day 8 - rain and a good book

stone mosaic outside of deserted Christian church in Kayakoy

woke up to rain and all of our clothes still wet from doing laundry in the sink.
kind of sucked because we had to pack them wet. gross.


sultan's breakfast at Ideal Pension


morning muesli at Ideal Pension

after breakfast we donned our raincoats (although the rain had temporarily stopped in Fethiye) and took the dolmus to Kayakoy...got there to a heavy torrential downpour.
we immediately took shelter under a wine bar (although it was too early for wine--even for us) and enjoyed some çay with 2 others who had gotten off the bus to see the abandoned village.


locals enjoying çay


main (inhabited) street at the base of Kayakoy, souvenirs covered from the rain

when the rain wasn't really stopping we decided to just go for it--it was our only time here--on the upside, there were NO tourists, except the other couple that we had had tea with.



i could have spent days here. i think we both could have.
absolutely phenomenal. we didn't get through even a quarter of it by the time we had to catch the dolmus back to pick up our stuff and make our bus to Göreme.
plus, because Louis de Bernieres used Kayakoy as his fictional city of Eskibaçe in this book (which I read just before our trip), I could picture all the characters and the vivid village life--I guess he's a pretty good writer, in retrospect.





a little bit of history and the ghost town of Kayakoy: traditionally the Turks and the Greeks lived together harmoniously...Muslims & Christians shared regions and villages.
following the Greek war of independence, there was a huge population exchange where all the Greeks living in Turkey were mandated to move to Greece and vice versa.
there were around 25,000 Greeks living in the town until 1923, which was then called by its Greek name: Karmylassos.
the ghost town consists of over 1000 buildings...mainly homes, with some churches/chapels and a couple of schools.
of course, this exchange must have been quite a culture shock...i later read that the 25,000 Greeks that got moved ended up in a small, poor suburb of Athens that, to this day, remains one of the poorer areas around the city.
the Turks who were transferred here were very unaccustomed to the climate and conditions that they soon relocated to other areas of the country.
there are many other areas where Greeks were expatriated...though not sure if any were as large as this one.





i would love to come back here someday--to Turkey--stay around the Lycian Way, either right here in Kayakoy, so i could walk around the abandoned city every day, or else in Faralya at George House--every day we could do a good hike of the Lycian Way.
there are a few good walks around Kayakoy too--you could walk through most of the village about 8 kms to Oludeniz (that's how extensive the ruins are)--all the way back to Fethiye too.





i had a dream last night so vivid but i didn't tell bob all of it: he proposed to me but with this ugly gold ring with blue stones (i hated it in the dream and wondered why he had gotten me gold when he knows i hate it--but i didn't say anything to him in the dream). not sure if this part of the dream was brought on by my day dreams previous to our trip of him proposing in a hot air balloon, or because of our friends' recent engagement news that we got via email in Fethiye...or because yesterday i found a curiously flattened box in his backpack--it was bizarre but without a lid--and more curious because i asked about it and he claimed he had no idea what it was, yet i think he saved the box somewhere....

anyhoo, the dream went on that my parents were so excited they came to pick us up from the airport and when they asked us about the hot air balloon ride i got so upset because we had forgotten to go to Göreme/Cappadocia.
anyway, maybe Turkey would make a good honeymoon if it was a place of proposal--i'd come back here.

sooo...after getting completely soaked for 2 hours we hopped the dolmus back to Fethiye to catch our overnight bus to Göreme. it was still light out for a few hours when we got on, so we got to enjoy some awesome scenerey on the bus ride...some very interesting small towns.
bob wants to know where all the water went in Bodrum.
we also brought up an old talk (dream?) again about the possibility of opening a camp--maybe in Manitoulin?

we are the only tourists on this bus--it's pretty cool.

random billboard says: Git güle güle, Konas doya doya
(i think it's a cell phone company?)

random lunch and overnight bus snacks:


pogaca (bread stuffed with cheese & parsley)


we chose this cheese because the picture told us that it goes with simit


fresh apricots (finally!) from Fethiye

day 6 & 7 - a saturday hike up a mountain and a sunday hike down a valley

bike repair shop on the way to Kabak

we left Fethiye--minus 1 big pack which we left with the fine folks at Ideal Pension, to lighten our load for the hike--and caught a dolmus to the tiny town of Kabak.


