Turkey's southern coast has some beautiful beaches along the Mediterranean and we were privileged to check a few out. One of the them is in the town of Oludeniz about 10 KMs outside of town. We decided to hitch again since our luck has been pretty good, so got on the road and about 40 minutes later were picked up by two Dutch women, one of them worked in the area and the other was on holidays visiting her friend.
They were fun company and we enjoyed the long car ride chatting about traveling and life in Turkey, which Mar one of the girls has been privy to as she has been working in the country for a few years. The beach was beautiful, light blue waters all around, white pebbles, and paragliders above. The beach was dotted with cafes, so the girls decided to eat and we joined them for drinks and company.
One of our car passengers decided to go paragliding, so when she came down, we all met up, bought a few food items from a nearby store and sat down on the grass beach side for a picnic. We chatted more about life and a little about work and some politics. All the talk was getting long and it was getting hot, so the sensible thing to do was to plop back into the water, which we all did for a cool off.
Mar had promised that she would drive us back into town, which was extremely kind as it was getting late and the buses had probably all departed. We sat down for dinner and Mar shared her business plan of bringing disabled people from Holland and introducing them to paragliding. Her business partner was at the table and we talked at length about the idea of opening up ecotourism to people with disabilities.
We walked back to Mar's car, only to find that the car's batteries were dead, must've left the lights on, so with nothing but uphills all around, managed to get it to the top of the hill where she popped the gear and the car started with a lurch. We ran downhill, hopped in the car and off we went.
Our next beach destination was Kabak near the town of Faralya. Kabak is a remote beach tucked away between two cliffs and thus is isolated, quiet, and beautiful. The beach lies close to the famed Butterfly Valley, so when we reached the beach, we could see a few of these creatures flying around displaying their yellow and blue wings.
You reach Kabak after hiking down the valley for an hour or so, which has great views of the Sea and the surrounding lush green valley. We were told that in 2009, a hiker was killed after he failed to follow the trail markers and fell off the cliffs to his death. The beach was quiet except for a brown Labrador who seemed very eager to play fetch. The beach was void of any sticks, so picked up a small stone, threw it, and he went chasing and brought it back. We played for a while, even went swimming together, and when it became too hot, found a shade under a tree and zoned out.
Sabeen, the dog, and me had our fill of the sun and the water and so parted ways, the dog gave us a few barks and ran away to find others and we climbed back up the cliff to find a bus to get us back into town.
Showing posts with label Mediterranean. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mediterranean. Show all posts
More of the Mediterranean Coast
Our arrival into Fethiye was typical. Got into the town around the afternoon and except this time were asked at the bus station if we had a place to stay by one of the men working there. We asked for a place with a kitchen and surprisingly were offered a ride to the hotel.
Sabeen is the negotiator and both of us have been trying to stick to paying the local price, which we think is cheap enough but don't know for sure. Anyway, we go back and forth with the price, the man doesn't agree, we walk out, look for other pensions, only to return because the others are far away and I don't feel like lugging the pack around. We did find a place offering us a mattress in the dining area but would have to scram around 7 AM before breakfast started. Didn't take it......
Our place is pretty decent, the room is large, definitely has a nice kitchen, and is nearby to the harbor, about a 10 minute walk.
There are some Lycian tombs in town like the ones in Petra cut into the rock face and while walking to one, ran into Michael from Poland and decided to spend time together. He was also looking for a place to stay, so suggested the place with the mattress, since he's on even a tighter budget and has been camping along the way.
Fethiye is a big town with a pretty harbor and lots of sailboats. We'll spend a few days here and have a look around.
Sabeen is the negotiator and both of us have been trying to stick to paying the local price, which we think is cheap enough but don't know for sure. Anyway, we go back and forth with the price, the man doesn't agree, we walk out, look for other pensions, only to return because the others are far away and I don't feel like lugging the pack around. We did find a place offering us a mattress in the dining area but would have to scram around 7 AM before breakfast started. Didn't take it......
Our place is pretty decent, the room is large, definitely has a nice kitchen, and is nearby to the harbor, about a 10 minute walk.
