Olympos, Turkey

Olympos Beach.
The Blue Cruise dropped us off in Olympos, Turkey. I can't remember how I first got turned on to Olympos. I think Davida, the Italian bike tourer, raved about it. He stayed there a week because he loved it so much. He loved the quiet free camping and wandering through the woods and having one giant ruin after another spring up from behind the trees. Some of that is still true, some of it isn't.


Olympos Beach.


A ransacked sarcophagus.
I thought I would be able to camp, but they don't allow it anymore. I didn't want to part with any of money I had left without knowing when I could get more. It turned out that Michael, from the Blue Cruise, had made a reservation that he could not use and would have to pay for no matter what. I had heard a ton about the famous Olympos tree houses and thought it might be fun to stay in one. Unfortunately, a tree house in Turkey means a house made out of wood on the ground, not in the air (and not a log cabin). This was a bummer, but the atmosphere still seemed right. My curiosity and his generosity made my decision to camp, move on, or stay put easy.


I don't know if these are brilliant or questionable trail building techniques.


More hidden ruins.
After I got settled, it was time to explore. All of the tourist stuff is on one main road in a valley. At the end of that road, the ruins start. You walk a straight path towards the beach and if you go into the woods on either side, you'll run into ruins. Some of the ruins are on well marked trails and labeled. Others are a mystery for you to find on your own. It made me think of the Mayan temples in Mexico. People tell me they are no where to be seen and then suddenly you enter this clearing and are awe struck. These are not that big (I assume), but it was still pretty cool.


Some not so hidden ruins nestled in the valley.


The Roman Gate at Olympos. Yes, even this was hidden!
I didn't spend that much time at the beach. It was a good beach, but the beach is sunny and hot. The hotel hammocks were shady and cool. There is no argument for me there. It always amazes me how good it is to just sit and read. I feel like I should be seeing the sights while I am out here traveling and read when at home or on buses. On the other hand, if I took part in these simple pleasures a little more maybe I wouldn't be so worn out to start with.


Living the good life and doing as little as possible.
Because I can't really have a complete rest day, I took a tour to Chimera. According to the ancient Greeks, a chimera is lion's body, with a snake for a tail, and the head of a goat. It was able to breath fire. I am not sure if the legend came first or the place. I can tell you that the place is still breathing fire, but the legend was killed off.


The eternal flames of Chimera.


Judy, the explorer.
The real Chimera is basically the eternal flame. Natural gas of some sort has been escaping from the rock for thousands of years. I don't know how the flames were originally lit or if they need to be relit. The sailors used to be able to see them from sea. They are too small for that now. Now, it is like sitting around a campfire. I wish I had marshmallows to toast. To get to the site, it was a difficult 3km steep uphill with some slippery steps. The best part of this visit was finding Herb and Judy up there in the dark. Those two amaze me.


The eternal flames of Chimera.


A very white me on a castle wall ruin overlooking Olympos Beach.

Blue Cruise, Mediterranean Coast, Turkey

The Mediterranean coast of Turkey.


Big mountains I was happy not to be biking over.
The Blue Cruise is a four day trip between Fethiye and Olympos, Turkey. You take a gullet, a large boat with sails, though they never use them. They use the engines to mosey between various stops during the day. Some are for swimming. Some are to explore ruins. They almost never move the boat during meals or when we are sleeping. These are often billed as booze cruises which had me a little worried because that environment isn't conductive to my rest and relaxation. However, I did not need to worry. It was a very mellow crowd from almost all English speaking countries. There was one lone Turk, who ended up hanging out with the crew because he didn't speak any English.


Our first sunset.


Our first sunrise.


We had about 200km of beautiful coastline like this.
Most of the trip is a blur. I remember the good conversations more than I do the stops. A lot of the stops have blended together. The water was blue. There were gorgeous mountains behind it. There was a harbor, maybe a village, maybe some ruins. In the beginning, some people stressed about which stop was which or if we needed shoes or, or, or. I didn't care. I was elated to have someone else making all of my decisions for me for four days. I just had to sit there.


I think this was a mosque in Kas. It threw me that it had stores on the bottom floor. I didn't know that was allowed.


Find the looted ancient Lycian tomb in the rock face.