breakfast at Ideal Pension

from Fethiye, Kabak is the farthest you can travel in the mountains by dolmus--the end of the line. our plan was to hike back along the Lycian Way to another tiny town, Faralya, that we passed along the way, where we had hoped to stay for the night.
but we met Leslie, Scott & Tim, who hopped on the dolmus in Faralya.
all Americans, but Tim has been living and teaching in Turkey for the last few years--as soon as the dolmus dropped us off in the middle of nowhere (Kabak), Tim befriended the owner of one of the pensions who gave us some fruit off his tree



...and directed us to the path behind his house that led us down this:


the path down to the beach

to this:


the beautiful beach at Kabak

after a short swim (how could you not swim here?) and a snack with our new friends, we decided to join them on a hike to Alinça...and back.
the 8 km there was incredibly steep--mostly uphill--it was physically challenging and extraordinarily hot out, but a beautfiul hike up the mountain...and even more beautiful on the 8 km back (which incidentally took us half the time)...we took a bit of a different route back, much closer to the cliff edge...scary but truly exhilarating.


Kabak to Alinça


goat on the way to Alinça

when we arrived in Alinça, we weren't even sure if we had arrived...if it wasn't for the herders and their goats we met along the way, or the farmer we met as we approached, (and Tim's ability to speak Turkish), there would have been no way to know if the 5 houses really constituted the town.
Alinça, which used to be a self-sufficient "town", just recently got a road in...the path we had just hiked used to be the only access...Bayram's house has a couple of cabins for weary hikers, and a picnic table that sits on the edge of the world, where we had a beer which Tim got Bayram's little son to sell us (Bayram was not too pleased when he arrived shortly thereafter, but having someone in the group who speaks the right language always helps...we left on a good note).


Bayram's son


view from Bayram's house (Alinça)


Bayram & sons at the house

we also picked up a weird German dude who was trying to stay in Alinça, with no luck, and followed us back to Kabak, emitting angry vibes the whole way...we did our best to avoid him...although he was behind us the whole way, and then still managed to beat us back to the Olive House when we took a wrong turn upon entering Kabak in the evening hours (and worried that we were lost and it was getting dark and we were hungry, we cut across a waist high field of scratchy bushes and bugs, to find someone who could point us the right way)


Alinça to Kabak

Leslie, Scott and Tim were all staying in Faralya (where we had originally planned to hike to) and so had negotiated a taxi rate prior to the hike with the guy who owns the Olive House in Kabak to drive them back to their pension (the dolmus had long stopped running)...
they were staying at an awesome place called George House on Butterfly Valley in Faralya--we liked the sounds of it (and the price!) but they said that the place was full--in fact, Tim was sleeping for a reduced rate in the common room, on a mattress behind the bar.
but they did say there were a couple of places right beside George House.
the couple of places in Kabak were quite pricey and although we liked the guy who ran the Olive House, we decided to pitch in for the ride back to Faralya and take our chances at one of the pensions there.
when we got to George House, it was almost dark, and by some freak miracle, Hasan (George's son) said they had one cabin left.
by the time we had settled in, gotten to the showers, eaten the wonderfully home-cooked meal, made with vegetables from the garden...


dinner at George House

...watched some backgammon matches, and had a couple of beers, we crashed pretty hard, without realizing where, exactly, we were sleeping.
when i woke up and opened our cabin door, i was greeted by this view:


holy. god(dess).
we were on a mountain.
perched atop a cliff, Butterfly Valley at our side.


the view down to Butterfly Valley


the cabins at George House


fresh breakfast at George House

breakfast was a delicious spread of traditional fare (hard boiled eggs, olives, tomatoes, cuke), fresh baked bread, and the freshest goat cheese and unpasteurized yogurt that, i swear, was just shaken out of the goat that morning, with tasty village honey.
we both agreed that we could easily live in the cabin at Butterfly Valley for quite some time...i was almost upset that we were heading back to Fethiye that night...but not until after another day of hiking the Lycian Way.

we decided we'd climb down into Butterfly Valley after breakfast before hiking from Faralya to Ölüdeniz. the trail started right behind the cabins...or finished, as we found out when we saw this at the bottom:



Hasan told us to be sure to follow the red dots on the trail...what he neglected to tell us was that we'd be scaling a rock face to get down into the valley.
there were ropes assembled along the way...for stability? or to hold on for dear life?
i'm still not sure.


the way down to Butterfly Valley

but what an amazing way down a mountain.


