Faralya - paradise found?

On the good advice of our friends Brad & Christa and Chuck & Jane, we headed from Fethiye to Faralya to stay for a few nights at George House. The trip on the minibus was enough to confirm that we were headed somewhere special - you had to drive along a steep cliff around a mountain and over a chasm overlooking a gorgeous valley and beach far below to reach it. Think route 101 in Northern California on steroids. While the accommodations at George House are nothing spectacular, the setting more than made up for it. As did the yummy vegetarian food and the beautiful pool they recently added by which to enjoy the views!

Faralya was a great base for exploring the surrounding areas. It's on the Lycian Way, Turkey's first hiking trail (it leads all the way from Fethiye to Antalya), so there are fairly well marked paths to heading in either direction. Our first trek (joined by about 50 goats for about a kilometer) was to Kabak, a beautiful and remote valley with a pretty little beach and a new age clientele. We also trekked from Faralya to the Butterfly Valley directly beneath it - a feat that definitely seemed impossible looking down at the shear cliffs. We had heard that "a slip in the wrong place could be fatal" so I had been having nightmares for days, but with proper shoes and some extra care it wasn't too difficult. The valley was absolutely gorgeous - at the base of the gorge was a pretty waterfall, which provided water for the farmland that stretched out to the beach. And yes, there were tons of butterflies! Luckily the valley floor is owned by several families so it has, as of yet, avoided being turned into a soulless resort.

We met lots of people hiking longer stretches of the Lycian Way (thanks for the advice!) and this is something I am already plotting to come back to in the future. Plus, imagining that we might come back someday made it slightly more bearable to head to our next destination....