Butterfly Valley.
At the first port, Butterfly Valley, we anchored but had to swim to shore. We had a dinghy, but did not use it for whatever reason. I used an 'air mattress' floaty (no idea what the proper name is) to take my shoes and camera over. Butterfly valley is only supposed to be accessed from the water, but people make the difficult climb down from town to visit. A lot of people actually live there. It reminded me a little bit of the Kulaulau Valley. The butterflies only live high up. Luckily, we saw two.


The village under Simena Castle.


The view from Simean castle.
Herb and Judy were two of my fellow passengers. They are brilliant. I've resolved to invite them to my wedding if I ever have one. Judy will single handedly start the dance floor. They are a retired couple from New York now living in New Mexico. They raised two(?) boys. They are still active and 60 or 70 years old. I don't just mean mobile. They travel independently. They do hikes that young people struggle with. They are balls of energy. I can only hope to be that happy and energetic. I had a ton of great chats with them about wearing myself out on my trip, life journeys, happiness, parenting, and who knows what else.


Sarcophagi outside Simena Castle.


Sam and Kat on their honeymoon at . . . Simena castle
I am not sure what my favorite spot on the trip was. I seem to have taken a lot of pictures of Simena castle though. I think that had mostly to do with its location though. It is a Byzantine Castle with Lycian ruins over looking the great waters of the Mediterranean. You can't really go wrong with that. I also was able to fruitlessly search the fig trees for a free snack. The spoils of Croatia will continue to haunt me because none of the fig trees I have found since have fruit!!


I'm a little teacup short and stout. Here is my handle, here is my . . . other handle.


Simena village street.


Most of my fellow passengers on the Alaturka.
There were only four single people on the boat. They put us all in one room. The rest were double bunks. I slept on deck every night which let two of the singles who hooked up have a little more freedom, but there were still a few times I was locked out of the room. Ahh, to be in college living again.


The underwater city.


Nightswimming deserves a quiet night.


Best swim of the trip was right after this sunrise.
We started the trip without a captain. He was off taking a test that he subsequently failed. When he finally got on board, he came on grumpy. Maybe it was because he failed his test. I don't know, but he tried to establish his authority in a way that put a huge damper on everything. The crew had been doing a great job before he got there and kept things fun. Afterward, they were tense and did not open up as much. It was amazing how drastic the transition was. At some point, the captain started yelling at a passenger. I think we collectively decided to ignore him and the next day, things were better. He got a good night's sleep and probably eased up. He wasn't good, but he was bearable. The chef, who we called Chef, carried the day. He was kept us smiling the entire trip. He even joined our impromptu boat dance party.


Dance party.


Pirate cave has no history of pirates using it.
There were a ton of amazing sun rises and sun sets. We saw the harvest moon. I relearned how to play backgammon. I got to chat with a Kiwi. We found a lot of small world connections. One couple had a vacation spot in Steamboat and had family that co-owns Knobels! Knobels is the local amusement park where I grow up. No one knows it unless you are from the area. They know it and they love it. We had a lot of hype to visit an underwater city. It's hype. Don't bother. You can't see anything and you can't snorkel there. We danced one night, but I was still in bed by midnight. Man, I love sleep even if I never get a lot of it. Being sleep deprived is making me appreciate good sleep more and more.


Me. Swimming.
I loved this trip. It was too short though. As I've written about it, there really wasn't much to it for me. Eat, swim, chat, read, eat, swim, eat, sleep, repeat. Though, I never actually slept in. I didn't get a nap either through I tried every day. It did not feel like four days of nothing. They went too quick which is why I suspect I could have used four more weeks of that. On the other hand, I think I would have begun to go stir crazy too. Four days was good. Go. Do it and enjoy it. Rather, go, do nothing, love it.


My bike. Sailing.

The Wheels Come Off the Bike

How much I enjoy my travels is based on how I am feeling mentally. I need to keep my mental reservoir from emptying out to keep enjoying myself. Bad experiences, physical fatgiue, and a lack of quiet can drain that reservoir. Experiencing amazing things, resting, hearing from home (hint, hint) and great personal interactions can fill it back up. When I head out on trips, I usually start out with a big reserve and slowly chip away at it because I do so much. This is a calculated decision and I usually come out ahead, tired, but ahead, because they are shorter trips.

