Mini Road trip
Thursday May 18
Time to leave Cappadocia after a fantastic stay and spend the next few days on the road, first heading to Konya. On the way to Konya we stopped at Selime Cathedral about an hour and a half from Cappadocia. This cathedral is built inside another Fairy Chimney and dates back to the 8th or 9th century BC The complex includes the cathedral, a monastery, store rooms, bed and living rooms and a kitchen. It was far bigger than we expected and more detailed than the ones around Cappadocia with columns carved from the rocks and more elaborate decorations. We stayed here about an hour wandering around and taking photos. Apparently Star Wars episode 1 got inspiration for some sets from this area.
The drive to Konya took about another hour and we arrived at our hotel around 3:00pm. Our stay didn't get off to a great start as our room was in a mess when we went in and we ended up getting moved to a different room.
One of the reasons for picking this hotel was that it was very close to the Mevlani Musuem, which had some good reports on Tripadvisor. After grabbing a very late lunch we went to the museum and were a bit underwhelmed. It was all about the Mevlani religion (Dervish) and how it started, but the English descriptions were extremely wordy and we lost interest fairly quickly. There was a mauseleum which was somewhat interesting, but we spent less than an hour here.
We had a bit of a walk around the local shops before returing to the hotel.
10185 steps and 273kms.
Friday 19th May
We were woken by the call to prayer around 5:00am but managed to get back to sleep. Woke properly at 7:30 and on the road around 9:00.
Today we headed to Antalya, but about 20km prior to that we made a detour of a couple of kms to visit Perge. Perge was a large Roman city that had it's xenith in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD and was known back then for it's sculptures. The main colonnaded street is over 300 metres long and had a channel down the middle supplying water to several fountains and shops. It even had cascading pools. There was also a stadium that could hold 12,000 spectators and an amphitheatre about the same size that is amazingly well preserved.
We spent about 3:30 hours here getting lost in the history.
Amphitheatre
About 18km further on to our hotel for the night, stepping out for a while to get dinner in the drizzle which started right after we left Perge.
12826 steps and 269kms of driving today.
Saturday 20th May
Today's destination is Fethiye, about 4:00 hours away, largely because most of the drive was along the coast. The views were pretty spectacular out over the Mediterranean Sea with the occasional small island.
About half way to Fethiye we stopped at the Myra Rock Tombs. These date back to around 4th Century BC and, as you would expect, are Tombs set in the cliff walls. The tombs were originally painted in red, blue and yellow, so the inhabitants could feel at home, but now that has all faded. There was also a theatre that held around 12,000 spectators. We spent about an hour here before hoping back in the car, just in time to listen to the Essendon/Richmond game. I was able to listen to the complete game, it finished as we entered Fethiye - unfortunately the wrong team won.
Before coming here I read a few articles about driving in Turkey and they all mentioned regular police checkpoints. We had seen a few but always on the other side of the road. Well, today I was stopped twice, the first guy took a quick look at my Australian licence before waving us on and the second guy took one look at me before waving us on. I must have looked like a tourist :)
We had initially booked a self catering apartment, but about a week ago decided that would be a pain for such a short time - every other hotel we booked includes breakfast. So we cancelled that hotel and changed to a different one. Pity neither of us remembered that before we arrived at the original hotel. The owner looked confused when we walked in as she wasn't expecting anyone. After connecting to their wi-fi I checked my Booking.com app and realised my mistake. They were a bit relieved but did ask why we cancelled - I said the new hotel included breakfast and off-street parking. A little embarrassing but no big deal and we eventually found the correct hotel.
After settling in we walked down to the sea front and walked first one way then the other. There are quite a few restaurants here, all facing sunset and separate walking and cycling paths. We stopped for a while for a beer, before walking back the other way. Quite a few people were setting up seats or rugs on a grassed area, seemingly settling in for sunset. At this end of town though there is no beach and nowhere to swim. Hoping to see a sandy beach tomorrow and maybe have a swim.
We walked back to our hotel where we have a balcony, to view the sunset, but it was disappointingly colourless. We have a couple more nights here to see a good one.
Not many steps today, only 9374 and 293kms of driving.
Comments
Post a Comment