halfway down the mountain

it led to a beach and hippie commune/camp only accessible by the way we had come or by water dolmus. and a beautifully serene waterfall in the crevasse.


the beach at Butterfly Valley

by the time we made our way back up it was mid-afternoon and we were sweaty and exhausted and had 10 mins to decide whether we'd try the hike we had planned all the way to the next town, or just hit the beach.
ultimately the prospect of enjoying a beer on the beach and swimming in the mediterranean won our vote, and we frantically scrambled to grab our stuff, pay for our stay at George House and catch the dolmus.

we ended up in Ölüdeniz, a beach resort town popular with British tourists who pretty much take over...so much so that all the Türks here speak English and charge for most things in pounds. it was somewhat surreal and Wasaga-like, so we armed ourselves with some beers and snacks and found the farthest and most desolate piece of sand.




my new favourite fig cookies

i was feeling a bit guilty that we wussed out on the rest of our hike, but that guilt diminished with one (polar) dip--just because it was 30˚ outside, didn't make the water warmer...yikes.
it was a well-deserved break after a day and a half of pretty strenuous hiking...plus, we were on vacation after all. and bob didn't get burnt, which made it all the more relaxing.

after making our way back to the Ideal Pension in Fethiye, we bought our bus tickets to Göreme for the following night.
we wandered around the market for a while, and i bought Cathy a skirt and belt from the bellydancing shop.
we ate dinner at Pasa Kebap again, being so impressed from a couple of nights prior, but they managed to raise their prices in the 2 days we were gone.
still a deliciously cheap dinner.


lentil soup & eggplant salad


the pasa special, a twist on the famous iskender kebap

but the pistachio dondurma for dessert was the definite highlight...Türkish ice cream is rather like a chewier gelato. yum.



the night consisted of relaxing on the cushions at Ideal and enjoying our first nargile with some molasses tobacco...this was a tough decision to try out the nargile as we both quit smoking about 2 years ago...but...when in Türkiye...

day 5 - for the love of türkish cuisine

the marina in Fethiye

going through the photos for day 5, the food pics far outnumbered the shots of Türkiye itself...almost to the point of wondering whether i should start a food blog...i mean, really...for someone who loves food as much as i do, and who took photos of (almost) everything we ate (still sad that i missed a couple of meals)...
granted this day wasn't much of a jam-packed day of fun things, like the few days following...


Pamukkale breakfast

after a tasty and filling breakfast by Hassan's wife, we caught the dolmus back to the otogar in Denizli and got super bargain tickets on a mini-bus to Fetihye.


waiting at the dolmus stop in Pamukkale

even though i previously spoke of the dangers of bargain tickets, we weren't concerned about the size of the bus as we were only travelling 4 hrs.
i'd love to think that my bargaining skills were really starting to sharpen up, but mostly it was because our new friend--Hassan's cousin--was back at his job rounding up travellers at the otogar...when he saw us show up, he took care of us.


waiting for the bus with a cup of çay, simit stand in the background

bus snacks:







peynir (cheese) with simit (these became some of our Turkey lunch/snack staples)


strawberry season in Turkey

the drive was something else...through crazy snow capped (!) mountain ranges.
when we got to the otogar in Fethiye, we decided to hike the few kms through town...with the help of a random Turkish man who seemed to be excited that he got to practice his English...he directed us towards Ideal Pension.
i love that even all the bargain places we were searching out in Turkey are like hotels...some with swimming pools like Hassan's place...some with awesome views out onto the bay from our personal balcony...incredible.

this far side of Fethiye is definitely a marina town, complete with tourist market and souvenir shops.
we walked around the market for a bit and met a woman with a belly dance costumes store...i went in to talk to her because my good friend Cathy (a belly dancer and teacher) had asked me to bring her home some new outfits.
Darya is a lovely lady (and probably the only woman who runs and/or works in a shop in Turkey...something we later noticed)...i told her i'd come back to buy a costume, and she gave us some blue eye pins to ward off the evil eye.


walnut & pomegranate salad


tomato soup


lentil-tomato soup with lemon and rice

we had a wonderfully tasty and cheap dinner of lentil soup, tomato soup and walnut & pomegranate salad at Pasa Kebap...and of course some Efes beer to discuss our plans for the morning.
the plan? leave early on a dolmus to the small town of Kabak for a 2 day hike along the mediterranean on the Lycian Way!