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The Küçük Müstafa
This gulet was our home for four wonderful days. After three days in Istanbul we knew we were going to like Turkey. We booked a 4 day voyage on a gület.. the small wooden yachts that domınate the southern Turkish coast.
The Turkish transportation system is amazing, big comfortable buses take you to all corners of the country...and there are literally hundreds of companies to choose from. We asked about the government owned trains and we kept getting the same answer: "never on time and not safe!".
We took an over-night bus from Istanbul to Finicke, which is on the southern coast. The 15 hour bus ride may seem long, but the seats are comfortable, stops every three to four hours for WC and some Turkish Delight, and we found it a great way to get around.
We arrived and, after a little hassel over our transfer to the boat, we arrived at the little port and found our boat waiting for us.
We were told that we were coming into high season so expect a full boat of 12 passengers and 3 crew members...but much to our surprise and delight there were only 8 guests including us (on a boat for 12 :-)). So much
Kekova - the Lost City
This beautiful city used to run through a valley to another hilltop behind the photographer. However, the valley is now part of the Mediterranean and the other hilltop is yet another island. more room and really enjoyable.
Our shipmates were all great. Two Canadian couples (one on their honeymoon), a New Zealand couple, and us. Everyone was looking for the same thing: a quite, comfortable cruise on the Mediterranean. We were afraid that we'd end up with some "party types" that wanted to keep us up till all hours of the night, but thankfully that didn't happen. In fact the other three couples were all worried about the same thing so we were all a bunch of old fogies together
What a wonderful 4 days...we strongly recommend the Blue Voyage (which is what this trip is known as) as part of your Turkish travels.
The first evening was exploring ruins and hiking the small island of Kekova. Dinner and then a night of visiting. Sleeping was so nice as the night-time tempature kept the cabins cool. You fall asleep to the slight rocking of the waves against the boat...perfect!
The next day was more of the same, sun, swimming, relaxing, eating, and then do it all over again in the afternoon. In the morning we stopped for a few hours after breakfast in Kas another city along the
Butterfly Valley - as seen from our gület
The water was a little rough for us to stay and swim, but we did get to enjoy breakfast from the deck in this little cove. route. We spent most of our time on the internet, but it looked like a cute place to spend a few days as opposed to a few hours.
On the third day we stopped at St. Nicholas island...named after the local hero. Jessica and I hiked to the top of Santa Claus' islands and a lot of beautiful pictures as the sun set. Couldn't really see or understand moving one's whole business operation to the cold North Pole when you come from the Turkish Mediterranean Coast...but to each his own!
Four days flew by...we couldn't believe it was over so fast. However we had a very exciting few days of seeing more of the Turkish countryside, ruins and the journey to the ancient city of Ephesus in front of us!!!
We caught a bus in Fethiye just a few hours after leaving the boat (great little coastal town) and headed inland to the famous town of Pamukkale to see the beautiful calcium travertines.
The overland trip was beautiful. The scenery was amazing as we crossed huge mountians and then wide-open valleys on this five hour trip. Traveling by bus allowed us to see so much countryside.
A quick dip!
We will call the water refreshing...we went swimming everyday off the deck of our gulet. Weather was perfect and when it got too hot on the sun deck, the water was right there! Pamukkale is a small town set at the foot of these massive white calcium travertines. We arrived in the late afternoon and then walked back up to the base of them after sunset. They have beautiful lights on the white mountain...really wonderful.
While Pamukkale is at the bottom of the travertines, the ruins of Hierapolis are at the top. Founded around 190 BC by the King of Pergamum, the city was a medical center based on the warm springs that are loaded with minerals.
The ruins were very impressive. It actually took us a number of hours to get through a good portion of the city. The view over the valley below was great...and there were not that many tourists, which made us feel like we had the place to ourselves.
This is actually the city where it is beleived that the apostle Philip was martyred and though we had not expected to stop in Pamukkale, but we were really happy we did. Our next stop was Selcuk, the gateway to the ruins of Ephesus.
Sulcuk is just minutes from Ephesus, so we expected a huge tourist town and many tourists...not true. Ephesus has thousands
St. Nick's Pulpit
This is Saint Nicholaus' island - where he was rumored to reside. upon thousands of tourists everyday...but the "tour group" tourists stay in the nearby city of Kusadasi...so Selcuk is perfect.
