The Last of the Lycian Way

Greetings from wild, windy, rainy Turkey! Who would have thought we'd cop thunderstorms and hail when we headed to the hills to escape the heat?

But back to the Lycian Way....

We decided that we weren't going to get the whole walk done in the time we had so we picked the next section we wanted to do and bussed to it. The bus services in Turkey are amazing - far better than ours!

We arrived at this little ramshackle town called Olympos. It was just a collection of bungalows and restaurants and was very reminiscent of south-east Asia. It must have been created in the 70's cos it had a real hippy feel about it. It was incredibly cheap. We stayed in tiny wooden bungalows - cute but a bit squishy.

From here we explored the ruins of Olympos (not to be confused with the Greek Mt Olympus). They were amazing! Ruined walls disappeared into the jungle, arches hovered tentatively over our heads and ancient tombs from different eras littered the area.

There isn't a lot of wildlife around but this bright lizard hanging around the ruins was cute!

The ruins finish at a gorgeous beach that is a mix of pebbles and sand. Tempting as a swim was, the water was still just a little bit cold to let us get in.

We started walking again from here and soon passed a roadside pet feeding station. The Turks love their dogs and cats and they feed strays all the time.

We started with a long, hot slog up a very steep hill to the Chimaera. This is a very weird place where, for about 2,500 years, flames have been burning on the rocky mountainside. The flames just come straight out of the rock. If you extinguish them they reignite. Tradition has it that the flames were caused by a mythical creature that breathed fire. It was killed by a hero riding Pegasus, the winged horse. From a scientific point of view, a methane-based gas seeps from the earth and ignites when it comes in contact with oxygen. I think I like the myth better!

Our lunch stop that day was at a village renown for trout farming. They build these amazing restaurants right over the rivers. We had a fantastic lunch there! It was great fuel for a big day's walk up the side of a mountain.

We stayed overnight in a small town then kept heading up to cross over a shoulder of Mt Olympos at about 1800 metres. The walk was hard but rewarding. 

This stile was inventive to say the least!

At the top, the weather closed in completely.

As soon as crossed to the other side of the mountain, the weather changed to blue skies and sunshine. The views here were even more stunning than the other side. We walked next to snow in places.

This was one of my favourite days on the Lycian Way. The footing was so much better here - most of the time we were actually walking on dirt, not rocks. We walked through cedar forests and the smell of cedar was wonderful! And of course, those views were amazing.

To top it off we stayed at a fantastic pansiyon that night. It was run by a husband and wife, Suleyman and Zuhre. We had a roomy wooden cabin and ate home-cooked meals prepared from their incredible garden. They even grew the chicken we ate! (Sorry to our vegetarian kids!) They spoke no English but we managed to learn about their kids and a few other basics. It was wonderful.

We appreciated the food even more when we saw how much hard work goes into growing it! Everything is done by hand. Herbs are drying on a tray beside us in the photo above and Zuhre toiled hard to plant seedlings below.

It was only a half-day walk to our final destination. I had to sneak one more flower pic in here!

Goats were common along the entire trail. The ones here were in better condition than the ones in the tougher country at the start of the walk though.

With some degree of sadness we entered our final village. They often have enormous plane trees in villages that seats are built under to create a public shaded area. This town had heaps of plane trees. This one is supposed to be hundreds of years old.

What a trip it was! Although we probably only covered about half of the actual distance, it took us three and a half weeks, including days off to rest and explore, and we saw so many amazing things. There were ancient ruins, hospitable people, spectacular views, mountains, seas, fun towns and rural scenes. This is a country of such variety. We absolutely loved this walk and would recommend it to anyone who loves walking and exploring.

And finally, a shot of the boots that carried us all that way!

Hooroo for now.

Heather