Patara

From Oludinez we stopped for a night in Patara, a sleepy town a couple of kilometers from Turkey's longest sandy beach. The beach was a real treat - powdery white sand and pretty much empty of people, especially if you walk even a short distance from the entrance. The beach is a major nesting area for loggerhead and green turtles and therefore has been completely protected from development. Unfortunately, the day we went it was a bit windy, so not particularly great for laying around. Still, we enjoyed walking along the water and climbing on the cliffs at the south end of the beach. As an added bonus, the route out to the beach was lined with ruins.

Oludeniz

From Faralya we had to go back to Fethiye to catch a bus to our next destination, so we decided to stay a night in Oludeniz. The beach is on a peninsula and is absolutely beautiful but the town has been all but taken over by Brits on packaged vacations. Still, it was a fine stop for a night, and we thoroughly enjoyed watching the parasailers circling above at sunset and laughing at the shop owners calling to us with their best British accent.

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....

Fetiye and Saklikent Gorge

The boat trip ended in Fetiye, and as it was a very nice town, we decided to make it our base for a few days. There were several rock tombs carved by the Lycians into the hills behind the town- something we`d see throughout the region in the days to come. There was also an ancient Roman theater in town, which we saw some local boys making good use of for soccer practice.

From Fetiye, we visited Saklikent Gorge, an 18 km gorge cut into the Akdağlar Mountains that ıs so steep and narrow that the sun doesn`t penetrate in several places. We hiked as far as we could and than got assistance from a very strategically positioned guide who helped us over waterfalls and other precarious parts of the gorge until we reached a larger waterfall about 2 km in. It was a wet and muddy adventure (luckily for us, the mud is collected for use in mud baths...) and we had a great time.

Our final night in Fetiye we went to a restaurant that came up with a great idea, which is now replicated by all it`s neighbors. Since it is nearby the fish market, they let you buy your fresh fish (or shrimp or calamari) directly from the seafood sellers and for 5 YTL, they`ll grill it and provide bread (always...) and a salad. Yum.

Blue Gület Cruise

From Marmaris we headed out on a 3 night boat trip to Fethiye on a wooden yacht called a Gület. It was ultra relaxing (once we finally departed four hours late...) and it was nice to meet and talk with some other people after pretty much spending every hour of the last 3 weeks together!

We cruised around many different islands and bays, swimming and kayaking in the clear blue Mediterranean water, drinking beers, playing cards and otherwise just laying around in the sun. The Turkish government has done a great job of protecting much of the shoreline from development, so there are lots of places you can only reach by boat. I have to admit I was a little depressed on the last day when we saw our first signs of civilization on the shores...

Marmaris

From Selçuk, we headed down to Marmaris, where we would be embarking on a boat trıp. The bus ride was beautiful and ın particular, driving down through the mountains into the seaside town was a breathtaking sight. We only had a night ın Marmaris, and although we had read it was very touristy now, we had a great time. There is a georgeous old part of town to ramble through, with a castle that peers over the harbour. There are also some killer clubs - when we saw the lasers and flames shooting into the air, we knew we had to break the budget and go check out "Bar Street". It was surprisingly busy (everywhere else we`ve been so far has been kind of dead) and although we didn`t dance on the bar like a lot of people there, we did shake our booties for a while.

Selçuk and Ephesus

From Kusadaşi we headed up to Selçuk for a couple of days with the primary objective of seeing Ephesus, one of the most well preserved examples of an ancient city ın the world. Selcuk was a very chill town and we enjoyed wandering around. We got a few blocks off the maın streets and we felt that we were deep into rural Turkey - the women were clearing rocks from theır land to plant crops, cutting wood and building outdoor fıres to cook dinner and poundıng laundry wıht rocks (ıt was a Sunday, so of course all of the men were ın town drinking tea and playing cards). Gil got attacked by a little dog who liked the cuff of hıs pants, whıch then got a goat all rıled up at which point one of the women had to come to our rescue.

Ephesus itself was amazing. We spent the better part of the day exploring the ruins and eaves dropping on tour groups to learn more about the history of the place. We really got a sense for what city life would have been like back then. Essentially, if you were rich, it would have been off the hook - the wealthy living areas were full of ornate mosaics and other beautiful objects and were nicely situated by the bars, hamams (spas) and main shopping areas. If you were a slave, you were stuck warming up the marble toilet seat for some rıch dude. Maybe things have improved a bit?

We also saw the aqueducts throughout town whıch have now become the home of giant storkes and the remains of the Temple of Artemis, which was one of the 7 Ancient Wonders of the World and way bigger than the Parthenon. Pretty much all that is left of the Temple is one column and a pond full of turtles. Thıs land has changed ownership so many tımes and it ıs interesting to see how various buıldings are reused over and over again - we also visted a mosque in town and there were clearly blocks that were pulled from Artemis.

Selçuk had some other interesting sites as well - like the remains of the huge Church of St. John (where he is buried) and the supposed fınal home of Mary, whom St. John brought to Turkey late in her life. When we were at the Church, a grass fıre broke out rıight outside the ruins and we saw a church group from the States come to the rescue and put it out with branches (after which the fire department showed up with a garden hose....). I am sure the fact that they saved the church ruins from disaster was the highlight of theır trip!