Olympos – the Ruins

December 29, 2014Hiking, Travel, TurkeyOlympos, ruinskarenfranza

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.

Being one with the Tao

December 29, 2014Travelkarenfranza

From Jim…

Beinghere

We are in Kas, Southwestern Turkey, an area known as Anatolia. We plan to walk on the Lycian Way, a hiking trail.

Lao tsu writes about “being one with the Tao.” The word “Tao” means “way.” It is the path toward understanding reality, something that cannot be grasped but experienced. Although this seems abstract, it can be practiced. Come! I’ll show you.

We listen to the Muslim call to prayer five times a day. It is broadcast over a public address system. One line is: “Come to salvation. Come to salvation.”

I’m not advocating any particular religion but I suggest listening to what goes on. These calls to prayer are good reminders. Prayer means paying attention to your inner world, the unseen world, a world that includes both life and death, and being one with this world.

We visit the ancient Roman theatre, built in the first century BC. It…

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Olympos – the Chimaera on Mt. Olympos

December 28, 2014Hiking, Travel, TurkeyChimaera, Lycian Way, Mt. Olympos, Olympos, Pegasuskarenfranza

12/27 – Olympos is the ultimate in laid back. It’s where you come to relax, as there really isn’t much to do here. It was exclusively a hippie haven until 2009, when paving the road to to town enabled more tourists to get here. We’re happy for the quiet. We realize that this is the first time since arriving in Turkey in November that we have not heard the call to prayer throughout the day.

We walked down the road to the beach, and past the ruins of ancient Olympos. We will come back to explore the ruins another day, but today we are on our way to Mt. Olympos, to see the Chimaera, or Mountain of Fire. This mountain is one of twenty mountains that share this name, the home of the Ancient Greek gods. This hike is part of the Lycian Way.

We walk along the beach, until we come to an area where we have to cross a tidal pool. It’s off with our boots and socks, roll up our pants and ford across. The beach is rocky and the current is swift, but we both live to tell the tale!

We continue to walk along the beach, then take the road at Çirali, another little hamlet of tree houses and huts.

When we see a sign, we know we’re getting close.

The Chimaera is a mythical creature with the head of a lion, the body of a goat and the tail of a serpent, which breathed fire. He was slain by Bellaphon, with the help of his winged horse, Pegasus.

Here we see our first turkey in Turkey!

We follow the path up the mountain.

Up, up….

…and up some more!

At the top of the mountain, eternal flames erupt from the rocks. Methane seeps out from the rocks and burns continually.

Both the Greeks and the Christians built temples here, and we walk among the ruins.

You can still see some painted decoration in a dome of the Christian church:

The view from the top of the mountain is gorgeous.

Another beautiful day.

Kas to Olympos

December 27, 2014Travel, TurkeyKas, Olympos, treehousekarenfranza

12/26 – today our modern penthouse / ocean view / hot water on demand Christmas present came to an end as we walked down the 131 steps of the Kaputas Apart for the last time. Farewell Kas!

We caught the 9:30 bus heading toward Antalya so we could jump off after 2 1/2 hours at Olympos. Here are some bus station dogs, doing what they do best:

The bus took us through a town with a statue of a tomato in the town square, and another that was all about oranges. I got some snaps as we left the Orange town of Finike:

The bus let us off at a rest stop on the highway at 12:15, and we waited for the dolmus that would take us the last 10 miles to Olympos. Our experience has been that the next dolmus always comes within 10 minutes. Of course today, as it was cold and raining, we waited an hour and a half for the minibus to come. At least we were in a place where we could get hot tea (çay) in little glasses to hold for warmth.

Olympos will be the polar opposite of Kas, and I hope my system can stand the shock. Olympos is a protected area, with beach, ruins, and high mountains. The weather changed today, so we are looking at rain for the next several days. Because it is a protected area, no concrete can be used, no permanent structures are permitted, so instead of hotels, the tourists are invited to stay in tree houses, tents, cabins, and other structures reminiscent of Scout camp. There is no ‘town’, no shops to speak of, and no ATM. We were advised to bring all the money we needed, as there is no place to get more. Of course, there are not many places to spend it…

An Olympos treehouse:

We are staying at the Saban Treehouse Pansiyon. A river runs where main street should be, and we have to cross a bouncy suspension bridge to get to the other side.

