Kas, Turkey

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April 9 - 10, 2008

Cirali to Kas, Turkey

Today we were picked up by our guide / driver for the day trip to Kas on the coast.
On our way to Kas we visited the small city of Demre and visited some interesting rock tombs and another ancient city complete with temple, amphitheater and the usual other facilities. The tombs are carved into caves on the side of a small mountain and have very beautiful “facades” on the face of the rocks to cover the front of the tombs.

Our next stop was the Church of St Nicholas. YUP!!! The same St. Nicholas we know as Santa Claus. He was the bishop, of the Orthodox Church in the byzantine times, in this town about 1500 hundred years ago. Obviously the locals are taking advantage of this with lots of Santa Claus souvenirs, etc. There has been a lot of restoration work done on the old church.

We also spent some time visiting some small fishing villages along the way to Kas. These guys have a pretty good life with small farms and a few fresh fish, Turkish coffee and of course a smoke !!! ( Coming to Turkey puts some real meaning in the phrase “ smokes like a Turk “ -- seems that in Turkey everyone smokes ! )

It is amazing the number of greenhouses in this area growing a variety of vegetables but mostly tomatoes. We are talking about thousands of greenhouses from Antalya to Kas (and beyond ). They grow very good tomatoes here and export them throughout Turkey. ( and to other countries )

This is beautiful country with mountains along the coast and the beautiful the Mediterranean with many small cities, towns and fishing villages. The Brits have been coming here for years for vacations and are now buying summer homes in this area. The biggest single group of tourists are from Russia.

Arrived in the small city of Kas for a one night stay and off tomorrow for a drive along the coast to Fethiye. Busy times in Kas as everyone is finishing the preparations for opening the many tourist businesses in this town. ( a lot close down completely for the winter )

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