Day 6 – Thursday 14 May

I think the turtle was on the way to the home for the bewildered turtles as no turtle in its right mind would dare attempt to cross the road in Turkiye!  Yes, we did see a turtle on a high range crossing the road in front of us while we were driving to Kas.

Our day started with the early alarm yet again, and hit the road promptly by 6am for the 1 hour drive to Kayseri airport.  The trip went uneventfully thank goodness, other than some Turkish drivers doing the lane glide. Our car was returned safely and we were checked in on time. 

Having been too early for breakfast I checked out the cafe at the airport and got one coffee to share as I was not prepared to buy a chicken wrap for 1500 Turkish lyra – $56.31nzd. Yep, that is for real.  Kayseri airport is a bit grotty, and the toilets horridly in need of a clean. Shocking actually with dirt piled in corners from months of lazy or no cleaning. I hate to think of what germs I could not see.

The flight to Istanbul went smoothly with only enough time to get from the departure point to the transfer point comfortably with one bathroom stop.  Another 1.5 hours in the air and we landed in Antalya. The scenery from the air had us pass over some large dramatic rocky ranges, snow topped peaks, and lots of hydroponic tunnel hoses. We preferred to stay with Turkish airlines instead of the cheaper airlines that go direct, because of baggage allowance and reliability.

We picked up our car from Avis – not as nice as our Sixt one but still good, this time an Opal, Antalya is a large city – and one we really wanted to avoid driving through as much as possible. Oh my lord, Turkish driving is in league of its own. Today we saw 4 serious near miss car accidents. This is on top of several others in the preceding days. Taxi drivers are the worst – one cut across three lanes only just avoiding a pile up.

The weather was light rain and then cloudy, which did inhibit the views on the 3 hour drive.  The misty covered hills did look lovely and we were interested to pass through a number of tunnels through the hills.

The 3 hour drive to Kas was a bit stressful to say the least.  I was holding the iPad to nav with one hand, the other holding on to the holy shit handles.  It took the extra set of eyes to also give warning of the madness approaching from my side of the car, as Vern kept his eyes in front and to the left.  Stressful is putting it mildly – however, Vern is amazing in his driving skills and so far has kept us and car safe on every trip. Long may it continue! We do not recommend driving here unless you are practiced driver or have a good constitution.

We stopped half way, to de-stress and comfort stop and had one best snack meals at little cafe. They spoke no english but we got it worked out just fine. We shared a flat panini type bread filled with freshly grilled seasoned meat slices and a side of pickles, a yoghurt drink and free chai. We both really needed it to rest from the intense concentration and hard work driving. My hands needed a break from hanging on ….

We arrived into the town of Kas at about 6pm.  It is a medium size and the houses are nestled like crustacean on a steep cliff, that is surrounded by two pretty harbours and islands in the bay. The hotel was nicer than we expected with beautiful views situated on the edge of old town in a semi residential neighbourhood. 

We settled in and got a recommendation for dinner.  We also asked the helpful host to book us on a boat trip the next day if possible, then strolled down steep stone lanes to a slow cooked rib place.  It was tasty and for once the meat at dinner was not overcooked. Yay! We even had the resident puss join us for dinner.