Week 18 - Turkey
Well, I needn't have worried. We love Turkey too. We've been staying just ahead of fall just about the whole trip so far. We've been heading Southeast since we left Germany and in each new spot we get a few warm days just after we arrive, then the cooler weather follows us. This time we arrived late on a Friday night, Saturday was warm with a few showers and was spent settling in and getting groceries.
Sunday was beautiful, sunny and 75°. We walked down to the beach and played in the waves.
A lot of things are closed for the season, but we found an open tour company and booked a horseback ride and a boat ride. We don't mind things being closed, it's quiet, no crowds and very affordable. Enough is open that we can find what we need, just not as many options for each type of store. After playing in the waves for a while we dried off and found a traditional restaurant. Turkish food is somewhat similar to Greek, but with a little more Arabic and Far Eastern influence. Actually, everything about Turkey is drawn from many cultures, because of its central geographic location and history. These meld to create the very unique Turkish culture that I've always wanted to experience. Whatever the mix, the meal was amazing, delicious, plentiful and cheap. We swung by another grocery store and took a taxi home.
Ölüdeniz is kind of a two part town. It runs down a valley between two mountains, with the main part of town at the top on kind of a plane, then there is a narrow strip of resorts and villas with mountains and national park on either side, then it spreads out again along the shore with more resorts, restaurants, and beachy things. We're just about in the middle of the narrow strip with park land on three sides and a great view.
Saturday and Sunday we walked down hill to the beach area, so Monday and Thursday J and I walked up the hill to the main town. It was rainy and the kids stayed home while we discovered a couple more grocery stores, a pharmacy and a shop selling delicious wrapped sandwiches made with spicy bulgur paste.
Wednesday was lovely again, though cooler, and I took the little boys horseback riding. We rode up into the hills and looked down over Fethiye, a bigger neighboring town. I didn't get any pictures because I was afraid I'd drop my phone riding and left it at the stable. There is a cable car up the tallest mountain in the area, aptly named Babadağ, or Daddy Mountain. We'd been wanting to do it, and it's literally right by our house, but it doesn't run if it's too windy or foggy up there so we hadn't been able to. With more rain in the forecast and it being on the way home we decided we better do it when we had the chance. So big C and J walked up to meet me and the little guys. It was an amazing view, all the way to Rhodes, even though we only went as far as the first stop.
There is a restaurant up there, a little fancier than what we usually choose, but that just meant the portions were smaller and we were actually able to eat everything we ordered. As in Greece and the Arab world most restaurant meals are served family style with many different appetizers available. Often we just get a lot of those and skip the main dishes so we can try more different things. The new thing that time was stewed hibiscus greens which were really tasty. We stayed long enough to see the sunset which was wonderful, then headed home to our cozy villa.
Thursday was another pretty day, and even warmer. We finally got to take our boat ride.
First we went to the blue cave, which is a sea cave the boat can enter.
Next we went to Butterfly Valley, a place in the national park reachable only by boat. Fresh water runs down the cliffs and stays on top of the sea water. Fresh water plus nectar makes it a good place for butterflies, so in the summer you can see 70 different species. We saw a couple, but it's not the season. We got to wade ashore to play on the beach and have a picnic.
The captain dropped us off at another beach on a lagoon from where we could easily walk back to town.
We then returned to our favorite restaurant from Sunday, ate a delicious dinner and got some groceries. We had already turned down two rides home, one from the tour company and one when the restaurant wanted to call us a taxi. We needed groceries first, and the store is near the taxi stand. There we no taxis when we got there, we pushed the button to summon one, and waited a few minutes. Then the bus driver called his taxi driver friend and we waited another few minutes. After that taxi didn't arrive, another buddy who had been chatting with the bus driver led us around the corner to his friend, who was not a taxi driver but a paragliding pilot who was willing to give us a ride. The guy who arranged it for us looked a bit hard up and asked for 20 lira, about a dollar. The guy who took us home wouldn't take any money, but told Jay, "Just kiss your children for me." I couldn't help contrast it to our experience in Germany when we couldn't get a taxi for hours and no one offered help until I begged.
Friday was cloudy and cool, but not actually raining and I wanted to get two more sights in while the weather lasted. After morning lessons we attempted to call a taxi, but were unable to send our location as requested. So we walked down the hill into town. As we walked we realized we were stressed about the possibility of a taxi misunderstanding so we went to the tour booth where we had booked the boat trip and horseback riding. They were not offering any tours to historical sites, at least not during the winter, but were nice enough to walk with us down to the taxi stand and explain what we wanted. We got a great driver named Khalil, who took us first to Kayakoy Village. This was a village dating back to the time of ancient Greece, many of its inhabitants converted to Christianity in late antiquity, and lived side by side with Muslim Turks until 1923 when the Christian inhabitants were expelled to Greece. Many Turks left at that time too and any that remained fled after an earthquake in 1957. So it's a ghost town. We found it very moving to walk the deserted streets and examine the crumbling buildings.
Khalil arrived within minutes of us letting him know we were finished and took us on a short but beautiful drive through the mountains to Telmessos. This was an ancient city carved into the cliffs around the 4th century BC. The main thing you can still see are ornate tombs carved into rock. It's pretty amazing to think of how they accomplished it.
It's a wonderful view of Fethiye from up there too
After exploring the tombs we had another delicious meal while watching the lights come on in the city below us.
We tend to hit restaurants in the late afternoon after a day of exploring, before the evening crowd arrives, so we're often the only people there. This was the case, and the Turkish music that was playing when we entered was quickly replaced first by an instrumental version of "Holy Night" then by Willie Nelson. Not that we dislike Turkish music, quite the contrary in fact, but our entire stay here has been characterized by folks offering the most gracious service and hospitality and going out of their way to make us feel at home.
We have four days left in Turkey, and rain has been predicted for all of them. We pushed the kids a little last week trying to fit in everything we could into three nice days. They've been requesting a stay home day so I think that's what we'll do. Maybe some quick walks between rain showers, but no more plans for day trips. Wednesday, we head to Cyprus.