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Published: September 25th 2008
I mentioned before that the Turks like to travel in style and I can report that this extends to the bus companies too. Mercedes Benz appears to have had a field day here with almost all the bus companies using new luxury air conditioned Mercedes Benz coaches. I guess it’s a kind of arms race – first one company ups the ante by buying a luxury coach and soon all the others have to do the same to compete. You get a comfortable reclining seat and shortly after departure complementary refreshments are served (water, coffee, tea, cola, cake, biscuits) and again several times during the trip. As we headed south I watched the outside temperature on the onboard thermometer steadily increase … 28 – 30 – 32 –34 – 37 degrees. It certainly made you feel thankful that the bus was air conditioned, but made me wonder at the wisdom of heading south. We started to climb up mountain passes and the rocky hills were soon covered in scruffy pine trees which although small, appeared old and twisted. Eventually the mountains were cleared and almost immediately the sparkling Mediterranean Sea was visible, the mountain slopes plunging steeply into the water.
Fethiye (pronounced Fe-tee-ya) is a large city on the coast. Its sheltered bay makes it an ideal port for yachts and fishing boats. This is the main starting point for 3-4 day boat cruises east along the coast. I didn’t really enjoy my time in Fethiye, partly because my accommodation was a bit lousy but mostly because I felt that it had grown unnaturally fat on the proceeds of tourism. There were scores of large wooden boats called “Gullets” along the waterfront offering day trips on the water. The couple of scuba diving operators seemed disinterested in customers and one of the operators walked away when I paused to look at their brochure, another was only going out “next week”. There is also an old city section close to the marina that had been converted into a glitzy shopping strip selling flashy jewelry, watches, sandals and souvenirs and within the same area many overpriced restaurants. It felt fake, like the big city trying to portray the small town feel it no longer had. It did have some interesting rock tombs carved directly into the cliffs surrounding the city. These had been carved by the Lycian civilization (a group who predate
the Romans).
I went on one of the boat day trips around the bay the next day and it was nice enough for a day out on the water. There were two options; a sailing boat or a double-decker motor boat. I opted for the sailing boat which was slightly more expensive, although I think it’s a bit far fetched to call it a sailing boat. For one thing, it had no sails! The sole function of the boom was to suspend canvas shade cloth over the deck. Oh, there was a token jib on the forestay which was ceremoniously unfurled on the homeward leg of the trip. The engine was turned off and the notes of Celine Dion’s “Titanic” theme song played over the sound system while we slowly drifted to a halt - the sail hopelessly underpowered for a boat that size. But as I said, it was still nice enough for a day on the water. We visited a number of small islands and bays, swimming or exploring the scrubby islands and lunch was served on board. A multi-day trip along the coast would have been good if real sailing was on offer, however more motor-sailers
Boat Trip
View from one of the islands we visitedand price put me off the idea.
The following day I opted for a move to another town along the coast. A place called Kas (pronounced Cash). We took a very sinuous coastal road with sparkling Mediterranean Sea on the right and craggy cliffs on the left. We arrived in Kas around 12:30 and it was seriously warm – I’m talking 38 degrees plus and humid. Although I had collected some brochures for accommodation quite near the bus station I became hopelessly disoriented as I walked through the streets. I passed several hotels but their offers were hopelessly expensive and asking about shared dorm accommodation generated confusion. Sweat poured down my arms and dripped onto the bags I carried – how was it possible to sweat this much? I was just about ready expire right there on the road when I stumbled upon a sign to the hotel I was looking for. The hotel had a balcony restaurant which caught the breeze blowing off the ocean and I stayed there for the rest of the afternoon. The small town of Kas was more my scene really. Small cobbled streets surrounded by little shops and restaurants, easy to get around
which most of the town seemed to enjoy every evening. Although I think it could be a very different scene in the tourism high season when this town’s population swells from 9000 to 25000 people!
Day two in Kas had me out on a boat again, this time for my first scuba dive in the Mediterranean. There is something quite unique about the Med, turquoise in the shallows before darkening rapidly to a deep navy blue and minimal swell. We headed out to a small island cluster off the coast and spent about an hour in the warm sea. Our dive guide warned that we shouldn’t expect the brilliance of diving in the Red Sea but that if we looked carefully, the diving was rewarding. There weren’t many fish about but the visibility was good - 25 meters. Scattered around the dive site were the remains of a few modern fishing boat wrecks and some ancient roman earthenware jars protruding from the sand. We spotted a pipefish (relative of a seahorse) among the short sea grass and a few largish grouper hiding in the shade of a keel of one of the wrecks. After returning to port and getting
a quick lunch we headed out again, travelling a short distance west along the coast. This dive site was the site of one of the oldest intact shipwrecks ever discovered, a cargo vessel from the Bronze Age dated to 1300 BC. The original wreck was no longer there (it had been moved to a museum) but there’s a replica you can swim around instead (very considerate). The highlight of the dive was my first encounter with an octopus, flashing white and brown in alarm at being cornered by two air breathing aliens.
Day three in Kas and I was out on the water once more, this time on a sea kayak. We travelled by minibus first to a small village and from there a group of about 10 of us headed out, paddling kayaks with a guide to see the sunken city of Kekova. An earthquake had shifted the topography of the inhabited island some time around the 5th century BC, submerging the northern coastal port. There were also boat trips on offer to see Kekova, but going by kayak was more appealing to me. We first struck out across the bay from the mainland and after an hour
Small Village of Simena
Where We Stopped For Lunch we landed at a small beach. Here we were free to wander around the island and swim to cool off. A couple of small ruins were clustered around the bay but not much to report – just thick small walls remained. Next we headed along the coast until we reached the sunken city. I was suddenly struck by the realization that in order to properly observe these ruins, you require an elevated perspective. All that remained of this settlement were the foundations of buildings and a microlight or hot air balloon would have been ideal for this sort of thing. We were floating only meters above the ruins which didn’t put sufficient distance between ourselves and what we were looking at to really appreciate what we were looking at. We were able to paddle right over the top of the ruins though, able to get closer than any of the boat trips that steamed continuously along the coast. The ruins on the shore were more interesting with staircases leading to nowhere into the water. We next paddled across the channel to the small island village of Simena for lunch, a buffet affair of delicious chicken kebabs, egg-plant salads and the
essential fresh bread (I returned for a second helping). After lunch we were free to wander around the village and I walked up the tiny paths to the crumbling remains of a castle perched above the village. The entry fee seemed a bit steep but as another traveler commented: 2 YTL for the castle and 6 YTL for the glorious cool breeze blowing off the sea. The view wasn’t half bad either and we could see the entire area we had paddled across earlier that day. Down the slope from the castle were several ancient Lycian tombs, large sarcophagi carved from rock, they had lasted remarkably well. Soon it was time to head back and a half hour paddle had us back to the mainland and back on the minibus to Kas.
There were many other activities on offer from these coastal towns but I just didn’t have the time. There were hiking trips, fishing trips, paragliding from the cliffs, trips to ghost towns, archeological sites and nature reserves. I had a deadline to meet and needed to be back in Istanbul for my next flight so I headed to the interior of Turkey, a region called Cappadocia.
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