Dogs and Rainbow Rocks

People are looking at me…beautiful people with golden skin and bikini bodies and what must be feet of iron are looking at me. My face is red from the heat, I’m wearing a big floppy sunhat (no-one else is wearing a hat), a long sleeved shirt, jeans with bike knee pads and I’m finding it impossible to get up a 1 metre incline back to the relatively safety of my shoes. Bummer. I suspect the rain gods must have had a word or two with the beach gods…and they both like playing games. I had come to Oludeniz because it was supposed to be beautiful, an aquamarine bay nestled between imposing green tree covered cliffs that were home to millions of butterflies at the right time of the year. The bay was beautiful but the butterflies were not home and the tacky tourist only vibe with fully cooked suntanned beauties and a rock beach were my problems. After travelling that morning along snow capped mountains that lead to glorious coastal views, I had made my way through a large city and down a never ending steep hill to find this spot. When all I could see where hotels, souvenir shops and pubs…..I should have just turned back but I had come this far and I was going to put my feet in the Mediterranean Sea!

Stumbling across the beach's quicksand like rocks I removed my shoes to make the last metre into the water…immediately regretting it as the rocks were hot and seemed sharp to my boot loving feet. The water was cold…cold…cold…ok so I’m not going to jump in fully clothed even though I was hot from the mornings ride. I stood there for a moment, feeling the good sea vibe and then tried to make it back to my shoes. The 1 metre incline to the water was steep enough to not be easy to scale as each step I took I just seemed to slip back down…my feet hurting with the effort on the rocks. As graceful as a hippopotamus I climb out on all fours and hurriedly put my feet in the relative safety of my shoes and crunched my way back to the footpath. I grab a cool water and head back up the hill to find the other treasure in this area - hoping it will bring more pleasure….the ghost town of Kayakoy.

Turkey has many ancient ruins where you can only imagine what things might have been like, but Kayakoy is history in the making. After WW2 there was an exchange of populations with Greece and Turkey - Ottoman Christian moving to Greece and Greek Muslins moving to Turkey. This left some Turkish towns vacant as there were more people leaving than coming. Kayakoy is probably the best example of this. While the wooden roofs have rotted away, there is still paint on some walls and the church is an example of how moss can eat away the elaborate decorations. No bikini beauties here to look at my clomping around - the place has an eerie silence - time has just stopped.

My destination for the day is Kas (where the Ferris Wheels group were going). I’ll be staying with an expat British couple who moved there nine years ago, David and Juliet and Juliet’s father George. The road shows me magnificent costal views with deep blue on the right and orche cliffs dotted with pop-pom like shrubs in greens, yellows and oranges on the left. As I get closer to Kas,  David rides out to meet me on the highway and takes me around the beautiful bay side village then up a 100000000 metre cliff (ok..not that tall but I have a small fear of really high places on narrow roads with big drops if you get it wrong). David and Juliet have seven dogs and I think nine cats (it could be the other way around), all rescued from off the street usually in need of some vetinarian attention which they provide out of their own pocket.

Ginger gets a service the next day and a working speedo again (yippee). As we finish with the bike a large storm appears on the horizon and we make the 30 minute dash back to David’s place (note - David did ask me if my speedo was work which I have interpreted to mean…if it was why were you going so slow J ). I then proceed to hibernate for two days as the storm clouds roll in and I play wet weather chicken. It gives us time to talk road choices as David had been the way I’m going and after some umming and ahhing re Iran, I decide to go for it - it feels right. Syria is still out of bounds so my Middle Eastern adventures were going to just become Turkish Adventures… which is fine as the country is spectacular but I’m keen to see more places as I ve come such as long way. I start the process to organise the British RAC to get a Carnet. This is needed for Ginger to cross into Iran. I also call for help on Horizons Unlimited to see if anyone is likely to be going through the border at the same time - just for some moral support. I’m not sure how they are going to treat a single female on a motorbike. David and Juliet openly share their house and their lives with me and it was pleasure to be with such amazing people…and for David to ride over the deep piles of stones on his driveway that freaked me out a little.

David feeding some of the dogs

View from the house - clouds enveloping the high valley walls

Juliet and David - amazing couple

Although the next day started with fine weather, I ride straight into a rain cloud half way to getting to Olympus. As it gets very heavy, I stop at a road side café and discuss the bike with a local man who lets me know that a similar bike in Turkey would be worth twice the amount I paid for it! When I do finally make it to the guesthouse recommended to me, I find later that evening that I have the ‘pleasure’ of spending some time with partying Uni students…partying until 3am in the morning…just outside my room...just as well I can sleep through almost anything (I think that officially classifies me as old???). I thought there may be an ATM in the village knowing what a local tourist spot it was but there isn’t and I only have enough money to cover the accommodation. Luckily the guesthouse provides breakfast and dinner but I’m so hungry around lunch the next day I eat one of my chocolate emergency energy bars which has been sitting squished down the bottom of one of my panniers for the last six weeks…..very appealing.

Oh look...it might rain for a change

I walk through the ancient city of Olympus (that was taken over by REAL pirates at various times) down to another stone beach. I’m determined to get my feet into shape so take off my shoes and hobble painfully a good 30 metres before I give up and put them back on. The best part about this beach is the beautiful colour of its stones. I pick up a big one that has a kaleidoscope of rainbow colours in it and carry it back to the guest house. My delight is not so mirrored by the lovely owners when I present it to them as a beach gift. They smile politely as I try to explain in broken Turkish that it looks really pretty if you wet it - I suppose me trying to spit on the rock to show them the effect didn’t help.

Half buried church in Olympus

Old Mosaics in an Olympus meeting house

The rainbow rock

As it’s raining I look through the book library for something English and find the Chocolate Cake Sutra which I read with some strawberries I brought with some lose change and mulberries I picked off the tree outside my window. This is of course, accompanied by the cat that lives on the sofa who did not appreciate my fruit offerings to her.

Kilometres travelled: 1720 (not making any land speed records here but enjoying the ride)
Painful stone beaches I’ve trod on: 2
Cat snuggling / book reading moments:1
Travelling tummy bug: 1 (but could have been squished energy bar induced)
Rainbow rock spitting incidents best not to be repeated: 1