We had another day at the campsite yesterday as it felt quite nice to be in a clean, organised environment for a change. There was a huge pebble beach just down the road, that for once, wasn’t completely covered in parasols. Had a morning swim but when we returned in the evening the waves were scary and there was a storm brewing.
This morning we headed into the Taurus mountains to the ancient city of Termessos. Paid a small entrance fee then drove 9km up a swirling single track road to the parking. The man in charge instantly comes across to show us some goats he’s spotted on the hillside and tries to take a photo with Guy’s camera. Then, he shouts me into his office “Woman, come here!”. He wants to show me the goats through his spotting scope.
Next up, he whistles the foxes down off the hillside and promptly feeds them with hunks of bread and dog food! There was a whole family of them – very cute!
“You want apple tea?” he says, and at the risk of being rude we tell him we’re eager to see the ancient city before it gets too hot.
It was quite a steep climb up the rocky ‘paths’ – we were really pleased we’d put walking boots on and I definitely needed both sticks!
After about 15 minutes, there’s was stuff to see everywhere. The city was likely built around the fourth or fifth century BC, so it’s proper old and yet most of it is still standing! Guy’s question of the day is ‘how did they do it??’
The theatre at the top was in such a stunning location – it would be amazing at sunrise or sunset. It’s about 1000 metres up and lies on the south west side of the Solymus mountain.
There was a different path back down passing by several rock tombs which I think we could have missed quite easily as the signposts were a bit few and far between.
Had our lunch outside in the car park and our new friend came to look at the photos and then, rather randomly, showed us a couple of fridge magnets and asked if we wanted to buy them! 🤣
Back down the road to the outskirts of Antalya, we were on the search for a new water pump and had a couple of places to try. My God, behind the scenes of these big cities/resorts the chaos still lurks. Crazy driving, heaps of rubbish, double parking. Several streets were just full of garages – nothing else. We had zero success and gave up before we lost our marbles.
The pump we have is still functioning intermittently so we’ll manage for the time being.
Our next destination was Alanya – one long straight road along the coast. It was like the city of Antalya never finished before Alanya started. The whole road was lined with enormous brash hotel complexes for miles upon miles – the Turk Riviera! Very difficult to park anywhere, so we drove 3km up the hillside and found a spot for the night with sweeping views of the bay, but just far enough away from the ‘uncha uncha’ of the ‘pirate ships’.