There are some Lycian tombs in town like the ones in Petra cut into the rock face and while walking to one, ran into Michael from Poland and decided to spend time together. He was also looking for a place to stay, so suggested the place with the mattress, since he's on even a tighter budget and has been camping along the way.
Fethiye is a big town with a pretty harbor and lots of sailboats. We'll spend a few days here and have a look around.
Moving South towards the Mediterranean
The town of Bergama boasts some fine Roman ruins as they have left their legacy throughout Turkey. At our hotel in the morning as we were heading out to get some cheap breakfast, ran into Imdad, an Australian Turkish guy, complete with the accent to go with it. We chatted for a while and when he found out of our Pakistani origin elected me to cook some masala chicken and opted to buy the supplies for us. I happily agreed as Sabeen and I hadn't had much of a chance to practice our culinary skills outside of cooking pasta at a few random hotels.
Imdad was nice enough to even chat with the hotel owner and convinced him to drop the price for us even further. We both grabbed a cheap and filling breakfast of olives, cheese, tomatoes, butter, honey, and Turkish tea. Walking past the Red Basilica, spotted some carpets being sold and went in to chat with the owner, who of course offered us tea and told us of his 180 year old building and family business going back generations.
Both of us love conversing with locals and it breaks the monotony of walking around.
It was a hot day, so had originally planned to walk the 6 KMs to the Roman acropolis but ditched the idea and instead walked into a pastry shop and got some free samples of halva.
My masala chicken turned out pretty good as Imdad back at the hotel had already bought the chicken and the rice and were just missing a few key ingredients. I ducked my head out the window and before long the entire hotel staff was running around to get me what I needed. We found two guys from Germany and brought them over as well to share in the food.
Imdad was nice enough to even chat with the hotel owner and convinced him to drop the price for us even further. We both grabbed a cheap and filling breakfast of olives, cheese, tomatoes, butter, honey, and Turkish tea. Walking past the Red Basilica, spotted some carpets being sold and went in to chat with the owner, who of course offered us tea and told us of his 180 year old building and family business going back generations.
Both of us love conversing with locals and it breaks the monotony of walking around.
It was a hot day, so had originally planned to walk the 6 KMs to the Roman acropolis but ditched the idea and instead walked into a pastry shop and got some free samples of halva.
My masala chicken turned out pretty good as Imdad back at the hotel had already bought the chicken and the rice and were just missing a few key ingredients. I ducked my head out the window and before long the entire hotel staff was running around to get me what I needed. We found two guys from Germany and brought them over as well to share in the food.
Big Turkey
We flew into Istanbul, which we try and avoid as overland traveling is obviously cheaper and more interesting. See my post on "Food on the Road".
Turkey is our second biggest country after China and getting around is a breeze due to bus connections, which exist throughout the country. Istanbul is a massive city of about 20 million people but hanging around Sultanahmet, all the big sites can easily be covered on foot, since we never take taxis anyway.
After groggily finding our way out of the airport because we had a late night flight and spent a majority of it at the airport since the train had stopped running made our usual route to try and find lodging.
Istanbul being expensive, it was a little difficult to find a suitable place but we did after walking around a bit.
It is nice to see beautiful mosque with missile like minarets piercing the skyline, a modern city that still has vestiges of the old, and the surroundings of the beautiful Marmara sea with its fleets of boats and the far away Bosporus.
Turkey is our second biggest country after China and getting around is a breeze due to bus connections, which exist throughout the country. Istanbul is a massive city of about 20 million people but hanging around Sultanahmet, all the big sites can easily be covered on foot, since we never take taxis anyway.
After groggily finding our way out of the airport because we had a late night flight and spent a majority of it at the airport since the train had stopped running made our usual route to try and find lodging.
Istanbul being expensive, it was a little difficult to find a suitable place but we did after walking around a bit.
It is nice to see beautiful mosque with missile like minarets piercing the skyline, a modern city that still has vestiges of the old, and the surroundings of the beautiful Marmara sea with its fleets of boats and the far away Bosporus.
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