ancient Lycian and Roman site about 45mins from Fethiye. There are some fantastic ruins here and impressive rock tombs. The roman bath house is particularly stunning with it’s amazing aspect overlooking the vast Xanthos valley below. The place was deserted – not even a man to collect our entry fee. The ground was lush and green and carpeted with large daisies and red wild anenomies. An hour an a half later, we’d seen all we wanted and headed a few miles further along to Xanthos. We drove behind the site and found a clearing on the top where we parked up and made a picnic, of fresh bread, olives and feta cheese in olive oil and tomatoes. Followed by oranges from Pat’s garden.
We returned to the car park and parked under the shade of a tree and paid our entrance fees for the site of Xanthos. We were the only visitors. The peoples here of ancient times were very anti hostile-take-overs and in their history had tried mass suicide three times rather than be conquered, succeeding at least once. The guide books we had brought filled in the gaps, and after a while we decided we didn’t think too much of Sir Charles Fellows, who’d found many of these sites and often ‘carted off’ all the best stuff worth having to the
Thankfully, Fellows probably hadn’t found these, and therefore these had not been carted off! As the place was deserted and the cordons were easily scaled, we hopped across to get a better look – they were in fantastic condition, and you’ll be pleased to now that we are responsible tourists and took care not to walk on any of them.
Back in the car, we headed down to the Kalkan and from there took the beautiful costal road around to Kas, where we stopped for a mosey, an iced coffee and a beer. Just outside Kas is Antihphellos. This is (another) amphitheatre, but with an amazing aspect looking out over Kas bay. For the first time that day we had to share the ruins, this time with a couple of canoodling young Turks, enjoying the romance of the place.
The sun was waning and we were conscious that we needed to find a camp site. We drove around the Kas peninsula, which although interesting was too populated for the rough camping we were after. We decided to head on down the main road, and try and find somewhere on the way to Kekova. We pulled off the main road, and after a while find a wooded area with a dirt track. We pulled in and reckied on foot to find a nice clearing in the midst of the woods. We pulled the car in, well out of sight from the road and unloaded our gear.Iain set up Pat & Chris’s tent which we’d borrowed while I collected some wood. We made a circle with stones and started a small fire. The light was gone, so we found some seat shaped stones, and opened the wine. When the fire had died off, we threaded some sucuk ( which is like chirizo sausage, but less dense) and made sandwiches. We stayed up listening to the owls, until the sticks we’d picked up were all gone. We slept OK in the tent, waking up frequently not knowing if we were going to be ambushed by wild boars or random goat herders, but in the event we were totally left alone. It got very cold that night, and we awoke to frost on the side of the tent – we hadn’t realised how high we were. Using the camping gas, we made coffee and then had egg and kebab meat sanwiches before breaking camp and reloading the car. There was an old ruined building just down the track so we went for a poke around.
Next up, we were after Kekova. There is a city beneath the water that we wanted to have a look at. Along the road, we were flagged down by a man in the village. He asked if we were going to Kekova, and would we give him a lift? We had space, so agreed and soon got chatting. He said he worked on a boat and when we asked if we’d be able to get a boat to see the ruins he offered to help us out. It seemed so serendipitous! He directed us through the back streets and took us to a boat. After much haggling we agreed a price and climbed aboard. They had difficulty getting the engine primed and started, but eventually it spluttered to life. The chap we’d picked up then got off and left us with the old sea dog to do the trip. We chugged past the 
chugged over to
Next destination was the
Olympos is a popular stop off on the back packers trial, famed for it’s ruined Roman settlement either side of a river in a pine forest, as well as the cheap accommodation on offer including tree houses. We had a romantic view of these, imagining wooden buildings high in the pine trees, vines hanging down, Tarzan and Jane – you know what I mean. I have to say, it was a disappointment. Maybe it was nice when the first people set up this novel idea, but in true Turkish fashion, everyone had jumped on the band wagon, and there were row upon row, public convenience style, of ‘sheds on legs’. We followed the road through the village which was akin to a wild west looking place, until we reach a deep ford. Too deep for the
The man spoke perfect English, and was the manager of one of these ‘tree house’ pansiyon places. He was keen we should stay in one and offered to show us the rooms. Two beds in a shed 5 feet off the ground, nice. They looked rickety and we thought we’d be better of rough camping again, which he reckoned we may be able to do down on the beach. After a coffee and a chat with the guy we agreed to think over his offer after we’d looked around the ruins and checked out the beach.
