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Published: August 26th 2008
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well, how can i possibly be writing a blog right now when i am so relaxed i barely bother to think anymore...??? the reason being, we just did a blue cruise that ended in olympos. but i will go back to the beginning of sorts, to santorini.
Santorini, one of the most beautiful of Greek islands, was created by a volcano and was further molded and moved by subsequent volcanoes and earthquakes. It's a fairly small island and is the shape of a smile, and where the nose should sit, is a semi dormant volcanic island. And where the eyes would be, is another island that used to be connected to Santorini. Hope that makes sense!
All up one side of the island is a big cliff face with multiple colours (white, red, black, grey, brown), showing how the volcanic lava ended up solidifying in order of how dense the earth material was. One of the volcanic eruptions that happened a few thousand years ago was said to have destroyed a very advanced, sophisticated civilization and buried it underground creating the legend of the Atlantis city under the sea.
So, it was beautiful and exciting and extremely touristy
and really romantic (with lots of weddings planners and jewellery shops making the most of it). It was also hot and dry. We stayed for three nights in Perissa at the black beach. Hired a Matiz car for our first full day and did the entire island. First, we saw Ancient Thira, a civilzation on top of a mountain that existed 600BC through to roman times. There was a lot still to show for it, with a theatre, gym, art, houses and drainage. We also saw old villages, new villages to replace villages knocked down by earthquakes, a gorgeous sunset, and the red beach, created from a volcanic eruption - amazing to see, but not so nice to swim in as it was full of little bits of sea weedy saw dusty stuff.
Next day, we did a sailboat tour to the volcanic island, which we discovered is not so dormant. About 10 cm below the loose black earth it steamed with hot rocks. And the last day, we hung out with our new Aussie friends, Dan and Kylie, who we met on the volcano tour and who about a week later got engaged in Paris on top of
the Eiffel Tower - congratulations!
The four of us stayed up til 3.30am to catch a ferry to Crete, where they got off at 9am and we crazily stayed on all the way to Rhodes island, which was a total of 20 hours on the ferry.
Exhausted, we got off in Rhodes, an island that is so close to Turkey that you can see it from the beach, but since World War 2, it has been part of Greece. We stayed in the Old Town, which is the largest inhabited medieval city in all of Europe. A bit like Carcasonne, that walled town we went to in south France, it was amazing to be walking along the cobbled streets and visiting the tower of the Grand Masters. We vaguely worked out that the Knights of the Order of St John bought the island in about 1300 and ruled until 1500, when the turks took over and remodelled the town's churches into mosques. Then in 1912, the Italians took over and did a lot of restoration work of the Old Town, and then in WWII, a lot of Jews on the island were sent off to concentration camps. When
the war was settled, Greece was given the island. All the Greeks on the island are very patriotic, and no one mentioned Turkey or that Greece has only owned the island for about 100 of the last 2000 years. We even got a tımeline history from the tourıst ınfo offıce that skipped out the time when Turkey had control (about 500 years). While the medieval town was interesting, all the shops and restaurants were touristy and pushy and pricey. You couldn't walk down the street without everyone yelling at you to stop and buy their overpriced food or souvenirs.
We stayed two nights, and early next morning caught the 1 hour ferry to south Turkey, arriving in Fethiye.
For our first full day in Turkey, we did a jeep safari tour which was so much fun. It was one big water fight all day long, about 6 jeeps full of people, travelling to about 5 different sites throughout the day. We were sprayed with water by locals everywhere we went with hoses, water guns, etc, thrown into a natural pool, it was at least a great way to cool down.
On the tour we visited Saklikent Gorge,
which has a very cold mountain stream running through a massive gorge. We walked through it over water and rocks. Steve also drifted down it. We had mud baths, went to a trout farm for lunch, a rug factory, some ancient ruins (there are ancient ruins EVERYWHERE in turkey), and went jeep riding over sand planes where we were jumping out of our seats the bumps were massive, and sometimes full of water.
After the jeep tour, the next day we boarded our wooden sail/motor boat (a gullet), that would be our home for the next four days as we drifted along to Olympos. Along for the ride were 11 other Aussies, and our crew of 3. I had expected it to be very relaxing, which it was and possibly beyond expectation, but I had no idea how much fun we would have. It was like being with mates back home on a holiday, everyone got along so well. By day, we swam in gorgeous clear turquoise water of perfect temperature, jumping on and off the boat, saw some sites like the pirates cave, sunken city, blue lagoon, lazed on sunbeds reading books, played backgammon and asshole (the card
game), and by evening, we drank, danced, boarded other people's boats, played drinking games, and had a blast generally. The third and last night on the boat, we caught a water taxi to the land where there was a small little bar called Smugglers Inn. We had decided to dress up in togas from our bed sheets and put leaves in our hair, which got us all in the mood for a big night. We were greeted into the bar with high fives and danced the night away.
Arriving in Olympos, we all booked into the treehouse accommodation. A tiny little coastal town, with of course ancient ruins and a long history, it is now a place for chilling out under the trees lounging on sunbeds or hammocks. We all stayed for two nights and continued with our routine of lazy days and crazy nights. First night we went out to a club, with a strange mix of turkish and western music. Hilarious night. Next night, we took a tour to the eternal flame. Incredible. A long walk up a rocky pathway to a mountain top with several flames coming out of the rocks, caused by gas from the
earth. Apparently they have been burning for thousands of years, and if you extinguısh them, they spontaneously relight.
After that, we all came back and went to the bar, resulting in a couple of casualties, with someone forgetting where his tree house was and who everyone was (who are you people?) and someone else falling off the top bunk...but no permanent damage!!
By the end of it all, we were all exhausted but happy. Most of them went east, but we headed west to the water terraces of Pamukkale.
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Jessica Rose
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YAY!
oh my god loved it!! I did the cruise and the tree houses and the whole drinking thing!! Made me remember so much of my trip.... and I had a ball, am soooo glad you guys are experiencing it as well as turkey was seriously my favourite!! big hugs keep having a ball, from very jealous jessica