D10 – Monday 18 May

Thankfully, and I mean thankfully we both were able to get up out of bed this morning and eat a normal but light breakfast.  For a upmarket place, I was not impressed with the breakfast compared to our Pension in Kas, but I was hungry and certainly found a healthy meal in the offerings.  

As mentioned, I do not like the Turkish cheese at all so the only other option is scrambled eggs or boiled eggs to go with your salads.  The salads here were not salads per see, just bowls of vegetable to make your own, a bowl of plain yoghurt and a slice of lemon to dress.  I could not see even a bottle of olive oil.  We did get offered freshly cooked eggs with bacon, so I am not complaining about that.  I think the Scandinavian roots in me are missing the herring and salmon etc.

After breakfast we made our way to the rock tombs about 2km walk away.  The heat here is higher than what the forecast indicates – often is says about 24, but my sweat-a-metre that normally starts around 28-30 has been in action several times. Today it was consistent, and together with not being 100% it was hard going but we took our breaks, drunk lots of water and have hit around 10km.

The Amyntas rock tombs are ancient Lycian burial monuments carved directly into the limestone cliffs overlooking Fethiye.  Dating back to the 4th century BCE, these are the final resting places for high ranking nobility. The Lycians believed that by having a high up resting places, it would assist with the journey to the afterlife. We also passed some other tombs lower down.

As we were walking up to the tombs we saw a group of girls under a tree plucking fruit of sorts, so we went over to investigate and saw it was a large mulberry trip dripping with juicy morsels. Of course we joined in the grazing assisted by Verns long reach to pull down branches. They were rather juicy and sweet, making inky stains on our hands and mouths.

Further along we overlooked a little garden plot behind a old tattered home. Soft singing caught our attention and there on a small stone patio sitting at a small table was an old woman rolling thin ovals of dough with a long thin wooden stick.  She looked up with a big smile on her wrinkled face and continued to work her dough, as we warmly returned the greeting. She had a few onions in her garden coming along, some herbs, capsicum and eggplant, plus a few fruit trees and grape vine as appears common. As we continued up the slope to the tombs we heard the happy soft song again encouraging us on the hot and dusty climb.

Despite the heat and food poisoning hang over we ventured on in hunt for the waterside area past the river where one might see turtles in the bay.  We were so excited to see some little heads pop up to break water not long after getting to the area. We spent the next hour trying different spots and endeavouring to get a good photo of these charming creatures. 

 

The bay side promenade has lots of little ‘parks’ and statues or plaques honouring Ataturk. He features everywhere and is clearly revered. There are palm trees and bougie cafes and restaurants interspersed with ice cream sellers.  The boats were stunning Vernon at the money that must exist alongside the poverty. They were plentiful and luxurious.

Needing a comfort stop, we chose a popular modern and clean looking burger and shake joint where we shared a simple burger, fries, yoghurt drink and iced coffee. It was simple but very well executed and the toilets most importantly were spotless.

Heading back towards home I encouraged Vern to take the opportunity to have his Turkish barber experience. For the next 45 minutes or so he got pampered, groomed, waxed, massaged and sprayed and oiled.  All for about 40nzd which is very good value.  I could have used some of that pampering myself. Vern looks fab and thoroughly enjoyed his man treatment.