Millipark

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Millipark:

Maybe we should have started earlier - we should have taken more water.

Took the dolmus to Kusadasi and then the dolmus to the Millipark. We got dropped off at the canyon around 11:45 and started to walk. The way up was never too steep - just a fairly gentle slope round and round the mountain, rising to just over 900 metres. The views are spectacular. You start off under the high canyon cliff then gradually climb above it - towards the end it looks a long, long way beneath you.

We saw eagles. We saw small lizards. We heard a large animal crashing through the undergrowth (probably wild boar though they are more often seen on the beaches eating people's leftovers). We saw many, many flies and other insects who seemed to want to get between our glasses and our eyes.

There are a couple of cesme on the way up - we were not sure whether the (very cold) water was drinkable. It was refreshing splashed on faces and bandanas. We do have photos but, with scenery that immense, it's hard to capture that way.

Not sure whether we came the right way down. The path was very rocky so you have to watch your feet but also very spectacular, looking down into the Menderes flood plain. It was much, much further than the signs said it was. We did lose the path at least once (had to turn back), the path down being poorly marked and easy to lose. In places the mountainside can end abruptly in cliffs so not being sure of the right path down meant care needed to be taken.

Eventually we passed the visitors centre - we finished the last of the water as we approached a village but the path veered away. About 2Km further we were walking through bee fields as people collected honey. Ashley thinks I was very brave. I am not irrationally afraid of bees - but I do have a nasty reaction when they sting me. Which they didn't. Finally hit the road to Priene (i.e. a real road, if a minor one) just after a dolmus sailed past. We hitched a lift to a tiny village whose name I can't remember and started to walk down the Soke road (23 Km) where we hitched a lift into Soke. There we restocked with water (badly needed) and caught the dolmus to Kusadasi. From thence dolmus to Selcuk. This dolmus was packed with Brits from the complexes who reminded me why I do not wish to live in Kusadasi. They weren't too bad but, from the way they were talking, they had never seen anyone stand on bus before.

Ashley demonstrated his command of Turkish by hearing that someone wanted to be dropped off at the hospital and getting off at the same time, saving us a bit of a walk. We headed for the Homeros, had a shower and had dinner at the Tat restaurant - just some mixed metzes and some very good bread (oven sort). Few beers at the Denis bar (Beskitas were playing Fenerbace which caused a lot of excitement) then bed.

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