Off this morning headed to Antalya, then around the coast to a little village called Cirali (its got the squiggle, so its pronounced Chiralee). Back down to Denizli then up the first of the mountain passes we would conquer today. The scenery on this drive is nothing less than spectacular - huge vertical mountains, with such sparse vegetation that you can see the tortured striations of the rock as it was thrust up eons ago; deep jagged gorges, lined at the bottom where there is still some moisture, with beautiful trees; dry, wide valley floors with verdant crops where ever the irrigation is being applied. We love watching the farm and peasant life going on as we wizz past - goats and sheep eating the stubble and weeds, each little flock being watched over by their own herder; overladen tractors taking melons and other produce to market; strings of chillies hanging from veranda's and house roofs to dry; people out in their garden pots harvesting or irrigating or weeding.
Tina's tentative plan was to stop at the ruins of Termessos on the way to Antalya, but we get there around mid day and it's way too hot to contemplate wandering around ruins. The setting is fantastic - a huge deep sided gorge, covered in pine trees that we'd been driving down for miles - but that also means that there would be a lot of climbing to see this site. And Chris is really starting to get ruined out!
So we continue on to Antalya. We do not have any detailed maps for driving around in Antayla and the place we are staying further west on the coast, is still an hour or 2 away, so we keep going - we will come back to Antayla another day. But from what we see as we skirt around the city centre, it looks very nice - around 600,000 people, on a beautiful part of the coast.
Then we head west on the Turkish Med coast and if anything the scenery gets more dramatic. The mountains are still huge and plunge vertically into the sea. In places there are magnificent beaches, but in other parts, there are simply small rocky coves. And the sea is a fantastic blue and very, very clear.
The road on this section is a lot more twisting and has more traffic - and more maniac drivers than we're seen before. Nothing major - just need to be a bit mre aware of potential idiot behaviour! Some of the things we've noticed for driving in Turkey:
· Speed signs on the roads aren't even guidelines, they're more like decoration
· There are always fewer lanes marked on the road in busy cities than there are in reality
· There are always less lanes marked on open roads than there are in reality (according to all those vehicles who ride the line making sure they keep their options open)
· You can make a left turn from the 3rd right lane over
· You can drive on the wrong side of the road as long as you have your hazard lights on (unless you are on a donkey drawn cart - then you don't need the hazard lights)
· Always toot at lights the minute before it goes green, cos the guy in the front might not notice
· If you are in a big city, on a major road at rush hour, there will always be a guy in a donkey drawn cart...
· Road rules don't apply to dolmus's (minibuses that people everywhere)
· They guy who just overtook you at 200 kms/hour will then slow to 40kms per hour because he's on the cell phone
· Male Turkish drivers rely on money (for the petrol) and testosterone to get anywhere in their cars
Chris drives defensively in all this and we arrive safely to our turn off from the main coast road down to Cirali. At this part of the main road, we are high in the mountains. To get to Cirali we drive 7kms down a very steep, hugely twisting (multiple hairpin bends), narrow little road that winds down a gorge cut by a tiny stream that flows to the sea. The road flattens out at the bottom and travels a few kms though the narrow valley floor, then opens out on a beautiful curving beach. It's all just gorgeous. There are a lot of pensions and small family owned hotels here, but none of the huge hotel complexes jamming the beaches closer to Antalya, and so none of the package tours and lager lout crowds come here. And now its late Sept the place has become half deserted - our little hotel has only around 10 people staying, when in August it would have been completely full with around 50 people. Our hotel is back from the beach, but is run by a really friendly couple, has nice rooms, lovely shady gardens with hammocks, and a great pool. We are very happy with our choice and the recommendation that we stay in this little village.
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