The bluest water we have ever seen, so clear we could open our eyes under and see for 20 m, never during the 22 days of driving with the Mediterranean next to us did we get sick of seeing the crystal clear waters.
We arrived weary eyed after an overnight bus from Cappadocia to Antalya, a large town on turkeys South coast. We decided to stay only 2 days in Antalya, sleeping in the small and quaint old part of town as we wanted to try and avoid the large tourist cities as much as possible. Unfortunately not always the easiest thing to do when travelling the Mediterranean coast of Turkey but we completely understand why it is so popular.
After much thought and deliberation over cost, we decided to hire a car for 22 days in Antalya and drive it back up to Istanbul, so on the 15 May we set off on our road trip up the turquoise coast.
Our first stop was olympos, where we bumped into Lucas and Yida. A kiwi and Aussie we met in cappadocia. Olympos is a typical backpackers paradise. Cheap accommodation in tree house like dorms, $15 a night each with breakfast and dinner included, large outdoor pillowed seating areas and hammocks and cold beers and a beach with crystal clear water a 5 min stroll away. On the walk to the beach the path is lined with the ruins of Olympos. You can get off the main path and climb up through some of the ruins further in the bush which we did until 2 snakes crossed our path and Yida and I decided we didn’t fancy going much further.
An afternoon beer and rock skimming in Olympos
After a few days exploring the area the 4 of us decided to drive and see where we ended up. After driving through some very ugly and disappointing towns we came across the gem of kekova. A beautiful small town used as a base to explore the sunken city. We decided to stay the night in a restaurant owners studio apartment that he kindly vacated and rented to us for the night. We spent the night chatting with the locals of the town who came out to see what we were doing and what we had cooked for dinner.
Kekova streets
Brett helping a local fishermen collect his fish cage from the bottom of the water in kekova
Ruins in kekova
Arriving in Kas the next day we found what we had been searching for. The bluest, clearest waters we could ever imagine. Needless to say we spent that day and the next on the beach, soaking up the sun and in awe of the ocean in front of us.
Kaputas beach
Kaputas beach is in no way a secret spot, but even with a bit of a crowd this place did not disappoint. We spent a few hours in and out of the water here and when it came time to leave it was very difficult. We could have wasted days just lying on this beach.
With a few stops along the way we arrived in Kabak. A small town built on a hill overlooking the beach. The accommodation was a mix of camping and tree houses. All offering half board, which was really the only way to go since there isn’t much else out there. Most of the accommodation is only reachable by foot or with a 4 WD, so we parked the car and walked down a short way to full moon bungalows, the first set of bungalows on the hill in the town. We spent 3 days here, hiking to explore some of the surrounding beaches and lazing around taking in the view from the bungalows.
One day we decided to make the 2 hour hike over to paradise beach, which should have been a relatively easy walk. We attempted to take a route which followed around the front of the cliff so we could see the water as we walked. After a few judgment errors we found ourselves perched on the side of a pretty vertical cliff. We had climbed up enough that to go back down was to steep and would have definitely resulted in us slipping and falling a substantial distance down onto rock, so we could only continue up. The rock was like sandstone, very crumbly and unstable in parts and pine leaves covered a lot of the flatter parts of the the ground making it very slippery. Terrified and certain that if one of us was not going to slip and fall to our death then we were going to have to be helicopter rescued out I sat and bawled my eyes out on the side of the cliff. After a bit of reassurance from Brett I gathered myself and we slowly made our way to the top of the cliff with only a few grazes. I later found out Brett was as scared as I was. Not able to find a defined path back we trudged our way back through bush for the next hour of so before making it back to the beach we had started from and settled for swimming there instead.
Tree house in kabak
Rock jumping in kabak
We continued up the coast, stopping in towns and at beaches we liked the look of along the way.
We visited Pammukkale, which due to the shear amount of people there was a bit of a let down, but nevertheless the natural beauty of it was still amazing
This is meant to be a UNESCO world heritage site
The same afternoon we visited Ephesus, the most well preserved ancient city in the Mediterranean.
With a few more stops along the way in Ayvalik, a popular turkish holiday spot, Assos, the site of an ancient town with its clear blue waters and gokcaeda, an island of the coast of Cannakkale we made it up to Gallipoli, the last stop before returning to Istanbul.
We took a tour of the battle grounds which are beautifully cared for and witnessing the landscape could not imagine the difficulty the men faced during the Gallipoli campaign. The area is surrounded by steep sandy cliffs and valleys covered in shrubs and trees amidst the boiling hot sun. It was a beautiful and moving place to have visited.
We arrived back in Istanbul, am sitting in a $9 a night dump of a hostel (because we had to get the cheapest hostel we could find) wishing we were back on the beach in the kaputas. The car coast us more than we bargained but it was definitely a great way to experience and see Turkey. We feel we can leave Turkey now satisfied with what we explored and are ready to jump on our plane to Portugal to see what amazing places it has to show us!
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