Turkey 2011

Hello, I'm back! I have just spent the most fantastic two weeks in Turkey with my husband and son. We stayed at Oludeniz and had a hire car so that we could tour the area. We aren't really beach people; we like to spend a short time on the beach and as the temperature often reached over 40'C a dip in the sea or swimming pool was most welcome, but the majority of the holiday was spent exploring.

Here are a few, okay lots and lots, of photos from our holiday. :)

The beach at Oludeniz.

The sand gives way to pebbles near the sea.

View of Oludeniz from the road as we climbed out of the valley.

The chain of islands out to sea, viewed as we drove along the coast road.

A local directed us to follow this road saying "you can manage it in this car and the views are wonderful". He was right about the views, but the road gradually petered out to a goat track and we lost our nerve and turned around!

This was our first visit to Turkey and the scenery was more stunning than we had expected.

We drove and walked beside olive and orange grooves.

We trekked through Saklikent Gorge.

Sometimes the water was chest-high on me and we had to climb over boulders worn slippery over millennia by the water that cascades through the gorge.

We even managed a few Geocaches. This one was on the Lycian Way.

One day we drove quite some distance to Pamukkale, which translates as Cotton Castle, to see the spectacular white travertine terraces that have formed from when the hot spring water loses carbon dioxide as it flows down the slope, leaving behind limestone deposits which have built up in steps on the plateau.

To preserve the natural terraces, you can nolonger walk on them, but new terraces have been formed to one side of the slope and visitors are allowed to swim in them.

At the top of the mountain is the site of Hierapolis and before walking around the ruins we swam in the hot spring water of Aphrodite's Pool, amongst the ruins of Apollo's temple.

Throughout the holiday we visited many archaeological sites. Turkey has been populated by many different civilisations. We were amazed that visitors are allowed to walk over these buildings. It felt such a privilege to walk in the footsteps of ancient peoples.

The theatre at Hierapolis, built in 200BC

and one at Myra.

Xanthos.

A Lycian sarcophagus at Xanthos. These are found all around the region. My husband is standing next to this one to show how big they are - he is over 6' tall.

Lycian Rock Tombs at Fethiye

and Myra.

The ghost town of Kayakoy, formally known as Karmylassos. This town was deserted in the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey that took place in 1923.

We did spend some time on a beach.

These beautiful 18 kms of sand at Patara are where Loggerhead Turtles lay their eggs.

Nest sites were marked with a few sticks and it was possible to see the trails left in the sand by the turtles, as they had returned to the sea.

We spent a very pleasant few hours sunbathing and swimming here.

We also visited the Blue Lagoon near Oludeniz,

where we spotted a crab and this decorative shell in the water.

Another day we left the car and took a 6 Island Boat Trip.

We did a lot of swimming at various coves

and visited the Butterfly Valley.

One morning we went into two mosques. This one at Fethiye

Close-up of some of the beautiful tiles.

The mosque at Ova.

One

afternoon my son

and I had a Turkish Bath and massage.

It was so relaxing - something that I could easily get used to! ;) Something I did get used to were the delicious Turkish syrup cakes. I think this photo probably shows how much I liked them!! :)

That evening there was a belly dancer at the hotel and as part of her act she chose men from the audience to belly dance.

Guess who she chose to dress up - I laughed so much that I was crying! It was a case of belly dancing meet daddy dancing!!

Throughout the holiday we made lots of furry friends.

And some not-so-furry ones too.

This cat had 5 small kittens and my son snuck some meat from the restaurant for her.

The kittens grew quite fast over the 2 weeks that we were there.

On the last day of our holiday we went paragliding for the first time.

We had watched the paragliders throughout our holiday and decided it looked like fun. We rode in a Jeep to the top of Babadag at 6550' and then had to wait a while for the right weather conditions.

It was worth the wait, we loved paragliding!

I was amazed at how smooth the ride was and my pilot finished my ride off with a spiral down to Oludeniz.

What an amazing holiday, we experienced some new things and made some wonderful memories.

Turkey is truly beautiful.