The Greek Adventure Begins

Monday, 8 October

We have been busy and distracted and a bit sick the last few days so we haven’t had time for updates. Also, our Internet connections have not been as convenient or as reliable.

Today we had our first full day in Lindos, Greece – on the island of Rhodes. Lindos is a touristy village, much more touristy than we like, especially after Turkey. I realize places with too many people exhaust me or it might be my cold. Lindos is a classic Greek village of white washed buildings cascading down the hillside to a clear blue bay. At the top of the hill above the village sits the acropolis, which we still need to explore. Our little apartment is our much-needed escape from the busy outside world. We enter through big wooden doors under an archway into our own secret courtyard. The courtyard and apartment hang on the village’s edge right above the beach and bay. The air is literally perfumed with the jasmine and honeysuckle trellis that shades half the courtyard. A lemon tree bursting with green fruit covers the other half. We watched the sailboats and tour boats come in and out of the bay sipping tea and coffee in the morning from our terrace.

Tuesday, 9 October –

Either the magic of this little village is starting to work on me or I’m feeling better. Yesterday I felt overwhelmed by the tourists and traveling. Today I woke up with new energy. Even last night after the day-trippers headed out of the village and we wandered through the crazy little, white washed alleys to find a small restaurant for dinner I started to relax. The alleys were empty. As we walked through them we caught glimpses into Lindians’ private worlds. Each house seems to have a secret world of courtyards, rooms and gardens behind wooden doors; sometimes just slightly ajar so we could be peek in. Resisting the urge to peek in was impossible within this village of hidden spaces and white walled canyons. The light was so soft. The evening air blew in cool from the ocean. Inviting smells of fish and jasmine mingled. Occasional wafts of less pleasant odors also spilled into the alley. Dishware and pots clattered and glasses tinkled. Pieces of conversations drifted over the walls but we couldn’t understand any of the words. Old women sat in doorways chatting to one another. In a small square rowdy boys played football (US soccer) as moms held babies in small groups on the fringes.

This morning the boys spent breakfast collecting a huge basket of jasmine blossoms off the courtyard floor. All but one of the rooms in the apartment opens onto the courtyard. Strangely the toilet is on the one end of the courtyard in a little room, like an outhouse but with plumbing. There is another room with sink and shower at the other end of courtyard down a flight of stairs under the living room. A quirky set up but comfortable. The only drawback is that the apartment backs up to a bar that closes at 1am. We are serenaded to bed with rockin’ dance music until we put in our earplugs! The surprises that I don’t even think to ask about when selecting a place to stay. I will try to always remember to ask who our neighbors will be when I am considering a place in the future. Last February we rented a house in Mexico for a week between two bars! That’s my traveling advice for the day.

Today we spent almost the entire day at the beach. The beaches are small and more civilized than we are used to in the U.S., specifically our favorite beaches in Carpinteria near Santa Barbara. Chaise lounges and umbrellas line the tourist beaches and you are charged 4 euros per chaise. The water is so clear and warm. The water was even warm enough to lure Doug in multiple times. The boys spent hours this morning trying to catch fish. We even purchased a net, masks and snorkels. We didn’t catch any fish, but I did catch some sort of sea worm or eel off the bottom. It was a strange creature that I had never seen.

We ate a late lunch at a creperie that the boys had been eyeing the last few days. Liam and Colin have become the most adventurous eaters on this trip. They have tried everything they’ve encountered and ordered lots of novel foods just to experiment and I would say they have been happily surprised almost every time. Liam is a more adventurous eater than his mom. He always wants a little from everyone’s plates. Liam and Colin also seem to be out eating Doug and me pound for pound.

Because we had a late lunch we decided to have a picnic in our courtyard for dinner and watch the sunset over the bay. The schedule that seems to work best for us is a big breakfast/brunch, a late afternoon meal and a smaller, or picnic-style dinner. Too many restaurant meals definitely gets tiring. Greeks and Turks eat dinner late and Liam and Colin are usually exhausted by our busy days. Then when we do eat out for a big meal we try to find somewhere special and interesting.

The Sunken City

Tuesday, 4 October

We headed back north after Çirali because we knew we wanted to catch the ferry to Greece towards the end of the week. Several weeks ago while in Sirince we met a Turkish couple from Istanbul who suggested an area to visit with a sunken city of ruins to explore. We followed their advice and headed to Ucagiz to catch a boat to a town named Kekova or Kale or Simena. My road maps and books were not consistent and not clear but we called a pension and they sent a boat to get us in the middle of a rain and thunder storm. Actually the father of the Yasin, the pension owner, picked us up. I am still uncertain of the village’s true name but it was a mystic place with one civilization built on top of another over and over. As we drove towards Ucagiz I thought how old and tired the land seemed. It appeared used by humans forever. The soil was dry and dusty and old stonewalls laced the hills. Scrubby bushes covered the land that was not fields. Even after countless generations of farming rocks still litter the fields. Now greenhouses covered the villages and fields. The soil in the green houses seemed much richer. Doug and I guessed the greenhouses must provide a more controllable environment for the farmers. I have never seen so many greenhouses at once. We also saw the strangest structure - a columned entrance carved into the face of a rock several stories high. The entrance seemed to be into a cave or rock dwelling. It was in the distance across some farmer’s fields so we did not investigate up close.

