12/28 – today we went back to the ruins of ancient Olympos, and took our time exploring. The ruins are open and accessible to anyone who wants to climb around in them.

There are tombs, of course.

A fifth century episcopal church.

A second century Roman temple dedicated to Marcus Aurelius.

We are right on an ocean inlet, and there is lots of water to navigate around.

A helpful someone built this very shaky bridge.

Like everything in Olympos, half of the ruins are on the other side of the inlet. How to get there? Take off your shoes and wade!

Here’s a sign we found on the other side:

We found a path up the mountain, and a sign that said the ruins of a hillside village were here. We climbed and climbed, scrabbling over big rocks on a very narrow trail. We finally reached a sheer cliff and some Germans rock-climbing up the face. Oops! We certainly weren’t doing that!

The view from the top was worth the climb. Note the ant-like humans down on the beach!

The descent is always easier than the climb.

When we got back to the beach, Jim found a feathered friend:

We never did find our way to the ruins on the other side. We’ll come back tomorrow and try again.