On to the Aegean

Tuesday, after provisioning at the Carrefours in Fethiye, we proceeded on, now by coast, now by mountains, past the Datca peninsula, the geographical dividing line between Turkey's Mediterranean and Aegean coasts, and out, past Mugla and Milas, to the Bodrum peninsula, stopping at a scenic but secluded turn-out just a few miles short of Bodrum itself--the ancient Halicarnassus.

Looking back to Fethiye Bay



Beautiful pine forests, and heather, acres of heather, much

of the way

Lunch at a cove near Akyaka

Admiring the Mediterranean scenery,

architecture, landscaping...

On to our campsite, on the north side of the Bodrum

peninsula, the Aegean now

Fishing boats at night a few hundred feet outside our

windows

And the next morning's view of islands in the bay

Karmylassos...Levissi...Kayakoy

Monday was an interesting day, some practical matters, a surprise, and then a walk through the more recent ruins of Karmylassos, later called Levissi, now Kayakoy. It was a largely Greek town of some 400 homes, 6k from Olu Deniz and Fethiye, near the western Mediterannean coast. In 1923, during the "exchange" of populations ordered by the Great Powers, all of Turkey's substantial Greek population were "re-settled" in Greece--and vice versa. Many hundreds of thousands of persons. Nevermind these populations had been intermingled, more or less peacably, at every level, for centuries. Many centuries. It was an incredible upheaval and tragedy, memorialized in Louis de Bernieres' Birds Without Wings, a very great contemporary novel. Karmylassos is now a ghost town, 400 empty homes, churches, chapels, schools, and other buildings. It is not yet a World Heritage Site, so far as I know, but ought to be one.

I credit the Turks for memorializing this tragic part of the birth of their Republic.

Just a portion of Karmylassos, hundreds roofless homes, shops, chapels...

Some little bit of color remains on the stones and plaster

There were two main churches, an upper and a lower, and many, 
many smaller chapels;

this is the interior of the upper church

A view of the customs house at the top of the hill, from the 
upper church



Hearth and home; one of the characters in Birds Without Wings observes... 
there are no greater evils in the world than religion and nationalism

One of perhaps a dozen or more small chapels scattered about the town

School

Public fountain

Entrance to the lower church; the palms a symbol of Christian 
victory

Porch mosaic

Interior of the lower church

The practical matter: in the morning we stopped by the Letoon 
hospital in Fethiye, which has a "tourist" department, and had

Vicki's troublesome shoulder examined; in this and future pix 
you'll see her in a sling, but, hopefully, it will be getting better,

particularly after a shot, some prescriptions, etc.

The surprise: Turkey is 98% Muslim, and we had despaired of finding pork, 
starting a month ago, when our supply of bacon and pork chops from Bulgaria 
ran out; imagine our delight, in Fethiye, finding the Pork Shop (for UK tourists);

we stocked up again, as much as our little freezer permits

Cleared for Landing At Olu Deniz

Please bring your seat backs to their full up-right position and stow your tray-tables. We will be landing in Olu Deniz shortly.

So we're walking along the nearly deserted beach in Olu Deniz and just happen to 
notice this sign...

When--buzzzz--out of the clear blue of the western sky

Comes

One of my favorite aircraft

No, not just buzzing the pretty Turkish girls on the beach

But actually landing right there on the beach, next to the (deserted) life guard's 
station, the tiki huts, and us

Taxiing to the terminal



They do other sorts of recreational/touristic flying as well;

hmmmm, Icarus, wasn't he the one that flew too near the sun

and...?

I might have been interested, but was not impressed with the handling of the 
goods

Nonetheless...

The (new) Songbird, with Sky King and Penny; a show I never missed as a kid
(stolen from Flight Aware)

On the Blue Lagoon, Olu Deniz

Saturday afternoon we found our way back down to the sea, the resort of Olu Deniz and a campground on the Blue Lagoon, which, I am told, is famous. We decided to take it easy here for a day, do the wash, regroup, and walk into town...

We are staying at the Sugar Beach Club, 20YTL, including everything, which 
evidently is a pretty swinging place in the high season; don't worry, we are the 
only campers here presently

This is the Blue Lagoon, which looks more black and brackish to me

This is the Creature from the Black Lagoon, one of the formative 
movies of my life; along with Jaws, accounts for my disinclination 
to go into any water that doesn't have major chlorine content 
(caption: "in your dreams, scaly creep")

Interesting adverts in town

Guess the nationality of visitors here; I was tempted 
nonetheless

They also do boat cruises (we passed)

In high season it looks like this

Right now it looks like this; which is incredible because the place is glorious, 
more than affordable, and the weather beats anything we saw in Spain; but 
apparently there are no cheap flights from the UK of GB this time of year

So the locals get to practice mountain rescue techniques

And have family picnics in the Natural Park; Turkish family picnics are not 
small and simple affairs...

Saklikent Gorge

A little more driving, and one of Tom Tom's more interesting short-cuts, took us up to the mountains and the Saklikent Gorge, a huge gorge that cuts up into 9,895 foot Gombe Akgai. Access to the gorge is only by foot.

A boardwalk leads a few hundred feet into the

gorge; after that, you walk in the stream...

Gorges are really tough on cameras and

photographers--no perspective to lend the

3rd dimension, very difficult lighting

Plus, we did not want to get our feet wet, nor risk any more

debilitating injuries; so we stopped here



Looking up; I would guess it's 300 feet deep at this point,

deeper further in

Bolder explorers can rent head and foot gear from the

concessions



Or dine in platforms in the creek (somehow, farm-raised

Turkish trout didn't quite appeal)

The creek, which is actually quite a gusher

even in this dry part of the year

At the mouth of the canyon



The creek, from above; this is how harbors get silted-up!

We drove on in the direction Fethiye, stopping for a couple days' rest on the beach in a campground in Olu Deniz.