The village, we will call it Simena, because we saw a postcard in the village with that name, was built on the water’s edge and then continued up the hill towards the acropolis at the summit. We ended up staying in the upstairs pair of rooms of a set of four rooms in a building half way up the hill. The views of the bay and island across were spectacular. Downstairs from us a French woman named Katrine was staying and we crashed her quiet breakfast on the terrace the first morning. At first we thought we might be disturbing her, but then found out she was a grandma and we all became friends. She was interested in the boys and their adventures. Liam and Katrine tried to figure out English words that came from Turkish. Doug and I were fascinated because Katrine had just retired from the education branch of the European Commission. We learned a lot about the political wranglings of the EC and Turkey’s attempts to break into it. Katrine had spent the last seven years shuttling between Turkey and Brussels.

The first afternoon we sat on our terrace and watched the school children get off the boat. They had a school boat instead of a school bus. When the rain clouds cleared we climbed the path to the acropolis. The feeling of layered civilizations intrigued me again. Some village homes are built right out of the ruins and old blends with the new. An old woman on the roof of a stone cottage that seemed from another time adjusted her satellite dish after the storm cut power to the village. Along the spine of the hill beyond the acropolis there were about 20 Lycian funeral monuments. We were in another part of the Lycian civilization south of the region where we did our hike. Until sunset, we wandered the hillside among the funeral monuments and through the acropolis alone except for two herders and their goats.

We considered signing up for a kayak tour of the sunken city, but then we discovered the pension had two kayaks that we borrowed for the day. We traveled up the coast and discovered on our own a whole ancient world. It was incredible. Stone staircases descending from the shore into the water or rising straight out of the water like steps to nowhere. The ancient city sunk about two meters as the result of an earthquake a couple hundred years B.C. We kayaked into the three-sided remains of rooms and looked out windows that used to be much higher above sea level. This was another place where we could picture and imagine a long ago village living by the sea. We could see the homes, staircases and walkways and imagining the people came easily. We stopped for a swim and snack on a pier next to an old church, not a mosque. Christianity has been here longer than Islam, from soon after Christ until the 15th century.

Yasin took Katrine and the Kirkpatricks on a sunset cruise across the bay to see more of the ruins. Looking under the water we could see the entire break wall of an ancient port as we cruised along the far shore. On the way back Yasin caught a small tuna. The tuna flopped in the bottom of the boat all the way back. Colin gave us continual updates, “It’s still moving. It’s not dead yet.” We ate dinner at the pension. Like the previous night, we went to the cooler and picked our entrées. There was the tuna from our boat ride in the cooler. Liam wanted nothing else for dinner. He had the tuna and ate the whole thing! Katrine ate dinner with us and shared her calamari with the boys. They had had calamari for lunch the day before and decided that is wasn’t so bad. Yasin’s wife and daughter spent the evening catching small fish off the end of the dock and throwing them to the dock cats. Carolyn had her first (and last) glass of raki, courtesy of Katrine.

Here are some photos from our time in Kekova/Simena/Kale.

Sunday, 2 October

Today we headed south along the coast to the Turkish Olympos and the village of Çirali. We got a bit lost thanks to my navigating which should not have been a problem except I sent Doug down a narrow mountain road that was getting a new asphalt top. One of the challenges in Turkey is that many villages have two names. I think some are historical names and some might be the older Greek names. In the 1920s there was a population exchange of ethnic Turks and ethnic Greeks. Ethnic Turks in Greece were exchanged with ethnic Greeks in Turkey. Whole villages were transplanted. The scars and legacies of these migrations are still evident. One result that affects travelers, likes us, is numerous villages with multiple names.

Because of our wrong turn we had to make a bathroom break where we noticed that all of us had black tar on the backs of our legs. Then I looked at our rental car and it was completely tarred. It looked tarred without the feathers. At first we thought we might be able to wipe it off with paint thinner but upon closer inspection, we realized cleaning would be a futile endeavor. We decided to just ignore the problem and find a place to stay.

