Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Day 12 - Lazing about in Butterfly Valley
Let me start this blog by saying Jayne loves the Turkish hipster dude who runs the hotel we are staying in at Gocek. Ooti and I aren't really sure why - like I mean he is nice and helpful but I think Jayne just loves the fact that he is a hipster.
When we arrived in Gocek we explained all of the activities we wanted to do to the hipster dude and he said "I search and book for you."The first activity we wanted to do was go to butterfly valley which we had heard is one of the most photogenic places on the coast of Turkey, is a hippy retreat and is known for its masses of butterflies. It was interesting though as no tours actually went there this time of year - probably as it was out of season for the butterflies. Our hipster dude organised a taxi for us and told us there was a water shuttle that would take us from Oludeniz beach to butterfly valley. The taxi ride was definitely interesting - the taxi driver was travelling a thousand miles an hour and was across all three lanes trying to get maximum speed and travel the least amount of distance like an inline skater. Ooti was having a fit gripping onto the side of the chair and nearly hyperventilating. We got there in one piece and our taxi driver was so cute. He was this little old man that couldn't speak English but helped us buy the tickets for the boat, and gave us his card so we could call him when we wanted him to pick us up. He wrote down his children's numbers for us as they spoke English. "I'm Turkish, Children English". Also the Turkish people are all so lovely and trusting we didn't have to pay him anything until he dropped us off at home later on that night. The water at
Oludeniz beach was a beautiful turquoise colour but the beach itself was filled with freaks yelling at us and gross tourists. We were so happy we were staying in Gocek. The water transfer was a very interesting experience - we had to climb up a ladder as the waves were thrashing about on the beach. The boat ride out to butterfly valley was about 20 mins and when we got to butterfly valley we were very excited. There were hardly any people there and there were no big hotels or bars or anything just one beach shack restaurant. I had heard about this hike I was really excited to do which would take you from the beach, to a waterfall, up the cliffs and back down again. We started off on the walk and made it to the first waterfall before Jayne said she couldn't be bothered and wanted to go back to the beach. Ooti and I continued climbing over lots of rocks and made it to the second waterfall where there were massive signs saying danger. There were ropes which you had to use to pull yourself up the cliff but it was very slippery and even if we had the strength to pull ourselves up I didn't think we would make it back down again. I was very disappointed in myself as we didn't finish it - but it was a fun walk all the same. We headed back to the beach and had a lovely sun bake on the pebbles and went for a couple of swims. We looked like freaks trying to get out of the water because our feet were killing from the pebbles. Jayne really should have taken her mum up on the offer for water shoes. We headed back on the transfer and the captain of the boat was loving it as he went over massive waves and some of the people on the boat looked like they were going to Miami in their pants. Jayne, Ooti and I loved it though and when we got back to shore we saw our little taxi man waiting for us. He then ran back as fast as he could (a little skip and a waddle) to get the taxi from his parking spot and drop us home. He was so cute. Later that night we ended up at a Turkish wedding as you do... It seemed to be the social event of the year on Gocek and was outside for everyone to see. It was very odd - half the guests were dressed up, while the other half were in jeans. They had a massive dance floor going where the children were running around (one was roller blading), and fireworks were going off. The cake came out and it was a 10 tiered cake and then they tried to light a lantern and set it off into the wind to demonstrate their eternal love - problem was it wasnt windy enough and the lantern fell to the ground and then caught on fire - they then had to stomp on their love - probably not a good sign for their marriage. Anyway we loved what we saw of the wedding and had a fabulous day in butterfly valley.
Later
Amanda
- comments