July 6, 2001

When we arrived at the Antalya Bus station at 9:30 (right on time) it was hot. The bus took us through the outskirts of the town, revealing an unattractive view of concrete block buildings with flat roofs adorned with water tanks and solar batteries. The bus turned onto the shore road which ran along Konyalti beach, an unattractive strip of pebbly beach covered with masses of sunbathers and beach umbrellas. We got off the bus at the petrol offisi, an unattractive lot filled with large petrol tanks, and tried to reach the JJ by cell-phone. The sun beat down, reflecting off the blacktop and gravel. The new pub wasn't far but 3 blocks loaded down with various music equipment and our bags in the hot Aegean sun seemed impossible. No one was around to pick us up so we eventually managed to catch a taxi which took us from the road and beach into the hotel packed back streets to the new pub.

They did a great job decorating the pub. It is a strange cross between a tropical terrace bar like you'd find in Baja and the traditional Irish pub. The downstairs is comfortably open but has wood paneling, Bailey's bottle lamps, old Guiness ads and wood pub tables. It also has a little pond, landscaped with rocks. All around the house are fragrant tropical flowers: jasmine, big red Hawaiian flowers (the name escapes me... the ones hula dancers wear in their hair and orange trees. A marble staircase leads up to the indoor section which is more Irish and less tropical. The rest of the building is kitchen and living area complete with lots of balconies and vines and flowers.

Everyone else had already arrived (except Eammon who was just arriving at the airport when we called) Mehmet and Gokce, had arrived Sat. morning from Istanbul. Oleg and Nevin had come from Olympos. We asked them how it was. They had been camping in the free camping area and had a lot of their stuff stolen. Everyone had. "One guy had been using his bag as a pillow and they stole it while he was asleep" Oleg said. "They took Nevin's shoes and stuck everything in her bag including the camp stove and took off". Later Oleg said "Everyone from Taksim is there." We discussed safe lodging alternatives, tree houses, etc. Then we went down and ate breakfast. Eammon arrived and began setting up stuff for the evening. All us "kids" went down to the beach.

I rented an umbrella and chair because I know even 45 SPF waterproof sweat proof sunscreen would not protect me for long under that sun. It turned out the umbrella couldn't do the truck either because I got a bit burned even in the shade.

The Mediterranean was warm and turquoise blue. We swam a bit and played in the waves. Then sat in the sun/shade until we headed back to the pub. Mehmet stayed on the beach. The rest of us ate lunch and then went to the city center.

The day before O and N had made a decent amount busking (7 million from the time they started until the police kicked them off the street). We brought instruments with the idea of trying our luck.

First we wandered a little in the old town. The old town,Kaleici has its charm. It is filled with old houses and shady small streets which run down the hill to the harbor. Unfortunately there are also lots of carpet and souvenir sellers along with restaurant touts who annoyed us with their attempts to get us into their respective shops and restaurants. (The Fluted Mosque)

But Kaleici didn't offer any good busking areas so we went back up to the pedestrian shopping streets and played. I played the bodhran because I didn't bring my harp.

Unfortunately the street wasn't very crowded and although people stood and watched a while, we didn't make much. We played for about 45 minutes and then went back to the pub.

I'm sure Antalya is not a very big city but the busses and dolmuses don't use direct routes so going anywhere takes a while.

We got back to the pub eventually and the group did a sound check. N and I sat on the balcony watching flowers arrive from the people who were invited but weren't attending. The opening of the bar seemed to have more flowers than guests. They played session style. I was really tired so R ordered my cake to be brought out. Everyone sang happy birthday.

I stuck around for a little while then went upstairs to got to sleep.

The band couldn't play in the inside as planned because a Turkish guy was playing guitar and singing for an enthusiastic audience.

The night was hot and sticky but eventually I fell asleep (after the Irish group managed to take over the sound system).

What happened to the cake (as told by Roshan): "The bitch girl asked us for the birthday tune and I noticed that our cake was going to her husband. I told her we'd already played it and then said, "Hey! That is our cake!" The girl also took a flower from the arrangements and gave it to her husband. Then she brought a piece of our cake and offered it to us."

