Turkey - Part 4

How do you do? Tonight I'm in Fethiye. Normally its a busy meca for package-tourists and backpackers, but this being November, there's only two people staying at the Pension I'm out and the centre of town is absolutely dead.It's kind of eery. Tomorrow I'll be taking a walk from the ghost-twon of Karakoy to Oludeniz, home of the Blue Lagoon beach of postcard fame. Meanwhile, the past week:

When I last e-mailed it was morning in Goreme and I had a full day ahead of me before taking an overnight bus down to the coast. And what a day it was. Not knowing what to do, I decided to go for a walk in one of the valleys I had yet to check out. While strolling around, an old man appeared seemingly out of nowhere holding a bunch of grapes. He offered me some, and then beckoned me to follow him. He brought me to his cave home. I followed his lead and took off my shoes when I sat down, which lead to him seeing my holey socks. No problem - he produces a needle and thread and proceeds to sew them up for me. We continued to sit there, him talking in Turkish, me in English, neither of us having a clue what the other was saying.

After about 15 minutes of that I continued on my walk. I got back to town, but it was only 1pm, so I decided to hitch-hike up to the nearest town to explore the rock castle that dominates the countryside. A local offered to show me around, so I followed, but was very disappointed when he asked for 5 lira for his services. I thought he was just demonstrating that famous Turkish hospitality. I gave him a bit of change I had in my pocket and took off down the hillside. And thats when the dogs started chasing me. First there were two that started barking from up on high. Then a third that was tied to a rope. Finally, two more appeared and that started running towards me. I nearly shit myself, then, as calmly as possibly, picked up a big rock and tried to look meaner than them. It must have worked, because they didn't come too near and I made it to the road and back to Goreme where I caught my bus to Olympos.

I got to Olympos and it was raining. Fortunately the Pension I was in had some good couches, and Napoleon Dynamite was on TV, in English! I sat back and took it easy. It was like being at a friends cottage. That is, if your friends cottage was set amongst an orange grove, in a valley surrounded by mountains, amidst the ruins of an ancient Greek city. And there was a beach about 5 minutes away. Eventually the sun came out and I went for a walk. A big, stupid grin spread out on my face. Its the grin of pure bliss and it was the third time this trip I had it. I explored the scattered ruins and slowly walked down to the Mediterranean where I watched the waves splash up on the beach. That night we walked up the Chimaera - an eternal flame high up in the mountains above the sea.It was very, very cool.

The next morning I woke up and it was warm and sunny. Needless to say I grabbed my towel and my bathing suit and head straight for the beach. I went for a swim, lazed about in the sun, and remained fairly immobile for several hours on end. It was November 2, but I was on the beach and loving it.

The next day it rained. I was going to leave, but the night before some friendly Aussies showed up so I decided to stick around despite of the weather. We spent the day indoors, playing backgammon, cards, and just generally being lazy. We were joined later on by a Kiwi girl and that night I treated myself to a glass of scotch as we puffed on a Nargileh. It's a good life.

One member of our group was an Aussie who ran a pension in Antalya, so the next day I backtracked there with my new friends. Antalya is a really cool city that is shamefully overlooked by the backpacker fraternity (including myself, who skipped it originally). The old city has a great mix of Ottoman houses and Roman ruins and the view from the harbour of the surrounding mountains is amazing.

The real reason I went there was to try to get to Termessos, an ancient warrior city that managed to fend off both Alexander the Great and the Romans. Its way up in the mountains north of Antalya and is nothing short of spectacular. We (that would be Kat, Chris and Debs, my friend from Olympos) rented a car and made our way up there. We got off to a poor start. Or, rather, I got off to a poor start and forgot to take off the hand-brake at first. The car started smoking and we all freaked out. But a moment later everything was fine and we made it there fairly quickly.

The ruins were all quite splendid and the theatre was particularly impressive, with views down several valleys all the way out to the sea. The only downside was a chilling wind coming down from the north. I was basking in the sun a few days before, but now I was wishing I had brought my hat and gloves with me. We also visited a nearby cave that had been inhabited almost continuously for 25,000 years and got a delicious pide lunch at an unassuming little restaurant in the small town close by. Upon our return we went a Turkish Bath where I let an old man scrub me down, clean me off, and massage me.

And that brings me to today. I did some X-mas shopping in the morning and hopped a bus to Fethiye in the afternoon. The road cut inland and there was a smattering of snow about, despite the clear blue sky. But considering there has been massive flooding elsewhere in Turkey, and the news showed people building snowmen in Istanbul, I'm not complaining. I just don't think I'll be doing any more swimming.