Travelling on the Coast

Greetings from Oludeniz! Last time I finished I think I was still up to the Cappadocia region...

On our 2nd last day at Cappadocia we did a 4 hour walk through the valleys (& over the ridges) to Nazim's place (our homestay for the night). Nazim has been renovating his place for the last 10 years with the aim of making it into a pension (hotel) for guests who want to stay in one of the fairy chimney caves. We stayed in one of his rooms which was gorgeous as was the food prepared by his wife. See picture to the left of Richard helping out in the Kitchen!

The next day we took a 10 hour bus ride to Mt Nemrut (far east - more Kurdish cultures out here) where we crashed for the night part way up the mountain. The bus ride was uneventful with the exception of one incident where a truck pulled out in front of us & the bus missed the truck by inches. The bus driver then got out of the bus & went over & started abusing the truck driver. We thought that there may be a fight as there was some shoving going on, however things calmed down after a bit & we continued on. The reason for the bus driver being so heated we believe is because the buses are all new (replaced last year apparently as part of Turkey's bid to enter the EU) & record the driving - including heavy braking which is analysed. Very strange.

The next morning we were up at 3:30am to pack our gear & ascend the mountain for sunrise. At the top of Mt Nemrut is a man made mountain top with 8 statues facing east for sunrise. The statues are of the gods & a roman king believed to be buried there. Apparently they were built around 60 - 30 BC & were rediscovered in 1881 & explored in 1951 by archeologists. They have lost their heads due to earthquakes & the heads are lined up in front of the bodies still facing east. There are more statues facing west however these are more randomly placed. It is belived that these are the tombs of the king and some other females. Breathtaking. See pic on left of some of the heads facing east & in the background the bodies still seated on thrones.

We then began another 10 hour bus ride to Sıflıke on the coast. This little town didn't have much going for it apart from its proximity to some attractions! On our first day here, 5 of us caught a Dolmus to Kizkaleski (the nearest beach) in the morning. On the way to Kizkaleski we hopped off to visit the Chasm of Heaven and the Pit of Hell which are quite interesting. Unfortunately, Salih hadn't told us that it was 3km uphill from the Dolmus stop to get there, which, on a boiling hot day, isn't an attractive proposition. Lucky for us a passerby took pity on us & ferried all 5 of us up there. The Chasm of Heaven had 452 steps leading down and is a 250m gorge with the ruins of an early church, 4th century BC. Hell is 150m deep and cannot be walked down. Local legend holds that it was one of the entrances to the underworld. Very fantastic. See pic on the left of Paul & Chris next to the signs pointing to Heaven & Hell! Another pic on the left of us with the tractor that was kind enough to give us a lift back down! We were also able to then catch a lift in the van with some of the local military police into Kizkaleski which had a lovely beach with a castle out on the water which Richard swam out to.

Anyway must go as Richard is paragliding at the moment & is about to land! Will attempt to catch up more later!