Blogs from Kas, Mediterranean, Turkey, Middle East - page 3

I didn't write in my travel journal for a few days, as unfortunately I was sick, but I went back and filled in what I could. Today we left the Safari "Otel" (most hotels here spell their names "Otel" rather than "Hotel") after breakfast and drove to the Lycian city of Phaselis. It was a beautiful drive along the Mediterranean (which was so exciting to see for the first time!). Phaselis is an amazing site in a beautiful area. The city was founded in the 7th C BCE, and flourished as a commercial trading centre until around the 11th C when other nearby ports superseded it. It is really a picture-postcard setting, built around three bays. There are many Roman ruins to see including the theatre and aqueduct. We enjoyed our time here very much. We ... read more

We had a late start this morning because some of our group chose to go paragliding in the morning. So the rest of us had a late breakfast and waited at the hotel for the morning. When the others arrived back we left for Olympus. On the way we stopped at a beach for a swim - it was the most amazing blue water, possibly the bluest I've seen so far. We spent awhile there, then continued on to Kas which is where we stopped for lunch. We had a wander around the shops after lunch and I bought a couple of souvenirs and some delicious dried apricots. The town of Kas is right on a peninsula, and there is a Greek island only 300m across the ocean. After we'd looked around the town we headed ... read more

Bloody hell, it’s hot. The weather geek in me says that because we are now at the coast it should be cooler than inland locations. Wrong. The little thermometer attached to my day pack (I did mention weather geek) told me that it was 38°C in the shade earlier today. After 4 wonderful days in Urgup, we left the town 2 days ago and travelled to the southern Mediterranean coastline by bus. This was a 10 hour bus trip but thankfully relatively interesting. After the interesting terrain around Urgup the terrain flattened out to very flat countryside. They appeared to be growing wheat and other crops but these were growing in very rocky, unappealing looking countryside. The largest city that we travelled through was Konya, which is the centre of the “Whirling Dervishes” – these are ... read more

Por la mañana pasaron por nosotros al hotel para nuestra excursión del día: Un paseo en kayak sobre las ruinas de la ciudad hundida de Kekova. Antes de la llegada de los romanos toda la zona suroeste de Turquía fue territorio del pueblo Licio, al cual perteneció dicha ciudad. Hubo un terrible terremoto hace como dos mil años, y la ciudad se hundio parcialmente en el mar, de tal forma que hoy en día se pueden ver algunas ruinas en la orilla y algunas ruinas bajo el agua. No está permitido nadar sobre las ruinas, asi que la única forma de visitarlas es en un barquito (que no se acerca a la orilla, asi que ves todo desde lejos), o en kayak. Nosotros nunca antes habíamos kayakeado, pero la idea de hacerlo sobre las ruinas de ... read more

So last night was unfortunate. My stomach slapped me for some reason or another. I drank a couple of liters of water… I decided to stay close to the hotel in the morning so I literally drank some more water, slathered on some sun block and cozied up poolside. After a few hours, I actually felt hungry, so I decided it was time to find a playmate. I tried speaking to one woman by the pool – she didn’t speak English. Well, there was only 1 other person there so I said hi. Apparently she is part of the tour group and was completely hung over so she skipped her day of planned activities. I asked if she was up for lunch and a walk around town, and she said certainly. Turns out this girl is ... read more