Turkey - Days 6 & 7

Thurs, Aug 5th
Groggy from another long trip, although this one was much cooler and therefore phenomenally better, I arrived to the side of the road. Yeah, that was it. The bus continued onto some other town, but a large group of us got off and had to wait for a smaller shuttle to take us off the main road and into Pamukale. Although i would not be spending the night, I had a 1/2 day booked at the Artemis Yoruk Hotel, where I was able to grab a bite to eat (ran into some more MSU peeps - Go White!), dump my stuff, and later have a swim and a much needed shower.

I spent the day exploring Pamukale, which is a startling area in which calcium rich water springs have created white as snow pools, as the milky water washes over the sides and solidifies. It is unreal, although the the pools that you can now swim in are man made ones, since the real ones would get too damaged. Above the pools are a series of ruins called Hieropolis. Complete with countless tombs, a few cool gates, and a theater, it was surprisingly bigger and better than I expected. I explored quietly on my own and as time ran down for me, I checked out the ancient pool, which is a man made pool that contains historically curative waters and even a number of fallen roman styled columns.

But my day in Pamukale was up and I had to get on another bus. This one was only about 5 hours, which felt like nothing after back to back 12 hour trips. I arrived into town and was shuttled to a popular backpackers hostel called V Gos. Being a jumping off point for a ppopular 4 day cruise, Fethiye tends to be crowded with young travelers. And so it was when I arrived. It was 10 pm by the time I had gotten sorted and went down to he terrace area for a drink. I soon met a couple of Americans, an Aussie, and a few Brits. Before long we had gotten into a good conversation and I was joining them on a on trip to the Car Cemetary Bar. A quirky place with a cover band, we danced to some decent tunes and got an otherwise quiet place going. I eventually had to grab a bite to eat and ended up at a nearby kebab shop. While waiting I got chatting with the two guys who worked there and by the end had to promise to come back at least one more time before I left Fethiye. With typically French/Italian style kisses on cheeks, I parted ways with my new friends and was soon back to the hostel, in bed, and completely asleep.


Fri, Aug 6th
Rachel (Brit from last night) and I met in the morning and hopped on a dolmus (Turkish public van/bus) bound for Oludiniz. Amazingly, heavy rains came down as the dolmus chugged along. In the 8 years that she had been coming to the area during the summer, she had never seen it rain once, so this really was a surprise. We grabbed a coffee and then a beer at a seaside restaurant as we waited for the rains to end. Eventually they did, and Rachel showed me a less touristy spot back around the Blue Lagoon. Although beautiful (Oludiniz is the most famous beacj due to the often startlingly blue waters of the lagoon), the rains had stirred up enough silt to make the water unusually murky. We swam across from our spot on the beach to the lagoon itself, which was uncomfortably overcrowded and touristy. A couple of beach beers and food and the late afternoon was upon us. I left Rachel there and got on a short dolmus ride going farther away from Fethiye.

It dropped me off on the roadside by a sign for George House. Set on a cliff edge looking down into the Butterfly valley, this was a completely relaxing and special place. I would have loved to stay longer than just one night. After a communal dinner with the fellow guests, Louise (OZ working there) showed a group (Sophia, Sophie, Aureilly, and Joelle from Switzerland and Jess from the UK) of us how to play backgammon. And being the most popular thing in Turkey since sliced bread (you will find people playing at just about every bar and cafe in the country), it was only right that we should learn. It was a great night.