We found the Kimbala Hotel with gracious host Bulent Coskun. The place thrilled Liam and Colin. First, there were three one-month old puppies. We all have a new favorite breed of dog, the Anatolian shepherd. The mother and father dogs were huge, like pony size. They made our German shepherd Jolie look petite! The mommy dog was a little grumpy and tired with having to feed and care for the pups. The father dog was like a huge, overgrown puppy and would come bounding through the compound knocking over anything in its path. The puppies were into everything they weren’t supposed to be. They were always trying to sneak in the house and kitchen as the cook fed them lots of scraps. Then in the middle of some silly antic the pups would just curl up and go to sleep. Every time we sat down to eat the pups would come play and then fall asleep on our feet as we ate. Liam and Colin were enraptured and couldn’t stay away from them. We entertained the idea of bringing a pup to NZ, but then thought that we are having enough of a challenge getting our own dog into NZ let alone an Anatolian shepherd from Turkey with undocumented healthcare!

We climbed up to Chimaera in the dark wearing headlamps to find our way. This hike was one of the moments where the ancient world comes to life. We had read these flames have been burning for over 2,000 years. The scene felt primordial. After a half an hour of hiking we came out on a hillside with what look liked many small campfires. Small groups of people were crouched around each “campfire.” Some kids had lit sticks on fire and were waving them in the dark sky. Only silhouettes were visible. People could have been wearing animal skins, tunics or jeans. The flames came from small cracks and holes in the rocks. In some crevices the flames glowed hot blue. Larger yellow and red flames reached skyward. One group of people was having a hotdog roast on sticks around one burning rock. How I wished we had brought marshmallows! Remember the marshmallows if you ever visit Chimaera.

Note: Doug spent one morning getting the car detailed to remove the oil, while Carolyn & the boys played at the great beach in Çirali.

Here are some photos from our time in Olympos.

Colin's Take on The Hike

Colin has some thoughts to share from our big hike - see photo of his writing and a typed version below:

The hike was hot! I felt hot. When we were in the shade we said, “shade, glorious shade.” The End

Happy Birthday Liam!

When it turned midnight, October 1, in New Zealand, we began to celebrate Liam's 9th birthday. We'll keep celebrating it until midnight, October 2, in Denver!

The Hike

Friday, September 29 - The boys spent the morning playing in the pool as I packed up the backpacks. We left the Octopus Inn and continued south past the big coastal hotspots of Marmaris and Fethiye. We drove literally to the end of the road. The drive was amazing and a bit scary. From the last big town, Oludeniz, we continued south on a small road that started paved, then became gravel and finally was just a bumpy dirt track. The road curved along the coastal cliffs, which reminded me of Highway 1 along Big Sur but only about one lane, curvier and dirt. The views were incredible over the Mediterranean, blue sky melding into deep blue green water. We left our car at the end of the road. After a few false starts as we tried to find the right trail, we hiked down the steep trail to the beach. Liam and Colin carried all their personal gear including clothes, a book and sleep sack. The drive and the hike both took longer than we expected. We approached Kabak beach just as the sun was setting. The first person to meet us was a huge sheep dog we named Babur. To understand our Babur reference read The Places In Between. Doug and I just did. It is one Scottish man’s account of his trek on foot across Afghanistan in 2002. The man adopts a huge dog on the trek and names the dog Babur after an ancient explorer in that region of Afghanistan.

We arrive at the beach camp Kabak Natural Life camp and no one seems to notice us for awhile. Everyone is busy cooking and getting dinner for the camp ready. Liam and Colin are fascinated with the menagerie of animals. In addition to Babur, there were several species of chickens, cats, goats, burros, ducks, geese and other birds I couldn’t identify. All animals were running free except for the burros. One mystery of our stay was why the cats did not stalk the baby chicks. We decided they were afraid of the mother hens. The cats were definitely outnumbered. Babur stalked the cats!
Finally a young man asked if we wanted to see the accommodations so we could choose one. He led us up and down a series of paths lit by little solar path lights (imagine the Ewok village from Star Wars, sort of hippy sixties, Turkish style). There were lots of bungalows on stilts and tents and platforms with cushions. Doug at one point asked me if I knew what was going on or where we were suppose to sleep. I had not a clue! Eventually he led us through an area with about 20 canvas tents on wooden decks. We chose two of tents because they were small. Colin and Doug slept in one tent and Liam and I slept in another. The placed was packed. Every tent was filled. I think we got the last two tents. Luckily we arrived just in time for a yummy dinner and then we crashed in tents. As we snuggled into our sleep sacks Liam said, “Mom this is the most out-there place we’ve ever stayed.” We finally fell asleep despite the late night revelry of a group of German guests.

Saturday, September 29 - We awoke with a rooster about 3am then 3:07 am, then 3:23 and then every few minutes with the burro braying or a rooster until the sun came up. We decided the animals must have been suffering from jet lag as they woke up so early!

