04.17.22
After four months in our apartment/ hotel, Villa Tulipan in Antalya, we checked out, and we move into our new apartment May 1. That means we had 21 days in between, so what do we do?
Road Trip!
This will be a Beta Test for our much longer bike trip coming up in July, when we will ride back up the coast of Turkey into Bulgaria, then head west into Greece, where I will be hosted by several resorts, hotels, and visitor’s bureaus while I write a travelogue on their behalf. Very exciting!
Meanwhile, every journey starts with the first step/ mile, so here is what happened before and during.
Day I, April 9: We had several options, including heading south and hitting Cappadocia and possibly taking a ferry to Cyprus, but when I saw the beautiful coastline coming south from Fethiye, I wanted Kat to see it, too. Day one was beautiful and the hazy air from a Sahara windstorm that plagued us for the past two weeks was finally clearing. The amazing Taurus mountains, that we used to clearly see every day, was back, after being concealed behind a curtain of brown.
On the way north I saw the off ramp for the Olympus ruins, which we were at in December, but were unable to see it due to a swollen creek. I asked if she’s rather see it NOW, on the way out of town, or on the way back, and the response was, “Now…my butt needs a break!” so we rolled down the back, windy roads to Olympus.
It was different than I expected, and the most noteworthy thing (to me) was the location at the ocean’s edge. What a beautiful setting! Unlike several of the ruins we visited lately, this one did not blow my mind. We stayed for a few hours and had an amazing trout dinner at one of the neighboring restaurant. The entire trout, fries, and some veggies for $4.75 which we even shared with the very polite cats, and headed back out.
The ride from there to Finike took us along the waterfront and some amazing scenery near a park called Mavikent Plaji. (Plaji is beach in Turkish). The road climbed up, down, and both directions and we enjoyed some magnificent shots from on high.
For day one I rate it a solid 7 on a ten scale and look forward to the next 20 days.
Day II, April 10: A lesson was learned today: even with an ocean view room, DO NOT get one fronting a major highway! There was noise most of the night and truthfully, we weren’t here long enough to really appreciate the view. We had a decision to make over breakfast; stay one more night, chill, and NOT have to pack it all up, OR take off. We decided noise or no noise we would head north to Demre, the next city on our journey.
The ride from here to there is only 17 km, but they are some of the most majestic miles along this coast, and the same road I hit a month ago on my way back from Bucharest.
The weather was picture perfect, and even though Kat had a bit of fear (still getting used to being a bike passenger…) we got to Demre and found the road that paralleled the beach. Since our hotel breakfast offered no coffee, we found a nice coffee spot right on the water and started digging into room options for the following nights. After researching AirBNBs and hotels, we walked a few hundred feet and checked out some right there, since we knew we could at least see them beforehand.
We found this less than 4-star pansion run by a lovely lady who spoke no English. She had two room options and we negotiated $19 a night for two nights, $38 total. Mind you, it’s nothing special, but it did have a kitchen and the ocean was two minutes away. We were good with that decision so decided to explore more and found an amazing beach, Suluklu Beach, and a funky hotel with one apartment right on the sand. It was a one bedroom wooden cabin that was more than we wanted to spend, but hey, you only live once, so after our two days at the other place, we went there. It also adjoined a restaurant just as funky, so we had three days to explore the area.
When we returned to our prior room in Finike I notice that Limyra was there, a major and significant historical site just a few miles away. So the start of day three included that and another amazing ride up those amazing 17 km along the beach.
Day III, April 11:
The Limyra ruins was a letdown so we rode by and moved on. The wind was gusting pretty hard and luckily the distance to Demre was not too great, but even so, as we got on the road the buffeting wind off the mountain cliffs was troublesome. Luckily we were not in a hurry so we took it very slowly and even though we ran into some light rain we made it to Demre with a great sigh of relief. Small, light bikes are good for some things, not so good for others.
We got to our room, called Turkmen Boutique Hotel, paid our reasonable amount, and got mostly unpacked. Since we carry everything in two backpacks and a gym bag, efficiency and logistics are paramount. Fortunately, Kathleen is a super packer and more organized (and conscientious) than I am. The lodging, which has a living room, kitchen and two bedrooms, is very spartan and when Kat pulled a blanket out of the second bedroom armoire, four eggs fell out. We suspected the chickens around the house got inside and laid them, and we felt bad that we broke them. And we believe the Momma chicken knew what we did…
One of them was able to get inside, we had to chase her out, and it was a truly laughable, memorable moment.
