Turquoise Coast

Alexander the Great couldn’t conquer Termessos, an ancient Pisidian city perched 3,000 feet high in the Tauras Mountains, but we thought we could.  Sure enough, we were able to easily “capture” an abandoned city--photographic evidence below.  What was so hard about that Alex the Average?  The mountain top city with little excavation was one of our favorite ancient sites.  The views were magnificent and its relatively untouched state, but remarkable preservation, made it more special.  The theatre, with its perfect rock seats and incredible views, made for a perfect picnic lunch.

Flat rocks + Lunch+ Views = Perfect Picnic

From Termessos, we started our journey around the Turquoise Coast.  Our first stop was Cirali, a beach side village with a laid back vibe and bungalow life. Here we had a fire and ice experience.  First, we iced ourselves in the chilly Mediterranean Sea and then hiked up the slopes of Mount Olympos to singe our brows with the eternal flames from the breath of the Chimaera monster--part lion, part goat, part snake.  The following day we hiked up along the Lycian Way, where honestly, no one really loved it. Everyday can’t be our best life.  We visited this area 16 years ago and stayed in a treehouse camp living a bit of a scroungy, hippie existence.  It was a campfire, peace pipe, strumming guitar, rural kind of lifestyle.  It was sad to see the overdevelopment, ticketing, and Instagram influence in the area.  Basically, the foreign backpackers have abandoned the place, but what remains is a hodge podge of kitschy tourist shops and crowds of I don’t know who.   A local explained Instagram has changed everything.  One Instagram photo can change a location in hours.  People see a photo on Instagram and flock almost instantly.  There are no off the beaten track spots anymore.  He described it as the death of the Lonely Planet traveler—the kind of traveler who reads the Lonely Planet for travel advice, but also has other books in their backpacks.  Hum…I think he just burned the smarts of the Instagram influencers! 

Next we checked to see if our arms still worked after so much hiking.  We found Barbaros to guide us around via sea kayaks. We deemed him Channing’s official 6th grade teacher for the day, and he took the job seriously.  We slipped through the amazingly clear turquoise waters from Ucagiz to the sunken city along the banks of Kekova.  He told us interesting stories from the past as we floated over ruins and then eventually led us to Simena, a remote village, for a great lunch.  We found homemade fig and walnut and honey ice cream to reduce our body temps after a climb up to the village castle.  We ended this leg of the trip in Kas clinging to the hillside, resting in an apartment with our most valued item—a washing machine!