Turkey, Day 4

Our longest drive today and by far the scariest/enlightening. I think I can say without fear of contradiction, that the Turks are the worst drivers I have ever encountered. It's impossible to sum them up in one word but impatient would be one of them, if not the top one. They make lanes where there aren't any, undertake at any opportunity, get right on your bumper should you not be speeding, overtake on the hard shoulder, especially at traffic lights and all with no indication. And that probably doesn't cover everything. Nutters.

We had a sixty odd mile trip to our destination today, an ancient city (more rubble) 1000 metres up in the Taurus mountains, called Termessos. Besides the twisty 5 mile drive from the main road and pay booth to the car park, there is also a steep 20 minute walk, before you arrive at the city gate. The city dates to something like 335BC.  Given that, some of the buildings have remained in remarkable condition. No reconstruction here, the place has barely been touched archaeologically speaking, since the mid 19th century. I guess money or even access issues have prevented it. Because of that, it feels closer to it's natural state, if that makes sense, than other places we have visited.

The baths

The city sits at the top of a valley and loops round both sides, giving superb views and a totally defensible position.  The jewel in the crown here is the Teatro, perched as it is, on the edge of the city, overlooking (and some having fallen into) the valley. For this reason it is called the Eagles Nest.  It really is a stunning location and well worth the walk and the £1 park entrance fee.

The Teatro and nearby mountain peak

Being at 1000m, it was a manageable 24 degrees, rather than the 35 nearer sea level. A guy at the car park who explained the route to take, reckoned it would take 2.5 hours to see everything. I think we were around 4 hours. 

It is incredible looking at these structures and hard, seeing the quality of stone masonry involved in building them, to get your head around their age. 2,300 years old!

A brilliant day. 

Rock tomb

After running the gauntlet of the turkish dodgems back to the hotel, we went out to find another place to eat. Finding veggie options isn't proving as easy as we imagined it would be, so after about 3 rejections (by Catherine), we actually ended up in a small noodle bar. The young guy running it spoke perfect English, which helps but to be honest he doesn't have an extensive menu, so it was easiest enough to choose. We had a carton of noodles, US style ( I've never had chinese in a carton before) and a bottle of water each for six quid! Not only was it a bargain but it was tasty to boot and Catherine was a happy bunny.

I think she has her eye on pizza for tomorrow. 

Turkey , Day 3

Today we picked up the car and went off in search of a ruined city by the name of Lybre, although it's known as Seleukeia on the map. We'd hardly been going before we ended up on an unpaved section of road. Strange, as Tomtom is set to avoid them. To be honest though, some of the paved roads are really shite, with massive potholes in them.

We spent a couple of hours I suppose, scrambling over rocks, fallen 2nd century buildings and through the pine forest, which has now enveloped the city. Some of the buildings, for example the Agora, are in a condition we've never seen before. Amazing, after almost 2,000 years.

Lybre Agora

From Lybre we picked up the trail of the Aquaduct that used to feed ancient Side. There are several chunks of it left standing.

Oymapinar Aquaduct

From there we went up to the Oymapinar dam and lake. It wasn't possible to get close to the dam or get a decent picture but the lake was nice. They do boat trips on it. Nearby there was a fountain, with locals filling up masses of huge water bottles. Grizzly and I saw something similar in Portugal. Free drinking water!

We made our way back from the dam to Manavgat Waterfalls. This is one of the biggest attractions in the region. It's commercialised and fenced, so you have to pay 90p to get in. There's a couple of restaurants, some souvenir shops, a bloke charging to take your photo with one of his parrots and a couple of podiums overlooking the falls. Niagara it ain't and Catherine was somewhat underwhelmed by them. At least we can say we've done them and it was cheap enough to get in.

Manavgat Waterfall

From the falls we made our way home. 

One thing I quickly learnt, the Turks are very energy conscious, saving energy by never using their indicators! Oh yes and the traffic on a roundabout has to give way.