Our little cabin:

Even in the rain, the mountains are beautiful.

The paths here are lined with orange trees, and we are invited to pick as many as we like.

Sabans offers ‘half board’, which means both breakfast and supper are included in the price of the cabin. Although Jim loves to cook, he is looking forward to sampling some authentic Turkish dishes! Our hostess Meral and her mother do all the cooking. The common room smells wonderful!

For our first supper, we had salad, soup, pan fried trout, rice, Vegetables stuffed with couscous and cinnamon, spinach pancakes (gözleme), mixed vegetables in sauce and nan. Looking at all the dishes arrayed before us, I despaired of trying to eat all the food, but before we knew it, most of it had magically disappeared. So delicious!

We’d better get lots of exercise, or they’re going to have to roll us out of this place!

Kas – Christmas

December 25, 2014Travel, TurkeyChicken, Christmas, cookies, Kaskarenfranza

12/25 – In our family, Jesus gets to share his birthday with the lovely Emma Rose. Happy 2nd birthday, Emma! We love you!

There’s no Christmas here – we can hear the kids in the schoolyard, and the construction workers next door. No church in town either. We’ll have to make our own Christmas.

I’m feeling a bit homesick, so wonderful Jim decided to fix us a Christmas dinner, and bake some chocolate chip cookies. We walked down to the shops and bought a chicken, baking potatoes and carrots. No chocolate chips, so we bought a bittersweet candy bar to chop up.

I looked for any signs of Christmas in town, and found some festive underwear in a display window, and a Charlie Brown tree in the supermarket.

Here is our Christmas feast:

Tomorrow we will pack up and catch a bus to Olympos, for some more adventures.

Here’s one last sunset. Kas, we’ll miss you!

Happy Christmas, everyone!

The need for humility

December 24, 2014Travelkarenfranza

From Jim…

Beinghere

We take the bus toward Fethiye, Turkey, passing through a world of fog. We are on our way to Oludeniz, where we plan to hike on the Lycian Way.

I don’t realize it, but I will walk through a heritage site, a monument to human suffering, a call for humility.

The next day, we walk to Kayakoy. It is a ghost town, consisting of about 400 abandoned Greek-style houses and churches.

We pass a church and hear some Turkish guys shout to each other. One has climbed over the church’s gate so that he can look inside.

We walk through the ruins.

Kayakoy was a Greek Orthodox Christian village with population of about 2000. In the early 1900’s, the Ottoman government engaged in atrocities against Armanians, Jews, and Greeks –forced deportations, death marches, and arbitrary executions.

In 1917, many Kayakoy villagers were sent on a death march and the roads…

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Kas – Another Day on the Lycian Way

December 24, 2014Hiking, Travel, TurkeyKas, King's Tomb, Lions Tomb, Lycian Waykarenfranza

12/22 – We started our hike today at the King’s Tomb, in the middle of town. This is also called the Lions Tomb, and dates from the 4th century BCE.

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Every town we visit seems to have a statue of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey. The current government is working hard to reverse his westernization of the country by bringing back mandatory religious education, Arabic script, and censorship of the media. The NY Times ran two editorials this week about Turkey – said the EU is considering denying their application to join the European Union. I hope the unrest in the country is resolved peacefully.

Along the way, we see a helipad for the rich and famous:

We hiked west, to a deserted beach with crystal clear water. The pics can’t do justice to how beautiful the water is here on the Turquoise Coast.

We followed the trail up through a rocky area. Were these ruins, or just piles of rocks?

Off in the distance, we see another tomb, in the middle of nowhere. Of course, it was broken and looted. I wonder who it was built for? Unlike some of the other tombs, there is only room for one inside.

We’re grateful for another perfect hiking day, in the mid 60s, warm in the sun and cool in the shade.

One more sunset, please!