Since we were all up early we headed down to the beach to watch the sunlight spill over the hill, across the sand and then over the water. Babur joined us. The water was warm, much warmer than up near Sirince and there were waves. Babur is a water dog. He bounded right in. We all played in the surf waiting for breakfast to start.

After breakfast, we began our hike up to Alinca. We were hiking a portion of the Lycian Way that follows the coast along ancient paths used by goat herders. Along the way we saw remnants and reminders of people from earlier times like sections of old walls, springs, and wells. The hike was 7km, which didn’t sound too challenging until we realized it included an elevation gain of 760m (about a half mile up, the temperature was 95 degrees Fahrenheit and we were scrambling up rocks part of the way). I was so impressed and proud of Colin and Liam. We really pushed and the boys were definitely outside of their comfort zone. Both kept going and did not give up. We also told them that there was no choice as they either had to head back or make it to the next village or we slept on the trail. About half way up we came onto a saddle in the mountain with an olive grove and there was a group of Israeli backpackers sitting in the shade of the olive trees that applauded Colin and Liam’s progress up the mountain. Colin and Liam were the only children on the trail that we saw the whole day. Actually we only saw one other pair of hikers all day, who were also Israeli. There was a well and the backpackers had pulled up a bucket of water. The cold water poured from the bucket on each of our heads was like heaven! We followed the Israelis up the mountain as they sang loudly.

After almost six hours we made it to Alinca, a small, cliff-top village of a few houses of shepherds and farmers and the most incredible views of the Mediterranean 760m below. We were so proud of our accomplishment. We celebrated with a huge bottle of cold water and a chocolate bar split in four pieces. Then we took cold showers and sat on our porch to watch the sunset slowly intensify to fiery orangey-pink and then fade to moody bluish-purple. The four of us sat mesmerized by the show and stilled by our exhausted muscles. We feasted on a vegetarian spread by two Turkish surfers at the Dervish Lodge, served perched on the very edge of the cliffs. We all agreed it was our best meal in Turkey.

Friday, September 30
We considered staying a second day in Alinca to re-cooperate, but it was hot and due to the drought there was very little water for drinking or refreshment. So we decided to head back to Kabak where we parked the car. The weather was even hotter and the hike was longer, 11km. Luckily the hike was downhill this time and the views were mesmerizing. We hiked from shade spot to shade spot alternated between singing, “Shade, glorious shade or you’ve got move it, move it or here we go, here we go, here we go go go (an Ozomatli song)!” We passed through a pine forest and found an ancient cemetery next to a spring. The end of the route to town was steep, falling down steep. At times, Doug or I would hold onto Colin to keep him and his backpack from tumbling over. Liam’s face was beet red, but he was stoic. Of course, I was worried about heat exhaustion so we drank water and more water. We finally made it to the village of Kabak and bought another bottle of cold water from a pension to celebrate on their front porch.

What an adventure. At dinner that night we all were discussing the things we take for granted in our normal life, like water. We experienced first-hand the struggle some people have for a clean water source. In Denver, also a dry place, people use water, clean enough for drinking, to water lawn and cars. As Liam noted there are no green lawns here. Water is for growing food or drinking. In Alinca there has been a drought for at least the last year. In villages with roads, water is brought in by truck and we saw a women in Kabak with a wheelbarrow full of water bottles walking home. The boys also did not understand why I treated the water with iodine in Alinca. I explained that our tummies were used to different water and that we might get sick without treating the water. I guess that as an environmental engineer who studied drinking water disinfection technologies this topic is critical to me, actually heartbreaking. Still, Doug got sick…

Liam is writing a piece about how it feels to be in Turkey and what he has observed that is different than at home. We will post it soon with Colin’s writing about the hike.

Here are some more photos from our hike.

Euromos

Next we drove down to Gogova with a short stop at Euromos along the way. Euromos was of great interest to the boys because of its temple to Zeus, one of the Greek Gods that the boys have been reading about.

Carolyn writing again – The three boys are still sleeping at the moment. Mosquitoes woke me up so I thought I would write a bit. We have been off the grid for the last few days.

Thursday, September 28 - We stayed in a small coastal town of Gogova (also called Akyaka). Many Turkish towns seem to have two names, which is confusing for the non-Turkish speaking traveler like me. We ended up taking a completely different road and staying in a different town than I had thought we would. There seems to be some new roads/tollways that are not on the map I purchased in Istanbul. Luckily the road signs to each town are frequent along the roads.

We called our hotel the “Octopus Inn.” While we ate dinner on the edge of the breakwall, we watched the owner catch two octopus (one very big!) with his spear gun. The boys ran over to watch close up as the owner pull them in. I couldn’t convince either Liam or Colin to order the calamari salad!

Here are some more photos from the day.