Olympos and Blue Cruise, Turkey

Olympos Interlude

27 Sept 2011

Olympos is really nothing but a pebble beach cove sheltering the ruins of an ancient settlement dating from before Roman times. It now also includes a string of backpacker pensions. Rather than spend the night in the big city of Antalya, we were advised to stay in Olympos where we would be picked up for a four day, three night cruise along the Mediterranean coast to Fethiye. It sounded great. We reserved a room in a pension for two nights.

Per usual our flight from Cappadocia to Antalya was not without problems. We knew the connection between our first flight back to Istanbul and the connecting flight to Antalya on the Mediterranean was tight. All it needed to give problems was a 10 minute delay leaving Cappadocia. Luckily the Turkish Airline was aware of our and another couple from Vancouver’s situation and changed all our seats to the second row to give us a head start off the plane. When we arrived after sitting on the tarmac waiting for a docking berth, the airline staff even let us skip the extra security by opening the door directly into the departure lounge. We all ran to the gate where our next flight left from and made it with 15 minutes to spare, not quite as close as our flight from Istanbul to Cappadocia.

The next problem occurred when we reached Antalya but our luggage did not. Once again Turkish Airlines came through. They tracked the luggage for all four of us and were able to confirm that the next flight, arriving in just over an hour, would have our luggage. We all stayed in the airport until the next flight arrived and so did our bags. Halleluja!

After retrieving our bags we boarded a city bus to take us to the Otogar, the city bus station, where we got a minibus headed for Olympos. The route was very scenic, first along the coast, lined with large resorts, then into the pine forested mountains that provide a protective backdrop for Antalya and the coast. By late afternoon we were let off at a tea house on the main highway, looking far down a valley to Olympos. Another minibus drove us 9 km down the steep hills to the backpackers haven, one of a string beside a dry stream in a narrow gorge leading to the sea. The valley is protected from development of large resorts due to the fragile environment. Our home for the next two nights is a wooden cabin, very compact (i.e. small), including with an equally compact bathroom. There is a large common area with picnic tables and covered pavilions with cushioned seating where everyone relaxes. Dinner, a buffet of good Turkish dishes, and breakfast are included and very welcome.

We spent our spare day washing clothes and visiting the Olympos ruins. Olympos was an important Lycian port city in the 2^ndC BC, but did not last. The Romans revived the settlement in the 1^stC AD until pirate attacks in the 3^rd C AD ruined those plans. The Venetians and Genovese sailors tried their hand at establishing a settlement in the Middle Ages but that only lasted until the 15^th C when the site was once again abandoned. There has been some reconstruction of the ruins in 2000-2005 but the majority remain in the condition in which they were uncovered. Some of the ruins were only discovered in 1990. There were Roman tombs and temples, Christian churches and the remains of houses and old Venetian fortresses guarding the entrance to the gorge. One of the larger tombs was built for a well connected Roman citizen. It proclaimed that the site was for his family alone and anyone placing a body there, not from his family, was liable to a large fine, payable to the state. Another tomb, close to the beach, marked the final resting spot of a noted mariner. I loved the epitaph:

“This ship is entered and anchored at the last port, for not to go out any more
Because there is no more benefit from the wind nor from the daylight.
After leaving the morning twilight the Captain Eudemos,
Buried there his short-lived ship like a broken wave.”

We walked on to the beach, which is only accessed by walking through the Olympos ruins.If you are staying for more than one day, you buy a weekly pass for the ruins, which costs only 2 TL more than the 3 TL required for a day pass. A long crescent of pebbly beach was the chosen spot for sunbathers while a few enjoyed the warm sea waters. A few sail boats, some of which were on a tourist day tour, were anchored outside the swimming area. We walked a bit on the beach but hadn’t brought our swim suits as we are anticipating lots of good swimming from the boat the next four days.

Blue Cruise Idyll

Saturday 1 Oct 2011

The sky is blue, the air is summer warm and the breeze is creating small wavelets on the sea. Twelve of us are sitting on deck, some like me with our cameras, gazing at the sheer rocky hillsides that fall straight down to the Mediterranean. We are on a four day, three night cruise on a sturdy 21 M wooden gullet provided by V-Go, one of the many companies offering a ‘Blue Cruise’.Our crew of three, Captain Soner, cook Arif and all-purpose man Sascha, a German married to a Turkish woman, are busy making our breakfast and steering a careful course along the shoreline. We will be anchoring in a quiet bay where we will have breakfast, swim, and bask in the sun. Later we will visit a small village where there are ruins and shop for souvenirs. This is the life. I could extend this trip for several more days.

Ray and I were picked up at our guesthouse in Olympos four days ago. We gathered eight other tourists, along the way and drove about 1 ½ hours along the coastal road to Demre AKA Kale where the cruise really begins. Two more passengers arrived at the Marina soon after we arrived. Our crew of three, the Captain Soner, cook Arif and general helper Sascha, were on board ready to cater to our every demand.

Ray and I had a small cabin with a double bed & a single bunk above, plus a WC with sink, toilet and shower that used the retractable sink faucet as a shower head. There was a second shower next to the ladder we used to get into the water to rinse off after swimming. At the bow were comfortable lounges around a table and stairs to mattresses covering the roof over the kitchen and bridge, perfect for sunbathing or sleeping out under the stars. The stern was our dining and seating area. Canvas Bimini shades covered both the dining area and a second deck over the main cabin. Both areas got used for sleeping outside. I was the only one of the group to sleep in the comfort of our cabin.