When I was planning this trip, I knew it was not a great time for a trip. I was run down from not having a stable base for four months. While I had a single place to sleep while training in New Zealand, I did not make it mine because I was leaving after two months. I also mixed in a bunch of mini trips. Then, I started harder traveling in Australia, Hawaii, and closed it out with a two month road trip in the states. So while I knew I already running on low, I also had to buy a flight to Europe and was unemployed. It was an ideal situation for travel. I felt I had to take advantage of the situation. I'd just find new ways to keep myself moving. I think the one big thing that I did not factor in was that the the bike trip would tire me out more than usual and there would be no immediate end in sight.

All this build up is to say, that I emptied the reservoir and found the wall in Turkey. As I slept that night in Fethiye, I decided that I had really struggled in Turkey to do my daily 100km. Greece had been hard at times, but fine. I was able to push though. If I had kept to my original schedule, I would have been flying home in three weeks and I think the excitement of getting home would have continued to push me through. However, since I had pushed back my flight by almost six weeks and had nine total to go, I did not have that motivation to drive me. Something was holding me back. Maybe it was the heat. Maybe it was the weeks of crappy sleep from shoulder pain. Maybe it was the pressure of keeping to a schedule. Maybe the reservoir was overdrawn. I know the idea of going home made me happy, but I also knew some of my best adventures were yet to come. I decided that easing up was the best way to fill up the reservoir and get 'me' back. I decided to take the Blue Cruise.

Taking the cruise, would force me to bike very hard for two weeks afterward to keep on schedule though. Instead of doing that and tiring myself right back out, I decided that I just needed to bike smaller parts of Turkey. I would take buses and kick back a little bit. Unfortunately, when there is a crack in the wall, it is easy for it become a gusher. This kicking back slowly evolved into biking almost none of Turkey and even skipping sights that I had wanted to visit. I skipped them to have more than one night in a place. Being in a new place and packing/unpacking every day also wears me out. Well, that might not wear me out, but it definitely does not fill the reservoir back up. The best part is that while I was bummed I was missing out on some great biking, I didn't mind. I was doing what I needed to do to keep enjoying myself and realized that. My bike tour is over. I am now doing a bike-as-much-as-I-can-but-do-whatever-I need-to-keep-enjoying-myself-especially-in-this-freaking-heat tour.

My great new plan of living it up in Turkey also played very well into my financial woes. My ATM card broke and when you bike, you need cash for the rural areas. Sticking to tourist areas, taking buses, having to eat in finer restaurants, and needing to stay in non-budget hotels would all slowly fill the reservoir back up and, hopefully, give my ATM card enough time to arrive. Ten days minimum to my mother who would overnight it to me. No express service available from the bank. Ugh. These are the things that drain the reservoir, but also the adventures we love to talk about later when they end well.

At the end of my Turkish travels, my ATM card had not arrived at my mother's house. I called the bank. It had been ten days and they still had not even ordered the card. No explanation why. I would need to wait ten more days. I decided to move on to Syria where my brother Tait bailed me out by wiring me money. Tait, thanks again. Thank you also to Daglar, Terri, Reina, my mom, Herb and Judy, Sam and Kat, Michael, and all the others who helped me stay afloat or offered to bail me out. You guys help fill the reservoir.

Biking the Mediterranean Coast of Turkey

My first Turkish picture needs to be of Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey.
After a rest day on Rhodes, I thought I was ready for Turkey. I had a short evening strolling around town where I had to try five different ATM's to get my card to work and heard old school Donovan playing. Then, I headed home for a quiet night planning my route through Turkey.


Marmaris waterfront represening Turkish pride and the desire to take you on a tour.


My hair never did that when it was long.


The local bazaar which is fun to ride in when its empty.
In the morning, I left early and chugged up hill for 5km into a valley of the Taurus mountains that separate the coast from the Anatolian plateau. From there, I took a right and followed the road to Antalya. The valley was dry, but beautiful. There was one set of fields tucked in front of a mountain after another. Every 10km there was a sign to tell me how far I had gone. There were fruit stands selling mandarins and pomegranates. There were strange water pipes dropping water near near the road by a bunch of restaurants. It was hot, very hot. Athens has been hot too, but this was different. I was really missing those fall temperatures in northern Greece.


Marmaris harbor.


