We got up early to see the Duden waterfalls before heading to Olympos. Unfortunately the Alp Pasha dropped us off at the wrong dolmus stop where we waited for an hour and a half. The funny part is that I asked several other people at the stop while we were waiting, and they all said we were in the right place as well. Later we found out Antalya has a reputation for mistreating tourists.
Anyway we never made it to the Duden because we ran out of time. Fortunately Olympos was so splendid it more than made up for the bad experience in Antalya. Kadir’s was full of friendly, adventurous young people like us. Like everyone on this trip, they were all surprised to see Americans in Turkey. We met an Iranian girl who was there for rock climbing, a couple who had hitch-hiked all the way from Ukraine, two Swedish girls, and a bunch of Australians. The people that worked there were really cool too. Only half of them were Turkish, and the other half were people like us who visited Kadir’s, but then decided to stay and work. I asked if they had to get work visas and they said no, they didn’t actually get paid, they just got to stay and eat for free.
The hostel itself was adorable. The tree houses had bright paintings on the side and the camp was full of roosters, chickens, and a puppy that liked to pull on girls skirts. The entire area was full of similar tree house hostels, and they all had solar panels on top.
We had been planning on taking a day cruise, but it turns out they only do those on the weekends. So instead we decided to try rock climbing. The rock wall was 17 meters (60 feet?) tall. Emily was dumb enough to wear shorts and her legs got completely scratched and bruised. Treanna wore herself out too fast and could only make it about 14 meters. It was hard, and our Turkish guide acted like it was no big deal and we were being wusses.
We finally got our long awaited White Russians at the bar that night, and then slept very well. The next day, we beat the camp to breakfast and hiked through the ruins of the ancient city of Olympos and saw a turtle and wild turkeys. How ironic.
Then we left on a sea kayaking trip with the same guy who took us rock climbing, and met up with a trekking tour group of Canadians, British, and Germans. The Lycian coast was incredibly beautiful, and it was a shame we didn’t bring our camera. There were caves and rock formations that were fun to maneuver around, and we saw a sea turtle swimming around. It was good exercise, so at one point we shored the boats on a tiny 10-ft. “beach” and started deep water soloing up the cliff faces and the rocks and jumping off. The water was a perfect temperature, and was clear as could be. We almost wished we could have spent the whole day sea kayaking.
Later that afternoon, Treanna convinced Emily to try scuba diving for the first time. Treanna is certified, however had never dove on her own before. Nonetheless, she assured the scuba guide (Jenks) that she would be fine to follow us on her own. Only ten feet under, mighty Poseidon struck and broke her mask and stole her flipper. Emily and Jenks courageously swam on despite the tragedy (they ignored Treanna’s pleas for help), and saw a seahorse (“denizalti” in Turkish). Alas, brave Treanna trudged to shore, where sun-kissed Aphrodite took pity and saved her.
That night after dinner, we survived a treacherous and expensive drive to Çirali and hiked part-way up Mount Olympos. In the activity description it said we’d be hiking with torches, which we were thrilled about. We were disappointed to find out that “torch” was just a British term for flashlight. It was still a cool hike though. For those readers that don’t know, the Chimera Flames are eternal fires that burn on the rocks of Mount Olympos. They are burning on natural gas, but the ancient Greeks believed it was the breath of some type of monster called the Chimera dragon. The Chimera flames are what inspired the Olympic torch.
Upon returning to the camp, we shared a bottle of quince wine with the Ukranian couple and listened to their stories about hitch-hiking through the former Russian confederation. It was fascinating.
Then off to sleep for an early start to our day of travel to Ankara.
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