We were quite a cosmopolitan group; Orla and John from Vancouver, Sharon and Trevor from Sydney, Australia, Libby and Brian from Christ Church, New Zealand, Sara and Andreas from Italy, and Geoffrey and Justyne from Paris. We were soon fast friends and ready for whatever the cruise would offer us.

We were soon on our way to Simena, a small village along the coast from Demre, where we docked and had lunch of salad, rice and baked beans. All our meals continued to be very good and well presented.

Simena is on the route of the Lycian Way, one of the best rated multi-day walks in the world. We will have to wait until another trip to Turkey to do at least a few days of the route. Ray and I joined the others onshore to enjoy the view from the ruins of a Roman Castle on the top of a hill. We wandered around the necropolis with Lycian sarcophagus littering the side of the hill. There was even one half submerged in the water by the marina.

An earthquake in the 2^nd C AD caused a whole city to sink beneath the sea and created the island opened a channel between Simena and the new island of Kekova. It is now another World Heritage Site, accessible only by water. No docking, swimming, or diving is allowed and the only residents are a few goats. From the water you can see foundations of residential buildings, wall fragments and stairways leading into the Sea. It was an eerie sight.

We sailed on to Old Woman’s Bay where we docked for the night. We had time to swim but we couldn’t easily go ashore. There was no beach and the rocks lining the shore were rough and abrasive. Nevertheless the water was clear and inviting and the salt of the Mediterranean made us much more buoyant than the fresh water lakes of home.

That was just our first day and the other 2 ½ were just as relaxing and pleasant. The shoreline continued just as rugged and beautiful as the first day. We pulled into numerous small bays to swim, some even with a small crescent beach. Just across the bay from Kas is the tiny Greek Island of Meis, isolated from the rest of Greece. At one point Kas was part of Greece, but eventually became part of Turkey. You can make a day trip from Kas to Meis just to say you visited Greece; we didn’t.

We docked in Kas and got off to spend a few hours exploring. There was a recently renovated amphitheatre, almost all that remains of the ancient Lycian town of Antiphellos, at the edge of town. Originally seating 4000 spectators, it is still used for performances. A sarcophagus, called the Lion Tomb for its four lion’s heads protruding from its sides, in the middle of town, was from the same era. I did a little souvenir shopping in the shops near the tomb. We finished with a cooling drink in a dockside cafe, for the day was hot, before returning to the cool breezes on the boat. Leaving Kas we passed a small cove at the foot of a narrow gorge that is the cover photo of the latest edition of the Lonely Planet.

The Butterfly Valley is on every boat’s itinerary. The small cove is hedged on either side by sheer cliffs hundreds of meters high. The valley boasts waterfalls that are worth exploring early in the season when snow covers the mountain tops, otherwise the falls are reduced to trickles. Neither were the migrating tiger butterflies, for which the valley was named, in evidence. We just swam ashore carrying our sandals to walk on the pebble beach. We stopped to chat with a man who was spending several days camping on the beach. You can rent a tent or a small, simple cabin, complete with mattress. The rental price included breakfast and dinner, which he assured us were excellent.

While we were at Butterfly Valley two paragliders landed on the beach. They had taken off from the top of a 1960 M cliff reached by a 2 hour drive up winding mountain roads. If you have nerves of steel and spectacular views of the Turkish coast is on your must-do list, then this is the place to fulfill your dreams. I counted 15 paragliders in the air as we motored along the coast past Ölüdeniz lagoon, another landing place for the paragliders.

We headed to Blue Lagoon, a busy resort area where you can rent lounge chairs and beach umbrellas for the day. A man in a motorboat selling ice cream bars approached our boat as soon as we set anchor and was pleased to get a few customers both before and after our lunch. Several of us swam to shore to have a look at the resort, concluding it was pleasant but too busy for our liking.

Our final stop of the day was to be St Nicholas Island, named for the holy man who was the inspiration for Santa Claus. Ruins of a 5^thC Lycian settlement cover the hilly island but no one of our group was inclined to visit. We were all glad of a break from the multitude of Turkish ruins and the pesky jetboats dangerously trolling for customers put us off. We were even leery of swimming far from the boat. Our captain, Soner, made the decision to move to a quieter cove instead of crowding in with the other boats anchoring for the night. We all applauded his decision. We motored on to Seminlik Bay, a quiet place just a bit farther along the coast. It is also known as Tarzan’s Bay because of a long knotted rope attached to a tree where we could swing into the water. Andreas, a young Italian, was the only one who tried the rope that evening but several of us, including me, gave it a try the next morning. It was lots of fun although we didn’t match the real Tarzan’s graceful rope manoeuvres.

After two post-dinner games of Uno, we now have converts amongst the boat passengers. When our cook Arif heard us mention the game, he quickly found a set of cards left by other passengers and joined our group. There were rule variations proposed and vetoed and lots of laughs. It was a good game to share with everyone.

After lunch the last day the crew actually put up a jib sail for the final voyage to Fethiye harbour. The wind was stronger than the previous days, perfect for demonstrating the traditional method of sailing. We made it into Fethiye harbour about 4 PM, and said our good-byes. The cruise was over. The consensus was that we easily could have kept sailing for a few more days. If given a chance we would all repeat the trip, maybe exploring more of the Turkish coast.

We met our driver who drove us to a hotel owned by the boat owner V-Go where we stayed the night in Fethiye before catching a bus Sunday for Kusadasi. That is our home for the next week. We plan to do day trips to Ephesus and other interesting places nearby.