Thursday, September 3, 2009

Turkey: Part Deux

So our last morning in Olimpos, I woke up feeling reeeeeally sick to my stomach and decided that some sewage which was released into the bay was probably to blame. It was hot and humid, and Nic and I had to stuff ourselves on a series of over-capacity small buses in order to go to our next destination, Fethiye. I wanted to die and burst into tears during one of the bus rides; it was standing room only, packed and hot, and we were looking at a 2 hour ride. Not cool.

We arrived to Fethiye in the afternoon and spent the day wandering around a bit and relaxing. Nic got hit with the sickness that night, so by the next day we were both in the mood to chiiiiill. We spent the day on the beach at Olu Deniz, a very salty and beautiful sea cove. It was nice and hot and there wasn't any sewage in the water, so we did a lot of swimming and floating in the water and laying under the sun, while the salt turned into crystals all over our towels, swimsuits, bodies...

The next day we took a little ship to Butterfly Valley. This beach cove was only accessible by boat and was home to 40 species of butterflies which live in a gorge that leads to an incredible waterfall. The Valley was a cool space where people camp out in the summer. It had a definite zen appeal considering that anyone staying in the cove must respect the natural environment - loud noises and pollution can kill the butterflies. Nic and I hiked to the waterfall and were just about dying from the heat when we reached it!

Leaving for the cove...















The next day it was back to Istanbul for us, which meant a miserable 14 hour bus ride. Neither of us slept a wink, and when we arrived in Istanbul, we went to bed at 6 p.m. and woke up the next day just before 10 a.m. Our last day in Istanbul was spent with our new pals, Emre, Mustafa, and Cemil. They took us out to some amazing clubs along the Bosphorous and taught me how to play Texas Hold 'Em. It was a perfect last evening in Turkey, and Nic and I are plotting how to get back to Istanbul this winter.