ROMAN RUINS AND THE Blue, Blue SEA

Trip Start Oct 01, 2008

161

319

Trip End Sep 02, 2009

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Flag of Turkey Olympos, Turkey
Tuesday, March 24, 2009

March 24 Tuesday

Sunny today, we are out to see the remainder of the ruins that we did not walk back to see yesterday. We go into the church area, there is red rock used to form a cross in the back wall. It must have been quite a large building and there are other remains further back of additional rooms and tombs. There are several building ruins on the other side of the path. There is a huge grey coloured wall that led to the temple. Lots of column pieces on the ground, I feel so bad just walking over or on them, but most have been down for so long they are now partially covered with earth and growth.

Back out to the main path and along to see the sarcophagus area. We go along a very narrow walled path by a creek. We tried to figure out if the path was made for a path or maybe was the river channel previously.

These sarcophaguses were built for one of the local families and all their relatives to be buried in and around this area. There are 2 sarcophagus remaining in the main walled area, 1 sarcophagus has been taken to the Antalya Museum. The two here have been broken into, it is written, by crusaders, looking for treasurers. There is one sarcophagus off by itself and other tombs carved into the mountain and bricked up at the front.

We continue on down the path to see mosaic tiles. It was a 2 storey building, there are some fancy inverted domed ceilings left. The tiles were the 2nd storey floor and are now on the ground broken and exposed to the weather. Some have green plants growing on them. Their intricate pattern is impressive. There is still parts of the 2nd floor up top and Len looks around for a possible way to climb on the remaining walls to see the tiles up there. I said no way.

Back to the main path and down to the beach, we are going to walk to the next town, but there is a wide stream flowing into the sea that we would have to get across. Not knowing if anything would be open there we opt to go back towards our town. We sit on the beach watching the sea and enjoying the sun. I volunteer to go back to a little store to get some lunch to have on the beach. It was very good.

While I was gone the 40 minutes Len busied himself with the stones making "Jill + Len" with a border around it. After lunch he changed the + to a heart. I waited for the sun to come out here - it was clear and sunny all along the path to the store. The clouds here must be hung up on the mountain behind us.

We head back to the main hotel and park entrance area. There are ruins on the other side of the river. This is a tomb area, I guess for the others. There was a building built up the side of the hill for tombs, tombs built into the side of the hill and several sarcophaguses. We noticed on the tombs built into the hill each one has a sliding stone block about 2' x 2'. The block has a square cut into it to slide it back and forth along a trough. Down a bit further is the bath building.

As we crossed the creek we heard some frogs croaking! It was a very different sound and took us awhile to realize it was frogs and then find one.

Tonight we go to see the fires that have burning for thousands of years on the side of a local mountain. These fires were mentioned in one of the information boards by the ruins.

The ride is an incredibly fast, curvy, hairpin turn ride. 30 minutes later we arrive at the mountain and begin our 1 km climb in the dark, and it is very dark. First it is stairs, then path, more 14" rise stairs, over rocks. We stop half way up and turn off our lights and look at the stars. We have never seen so many stars, I thought better than the Grand Canyon and McDonald Observatory. Finally at the top we can see about 7 fires burning at different spots on the hillside. These have been going for several thousand years, there is no repugnant or odd smell to them, they are hot, and flames are coming out between the cracks of the rocks. We walk around, very carefully, and look at all the fires. It is unique and impressive. There are several ruins around, but we can't see too good, you could come here in the daylight and enjoy both the ruins and fires. It was well worth the climb up and down, lost the trail a couple of times going down. We passed a bunny on the trail going up. The only wildlife we seen here.

We arrive back at the hotel, The couple from France are sleeping in a treehouse. Glad it is them and not us as it is cold out. We are greeted by a barking guard dog and a male peacock! What a surprise. I couldn't get him to spread his feathers, but he is beautiful to look at. There are 256 rooms here, in the form of treehouses, cabins and multi level motel style rooms. Well maintained and looked after. In the summer Turkmen Treehouse is full and the whole are hopping with tourists for the beach. It would be so different from the quiet time we have enjoyed here.