This little city of 25,000 is big enough to have everything you want, but small enough so that you can love the city. Little cafes and ancient ruins make this place the location to stay when you visit Ephesus.
Selcuk is also the home of the Basilica of St. John, the mosque Isa Bey Camii, the Temple of Artemis (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World), and numerous ruins of the Roman Aqueducts. The alleged final residence of the Virgin Mary is near Selcuk as well, but taxis and tour groups charge outrageous amounts of money to take you there.
We really enjoyed our time in Selcuk. The next morning we headed out to see the ruins of Ephesus. We caught a little buses called (dolmus) that dropped us right at the gate.
We had gotten a great inside tip at our hotel that there was a path that took you up and above the city of Ephesus that was well worth the hike. It just made our trip to the ruins perfect.
We
Top of Santa Claus' Island
This is the top of the island named after Father Christmas...the real one! The island was in a beautiful place and had amazing view. We have so many pictures from this spot. got there and realized just how many people visit these ruins. As they are near the sea, tour groups from cruise ships swamp the place. In addition, tour groups down from Istanbul swamp the place...so you can really get lost.
The mass of tour buses drop their passengers at the top of Ephesus and they all walk down the hill through the ruins. The bus, in the meantime, drives around the hill and back to the bottom gate where they pick you up. Each tour group is around 40-50 people and there are hundreds of these. They move pretty quickly through the ruins and then they are off to the next site.
We started at the botttom gate and realized the advice was going to be so valuable. We found the little path and found ourselves alone in Ephesus looking down on the crowds but amoung 100s of ruins. The path hiked up and around (see photos) giving us totally unique views of the ancient city.
Once we got to the top, we joined the mass of humanity and worked our way down the city streets of Ephesus...wow...just beautiful (the place, not all the people).
The
two big sites to see at Ephesus are the library and the theater....both are in amazing shape. The detail and the size are just fantastic. They estimate that at one time there were nearly 250,000 people living in the city.
We took the rest of the afternoon as a tour on our own - a much needed breather after Ephesus. First stop was the beach at Pamucak (about 4 miles away from Ephesus), not very impressive. During the summer months it can get very busy with lots of people and happening restaurants, but we arrived just before the restaurants were even open so it felt kind of desolate. Not to mention the the Agean shore had about 6 feet of algae growing from the edge of the sand out into the water - not for us.
After the beach we made our way to the Temple of Artemis. Although there is just one of the massive columns left, you can tell that the temple was once huge. The only remaining Ancient Wonder of the World is the Pyramids in Egypt...the other 6 have been lost to history. Apparently this one was lost to a individual who knew his
Sunbathing Zone
This picture was taken from the bow of the gulet. A very nice spot to read and catch a few sunrays :-) name would go down in history for destroying it, so that is why he did it. Apparently the People Magazine-type fame complex is not new to our generations (be infamous if you can't be famous).
From there we made our way past the Isa Bey Camii (mosque) and then the Basilica of St. John. This was where the tomb of the apostle John was believed to be buried, and a massive 6th centruy church was built in his honor there. All that is left is some restored arches and walkways...but it is still impressive.
We made our way into town and sat and had dinner at one of the many wonderful little cafes in Selcuk and met some great people from Australia. It is such a relaxing little town with a lot of history.
The picture of Jessica at the cafe with the ruins of the Roman Aqueducts in the background starts to give you a feel of this place.
The time in Turkey just came and went so fast, did we really spend 10 days here????
The next morning after Ephesus we caught our transfer bus down to Kusadasi to catch our ferry to
Jessica in the calcium pools
These pools had warm water from the spring...and the most amazing views of the valley below! the Greek Islands. We enjoyed Turkey very much, it was so easy to travel here.
The only drawback that we have had durıng our entire trip ıs the tourist shop owners...when you walk away they curse at you and whatever country you come from -- they apparently aren't lookıng for return customers!!!
Turkey is not a cheap, nor is it an expensive place to travel. We found we could move comfortably inbetween backpacker mode and expensive mode really easily and affordably.
If you have a few weeks or a few months, you could easily bury the time exploring this diverse and historic country. We have a long list of the places in Turkey we plan to visit next time we come. The people, the history, the sites, and the weather should move Turkey to one of the top spots on your travel itinerary.
Next we are off to the Greek Islands! What a way to finish a perfect three month honeymoon!
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