In Olympos on the Turquoise coast

Balloons over Cappadocia at 6:30am

We have traveled from the central Turkey to the Southwestern coast. From mountains to mountains, with quite different appearances.  Just a short commentary on traveling: our trip from Cappadocia to Olympos took about the same amount of time using airplane and bus as compared to all bus, yet it was more expensive by plane. We caught our airport shuttle at 6:30am, took 2 flights with a very rushed connection between,  then a bus from the Antalya airport to Antalya city center,  then a bus to the border of Olympos town,  then a smaller shuttle bus to get us deeper into the mountains and closer to the beach. In all it took 4 hours of buses and shuttles to get from Antalya airport to our hostel Orange Pension.

Though I will confess, Jess and I went too far on one of the buses, missed our stop and had to change buses and backtrack to where the shuttle to our hostel departed.  This, luckily,  only added 30 minutes and 5  Turkish lira to our journey  When traveling by bus in a foreign country,  this mistake is bound to happen...That said, after my experiences of bus and (soviet era) train travel in Eastern Europe,  I think I'll opt for drawn out air travel as long as I can afford to.


The area around Antalya is the stunning combination of vegetation covered mountains and the turquoise Mediterranean sea. The bus ride was pleasant with such a landscape to admire. Olympos is equally as gorgeous.  The town proper is nestled in the mountains and the shuttle to arrive here was harrowing. We are surrounded by a mix of pine, palm, and citrus trees. It is hot and humid, rivaling Galveston,  but with a sweeter more consistent breeze.

Lounging at our hostel

 Our hostel has this lush canopy over the common area which provides a cooler environment to play backgammon or read and drink a beer. Victory for the Americans today: Jess beat Apo, the hostel manager, at 2 games of backgammon winning us each a free bottle of Efes.  In Turkey, the tradition is the first player to win 5 games wins the match,  however our challenge was to win more than one game. Keep in mind, we only started playing a week ago and the manager has years of experience and culture on his side. While poking some fun at our skills,  he also taught us a few strategic points.  Jess is our backgammon champion. I lost badly during the 2 games I played against Apo.

View of the Olympos ruins
on the way to the beach

The beach is a 15 minute walk from the hostel and includes a 10 minutes segment through the Lycian ruins of Olympos. This morning we set out after breakfast to walk along the beach to the neighboring town, Cirali. Granted we are on vacation schedule and left at 9:30am after a leisurely breakfast. (Our hostel includes delicious breakfast and dinner).


At first we were very motivated,  thinking we could walk to Cirali and beyond. Despite our Texan heat endurance, we were defeated by the Antalyan sun. The beach is set against a cliffside with ruins built into it and the shore is a combination of sand, large white rocks,  and multicolored pebbles closer to the water.  The sun reflecting off the rocks and water was brutal.

View of Olympos beach

 About 3/4ths of the way to Cirali,  maybe a mile and a half, we were drenched in sweat, the sound of the waves lapping at the shore was torture. As we sweated and looked at the glimmering blue water, we started to talk about withholding pleasures and self flagellation.  Then we couldn't take it anymore, we dropped our backpack on the beach and jumped from the baking hot stones into the cool waters of the Mediterranean.

Jess on the beach

We floated, swam and admired the horizon and the mountains for an hour. Sufficiently cooled down and just tanned enough, we headed back to town for a lunch of Gozleme,  which is a Turkish pancake that is ubiquitous in this beach town.

         

It has been a perfect day of lounging in the water and on land. Later in the afternoon, we returned to the beach, floated, swam and admired the horizon and the mountains. Tomorrow we take a day cruise, and we still have 2 more nights of our Turkish beach vacation.