The ruins are very overgrown, but have a super location in the shady gorge with a shallow river cutting them in half. We ambled along the track, and eventually reached the beach – which was stunning and deserted. Sitting in the sun, we could see another place alittle further up which we deduced to be Cirali. I thought we could go there and be able to get our car near to the beach and then camp, so we headed back through the ancient remains to the car.
Tree house man was watching out for us, so we thanked him and told him we were moving on. We had to go right back up to the main road, and then down the other side to reach Cirali, a lot more appealing on approach. We found the track leading to the beach and a clutch of beach side locantas. We went right to the end, and surveyed the area. It was quiet so we though it would be OK to camp, but as there was a couple of young men walking along the shore, we’d ask them just in case. They suggested we talk to the owner of the hotel which was behind the beach. It was a beautiful set up, with a well planted garden full of secret paths and clearings, intermingled with self contained bungalows for guests. In the grounds we saw peacocks, including albino ones which were completely white! We wended our way through to find the housekeepers place at the back. The lady had a visitor with her, and spoke a little English. We asked if she’d mind if we camped on the beach outside her hotel. She thought it would be OK as it was winter, and then said, Oh, did we want to camp in the garden? Could we, we replied, we wont make a fire and will be very clean. Ok, no problem said she and that was that.
We found a spot in a clearing just behind the wall between her garden and the beach and set up camp. As we were planning what to do, the visitor came through the garden. ‘Iyi Akshamlar’ said we, (good evening), she replied the same and chuckled. ‘Actually, I speak English’ she said, so we had a chat. She was a Canadian living in Cirali, and she suggested that if we were going to see the Chimerae we should go now while we still had daylight, take a picnic and grill it on the mysterious flames that just spurt out of the rocks. We packed up wine, socuk sausage, some bread and torches and headed off.
We parked in the car park at the bottom, and had a steep 800m climb to do to reach the place. The sun had set by the time we reached the top, and we were greeted with a white rock face, nestled in the middle of a pine forest, with little clefts breathing fire. We chose one for our picnic and settled to watch the changing colours in the sky while threading our kebabs up and pouring the wine. As darkness fell, the flames became brighter, and it was quite surreal. A few other brave souls had joined us, and were marvelling at the spectacle, some had also brought wine to enjoy. I thought I'd heard that if you put the Chimera out, it spontaneously reignites, so as I had some water with me thought I'd test the theory. Whoops, flames out and no re-ignition! Iain quickly leapt to the rescue and threw a match at the holes, whoomph, the gas reignited and took a few hairs off him to boot!
We stayed for a while and were the last to leave the site at around 7.30, descending the trail in the pitch black, with the help of our torches. Back to our camp site, we took the stools and sat on the beach for a while, before turning in.
We awoke early and were able to peel back the tent doors and watch the sun rise, as we were facing east, over the sea – wrapped in sleeping bags sitting on the sand.
We made breakfast using the gas stove, and fed the peacocks, chickens and ducks the left over bread before breaking camp.
After collecting a few more provisions in Kumluca, we headed off inland to look for Arykanda. We arrived at the car park of the site, to find just one person there, a Turkish man in green who looked like a ranger or something. We got our stools out and chatted to him for a bit, sharing the Ayran we’d bought that morning, before starting our exploration. Arykanda is well worth a visit. An unfeasibly large and well excavated site on a steep mountain side. As you climb, clefts reveal huge amphitheatres, stadia, agora and gymnasia. There were 6 bath houses, the Main baths being the most impressive, lots of mosaics, dressed stone work, carved reliefs, as well as the ubiquitous Lycian sarcophagi here and there.
The ticket man turned up after an hour, and sold us a book about the site. We scrabbled around for a good 3 hours, there was so much to see.We were heading back to the coast at Kas, so we decided to take a cross road, marked on the map, over the mountains. It was in good condition and we passed through many interesting and pretty stone villages, and forest areas. We found a nice spot by a river in a pine glade to stop for lunch, arriving at Kas mid afternoon.
We stopped in layby to get our socks off and spruce up our feet with lemon cologne, and have a coffee over looking the pretty fishing town below. A truck pulled up a little way up from us, and the man began unloading some crates, which he took down the steps that lead to the back of his garden below us. As he finished, he came over to us, and gave us a handful of apples from his haul. We asked him where they were from, Elmali of course (Elma means apple in Turkish). We thanked him as he sped off, and ate the apples.
