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We left Pamukkale and headed south through the mountains. I never realised how mountainous Turkey is until we drove through it. We hit the coast near to Fethiye and it all changed - lots of signs in English and a big tourist area. The area was stunning - beautiful sea with the mountains sweeping down to the coast. Some of the towns were heavily developed but most of coastline was just amazing.
We were heading for Kekova, a small fishing village - we had been recommended it by 2 charming Americans we had met in Mardin. We turned off the main road and found it was 18km to the village. We drove and drove on a twisting hilly road, through a couple of small villages. We thought we were going to arrive at some totally isolated place, as we turned the corner into the village we saw 8 tour buses parked up! We later learnt that they bus people here from Antalya and other resorts to take them on boat rides.
The village is mainly for yachts with a few pensions and when the tour parties leave (on boats) it is far more tranquil - apart from when the Russian yacht flotillas arrive. They take over all the restaurants on the front and party.
Kekova is natural inlet, guarded by an island. The following day, we walked part of the Lycian way that goes along the inlet. It was a beautiful walk and very peaceful. On our way back we stopped for a swim where a spring went into the sea. It made the swimming very refreshing with patches of freezing water and warm sea water.
In the afternoon we headed out in the other direction to see some tombs and a castle. The tombs were Lycian (3rd century BC) and were everywhere it seemed. Finding the route to the castle proved a little more difficult but we eventually found the right track. The castle looked really isolated from our village but when we climbed to the top we were astonished to find a small village behind the castle. We had an enjoyable drink here on the water front and found we could take a boat back to our village - a nice way to end the day.
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