Antalya and Cirali

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Thankfully Jeff was feeling a bit better this morning. After a lovely brekky and retrieving our dry washing from the rooftop terrace we packed up our gear and deposited it downstairs. Went off to show Jeff a bit more of Antalya. Also spotted the 700 year old hamam. Had lunch in a cafe with a shady outdoor area. Jeff just had spaghetti and I had a kebab which, when it came, I thought was a little under-cooked, but I foolishly kept eating. After lunch Jeff went to check out the old harbor area and I went to have my hamam. 

After paying I was taken round to the women's area. There were two attendants but didn't seem to be anyone else around. They showed me the change room, gave me my pesternal (cotton wrap) and some plastic shoes. As I came out they reminded me to remove my specs which left me almost blind. One of them lead me through into the heart of the hamam by the hand, taking care to let me know when there was a step or low doorway. First we went into the washing area, where she sat me down beside a stone sink and used a metal jug to pour water over me and left me to it. I gave myself a good washing with the jug and awaited further instruction. Eventually one of the women came back, led me into the main room, sluiced down the "slab" and instructed me to lie down, taking away my wrap. This next stage was what they call the peeling, which means an all-over scrubbing down with an abrasive mit. Then she sat 
me by another sink and rinsed me down, then it was back to the slab for the soap massage, which involved lots of bubbles but also a nice firm massage. Another rinse and  a shampooing, I was wrapped in some towels and led back out to the main entry room where I was handed over to the other woman. She asked me something which I didn't understand but turned out to be ma-s-k when she led me over to a poster. The was an extra service over and above the full works, I think another 5 or 10 lira so I said yes. Next she led me to the massage room and laid me on a massage table. I had a lovely oil massage and she applied my mask and then directed me to have a sleep, which wasn't hard as I was feeling so relaxed! A bit later a second customer was brought in for her massage and after that I was led back into the washing section to rinse off my mask (by now I could hardly move my face) and oil. I was then dried off again and led back to the main entry room where I was sat down in a chair and she came back with apple tea and some stuff on a plate. I drank my tea and ate my food and then asked what time it was (I still didn't have my glasses so couldn't see the clock on the wall). It was 3 o'clock - I had been there about an hour and a half! I paid for my mask and a tip and left on a high, feeling so clean and relaxed! 

Quickly headed back to our Pansion to find Jeff, who had been relaxing in the courtyard including entertaining the manager and the young woman who helped by playing some songs on the guitar. Apparently the request was for Madonna songs! We asked the guy to call us a taxi as it was hot and a fair way to the otogar. He told us it would be TL 25 and loaded us into the cab. Just around the corner the taxi driver asked us where we were going on the bus. When we said Ciralı he offered to drive us there. He spun us a story about how, for the two of us, on the bus and then a taxi from the turnoff, it would cost about TL 100 and he would take us all the way there for 140. when we said no he dropped it to 120, but we still said no, so he headed out of Kaleici and dropped us at the bus stop for buses to the coastal stops towards Kas. There were two little buses waiting. The driver of the first asked where we were going and when we said Ciralı, he loaded our luggage straight in and told us to get on the bus, which we did, and within a minute or two we were on our way. This was one of the little local buses, I think they depart about every half hour and stop anywhere along the way to pick up passengers waiting at the side of the road. It was a pretty full bus but we did pick up and drop off a few times. It took less than two hours to get to our drop-off point at the turn-off to Ciralı. The driver almost missed it and then realised and pulled up and reversed a little before unloading us. TL 20 for the two of us for this part. We donned our backpacks and started walking back to the turn off. Looking south we had a fabulous view down the steep, rugged valley and out to the blue Mediterranean, which I managed to get a photo of, but the local dolmus (minibus) had spotted us as we got off our bus and came to collect us. Once again we loaded up and headed off straight down the narrow, steep winding road that leads to Ciralı, and dropped us right to the door of our hotel. This trip cost us another TL 10, making a total of TL 30 - a far cry from the 100 the taxi driver tried to tell us, and all with no waiting!

The Canada Hotel is a lovely oasis of trees, gardens, a swimming pool. We checked in and asked about how we could get to see the local sites. We changed into our cozzies and jumped on a couple of the hotel's collection of free (very battered) bikes and cycled down the road to check out the beach. What a site - the turquoise sea lined by a long pebbly beach and surrounded by gorgeous rugged high mountains, with a couple of boats moored and a few people swimming. We dropped our bikes, wandered down the beach, deposited our gear and walked straight in to the warm lovely water. The beach drops away within a few steps but you could float all day, it's so buoyant and warm. We headed back to our hotel. By now I was decidedly unwell from my second (very severe) bout of travellers tummy - not sure if it was my lunch or the little bit of something I ate at the hamam but 'twas very nasty. So Jeff enjoyed the dinner (too much to eat) and I stayed in bed. After dinner, Jeff took my head torch and one of the bikes and headed off to visit the Chimaera.

(Jeff) Chose one of the clapped out bikes with the moving seats and using a head torch navigated my way 4 ks to the ticket office.  Up a dusty steep track for a km to about ten or fifteen naturally occuring flames burning out of the rock.  Lots of fellow tourists sitting around as if they were campfires.  There's a legend that goes with it of course where a monster was defeated in a battle and buried underground but keeps breathing fire. 

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