Refreshed, we got back on the coast road and made for Kalkan. We’d arranged to stay the night with Audrey, and were looking forward to seeing both her, and having a shower! She had got her slow cooker going and it was full of curry, superb! Before dinner we went into town to see the harbour side as the sun went down and shone everything a coppery red colour. We had a quick look through some of her Turkey guide books, and ready in the lonely planet about Kekova. Be aware , it said, you may be flagged down by pretend hitch-hikers, whose job is to get you on their boat trip! What had seemed serendipidous, had in fact been a well known tourist trap. We laughed at being so gullible! We asked Audrey if she had any plans over the next few days, and if not, why not come back with us? She was a bit caught on the hop, but thought, hell – why not? So in the morning, after eggs and toast on the balcony, she threw a few things in a bag, grabbed her knitting and off we went!
We headed for home, with a detour to the ruins in Pinari. This is a lovely spot as well – the ancients certainly knew how to pick ‘em. We pulled up outside the ticket office, where the official was having tea with some of his friends, and their goat. First things first – stools out, kettle on, cuppa tea, drink in the area. After our tea, we paid the entrance fee, and drove further up to begin our exploration. Audrey didn’t feel like scrabbling around, so we set her up with a stool overlooking the amphitheatre and she got out her knitting! After we had seen the high city area, we went over to check out the amphitheatre and the bath house. Then we found a pleasant spot for our picnic. Audrey’d brough some left over quiche, lettuce and some scones, so we had quiche, lettuce and tomato sandwiches and scones, with a cuppa tea. Fab, we love picnicking! After a relaxing lunch, amongst many randy tortoises, we packed up and finally headed for home.
We invited Chris and Pat over for dinner that evening, so I got a few bits in, and set to roast chicken with Mediterranean vedge, followed by caramelised oranges with yoghurt and honey combs, while we watched our photo’s scrolling on the TV. After dinner we sat and watched the Bodrum Cup video with Audrey.
Saturday morning, Iain shot up to see Mike at Yakamoz and set up his shiny new laptop, while Audrey and I pottered. Me sorting the mountain of washing and Aud knitting with a vengeance. Finally, the glass shelves arrived for the kitchen and the carpenter finished the shelving under the sink, at last, everything finished in the kitchen! After lunch, Pat arrived to collect us to go to the opening of a new Irish bar in Calis.
Back to see Chris, and we spent the afternoon lazing around before dinner, when Mike came over to join us. We settled down after a lovely dinner of Lyonaisse vegetables to watch the bootleg copy of the latest Bond film that we’d bought at the Kosem the week before. We and Audrey stayed over the night, and we all decided that on Sunday we’d do a short walk and have a picnic.
Mid morning, we stopped off here to pick up trekking poles for Audrey, who’s recovering from a knee op, and some sucuk etc, before driving out on the scenic road to Kaya village. We parked up in a shady glade and walked the relatively short distance to the cliff edge. Aud and Pat stayed at the top, while Chris, Iain, Mike and I descended down the scree to see the ruined monastery at Afkule. The views over the turquoise sea below are stunning. After our culture hit, we all headed back collecting cones and fallen twigs for the barbecue picnic enroute. We had flame grilled sucuk and halloumi sandwiches with tea. Back to the bar beneath the deserted Greek village for a beer before heading home to Sarikonak.
Handi and Dilara were both showcasing their musical talents at the Cultural centre that evening, so a quick change and we all headed into town to watch the show. We had an hour before Handi’s sass recital, so bobbed along to the Kizmet for a G&T. Handi looked fabulous in a burgundy and gold frock dress and played very well and confidently to a packed auditorium. Dilara was up next and played two piano solos.
We handed both the girls small bouquets of wild flowers that we’d picked in Kaya after their performances. Getting peckish, we then headed for Pasa Kebab locanta and had a round of pides – Turkish pizzas, gorgeous.
Monday came and we had to say goodbye to Audrey. We stopped downtown on the way to the bus station so she could get some more wool. Her knitted jacket had turned out well, and she was planning a second in a different mix. We left Audrey at the bus station, and headed up to Yakamoz to see Mike and finish his laptop set-up. I read in the sun while the boys talked technical.
It was a lovely day, so since we were half way there, we carried on to Oludeniz to see how the road widening was going and check out the lovely beach there.
A few days of rest now, before we sort out the finer details of how we’re going to get rid of the car and renew our 3 month tourist visa’s – more adventures to come!
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