KAS 15-27 May 2023

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Hard to believe it had only been a week since we arrived in Istanbul. Everything felt so familiar and comfortable in such a short time and we also felt that we have seen all that we needed to. Although a trip back was scheduled on our return in just over a month.


We woke at 6am so that we could leave by 7:00 for the airport to fly to Dalaman. It was already light.




It took most of the day to get to Kas. We hadn't expected it to take so long. The flight to Dalaman was meant to leave at 10:00 but it wasn't until 11:30 that we arrived and then the bus to Fethiye which left at 12:00 didn't get there until 1:30.
That bus cost 80TL and then another bus for 100TL took us to Kas at 2:00pm arriving in Kas after 3:30. It was a very scenic drive passing the largest tomato growing area in Europe, which was a whole town full of glass houses. Then the tourist town of Kalkan and the famous Kaputas Beach which was meant to be the most beautiful in Turkiye but was way too touristy for us. In our opinion a 'beautiful' beach would not be so crowded.



The walk to the Airbnb took no more than 5 minutes and was mostly downhill toward the coast.



I had originally booked another hotel on Agoda but had free cancellation. It was double the price and further from the centre and up a hill. I was so lucky to have found this alternate Airbnb.


Kas turned out to be a wonderful choice of place to stay. It was less touristy and less busy than other more well-known locations that got charter flights from all over Europe.






It was more boutique hotels and pensions and was far enough away from Dalaman Airport to discourage most of the tourists from traveling there. Marmaris, Alanya or Fethiye were more popular places to stay.






Kas was a lovely size to be able to explore by foot and was not invaded by the ugliness that larger towns usually show, so it was precisely what we looked for.





As soon as we walked into our apartment we were blown away. For only A$45/ night we had a two room apartment overlooking lovely views of the town with a balcony and breakfast table. Above the apartment was a roof terrace with even better views over the town and sea. At the entrance and below our balcony were chicken roaming freely.




Within the first hour of being there I managed to extend our stay which was originally 7 days then 9 to 12. From 1 June the price of our apartment more than doubled, so it just felt right.





It was clear that the cats that came to the balcony were used to being fed by other visitors that had stayed there.and had been allowed in to the apartment. As much as I love animals we discouraged this but it wasn't easy as they were persistent. We were surrounded by cats and chicken and there was always noise. Either from the rooster calling the cats meowing or the call to prayer from the mosque right in front of us.




The call to prayer was about 3-5 times each 24hours. Each time the call to prayer started I closed all the windows. The double glazing did the job of blocking most noise and after a few nights we didn't even remember hearing it, so it stopped waking us up. I wondered how this was done before electric loudspeaker were embraced by this (and other) towns and I really didn't notice any affect on the population each time it was announced but it was one of the things that added to how exotic it felt to be there.






With 12 days ahead of us we tried to make a routine and to that we were quite successful.
Each morning we would wake and walk 15mins to the best beach for a morning dip. The first morning we plunged off the rocks 100 m from our apartment but negotiating the rocks was a little tricky and risky. From day 2 we walked to a stunning beach along the peninsula and that became our regular.




We usually got there early enough to have it to ourselves but after the first two days the weather was not really on our side, nevertheless we continued daily.




We met another older British couple who regularly swam lengths in the mornings. They came every year for a whole month and had been for 10 years. They said that in that decade that this had been the worst weather that they had experienced. It didn't matter to us.



It was winter in Australia, so at least it was warmer here and the cloud just made it easier to walk around more. The strong winds that we experienced on some of the days just made the swim more exhilarating and it felt like we had overcome a challenge.




There was also the American swimming instructor usually there training one or more people.
Mulberry trees were easy to find as we walked by patches of squashed red marks on the pavements, so we often stopped on our walks for a feast. An elderly lady saw us once and offered us a bucket for us to fill and then when we were done a bucket of water to wash up with. It was all sign language, as we knew no Turkish apart from 'hello' and 'thank you' (Merhaba and Teşekkürler) and she knew no english.




We would go to the rooftop for our breakfast with the beautiful views and our Airbnb host came the first day with some deep fried pancake and on the second day with three fresh eggs from the chicken. I expect they were happy to have us stay for so long and lighten the workload for them. They appeared to be an elderly woman and her middle aged son, who were always on hand. We used Google translate to communicate as they had very limited English. There wasn't really much interaction needed except for them needing passport copies when we arrived and is requesting a duvet, as only a thin blanket (no sheet!!) was provided and the weather was definitely milder than expected for this time of year.







Fridays were the regular town markets, selling fruit and vegetables, gozelme lunch freshly toasted and tourist goods. It was by far the busiest day of the week in town.




After our swim I would trek to the supermarket for a freshly baked seeded loaf of bread. We resorted to eating most of our meals in our apartment as it had as good an outlook and kitchen as any of the restaurants. And supermarket food was easy to shop for with about 4 small supermarkets within a 5 minute radius with a great variety of easy to prepare Turkish food and fresh fruit and vegetables.





In the evenings we would go for a walk somewhere in town either to the tourist and fishing marina or a long a Promenade that was newly concreted on the waterfront or to the luxurious yachtie's marina, with a beautifully landscaped promenade and corner store. There we could buy a pizza and bake it freshly in the ovens and eat it overlooking the expensive boats in the marina. There were people staying here from all over Europe and the facilities were top class.





There was also the popular Roman amphitheatre which was busy at sunset. One evening we sat until long after dark gazing across the water to the nearby Greek island as someone played some beautiful music




There were big, lazy dogs wherever we walked around town and often they would walk with you to wherever you were going. The dogs appeared to be very generously fed probably by restaurant left overs.
Cats were also everywhere; sleeping on pillows that were for sale outside shops or on motorcycle seats. Despite how many roaming animals there was very little evidence of their toileting around. We noticed the dogs especially always looked for discreet bushes to do their business in. I was terrified that I would experience a car accident with a roaming animal but thankfully that didn't happen.
Traffic appeared to be very courteous and patient with them and they were mainly quite street smart.





Below our house was a young family of baby kittens that we could look at from our window and watch play and feed from their mother.




We watched crabs feeding on the rocks when we sat on the piers over the water with fascination and always tried to find new locations to explore. We climbed hills, explored tombs and found little hidden beaches along the coves. We spend half a day walking part of the Lycian way which took us outside of the urban areas to new beaches and through the bush.





Our apartment was so lovely and so well located that it was perfect for us to have a relaxing, memorable holiday.




I am one to be pretty honest in my blogging accounts and everything that I write here seems to sound pretty idyllic and romantic but I can honestly say that I write this with very fond memories of our stay there.




There were boat trips and excursions that we could have paid extra for and spent days on to kill time but we didn't feel the need. For one the weather was a little troublesome so I would not have enjoyed a day in a boat with less than glassy water and also we didn't feel like we needed more than what we already had where we were. There was more than enough to keep us content.


There should be 23 photos, 1 map and 1 YouTube video link included in this post

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MC0y8K-Irks&t=70s

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