D day in treehouses and a day in the valleys

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Geo: 36.4257, 30.4678

On departure from Oludeniz at sunrise, on David's 70th birthday, the town was deserted, maybe nursing sore heads from a night in the bars with Turkish measures. It was so peaceful that you could even here the waves lapping the shoreline and the water rumbling the pebbles on the way back out. As we climbed out of the valley, the sky was magnificent over the mountains. An array of yellows, pinks and reds with a bright orbe in the centre lit our way to Olympos.The town.... if you can call it that, is approximately 20 mins off the main road, down a long, winding road and is a bit of a haven for backpackers. It is famed for its ancient settlement ruins, proximity to the eternal flames and its array of sports and nightlife.

As we drove to our little retreat in the trees, we passed numerous climbers ascending the perfectly formed rockfaces. I have to admit I did have a pang of jealousy, but without stickies and an insurance policy that doesn't like rock climbing, I had to be a spectator only this time around.Our tree houses were twin 'rooms' .... actually sheds on stilts! Two mattresses on the floor, a light and plug socket and a hole for a window! The mosi net went up too... well I thought I had better try it out as it had never been used before and I didn't fancy a repeat of the plague look I achieved in Selcuk.

It was time to get ready for David's birthday party .... a D party..... where everyone went as something beginning with D. We had David as David... a disaster, a doll, death, dirt, a drink, a dragqueen, a doodle, a doctor, a dustbin, Dorothy, a derwid, a domino, darthvader, a dancer, a diver, a DJ, disco Dave and I went as a Dalmatian!! I think that's about everyone! Everyone made a real effort, which I think made David's day. We bought him a wine glass from all the girls, his adopted daughters for the duration of the trip... so he doesn't have to drink nice red wine from a blue, plastic beaker! After dinner, a huge chocolate cake, alight with 70 candles came from the kitchen. It was lovely to see the smile on his face as we gave him a sparkler and sang happy birthday so loud most of the other people around joined in too! We drank into the night, with some singing and dancing. Was great fun.

The following two days were chilled out days. The hostel was so relaxed, and had some awesome seating... see pics... that the majority of us were more than happy to chat, journal write, blog and play games. It was the first time in nearly a month we could relax.

One of the evenings, the lovely lady that owned the hostel, arranged for us to go and see the Chimaera, the eternal flames of Mount Olympos. There since ancient times the natural gas coming from the crust combusts when it is mixed with air. There are between 20 and 30 fire pits up the mountain.Armed with marshmallows, we set off in the minibus, which had 2 less chairs than the number of people. Not to worry.... they just put in 2 garden chairs and told their occupants to hold on when we went around corners. I wish I had a photo of the face reactions! It was hysterical! On the bus along with us was a young French /English family with Hugo, the 7 yr old. What a little legend .... of course we made friends! He had never had a toasted marshmallow before! Neither for that fact had his mother.... obviously not a French thing.... but we soon converted them. Hugo eating so many we called him Mr marshmallow everytime we saw him. He loved it! The flames themselves were pretty cool, and I can see why the ancients saw them as signs from the Gods. But they did just look like giant BBQs!!!

I think we were all quite sad to leave our little tree houses, but the time had come to move on, so move on we did. Heading for the Ihlara valley, we had a 13hr drive day.... but armed with a kindle of books, epic eye spy, good company and some snoozes, the hours went by pretty quickly. We camped by a reservoir, surrounded by some awesome Peak District esque rockfaces. Therefore the tent went up asap, with a little help from a curious goat herder's wife, who was intrigued by the mallet and a scrambling we went, up to a small, old cave dwelling.... this was only a tiny scale for what was to come!! Out of nowhere there was a rumble of thunder, so we bolted it back to the truck, just in time to erect the truck tarp before the deluge began. Skimming stones was the before bed activity.... I managed one 7 bouncer, but like the majority of my skimming, it was a fluke!!After a storm that night, no one had a particularly good nights sleep. But as usual, we were up and on the road by 7am.

The Melendiz Suture 'stream' that runs through the Ihlara valley, was pretty swollen and river like when we arrived, most likely due to the storms of the previous night. The truck dropped us off at the end if a section.... the whole thing is 16km.... and then was to pick us up 3km upstream. The valley was more or less a gorge at this end, with cliffaces stretching high on both sides. Within these cliffs were hundreds of caves, some clearly man-made, others completely natural. It is crazy to think of the communities that once lived there. For those that were higher up, ladders had been cut into the rock as a way of gaining access. Others had been beautifully frescoed with Biblical scenes and used as churches. I think the valley had an added meaning for me. Reading Jean Auel's amazing 'Valley of the Horses' at the time .... a saga about a young cavewoman ... and in this particular book, she is surviving by herself, in a valley, that in my head is the Ihlara valley to a T.As we walked we went to climb and explore various caves along the way, missing our exit point and ending up at the start of the valley, 3km further up stream than we should have.... Ooops! Luckily everyone had done the same, including Polly.... so she got hold of Adam who drove down to rescue us!!It had been a beautiful walk, and after a walk through an underground city, which I was utterly unimpressed by... I love to be trapped underground, in tiny passageways with stale air so very much! It wasn't as magical as I hoped it would be .... like I adored Edinburgh 's buried city... and I was glad to leave it behind as we headed to Goreme and it's fairy chimneys.

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