Blue Cruise

We spent the last 4 days at Sea on a Turkish Gulet sailing from Olympos to Fethiye. A gulet is an all wooden handcrafted motor sailing yacht equipped with 1 or 2 masts, built for cruising the Mediterranean Coast. Gulets were originally built and used by fishermen and sponge divers to transport their catch. Today they have been re-designed especially for yachting holidays.
We went with a company called V-Go and it only cost about $250 each for 4 days/3 nights including all our food.  Great deal!
We were picked up in Cirali and taken to the port about an hour away in Demer. We saw the Sunken City of Kekova (this is a Lycian-Roman archaeological site), Simena (a traditional Turkish fishing village with no car access and a huge  Byzantine/Ottoman castle on the top of the hill) and Gokkaya Bay.  Day two we went to Kas where we first had breakfast and a swim in a nice and quiet bay in front of the little town and then stopped in the harbour for lunch and super shopping…seriously, it’s a good thing we only had 2 hours or we’d be broke. It was full of silver shops and made a mean iced coffee! We then sailed near Kalkan were we stopped in Firnaz Bay for the night. Day three, after swimming in a bay for the morning, we ventured to Oludeniz (The Blue Lagoon) and the last stop of the day is St-Nicholas Island or Gemiler Island( on the small island are the remains of several churches built between the fourth and sixth centuries AD, along with a variety of associated buildings. Archaeologists believe it was the location of the original tomb of Saint Nicholas), and finally Samanlik bay before heading into Fethiye harbour.


We had such an amazing time. There were 8 other people on our boat and we really lucked out and got a fantastic crowd, we got along great and had tons of fun. We spent our days  swimming, sun tanning, exploring and eating.


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We all had a small double cabin, but with no air conditioning it was sweltering, so everyone just slept on the sunbeds on the deck like a giant sleepover and watched the stars before falling asleep. We had a large assortment of flotation devices that sell for cheap in all the towns to entertain ourselves… watching Nick, Das and Andrea try to all mount the floating caterpillar was a highlight.

Sarah's perfect swan dive.

 

The captain always pulled anchor early and start sailing to our next destination before breakfast. On our second day the Sea was really rough and after about 6 hours of sailing we were all green and couldn’t get off the boat fast enough. Thankfully, the sea was fairly calm the rest of the time. The weather was perfect with blue skies, mid 30’s during the day but it cooled off nicely at night.

Joseph, the Captain, gutting our fish.

Iced Coffee in Kas

Breakfast Feast.

The food was really delicious and how the captain managed to put together such feasts from the smallest kitchen on the planet was baffling. They would even catch fresh fish every day.

Sunrise over the Mediterranean Sea

Sarah and I woke up early to watch the sunrise over the Mediterranean Sea…5:40am early as we had a 10 minute bike ride, complete with emergency chain repair on the side of the road, and a several minute walk to a prime beach viewing location! We went to the Olympos ruins after this and were so exhausted that afternoon we pretty much napped on our sun chairs instead of reading!


Another picture for your amusement…well, it amused Sarah and I to no end… is how short the doors are here at this hotel!
Sarah almost hits her head on the top jam coming in!


She’s not on her tiptoes!
Hahahahahhaaaaaaa!
Sarah just about fell off the bed laughing as she saw this blog post!

Chimaera Flames

Last night we packed into the hotel’s bus and drove to the base of the mountain we had to climb at 8:30pm in the pitch dark up to see the chimaera flames.  The Chimaera flames are a series of flames that spurt from cracks in the rock, which is caused by the combustion of natural gas seeping out of the mountain at the ancient site of Olympos. The cause of the composition of the gas is still uncertain, but whatever it is, if left long enough and with enough concentration, it will ignite and the flames stay burning forever.  These flames have been burning for as long as history records man in the area and they will still be there long after humans are extinct.  Some flames are as small as the one on your stove; others are as large as a bon fire, though when earthquakes occur it changes the flames.  Historically the flames have been as large as busses, and this has always been a great landmark for sailors who are sailing past the area at night.   The climb to the Chimaeras is about 1 km up and it is a series of wide rock steps surrounded by ruins. We brought headlamps knowing we would be hiking at night and I brought marshmallows to roast over the flames.


It was really cool to see all the fires shooting out the side of the mountain…definitely a once in a life time experience!

Olympos Ruins

Just at the end of Cirali beach there is an ancient winding path that leads to the remains of Greek ruins. These ancient ruins, dating back to the second-century B.C., are all that remain of an important Lycian city that became abandoned in the 15th century. The ruins themselves are so impressive. The lack of heavy tourist traffic means the site is largely overgrown and really gives the place an ethereal feel.  We decided to get up before dawn to watch the sunrise over the ocean then explore the ruins before the oppressive afternoon heat makes it no longer fun.


We actually showed up an hour before it opened and had the entire place to ourselves….and got in free as the ticket booth wasn’t manned! The sun was low and peaking through the trees and there is a babbling creek running through the old city that adds to it’s ambiance. We both loved exploring the Olympos ruins and it was a real treat to not have to fight through any tourist traffic.

Mosaics on the old church floor