Antalya Part 2: Olimpos (Olympos) and Chimaera

(Justin) We went to Antalya with a list of ancient places we wanted to see. The ruins of Olimpos (Olympus), an ancient Lycean and Greek city and national park, along with the ancient Chimaera, or "yanartaş," flaming rocks, was first up for my dad and I to explore. Fortunately, the weather was mostly sunny and high 50s, not bad for hiking.

Our resort was in Beldibi, about 30 mins south of Antalya city and just north of the resort town of Kemer. We took a bus (4TL/person) to Kemer (about 30 minutes) and got let out on the main highway (Kumluca-Kemer yolu) at the intercity bus station. From there, we caught a minibus (3TL/person) that told us it would drop us off close to Çıralı (another 30-40 minutes), the village where they are located.

View from the Kemer bus terminal.

This provided my dad an experience on local transport, where we stood in the aisle of the cramped minibus while elderly village women, fully covered, sat chatting. The road is quite curvy and one local woman got carsick as the driver passed plastic bags back to her while everyone pretended not to notice -- a first for me in Turkey. 

It was going to be a 7km walk downhill to Çıralı. After walking a bit, we flagged down a car to hitchike and some retired German-Turk locals dropped us off at the Çıralı beach and pointed in the direction of the ruins.

Olimpos ruins are at the far end of this beach where remains of fortresses can be seen. The tables are from a local restaurant hopeful to snag us, one of the few open in the off-season.

Mt. Olimpos and its snow-covered peak in the background. Palm trees and beachfront in the foreground. That's Antalya.

So, we walked and found the way obscured by the Çıralı river. We rolled up our pant legs and crossed, the water being quite cold but crystal clear-- much like the Mediterranean around us, a beautiful light blue color.

Dad crossing the rocky river. Not a typical senior citizen at this point.

We proceeded to the ruins where we took a few photos. Because it was the flood season, the waters were high and we didn't walk too far into Olympus. The winter wind was quite strong and we got a good lesson as to why it was dangerous for ancient Mediterranean sailors to sail during the winter (see Acts 27). This area is part of the Lycian Way, a backpackers' haven, and we saw plenty of internationals carrying their packs on the beach.

Olimpos was built on both sides of this river with a bridge connecting the two sides. Ruins of many buildings still stand, and in the center of the picture you can see what remains of the bridge.

Ancient tombs

Flood season meant water running through much of the ancient city dwellings.

We then trekked up the rocky bank of the Çıralı river, inspired by a covered elderly woman ahead of us who was balancing on rocks and clinging to branches like we were, back to Çıralı village. The village is filled with "pansions," bed-and-breakfast places, and restaurants-- all unfortunately closed for the off-season. From the village, it was another 3 kilometers to Mount Chimaera.

This hike took us through the village with its beautiful orchards and to the base of the mountain, where we had to buy tickets (5TL/person I think) and hike another kilometer uphill to the flaming rocks. (This blog has a good review of how to navigate the area during the tourist season.)

Methane gas seeping through pores in the mountain that have remained alight through millenia is what makes the place legendary. In ancient times the flaming mountainside served as a lighthouse for sailors. The ruins here are only partially excavated (This is common as Turkey has so many ancient sites and new discoveries are made seemingly daily). We watched tourists play around the flames, some using them to cook dinner, and hiked back down.

I almost stepped on this flame on the ground.

You can see the flame burning over my right shoulder.

Ruins at Chimaera.

Dad and I were rather weary having hiked quite a bit (I should also note we also forewent lunch), but we still had a 10km journey back uphill to the main highway. So, after walking a bit we hitched a ride with a family of Turkish tourists who luckily were staying in Kemer and graciously gave us a ride all the way there. I enjoyed chatting with them about teaching as they were public school teachers in Izmir.

From Kemer we caught the bus back to our hotel and made it back in time for dinner. My dad is over 65 but was probably less tired than I was. I definitely recommend renting a car for an excursion like this if you don't fear driving in the country. We had a great adventure experiencing the great sites and hospitality of Turkey!

Bayram Vacation, Part 4: Waterpark & Beach

(Read Part 1, Part 2, & Part 3.)

The Aqua Fantasy resort had an unbelievable waterpark! It is one of the biggest in Europe and also the biggest and safest in Turkey. (Even so, there were still a few slides we would never see in the States!) However, as mentioned previously, the water was too cold for us to enjoy it much. We only spent about an hour there.

Justin & Elias standing in front of some of the big slides as soon as we entered. I've never seen a water slide like that yellow one before! People would drop down on a raft and then just slide back and forth until they came to a stop!

Elias overlooking the kids' section of the waterpark, which included that cool pirate ship!

