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Published: October 15th 2012
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After Großglockner, Munich, İstanbul, Macedonia, Albania, and brief forays along coastal Montenegro and to Split, I have finally managed to wrap up the last blog entry from Turkey. Should be leaving Split tomorrow with a rental car to head back to Montenegro (Durmitor National Park) after one day in Mostar, Bosnia. Then I will head back into Bosnia at Sutjeska National Park before stopping in Sarajevo. Should return to Split in ~10 days for my flight to Rome.
$US ≈ 1.80 Turkish lira (TL)
Fethiye
Accommodation and food I had booked 1 night in my own air conditioned room with breakfast at Çetin Pansiyon (free WiFi) on hostels.com for 40TL but when I arrived they had no record of my reservation. They offered me a room with a fan but no A/C for 35TL but that wasn't enough of a discount so I got a free load of laundry included. Bad move as I should have canceled the reservation and found another room with A/C as it was 39ºC in Fethiye and not much cooler at night. Türk Mutfağı (Turkish Kitchen, literally Kitchen of the Turk) is a new
lokanta serving meat dishes for 4TL and vegetable
dishes, soup, or rice for 3TL; as usual mass quantities of delicious bread are served. Many
pastaneler, or pastry shops, are scattered all over town but there seems to be a concentration of them, in addition to
kebap shops, near the
pansiyon.
Transport Not much to add here as I left Fethiye on the cruise. Check the previous entry for how to get here from Altınkum.
Tlos and Saklıkent Gorge Minibus "tours" are arranged in the center where regular
dolmuş leave for Saklıkent for 8TL but taking much longer. The tour is just the transport for 10TL each way but makes much fewer stops. There's a 5TL entry fee for Tlos and something similar for the gorge. Many places to grab a bite at at the gorge.
Antalya
Accommodation and food My next internet booking on hostelbookers went much smoother. Antalya Hostel Abad worked out to 38TL for a single with private bathroom, A/C (also super insanely hot in Antalya), breakfast, access to a pool at their nearby sister hotel, and WiFi. Aside from breakfast at the hotel, I did not eat in
kaleiçi. Leaving Hadrian's Gate, there are many cheap but excellent eateries along
the street immediately opposite. Sezgin Salonu serves nice
pide but sitting in the small restaurant with the oven on full blast was tough. Glasskungen on Atatürk Çaddesi has massive cones of incredible gelato for ~4TL.
Transport Local bus 93 runs to the
otogar for 1.50TL, taking 1 hour from Hadrian’s Gate. The light rail also goes there from
kaleiçi in much less time but I think you have to buy a fare card and I didn't want to deal with the hassle. From the
otogar Antobüs 600 heads to the airport every :00 & :30 for 3.50TL. Allow another hour and be sure you know at which terminal to alight. There are domestic and international terminals (very far apart) although a few international flights depart from the domestic terminal.
Blue Cruise
When I rocked up in Fethiye without a reservation for a cruise, I did not think it would be very difficult to arrange. But the town was much more crowded than I thought it would be and there was exactly one boat departing within the next couple of days. I went with V-Go and it was fine but pricey. There seems to be a fixed
cost among all the boats, maybe it's possible to save a few euros by shopping around but plan on around €50/person/day in peak season, i.e., July, August, and September. The price includes food but not drinks (not water either) which must be purchased on board at not terribly inflated prices but I smuggled about 8 liters of water onto the boat. The cruise terminates at Demre where we were first shuttled into town for a quick lunch break then to Çıralı where the other passengers were going to stay. I got off at the main road and caught a passing
dolmuş to Antalya for 10TL. Cruise can also be done in reverse from Demre to Fethiye, possibly arranged in Antalya.
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