The next morning, though not as early as I wanted, R and I left for Olympos. The dolmus took us along the shore which once we got beyond Antalya was beautiful. There were some tree surrounded coves with empty beaches. This was where the mountains met the sea. The road twisted up hills through pine forests. The ocean was deep blue. We reached a stretch of holiday villages probably best avoided and eventually got to the dolmus stop for Olympos.

According to LP, to get to Olympos, one should get off the bus at the Çirali road and take an overpriced taxi or hitch to Çirali... As we passed the road, the driver informed us that he'd let us off at the dolmus stop.

The dolmus goes to Çavuskoy which is about 3 km from Çirali with the ruins of Olympos between the two.

Olympos: Paradise on Earth

"Olympos," according to the Open Road Guide, "Is the reason you came to Turkey." Apparently it is also the reason that every back packer comes to Turkey, and every Taksim resident goes to Antalya. Together, that makes for a lot of people occupying a couple villages and it makes the idea of pristine beach and peaceful relaxation a bit odd. But, somehow, I don't know if it was intentional or not, whoever is in control here, has managed to contain everyone. The way it works is this: backpackers want to do everything for as little as possible. Therefore if they have a choice of a 1 million dolmus ride or 7 million taxi ride, they will choose the dolmus. This takes them to Çavuskoy.

In Çavuskoy, they are confronted with a million budget lodging options from free camping to pansiyons to tree houses. They are given the opportunity to meet other backpackers and party. The only catch is the 1 km walk to the beach but it is through the Olympos ruins which is a shady arboreal walk complete with heavy flower scented air and cicada and bird songs.

Entering the ruins involves paying the entrance fee, but you only need to do this once (just let the guy know how long you'll be there and he'll mark the ticket).

Çavuskoy looked completely unappealing. It was crowded, the lodging looked like it had been slapped together and it felt like summer camp... I hated summer camp.

We bought a ticket through the ruins and headed towards Çirali. As we stepped out of the ruins, we found ourselves on a crowded beach. Young people rested in the shade of the cliff, swam and sunbathed. We trudged up the beach looking for the Çirali pansiyons. It was a difficult walk up the beach but it was worth it. About a km away from the Olympos ruins, the beach was empty, a shady road led along a wooded area with pansiyons not too close together but convenient. We walked a little ways up the road and chose the Fehim Pansiyon. It was an excellent choice. It had only the road and a row of trees between it and the beach. The pansiyon was a row of two story cottages, each with and upstairs and downstairs balcony. We were shown an upstairs room. It was clean and simple: wood walls, white tile floor and white washed walls. It was light and airy.

We had lunch in the restaurant- a high roofed yard - and then borrowed one of the pansiyon's umbrellas and went down to the beach.

The beaches of Olympos are the nesting grounds for sea turtles. There are many rules which, although they piss people off (no bonfires no music, no flashlights or other lights on the beach) they do help keep the beach clean and peaceful.... and the turtles happy... I guess...

Swimming in Olympos was luxurious: warm turquoise waters, mountains stretching to the sky to the North: forests,inland; birds singing. The waters were calm and clear. Little fish were visible in the shallow parts. A cool breeze blew off the waters. On the beach, I curled in my spot of shade reading Mehmet, My Hawk-- a great beach read-- the adventures of a Turkish Robin Hood fighting for the freedom of poor village people.

It was 7 by the time we got back to the pansiyon. We planned to walk up to the Chimaera for the sunset.

We followed the main road along the edge of the village. The sun was just touching the tops of the mountains. The air hummed with cicadas. The pines had caught the heat of the day and the scent of hot pine needles emanated from them like incense. The air was full of voluptuous scents-- flowers mixed with eucalyptus, pines, fruit blossoms. The road became less forested and the land began to resemble an African Savanna-- wide topped trees with small trunks rising from dry grass. As we reached more residential houses, we saw trees laden with unripened pomegranates. Chickens scampered in gardens and yards, scratching for dinner. One yard was full of ducks and long legged chickens along with ducklings and chicks. As we reached the road to the Chimaera, we decided it was too late to hike up the rocky path and we'd save it for the next evening with an earlier start. As we looked up at the hills we saw the flickering flame of the chimaera-- the eternal fire.

