Fethiye, Patara, Kas, & Cirali, Turkey

Day 13 - An Abandoned City, a Local's Only Kind of Beach, and Some Ancient Tombs

We slept mostly pretty well despite a weird AC unit in our room. It was either freezing cold or hot. This hotel was a little rough around the edges but the staff was very helpful with anything we needed. The fresh fruit with yogurt and honey was a good start to the day.

Next stop was Kayakoy, an old Greek city that was abandoned in 1923 after a war between the Turks and the Greeks. Most of the town had been built in the 18th century and what is left has been mostly vacant for 100 years. I found it fascinating exploring the city and climbing around the trails and ruins.

It was worth the sweat to make it up to the highest point and the view to the sea.

We took a short break and headed out to a beach for a few hours. We hiked down to a local rocky beach with pretty views and clear beautiful water. It was so refreshing! Even though we were staying near the famous Oludeniz Beach, we opted to skip it due to the crowds and expense. This area is filled with British tourists on holiday. It was a little disappointing seeing the mass tacky tourism taking over the area. We did our best to break away from the masses and find some hidden treasure. I am so thankful to have a car!

We stopped in the more authentic town of Fethiye for some gozleme for lunch. Gozleme is kind of like a Turkish quesadilla. I tried Ayran again, the salty yogurt drink that is on every menu. It's pretty good. Think unsweetened and slightly salty kefir. We also grabbed ice cream again on the way back to the car.

We took our afternoon siesta once again because it is just too hot to do much else. I took a dip in the hotel pool and amused myself listening to the British accents around the hotel.

It was time to escape the touristy area around our hotel and drive 15 minutes back to Fethiye. I wish I had booked a hotel in this town instead! Next time. We drove to some of the most amazing ancient tombs I'd ever seen, dating back to 350 BC.

We found easy parking near the old town and a cute restaurant near the harbor. Karma Restaurant was just perfect for a drink and a simple meal of salad and calamari. It was a nice place to watch yet another sunset.

Day 14 - Tlos Ancient City, Patara Beach and Ancient City

After a quick breakfast, we drove less than an hour to Tlos. This part of Turkey is dotted with ancient sites. This city survived many turbulent times and empires. It dates back over 4,000 years. I can't even fathom that. We climbed to the top of the old acropolis and saw many impressive tombs with ancient writing still intact.

We drove on to a small town just outside of Patara, our home for night. We checked into our cute pension for around $60 a night. It was an improvement over the last place.

We had a simple lunch of a salad and grilled chicken. It really was an excellent salad. Probably my favorite so far! Around $15 for this meal.

We were ready to tackle Patara Beach! This beach is an enormous sandy beach that is also the protected home to nesting turtles. There were many areas roped off where the nests rested beneath the sand. The pension lent us an umbrella and we enjoyed playing in the waves for a couple of hours. This beach had some more serious waves than the others! The heat was awful and walking on the sand without shoes was unbearable.

It was time for that afternoon siesta! I nearly fell asleep in a lounger by the pool.

Once it cooled off, around 6:30, we went back toward Patara Beach to explore the ancient city. This city was once the capitol of Lycia and the excavation and renovation work is ongoing. Saint Nicholas (Santa!) was born here and we could even see the world's first lighthouse (currently being restored) in the distance. The history here spans so many centuries and empires. According to Wikipedia, more statues and structures were discovered in the 2020s. The theater and council chambers were particularly impressive.

The forum had many intact columns and reminded me of what I had seen in Rome.

It was getting late and we were hungry and thirsty. We sat up on a balcony, ordered drinks, and played a couple games before ordering a very average meal. No pictures this time. We were home after 10pm once again.

Day 15 - Another Excellent Beach and Arrival in Kas

We had what may have been our favorite and most colorful Turkish breakfast. Lots of yummy fruit and homemade jams.

However, the coffee situation wasn't great (instant) so we drove a short bit to a fancy coffee place and even had morning cheesecake. Hey, it's vacation!

The drive along the coast was stunning. I stopped several times to take pictures and marvel at the color of the water. Just wow!

We found roadside parking to visit a Seyrek Cakil Beach. It's a little beach along the road. We rented sun-beds and an umbrella. This tends to run around $7.50 - $10. Worth it to have some shade!

We spent nearly three hours going in and out of the water, reading, swimming, relaxing, and getting cold drinks. Bliss. I used to think I wasn't a beach person. Turns out this is pretty special! I like being surrounded by people from all over the world who find common ground enjoying a gorgeous beach. And if I got tired of people, I just swam out a little further! Not many pictures from this beach. We just enjoyed our time.

We checked into our modern apartment with a nice terrace overlooking the Kas and the sea. This is the most expensive place of the trip coming in at $100 per night.

It was time to share a quick sandwich. They added some interesting little salads to our order.

Next was a grocery run where we scored some yummy fruit for the next couple of nights. Kas was giving very good first impressions.

We cooled off in the apartment for a couple of hours before setting off to see another beautiful ancient amphitheater. This one overlooked the sea and had a great singer/guitar player entertaining the happy crowd. I took some pictures of a sweet couple and felt so thankful to be in such a beautiful place.

