Olympos

Time for the beach!

Olympos Beach is famous for its “tree houses”. Whilst here and there there is a cabin perched a few metres off the deck, near a tree or with a tree running through it, these cabins are supported by wooden beams rather than by the tree itself. We don't really think they qualify as “tree houses”. The vast majority of people (us included) stay in a wooden bungalow, enjoying the breakfast (freshly cooked omelette) and dinner (rice and ratatouille, tasty but monotonous) that is included.

Before you can hit the beach, you must pass through the Lycian (then Roman) ruined city of Olympos, with scattered a necropolis of large stone sarcophagi, little theatre, Roman baths and – most spectacularly – temple door. Apparently this was the home of the first Olympic games, with men running with a torch lit from the nearby Chimaera across the beach to the city (although a few places make that claim!). 

Later it was a pirate hideout, and a castle on the headland was built (or restored?) by Genovese knights during the Middle Ages. There's an entry fee for this, meaning you have to pay to get to the beach, but once you've bought your ticket on the first day, thereby supporting the preservation of the ruins, it's pretty easy to walk up through the bush on the other side of the river and get to the beach for free.

First view of Cennet

Oh, and did we mention there's climbing here? And despite being on limestone, it was a completely different style to Geyikbeyiri – with one crag, Cennet, being a flat, vertical wall, with tiny crimps and scattered pockets (some better than others!), and the surface in places so smooth it was as slippery as glass. The best climbs here were in the high sixes and sevens … most of the time, Jen decided it was best to be photographer.

Geyikbayiri

Walking to (one of) the crags ... check out those shapes!

Considering this is a very small town up the hill from Antalya, you're unlikely to head in this direction unless you're a climber or a local. Nevertheless, we were a little surprised upon entering the main reception / bar / restaurant of Josito's Campsite to see so many people there!

Local Ladies - who thought I was hilarious, wanting to take their picture!

With cheap daily flights from most main German cities, excellent rock climbing in a moderate climate and a warm welcome on arrival, if you're a climber then Geyikbayiri is The Place To Be. We completely understand. Thankfully, there's more than enough rock to go around.

Lunch - melted Nutella.

The days have settled into a pattern not dissimilar to our days in Siruana, back in Spain … wake up slowly, wander up to the crags, climb until the light goes and then head back to Fred for dinner and beers. Also like Siruana, most of the climbs are in the 6's or above – there's not many routes around for those of us who like an easy life!

The best climbs are in the caves, on steep, overhanging tufas, although there are also vertical faces and slabs too – but these climbs seem to be really quite sharp, ripping our soft winter hands and putting holes in the rubber on our climbing shoes. Sadly, it's also started to rain sometimes… another reason to stick to the best stuff, and head to the caves and build up our forearms.

We've had a couple of rest days, and spent them doing unexciting things like fixing Fred (great service, extremely cheaply – we do like Turkish mechanics) and heading to the fruit and veg markets to eat gozleme and pick up bags of fresh fruit and veg from the local farmers. 

Nobu, a new mate, lowering off something steep.

We're pretty tempted to head to a local butchers (recognisable by the pen of sheep and goats munching grass happily out the front), but don't want to accidentally end up with an entire animal … our fridge isn't that big. Do they let you chose which goat or sheep you want, like fish in a restaurant? And surely we could just get half a kilo or so, but how do you ask for that in Turkish??

Turkey ...?

We've been having some trouble accessing the blog from Turkey - yep, that's where we are right now! - and so we're using this as an excuse to go out and have fun, and blog about it later.

The reason behind it is a current legal battle about football games (apparently illegally?) broadcast through someone's blog, resulting in a nationwide shutdown of the blogger service. Rather than the blog or the update page, we would just see a Turkish legal message. Now, for the first time since our first day in Istanbul, I can at least upload something, if not view it. 

Anyway, updates will come online later ... and in the meantime, we'll be out enjoying ourselves.

Summer is here!

And here's the proof ...

Fresh strawberries!

And a swim in the sea ... we dived in after this shot was taken.

Driving in Turkey (Part II)

Well … perhaps we spoke too soon about driving in Turkey.

It seems the road between Mersin and Alanya is being upgraded from single carriageway to duel, and in the meantime, much of it is unpaved. And you're sharing it with the massive trucks needed to undertake such an engineering effort … did we mention that it's a spectacularly hilly and forested landscape, with the steep hills meeting the clear Mediterranean Sea? Every now and again there would be an agricultural centre, with fresh fruit for sale, or we'd drop down out of the hills to an empty strip of beach. There were castles and abandoned Roman cities to explore, too.

The trucks and lack of paving may have slowed us down, but admiring the view slowed us down even more.

And then we noticed the local constabulary waving their flag … it would not have surprised us to hear that we had been done for speeding, as we're still not entirely sure what the speed limits actually are in Turkey. We showed the officer first our drivers licence, then our registration papers – but this is not what he wanted. He indicated we should get out of the van, so we did – and then he lead us around to the front of Fred.

Where a yellow and black Dutch numberplate once was, there was only a cracked, black frame. Whoops. The bumpy roads in the dark had claimed a victim. “No problem!” said the officer, being his only words in English thus far, and so with a bit of cardboard, a black pen and some tape, we mocked something up and were on our way.

Not round. Whoops.

Drama Number Two occurred a little later. Apparently it was a bigger ditch than expected, or Fred could handle. Whoops again. But rims are easy to fix, or replace if necessary, right? And why would you call it a bumper if it wasn't meant to be, well, bumped occasionally?

Cappadocia

Like many tourists in Turkey, we spent a few days in Cappadocia.

We started at the Open Air Museum, checking out the best collection of the churches and monasteries in one spot, most with amazing frescoes. We stocked up on local dried fruit on the way, and as usual in Turkey, were given bucket loads of tea at the same time.

Then, we just set off, hiking through the valleys. We scrambled up and through the sandy (and sometimes damp) caves and pillars, into narrow gorges. Sometimes we'd find another church, with a carved ceiling or more frescoes, or an old house with stone door that could be rolled into place in time of attack, or just row upon row of dovecotes. 

We'll let the photos do the talking ...

Spot the Mark.

Spot the Jen.

At night we parked up at a place called “Sunset Point”. Every evening a little rain and cloud prevented the sunset over the valleys from being worth watching; the morning light and hot air balloons it brought was better!

Istanbul

 

We really enjoyed Istanbul. Really, really enjoyed it – from the crowded Grand Bazaar and Spice Market, as well as all the small market streets between them, to the soaring domes of Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque, the history and beauty of Topkapi Palace and its harem, to having an alfresco dinner in Beyoglu.

We ate our way around most of the city – not just kebap and baklava (although they featured frequently) but also fresh BBQ fish on the waterfront, a variety of Turkish puddings with Turkish coffee and, of course, lots and lots of cay (tea!). All that walking around and admiring the city necessitates frequent stops for refreshment.

Of course we hit up the major tourist sights, gawping with the best of them and taking far too many photos – none of which, now we come to view them on the computer screen, show the grandeur and adequately reflect our memories. It's best to visit them for yourselves!

Sure, at the end of a long stint in the Grand Bazaar we were tempted to make t-shirts with the slogan “We're from Australia. But no thanks, we don't want to buy a carpet.” Considering the zeal of the salesmen, we feel a little proud of the fact that we managed to avoid buying a carpet – or a lampshade, or a stack of Iznik tiles, or a leather footstool, or any other bulky homewares – and only purchased a few smaller, more practical souvenirs. Does anyone get away unscathed?