5/30 I finally found a little piece of Texas in Turkey!!! Olympos is known as a backpackers paradise because of its get-away-from-it-all feel and complete absence of hotels. There are no tour busses, no paved roads and not a single mosque. It was like being at summer camp in the mountains and at the beach at the same time. We stayed at the famou...

After much consideration we decided to splash the cash and take the blue cruise boat trip from Fethiye to Olympos. We bargained hard and managed to get a free night's sleep in Fethiye harbour on the gulet (wooden yacht) before it set off on the 4 day cruise. The boat consisted of 6 en-suite cabins, 10 tourists, 4 crew and one large lazy captain....

Usually on every trip, one finds a place or two which are really special. Places where you feel like you could stay days, a week, a month, or more. For me, these are places like Pai in northern Thailand and Hampi in India. Athough I've only just arrived, I'm feeling that Olympos could be one of those places. I wasn't certain what to expect becua...

She says: "Note in high summer it pays to be extra vigilant over personal hygiene while staying here as every year visitors wind up getting sick." -Lonely Planet warning re: Olympos. Yeah - not the kind of place I would normally be rushing to visit. But it's Olympos, and everyone under 35 who tours Turkey goes there, and the oddity of a little c...

Tuesday (16 Oct) The final day of the yacht cruise started with an early morning swim. It was cold out but the water was fantastically warm. It was the perfect cure to the slight hangover from the night before! After a couple of hours we got to our final harbour destination where we would all be getting off. The 4 days had gone so quickly and I ...

From Fethiye, I headed further along the coastline via a 3 hour bus to get to a town called Kas (pronounced Cash). It was a good stopping point on the way to Olympos, and a small harborside town with a relaxing atmosphere to take in for the next 2 days. Most people enjoy boat trips into the mediterranean from here that take them to places for sw...

Sunday, July 8--Istanbul to Antalya The easiest way to get to Olympos, which was the first destination on the itinerary, was to take a bus from Istanbul to Antalya. Ece and I scoured the Besiktas bus companies looking for a good ticket price. The ride from Istanbul to Antalya takes twelve hours, and the ticket prices can change dramatically depe...

The ancient town of Olympos is right on the beach. Ruins of the previous historical town are located amongst the cliff face and small stream that runs to the Mediterranean Sea. One of the main attractions of visiting this shanty, run down tiny town is the beach, the chilled out atmosphere and the chance to sleep in tree houses. I was disappointe...

Jeannie here. One exciting newsflash is that Sean had a barber shave off the mustache! I could and did leap for joy when he came back to the room looking like himself again. Thank you all for your support on this matter. Sean wants to tell you all about the shaving experience which includes flaming strands of cotton being flicked into his ears ...

After not doing much for 4 days on the medditeranean cruise we headed to Olympos for some more R&R. Olympos is a great little village which has many ruins and a great beach. The town has building regulations stating everything must be made of wood, so there are plenty of tree houses and little cafes/pubs that are very rustic with heaps of charac...