Ruined in Turkey

Here we are in Karakoy, a remote little village near Fethiye in southwestern Turkey on the Mediterranean coast. Sipping on a thyme tea, sitting by our delightful boutique hotel's pool, I've been thinking about our recent travels. We've just finished our 7 days' paddling, through Lake Koycegiz, down the Dalyan River to the coast,and taking the following 5 days to paddle around to Gocek, sleeping out on the beaches as we went. With constant fine weather, excellent Turkish food prepared by our interesting and very competent guide Vedat, plus 3 other companionable and stimulating fellow kayakers, we had an excellent trip. Money well spent! (Contact Southern Sea Ventures in Sydney, or Alternatif Sea Kayaking in Marmaris) Today we've had a trial walk, through the appealing but sad abandoned Greek village here, over the hills to Olu Deniz beach. I gasped my way up the hill in everyone's wake - did they have to go so fast! Vedat redeemed himself down by the beach by putting ice on top of my head inside my peaked cap, and pouring ice water over my head. That, plus a couple of dips in the Mediterranean, sorted me out; it was worth it!

Marie here: a couple of highlights from the kayaking - the brilliant blue of the water in a spectacular cave, which we entered into at the bottom of majestic sheer cliffs, out on the Mediterranean coast. The swell made the entrance quite daunting. I found it very peaceful once outside again, after the booming of the swell inside. My second highlight would be a bat cave! The entrance was a slanting narrow aperture, and once inside a few bats appeared, but by the time we got to the end of the cave we certainly had to keep our hats on and our mouths closed, because of the thousands and thousands whirling around above us.

We ditched the car after 3835 kms at Dalaman Airport, having visited Patara, Pamukkale and Selcuk since our last post. We've seen so many ruins - castles, forts, churches, houses, walls, tombs, cisterns, amphitheaters, and bridges, we really do feel we've been thoroughly 'ruined', and were ready for another activity. However, just about every day since there've been more reminders of Turkey's vibrant and fascinating past - thousands of years of it.

For me, Jillian, the highlight of all the ruins has been visiting Ephesus. So much larger than in ever imagined, comprehensive and intricate in all the details that are still evident. We arrived early, leaving about 11.15am, to see our car virtually surrounded by about 100 tour buses! We werebso pleased we'd decided on a plan of arriving early, and returning again later in the day. The 2nd amazing highlight was a totally unplanned catchup and dinner with Sally Mason and Don Kelly at Selcuk, the day of our visit to Ephesus. Dinner all together up on the rooftop of the Bella Hotel was a fun way to finish off the last night of all our driving - followed by a retail assault downstairs in Bella's fabulous carpet and jewellery shop.

Darcy agrees wholeheartedly with Marie's comments regarding the caves. He was particularly taken with the fact that we could blithely go off on a 7 day paddling trip, with no tents, just sleeping under the stars, knowing we could trust the weather. You might succeed in doing that in NZ, but you wouldn't set out with that expectation!
He was also pleased (as we all were) to be able to return an undamaged car back to Avis, and was relieved that a spanner sign that appeared on the dashboard on the last day wasnt anything sinister. Cleaning the windscreen meant that the windscreen wiper fell off yet again, and Darcy had a few anxious moments trying to work out how the flaming thing fitted back together again!

This from Marie - As some of you may be aware, I left my camera sitting in the scanner tray at the xray machine at Istanbul airport, while on the way to Avis to pick up our rental car. After several emails and phone calls to Lost&Found the camera was located, and Avis Rentals kindly took it through to Dalaman Airport, where it was waiting when we returned the car! I'd thoroughly recommend Avis Rentals.

Tomorrow is the beginning of our walk on the Lycian Way. Marie's about to go and get a beer, at the thought of today's heat, and is praying that we don't get another hot hot day - likewise Darcy and Jillian. Vedat is saying to expect 6 or 7 hour's walking tomorrow, but Darcy and Marie think he was joking. I only hope they're right!