We walked back to the pansiyon through fields and small dirt roads. There was a mosque at the base of the hills, all painted white with dark blue trim like a Greek church. After a walk up the beach to look at restaurants (none of which had menus-- all said, "look at the case and ask about prices-- a risky thing to do in a tourist area) we returned to our pansiyon where they were grilling chicken outside. We had a great, very filling dinner of izgara tavuk and salad.

We sat for a bit on our deck listening to the night birds and then went to sleep.

We got up late the next morning... around 10.. and had breakfast before going for a morning swim.

When we got back to the pansiyon, R broke the key of the balcony door . The pansiyon owner, Fehim, came in and fixed it. R and him talked a bit.

After the lock was fixed, R and I took the long walk across the beach to the Olympos ruins. It seemed like a wise place to spend the hottest time of the day.

Although many people walk through the ruins on their way to the beach, I don't think many people actually spend much time wandering through them. This is a pity for the people who don't. Wandering through the ruins is like walking in an enchanted forest; you turn a corner and wander down a path and the trees open up to reveal a rough stone arch or tumbling walls, large carved stone sarcophagi or a fragmented mosaic. In the center of the area is a lake which is surrounded by flowering bushes. A ruined wall graced the waters edge. We followed a path up to where a tall arch of a temple wall soared to the sky.

On the other side of the lake was a theatre, hamam and necropolis-- all surrounded by trees. Dry eucalyptus leaves made a carpet on the forest floor. In spite of the shade, the heat was hard to bare.

We went back to the pansiyon and relaxed. We had an early dinner and our host gave us a ride to the chimerae trail head-- we drank tea/coffee at the little tea house and then hiked up the trail.

At the trail head was some background info including the analysis of the gas that makes the chimerae . It was normal sounding: Oxygen, Nitrogen and Carbon isotopes. I'm no chemist and the English of the sign was a bit hard to understand. They also said the Olympics started with relays from the Chimera carrying the eternal flame. I'd heard that the Olympics started at Mt. Olympos in Greece, so I'm a bit skeptical of this.

The Chimerae is definitely in a scenic location. There is a view of the orchards and the sea. The flames leap out from holes in the ground. But I don't think they are caused by the gas just meeting the air. In some places they had gone out and Roshan relit them. They didn't automatically start. I also think a reaction with the stone is involved because it is a strange white powder stone and the flames reacted when you broke the stone around them.

Unlike most earth/gas/fire places, there was not a smell of sulfur. The flames smelled more like kerosene so I'm guessing it was safe to cook on them.

The refreshment stand made tea using the flames. At the foot of the flame area were the ruins of a Byzantine church or castle. The painted patterns were still visible. Further down the hill was the ruin of a Greek temple.

The next morning we had to leave too early in order to buy our bus tickets in Kemer. One of the guys at the pansiyon drove us to the road where we got the dolmus.

Kemer was hot and not very interesting. Worse still, R's friend had to work until 7 and we had no place to go where we could get out of the sun until then. On top of that, I was having cramps. We opted to return to Antalya where at least we could get out of the sun.

We relaxed at JJ and I finished Mehmet, My Hawk and attempted to make a jasmine lei by braiding the stems together.

Later we had lunch and then went to the Antalya museum. The museum had a wide array of artifacts ranging from stone fossils to Greek statues to Ottoman costumes. I especially liked a Greek statue of a dancer. She had been really pieced together and was missing a lot but it was interesting to see a statue of someone moving with clothes lifted by a breeze.

After the museum, we found Atatürk park, a long stretch of green space set on the top of steep cliffs, plummeting down to the Aegean. The park stretched to the downtown area.

We strolled around the old district a bit, ate lahmacun and then went back to JJ to get our stuff. Almost immediately we managed to catch a dolmus to the bus station which was about 10 minutes away.

Unfortunately, instead of going direct, the dolmus went downtown and back out. We were finally dropped off 3 blocks away from the bus station about an hour later.