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Olympos, Turkey
The beginning part of this journey was definitely not a highlight for me! However, if you ask Elyse she may disagree. Basically, if you give a local an inch, they'll take a mile (aka offer some nuts and expect the receiver to stare at you and think you are their new love). Elyse and I were sitting on the back seat of the mini bus and a Turkish boy came and sat next to us. We were offering our food to other people on the bus and the boy next to us took it as something more. Elyse was pressed against the window (laughing at me) and I was half on her seat and half on mine as the boy kept getting closer. The next 2 hours was spent with lots of awkwardness. My evil eyes and frown were obviously not working on him. Every time I would huff, Elyse would laugh (and so would the boy). In the end, although I had felt violated, I also felt sorry for him as I noticed he had a whole bag of medication at his feet. Travel tip: never sit at the back of a Turkish bus.
Olympos was a good place for us to relax and wind down a little bit. I was certainly feeling a little tense!! We spent 3 nights in a tree top hostel. Elyse and I were so excited to get to the water that we went straight through some couple of thousand year old ruins without realising what we were walking through. We spent a few hours sunning ourselves on the first day (perhaps a little too long). One evening we trecked up to the "eternal flames" (ie chimera flames). The first Olympic torch is believed to have been light from the flames. I was expecting it to be a lot bigger than what it was. In saying that, I was comparing it to a Volcano that I walked up in Guatemala where I toasted marshmallows.
On our last day in Olympos we spent most of the day on beach lounges, sipping on cocktails, listening to music and indulging in yummy seafood. We were basically the only people on the beach so our waiter would go to different cafes for us to get whatever we wanted.
Sailing cruise- Olympos to Fetihye
In Olympos we joined 6 other Aussies and 4 Canadians and set out on an amazing 4 days of sailing in the Med. I had hurt my back so I wasn't in full swing. Luckily one of the Aussies, Jules, is a physio so she did some work on my back. It was a good place for me to put my back out! A couple of strong drinks helped ease the pain a little bit too.
Over the 3 nights / 4 days we spent our time sunbathing on the boat, jumping into the crystal water, being waitered on, hiking up valleys, jumping off ropes, fishing, viewing ruins, watching magical sunsets, snorkelling and eating delicious food. The chef was amazing and I would have to say it was the best food that I had in Turkey. During the evenings we all sat around the table, chatting and sharing stories. We had a really nice group of people which made all the difference.
Fetihye, Turkey
Shopping, again, was something we did a lot of. During our sailing cruise we saw a lot of the Lycian Way which is what the main things to do from Fetihye are. We did do a hike from Fetihye to Kara Koy (ghost town). We had a roughly sketched map from our hotel and set out on our journey. We got a little lost on our way and came across some hurdle... 1- a group of young hormonal local boys telling us that they were a lot older than what they were ; 2- many tortoises; 3- a dead snake (which meant more were out there!!); 4- a heard of crazy goats; and 5- an overly energetic dog.
We hiked for around 5 hours and didn't really think of the fact that we couldn't buy water on the way! The group of boys that we came across were trying to tell us they were 16, when really they would have been no older than 10. They were calling out all sorts of words that I won't repeat. We were outnumbered so we pretended to go one way (and got lost the other way). I was very good at spotting the tortoises and every time I would see one I'd jump and point. Poor Elyse didn't know if I was pointing at a deadly animal. On this treck we both learnt something about each other: we are both not good in the wild. I think having two people that carry this trait makes it even worse. By the time we got to Kara Koy we gladly participated in some wine tasting.
This is what Elyse believed happened....as we were strolling along the peaceful track, admiring the serenity and tranquillity... A distant sound of hooves and bells became apparent. The next thing we knew, a stampede of large, hairy, colourful and 'wild' goats came bounding around the corner heading straight for the two innocent Australian backpackers. Eyes blaring, frothing at the mouth, and grunt coming from all direction, they circled us. This is where I had to step into the picture and bring Elyse back to earth. She was just about up the tree (it was either a cliff or a tree). The goats had bells on... Because they belonged to someone!! Being the tough Toole that I am, I ventured out to say "heeeeere goaty goaty, heeeeere goaty goaty goaty". We were appreciative of two cyclists that came around the corner behind us and rode straight through them. This bought some calmness to us as we quickly scurried behind the cyclists trail.
Elyse insists on saying something with the threat of pinching me if I don't include it. Elyse said "I'd just like to provide some clarification that it was me who ventured out into the ever enclosing cray cray giant mountain goat group, with Emily holding back not wanting to get down out of the tree until the heroic cyclist rescue...."
The ghost town was filled with wildflowers and deteriorating buildings. We found a restaurant that had a wine cellar and a great view. We did some wine tasting and had a small lunch. The walk seemed way to big by the end of lunch so we caught a bus back.
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