I walked along a long pier to a small lighthouse and enjoyed views of the harbor. But I think this furry friend enjoyed the view even more. The cat scene is crazy here in Kas!

DD#2 joined me for an evening stroll along with so many people! I don't know where all the people came from! We did a little shopping, took some pictures, and found a popular place for bao bun taco-like things for dinner. They were yummy!

We bought many beaded necklaces for very little money. So pretty!

I was so happy to run across a great jazz quartet. I only got to hear "Night in Tunisia" before they took a break. The trumpet player was amazing.

We came home to a little territorial cat fight right outside of our apartment. They were so loud!

Another late night in Turkey. Worth it.

Day 16 - Another Repeat Day on the Mediterranean

It's beginning to feel a little like the movie "Groundhog Day" but in a very good way. Wake up, find good coffee, find a good beach, take a long AC siesta in the room, walk around a cute town, find food. Repeat.

I suppose there's a little more to it than that. For instance, I hiked up to some more ancient Lycian tombs this morning. But I miss running. It's just too hot and hilly around here.

And I had coffee on the balcony with a cat. I still don't really know how he made it up to our balcony. He was a feisty one too.

We drove a short distance to a municipal beach, Bilediyesi Beach. We lucked out with good parking, secured our sun beds and umbrella and relaxed again for few hours. The swimming was magnificent.

We went on a little joyride around the Kas peninsula after the beach and I stopped to take pictures several times. The Greek island of Kastellorizo sits off in the distance and is a short boat ride away. The town of Kas has a Greek feel to it. Or maybe the Greek islands have a Turkish feel. Whatever the case, it's really charming and addicting. I love this area and it will hard to move on tomorrow. If I'd known, I would have scheduled more time in Kas.

After a quick and easy pizza dinner we took some more pictures around the town.

More stuffed mussels being sold. There were at least 6-8 vendors all in a row.

They even allow the cats to hang out on the Turkish rugs!

We may have had ice cream twice. Once at our favorite place and another time at a special rolled ice cream place. DD#2 picked all kinds of fruit to have crushed and rolled into her concoction. A pretty good end to another beachy day.

Day 17 - Bye to Kas, Our Favorite Beach, and Two Hour Drive to Cirali

I got up earlier than the teen, so I went for a run and then found a place to take a quick morning swim. Such a perfect way to end a workout!

We had pastries and fancy coffee again from the same place we tried yesterday. It was a little pricey but so fresh and yummy.

Next task was getting gas on the way out of town. Full service plus the guy washed all the windows. Score!

After about an hour or spectacular driving along one of the most scenic coastal roads I have ever seen, we came upon a hairpin turn with a beach. We parked the car along the highway and walked down several rocky stairs to the prettiest beach yet! We were able to swim out to a cave and took many pictures. There were only 20-30 people on this small beach. We spent at least an hour here enjoying the pristine blue water.

We drove another hour or so and had to stop to take this picture of the thousands of greenhouses that dominate this area. All those white things are greenhouses. I think it's for all the tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers that are part of every meal.

After a very windy road, we ended up at our next pension in the very small town of Cirali. It was way smaller than I expected! The room was in a little bungalow in a pretty garden. I was impressed with their swan towel art! About $70 per night

It was hot again so we took a couple hours in the room to cool off. Travel fatigue was getting to both of us and we just didn't have much energy. Still I managed to walk into the town about 10 minutes away and grab some beverages and a little gozleme snack for lunch. I watched the woman make it by hand from a pile of dough. I hate to say it, but it was kind of bland. It looks like a lot of work to make these. I am really starting to like the ayran yogurt drink though.

We finally got ourselves together and played a couple of games at a casual beach bar before finding a simple dinner. This is pretty standard fare in these touristy beach towns.

Day 18 - Last Beach Day!

We enjoyed a simple breakfast at our pension and were especially excited that they served crepes! Yum. We were still moving rather slowly due to the heat. We eventually settled in at a beach and ordered fresh juices. Ahhh. Last day before returning to the big city.

Lots of pomegranate trees here.

DD#2 has really owned the floating hammock. If you're going on a beach vacation, I highly recommend packing along this hammock. It takes hardly any space and only takes a minute to inflate. We were in and out of the ocean many times and loved the Hawaii feel of this beach. It was surrounded by tall mountains and lush green scenery.

Lunch was delivered on the beach and we tried to savor each moment knowing this would be our last beach for a long time. Reading on the beach has become one of my favorite things ever!

We cooled off in the room before exploring the Mount Chimaera. I left close to 7:30pm and climbed up some steep rocky steps for at least one kilometer. At the top were several eternal flames coming out of the rocks. So bizarre! You could faintly smell the natural gas in the air. Some people were roasting marshmallows over the flames. This area has had eternal flames for centuries. There are also old church ruins on the same site. So fascinating!

We had a quick, late dinner in the small town of Cirali and were both feeling eager to get back to Istanbul tomorrow.