It was time for lunch so explored the smallish downtown, had a great lunch for less than $7.00 (for two) and discovered that the Myra ruins we just a mile outside town, so we headed there, spent an hour exploring and it was one of the more noteworthy places we have been. The necropolis (crypts) are actually built into the side of the mountain several hundred feet up, and it was a chilling and amazing site. The stadium was just as memorable and in great condition. Even though the entire area is not as large as many we have visited, it is a definite “must see” if you are in the Demre area.
The wind never did let up the whole day, so we are hoping tomorrow dawns with sunshine and calm air.
Day IV, April 12:
A very, very cold night, but the 4th day was beautiful and much warmer. After a light breakfast we decided to check out Kaleucagiz, the ferry port to the island of Kekova, which everyone recommended we visit. It has (more) ruins, plus a sunken city, which we look forward to seeing. We really liked the very small port town so checked out some rooms and found one where we will stay for the next few nights. Again, amazing prices, and off season is definitely the time to travel.
When we got home I told Kat we really needed to check out the Cathedral of St. Nicholas, the true man behind Santa Claus. It was under renovation, but quite lovely with nice murals and the final resting place of the man who supposedly performed miracles and was the protector of children.
Tomorrow we have one more local museum to check out on our way to the next stop, and for two days we plan to kind of chill…
Day V, April 13:
We arrived in Kaleucagiz and the reality of staying in this room was even better than we thought, so plan on maybe five days or more. From here we can veg, catch up on writing, hike, visit Kekova Island, check out Kas (our next destination), and play it by ear. Truth is, we have four windows in our room plus a door to the balcony, and every room overlooks the water. We can’t do much better than this so decided to take advantage of it.
Day VI, April 14:
It was insanely quite last night and the nasty wind finally stopped blowing, which means it got nice and WARM (66°F)—finally. Our room includes breakfast, which was a great traditional Turkish buffet, and that suits us just fine. Afterwards we hiked a bit of the Lycian Way (540 km the entire way), and what little we did was lovely.
Day VII, April 15:
We “found” Kas, and it truly IS amazing. The view from atop the hill was as breathtaking as the place we are staying now. We traversed around the perimeter of the peninsula and checked out a few rooms. Kat found this amazing place with an infinity pool and in most parts of the world it would be 4 star, but here: about $50. It was further outside town than we wanted so we checked out the downtown area, had a bite to eat and fond a nice pansiyon for half that. We decided that we’ll return next week for one week and use Kas a new base to look beyond.
The weather is finally really nice, it hit 70 today, and even though the water is not QUITE ready to dive into, it’s close! Regardless, Kat and I are enjoying the hell out of our journey and we’re just 1/3 through it.
Day VIII, April 16:
When we got here in Kaleucagiz a few days ago I knew we had to get over to the actual island of Kekova. There are boat tours, but the owner of our hotel, Ibrahim, also has, in addition to his restaurant, a boat, so we took that over for all of 800 tl: that’s $54 for two people and we were the only ones on it.
First stop was a 10 minute ride to the island of Simena, and the Simena Kalesi castle on top. The hike was moderate and the views from the top were spectacular. I swear, sometimes coming up with new superlatives is a challenge! After we were there for about an hour we continued on to the actual island of Kekova and the “sunken city,” which is more an oceanfront area where buildings used to be. We could see sunken Roman baths and evidence of buildings along with archways and such, but regardless, it was very cool. A bit later we pulled into a beautiful cove and anchored there for about an hour, soaking up the sun, and even jumping into the Mediterranean, which was very cold! We had the boat to ourselves and felt like we were living a fairy tale.
We are grateful every day, especially when we can enjoy such luxury for such a low cost.
Day IX, April 17:
Happy Easter, and a day to relax. After breakfast we took a short hike up the Lycian Way in the other direction and explored the sarcophagus along the waterfront and stumbled into a dry dock where many boats were undergoing renovation. This is our last day here, the sky has been overcast since early, so we’re catching up on work and messages and things like that. Tomorrow we check out to Kas where we will spend seven days, possibly more. And as of tomorrow we will be halfway through our 21 day journey.