A different type of car wash. I saw these running non-stop everywhere, but did not know what they were for until this truck showed me.
Eventually, I got the need to feed and pulled into a grocery store looking for lunch. Ideally, I would have made a sandwich. They had no bread. They had no spreads. They had no cheese and no fruit. I was screwed for my usuals. I just got a drink and some crappy snack mix. The owner invited me to join him at his table while he played cards with a friend. It looked like rummy so I watched for a while and then asked to join. They dealt me in. It was funny learning the little nuances of the Turkish version. You can only lay down three cards at a time. You can only play one card on someone else's stuff. You can't play all your cards and not discard. What you put down does not count. Only the cards you get stuck with count. If someone gets to a 100, the game ends and whoever has the least wins. It was really hearts rummy.


Some old guys that let me join their Turkish rules rummy game.


My first big mosque in Muslim Turkey.
After a long lunch, it was time to ride again. I changed my route from the main road based on recommendations from the grocer. He was sending me to a small town near the coast. The heat was hurting me and I just could not get my legs going. When I got to Dalyan, I was not sure what I wanted to do. It was a tourist town. One tour operator asked me what I could help with in English. When I responded, he had no idea what I was saying. We tried this a couple times before I gave up. Eventually, I decided the thing to do was nothing again. I got a Turkish bath and pared it up with a massage (finally!). During the bath, they got skin rolls off my back from a recent sunburn. Yum! The massage felt great. I was in heaven or a place like heaven. My massage was in a hotel lobby area. I could see and hear cars driving by. People who explored the far reaches of the lobby could see me. It was curious, but good.


This adorable kitty just wanted a little food. There are so many strays.


This is making me miss Pittsburgh and miss the pooch.


Lycian tombs above the Dalyan River.
After a great night's sleep, my hope was to swim and the hit the road. Fortunately, I got stuck at the beach for a little longer than expected. Some local kids wanted to chat so I indulged them. Then, I explored the Giant Loggerhead turtle conservation facilities they had. They have a bunch of injured ones in captvity. Their hope is to let them heal and release them, but some will never make it. They can only swim in circles with two fins.


An injured Giant Loggerhead Turtle which lays its eggs at Iztuzu Beach.


Dalyan River delta.


Iztuzu Beach.
When I left the beach, I headed towards my old route on back roads. They are so much more enjoyable than the main roads if you can find the good ones. One of my big lessons this trip was that it is worth the money to buy a good map. Though, I still don't feel like I could afford to carry the weight of as many maps as I would have needed. Maybe, I could have shipped them to myself. Anyway, the local roads took me through pomegranate and mandarin orchards. I was so tempted to start eating them. All of them. I don't think they were ripe yet. However, when I got to the road I realized that vendors were selling plenty of them. I should have given them a try.


The ripe pomegranate and mandarin orchards of coastal Turkey near Mergenli.


Iztuzu Beach
On my way back to the main road, I found a bad gravel road. It was going to be a mess. It looked like the road to Theth. It also didn't have signs for which way to go. A woman came by in a car and I waved her down. Instead of stopping, she sped away as fast as she could. That was a little disconcerting, but a guy on a scooter came by and told me which way to go and that the gravel ended in a 100m. I was off again and happy.


The Sulungur Gola, the 'lake' just behind where the Dalyan River runs into the Mediterranean sea.


If you know me well, you know I believe in gender equality. I am all about conservative traditions, but it drives me batty that the men in some islamic traditions where up to date modern clothes while the woman are still wearing their full classical burkas.
Late in the day, I rolled into Fethiye. I had gone about 100km, but it felt like a lot more. I was hurting. My intent was to look around and then move on. However, I remembered that a friend had mentioned the Blue Cruises left from here. Since my legs just weren't working I thought that maybe doing a cruise would help out. The Fethiye to Olympos cruise would take 4 days. I could bike it in 2. I didn't like that, but knew that I needed some rest.


The Taurus moutains that divide coastal Turkey from the Anatolian Plateau.
I decided to sleep on it. While exhausted in my hotel, I was flipping through the channels. They had Hustler TV, the porno channel. I don't think I have ever been in a hotel with free porn onTV, but what really threw me was that I found this in Turkey. Turkey is muslim. Lots of it issecular, just like the United States, but I just never thought that is something I would havefound in a country that I consider to be a little more conservative. Maybe it isn't that conservative. Maybe it was an anomaly.


I am not sure who this is, but I love the helmet on this statue.