Çirali

---

Our trip to Çirali got off to a bit of an interesting start. On the way to the bus stop in Antalya our taxi driver asked us which hotel we were staying at in Çirali. After we missed one turn off to the bus station I started to suspect that he thought he was driving us all the way to Çirali which is about an hour and a half from Antalya. When we missed the next turn off we said “bus” and eventually managed to communicate that we only wanted to be driven to the bus station, not to Çirali (if only we spoke Turkish..). After the initial misunderstanding we were dropped off at the bus station. The taxi driver was probably sad he was missing out on an excellent fare (taxis are not cheap in Turkey!).

Once at the bus station we hopped straight onto a minibus (with wifi…how strange) to Çirali which departed not long after. The bus driver spent the next 5 minutes trawling for extra passengers along the road side before deciding it was time for a cigarette break. How he lasted that long before stopping I have no idea…

After a ten minute break we were back on our way; still trawling for passengers but driving slightly faster than the 20km/h we maxed out at before the cigarette break. We drove along the coast most of the way which was lovely; it’s a very pretty coastline.

After an hour and a half we were dropped off on the side of the road at the turn off to Çirali. We then caught a dolmus for the last 15 minutes of the journey which dropped us outside our hotel. We checked into our cute little bungalow which would be home for the next two nights and then headed out in search of some lunch.

Çirali is a small beach town near the ruins of Olympos and the Chimaera (flaming mountain). The town, which mainly consists of hotels, restaurants and farms, has a very relaxed feel to it. It was reasonably quiet when we arrived as the peak tourist season had ended for the year.

We arrived at the 3.5km long pebble beach about 10 minutes after leaving our hotel. We walked along the beach a little way before choosing a restaurant for lunch. Scott ordered a hamburger while I chose two mezze dishes which we ate while looking at the sea.

After lunch we continued walking along the beach until we reached the entrance to the ruins of Olympos. We decided to save them for the following day so headed back to our hotel to relax in the garden, read our books and try to convince the cute little timid stray kittens at our hotel to be our friends. On the way home we bought some ice creams – I’m still not sure what flavour mine was or whether it was an ice cream or an icy pole…definitely won’t be choosing that one again.

That night we had dinner at our hotel. The food, which was cooked by the mother of the two brothers who own the hotel, was absolutely delicious. The freshly prepared mezze dish of green beans and tomato was definitely my favourite part of the meal.

The following morning after a delicious breakfast (including wonderful homemade jams) we set out for the ruins of Olympos. Whilst walking along the dry river bed we came across a very friendly cat who decided he’d follow us most of the way to the ruins.

The city of Olympos was founded during the Hellenistic period, though the exact date is unknown. The city was a prominent member of the Lycian League, and in the second century BC it was one of the six largest cities of the League. Around the 3^rd century AD it was used as a base by a powerful group of pirates, before Rome was forced to take the city in order to counter this threat. Olympos remained an active settlement throughout the Roman period but gradually declined thereafter and was abandoned entirely by the 15th century AD.

Entry to Olympos requires a short walk through a cold (but thankfully fairly shallow) river. After wading through the waters we stopped near a tomb to put our shoes back on before buying tickets and venturing further into the site.

The ruins are in a valley surrounded by lovely mountains. They are fairly overgrown which gives them a similar feel to Ta Prohm temple in Cambodia. The shady trees were really nice and we spent about two hours walking around the site. The highlights were the beautiful door to the Tapinak Temple and me sliding around in the mud whilst attempting to cross to the other side of the (mostly dry) riverbed; my white shoes definitely appreciated the mud bath.

After the ruins we headed back to our hotel for some more book reading and a late lunch. After lunch we walked back to the beach. I took my shoes off and waded a little way into the water; the water was a pretty nice temperature but I definitely prefer sandy beaches – the pebbles were painful!

After taking more photos we wandered back to our hotel to continue reading our books. On the way home I bought some cat food to use as a bribe on the cute little kittens at the hotel. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the garden and trying (unsuccessfully) to cuddle the kittens.

We had dinner at our hotel again (why would we pass up fantastic home cooking!) and read our books until quite late. We spent some time chatting to one of the owners about life in Turkey before eventually heading off to bed.

The following morning we got up reasonably early (well early for Turkey) before being dropped off at the entrance to the Chimaera site which was about a 5 – 10 minute drive from our hotel. From there it was about a 25 minute climb up a rocky path with some very large steps.

The Chimaera is famous for the flames which result from gas which seeps out of crevices in the rocks igniting when it comes into contact with the air. The effect was quite strange; it looked like a whole lot of small camp fires but without the wood. I’m sure it would have terrified the people who first discovered it and couldn’t use Google to find out what was happening. The highlight of the Chimaera was the cute black cat who decided to be my friend and the view over the sea. I’d climb a lot more mountains if I knew there would be a friendly cat waiting for me at the top.



After about half an hour of looking at the flames and cuddling my new friend we headed back down the mountain. We were picked up and driven back to our hotel where got ready to head to our next destination, Kaş.

---