Justin rode a few of the big slides, some of which had features you'd likely never see in the U.S. One was a snake-like tunnel that you rode in a raft, easy except it was pitch black. Elias and I enjoyed watching him go down this racer one from the bridge!

There was also a beautiful private beach that was part of the resort, but the waters of the Mediterranean were also a bit chilly. We did, however, have quite a bit of fun enjoying the various parts of the beach!

Elias loves playing in sand, and we had brought his bucket & shovel for that very purpose. The sand here was interesting - it was very fine and powdery, and it had glitter in it (apparently caused by mica)! So when we went to wash off, we were muddy & glittery! We had fun building sand castles and looking for shells, though!

The resort had this long pier we could walk out on. This was taken at sunset, which is why it's kind of dark.

Elias chillin' on a deck chair out on the pier.

The resort also had paddleboats we were able to take out in the sea. The water was only a little higher than my knees, so I just jumped out to take a picture of the boys in the boat.

It was so beautiful and so fun!

Click to read Part 5.

Bayram Vacation, Part 1: Aqua Fantasy

Justin mentioned in a previous post that although his job is difficult, it also has some amazing perks. Last week we received the ultimate of all perks - the school sent their faculty and families on a 5-day vacation to the Western coast of Turkey (a place called Kuşadası, near the large city of Izmir) over the holiday! All we had to do was purchase our airfare, and EVERYTHING else was covered for us. What a blessing!

Like father like son on the flight from Ankara to Izmir (both reading the in-flight magazine). It was just a 1-hour flight, then there was a 1-hour bus ride to get to the resort. Not bad at all!

We weren't sure exactly what to expect, but it turns out that this place was called Aqua Fantasy, and that is an apt name for it. This place really was beyond our wildest dreams! It's an all-inclusive resort where you wear a wristband that enables you access to everything the resort offers: hotel room, all-you-can-eat-and-drink buffet for all three meals and snacks, 10 pools (indoor, outdoor, kiddie, etc.) with water slides, one of the largest waterparks in Europe, a beach (on the Mediterranean Sea), live entertainment, and much more. This resort is obviously geared toward foreigners - all the signage was in English, and almost all of the staff there spoke English as well.

There will be a long series of blog posts showing our vacation, so I thought I'd start with the accommodations.

Our hotel. (Image borrowed from here.) We actually never swam in this pool because the water was COLD and there were plenty of other options.

The place was just massive. It was a fair hike to get from one end to the other, and you can see in the photo above that there was a handy bridge across the center of the pool that took us from our building into the dining hall.

Justin & Elias on the bridge

We were given a Family Room, which means there was an extra bed for Elias, and his part of the room had rolling screens that could close and give privacy between the two sections. That was great!

View from the hall door. You can see the brown sliding doors in the middle.

Elias' section of the room also had a little couch that could've folded out to make another bed to accommodate more people. He just enjoyed playing on it. And there was a little table and cabinet that were perfect for his toys!

You can't see it in the photo, but the bathroom had a full tub, which is actually kind of rare in Turkey. A lot of places (our apartment included) only have showers. So this was a huge treat for Elias to get full baths!

They even had a complimentary fruit plate waiting for us! That's the kind of place this was!

Click to read more: Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Vacation, Part 8: The Beach!

We were so excited about going to the beach! Elias had never been to a saltwater beach, but he has seen them on shows and he'd been talking about wanting to go to one. There were actually two beaches at Amasra on opposite sides of the peninsula, and we were fortunate that our hotel was on the less crowded one. (Come back tomorrow for shots of the other one!) Here's a view of our beach from out on the water.

We think this beach wasn't as crowded because it wasn't free, but we thought it was worth paying 15TL (appx $8) to rent the umbrella and chairs for the day. We brought a little bucket/shovel set, and Elias LOVED playing in the sand!

The same people who rented us the umbrella & chairs also had a menu we could order lunch from, and they delivered it to us right on the beach!

Then we hit the water! We had heard that the water of the Black Sea was very cold, but it was just cool. It was actually perfect for swimming in since the weather was so hot!

This is the first time Elias got in the water and the only time you'll see him with his feet touching the bottom. As much as he loved playing in the sand on the shore, he REFUSED to let his feet touch it in the water!

So I carried him out to the deeper water...

...and he floated in his floatie! Win!

It's always interesting in Turkey to see the great variety of people. At the beach, we saw ladies in bikinis, but we also saw fully-covered conservative ladies also enjoying their swims. As Justin mentioned previously, many Turks don't know how to swim, so we saw a large number of adults wearing floaties and water wings to stay safe! (Not pictured: The middle-aged man who was rescued while drowning and had to be taken to the hospital.)

We absolutely loved the beach and were so thankful for the opportunity to visit! Check back later for the final (finally!) installment of our vacation blogs where we take a boat tour around the peninsula and enjoy the famous fish dinner!