Kas – the Doric Tomb and the Ancient Theatre

December 21, 2014Hiking, Travel, Turkeycats, goats, Kas, Lycian Way, ruins, tombkarenfranza

12/21 – Another beautiful hiking day. Kas is on the Lycian Way, so we are continuing our day treks, wherever the trail takes us. Today we climbed up to a Doric tomb, 4th century BCE, freestanding and carved out of the bedrock, with a walkway all around. The sign said it was decorated with images of 24 dancing girls, but, try as we might, we could not see them. You can just make out some flowers carved inside.

There was room to sleep four – two slabs on each side. I tried to lie down for the full experience, but was a little too tall for the lower berth…

The trail wound down the hill to an ancient theatre, from the 2nd century BCE. It could seat 4000, and seated us while we ate our lunch.

Imagine our surprise when we were joined by a family of goats! The billy and the nanny really seemed to enjoy gamboling up and down the tiers.

The baby goat and Jim, checking each other out.

I’m still tickled to see flowers blooming in December.

On our way home, we found a sarcophagus and the ruins of a Hellanistic Temple, right in town.

A man was feeding meat to the stray cats. He told us that he fed 100 a day. He asked for money to continue his good works, then was insulted when Jim only offered him two lira (about a dollar) and refused the money.

Another beautiful day.

Kas – the Market and the Marina

December 20, 2014Hiking, Travel, Turkeyboats, Kas, Lycian rock tombs, market, Mediterraneankarenfranza

12/19 – We weren’t inclined to exert much energy today, happy to sit on our little terrace gazing at the ocean. But life demands action, so we skipped down the 131 steps to find the market and see what’s available in town. Jim’s hiking boot has developed a serious hole, so it would be nice if we could find a shoe store here.

This is a modern town with a regular supermarket, as well as produce, meat and fish shops, but on Fridays the town hosts an open air market with stalls selling food, clothing, bedding, and hardware in addition to fresh produce. We stocked up on fruit and veg, had a cup of fresh squeezed pomegranate juice, and delicious gözleme for lunch. I particularly like these little dough pancakes filled with spinach, cheese, potatoes and chopped meat. Yum!

We did find a shoe store, but the man laughed when Jim asked for a size 13 boot… We’ll have to keep looking.

Kas is all about the beach, the boats and the marina. There are many boats for hire, including glass bottomed boats that will take you out to see underwater ruins. The sea is a spectacular shade of blue.

The sea wall is a work of art.

Right down the road from our apart is a sign inviting us to climb up to see Lycian tombs carved into the rocks. How could we resist a peek? The first tombs were at the top of a staircase, then we had to climb up the rocks to see the rest. The scrabble up was harder than it looked.

The tombs were broken into and looted long ago, but you can’t help be curious about who these people were. Couldn’t find any info on the exact age of these tombs, but they are probably first or second century BCE.

Can’t end the day without showing you another sunset – if you get tired of these, let me know!

Nothing to oppose

December 20, 2014Travel, TurkeyPamukkale, St. Philip, thermal poolskarenfranza

From Jim…

Beinghere

We are in Pamukkale, Turkey, site of the ancient city of Hierapolis with healing thermal springs, Roman and Byzantine ruins, the sarcophagus of Marcus Aurelius, and the Martyrium, where St. Philip was killed.

Philip (see above -red cloak) was with Jesus when they miraculously fed a hungry multitude, starting out with only two fish and five loaves of bread. The “feeding of the 5000” is the only story, besides Jesus’ Resurrection, that is included in all four Gospels (Mathew 14:13-21; Mark 6:31-44; Luke 9:31-44; John 6:5-15).

In the 5th century, the Martyrium was an important Christian pilgrimage destination. We will take you on a similar pilgrimage and explain how you can benefit from it.

We climb the hill where the warm spring water leaves calcium carbonate deposits, making the ground hard and white. Visitors are required to walk barefoot so as not to cause ecological damage — even though the…

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Taking Our Time

Seeing the World, Nice and Slow

Olympos – the Ruins

Being one with the Tao

Olympos – the Chimaera on Mt. Olympos

Kas to Olympos

Kas – Christmas

The need for humility

Kas – Another Day on the Lycian Way

Kas – the Doric Tomb and the Ancient Theatre

Kas – the Market and the Marina

Nothing to oppose

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