Finike, Demre and Pamukkale

We soon discovered that there is not much to do in Finike itself. The marina is a wintering ground for yachties who want to spend a mild winter aboard their boats. There is a strong sense of community with organised tours, gaming nights, volley ball etc. Only a few years ago, these communities were huge in the various wintering spots but it seems that the GFC has taken its tole and the numbers have thinned to an aging population of grey nomads.

The first item on the agenda was to hire a car big enough to take all of us to Antalya, surprise Mark at the airport and bring him back to the boat. 

That is when we learned there is not much to this town, no car big enough so Sal stayed at home while we surprised him. It is so good to see him, to catch up on his tales of travel and have him with us for the rest of this trip.


So what does happen around here? Click in....




Demre: Santa Claus was born and died here.
Santa is dead???!!, was the kid's reaction.... Ooops! 

"Demre is the Lycian town of  Myra, the home of Saint Nicholas of Myra, the historical man later developed into the figure of Santa Claus." 

Did you know that Santa was originally portrayed as wearing a hessian sack and he was known for the way he looked after kids. It was Coca Cola that hijacked the whole story and dressed him their corporate colours? No wonder Santa is sometimes referred to as the gateway drug to religion...

'Google meister Al' arranged to have an 8 seater van delivered to and collected from the boat for 50 Euro a day. There is no end to this man's talents. It arrived 3 minutes late, the driver having driven all the way from Kas and then had to bus it all the way back, and off we went.

Demre. Full of the history so ancient that we just don't seem to tire of it, kids included. Tombs, the city and the amphitheater. 

Apparently there is still so much more to excavate. The amphitheaters are also becoming more detailed and better preserved as we progress

We eventually had to abandon the site for the rain, the only shelter being the tourist shop....
It has been difficult to do the normal schooling schedule over the last few days as the times this would normally happen have been spent driving. We can however content ourselves with the fact that if these were school excursions, they'd trump anything they'd be doing back home.

The following day it was off to the top of Sal's Bucket List... Pamukkale. (Meaning 'Cotton Castle' in Turkish)

A four hour drive north west through the magnificent Turkish interior so different to the coast and a refreshing change. Pamukkale has 17 natural hot springs, in who's waters are dissolved particles of calcium carbonate.
This is the main hot spring, a wonderful place for a 37 degree dip among slabs of submerged antiquity 2500 years old.
From here the water pours down the hill depositing the calcium carbonate which eventually hardens and becomes travertine.

The results looks like snow and ice.

Remember this is mid November in the northern hemisphere. It feels weird to be warm in a 'winter wonderland'












Next, the ancient Greco-Roman and Byzantine city of Hierapolis which was built above the 'cotton castle'. The most striking item of many striking items here being the Amphitheater. It is as if on our journey here we have been introduced to these amphitheaters starting from the least well preserved where much imagination was required, each one an improvement on the last until you walk up the hill behind the Hierapolis Theatre and you are gifted with this...

I could have sat and imagined here for days.

The following evening we wanted to view it all from above. How better to do that than in a hot air balloon? We were all surprised about the size of these things and the amount of people they could cram into them. Sal, Summer and I were releaved that the German chap who was meant to get into our section of the basket was way too fat and decided he didn't want to go...

It was a short trip lasting 45 minutes, not going very high or far. At best an introduction to ballooning. Our advice would be to wait until you are in the Serengeti or the Alps if it's value for money you are looking for. 

We thought it was going to be cold up there... Well at least our clothing protected us from the searing heat generated by the gas burners! Will did get to have a go at firing those.

We extended our stay for one more day. Mark had with him his paragliding wing, there was a 400 meter take off behind all of this and you could fly above it then land at the bottom near town.

He had a couple of flights. Al and I grabbed a tandem flight while we were at it, we weren't going to let Mark have all the fun.

Sunset was a nice time for it too.

The next day we made an earlyish start, a navigation error sent us through some breathtaking scenery back to the boat, a bucket list item having been well and truly ticked off.