Cirali Hotels
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A Day on a Boat
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Woke up today feeling very lazy. We had been talking to 2 couples staying at the hotel over dinner last night. One couple had just been on a day's boat trip around some of the coast west of Cirali and really enjoyed it, and the other couple had organised to do it today. So we decided to join them.
We got picked up at the hotel at 10am and taken down to the beach where a local gullet (a traditional Turkish boat) was waiting for us. There were only about 15 of us on the trip - only half full compared to August. We didn't go very far - past a few points and into a few coves that are only accessible by sea, but it was a very pleasant way to spend the day. The water is so warm, the day was beautifully sunny with a nice sea breeze, the scenery remained grand with rocky mountains plunging straight into the sea, and the company on the boat was excellent!
The boat stopped 5 times in different sheltered bays to let us swim and everyone got off for at least 4 of the 5 stops. The sea here is a lot saltier than at home, which means staying afloat is very easy - in fact you can happily lie on your back and float without any effort. (Of course it might also have something to do with the additional blubber we've gained....). There were a couple of sets of mask and snorkel that we all shared, and looking at the little fishes swimming all around us was interesting - but there wasn't much other life - not even seaweed. Chris spotted a turtle - the beaches around here are turtle breeding areas, but the hatching season finished a couple of weeks ago we were told.
At one point in the trip, miles from anywhere, someone said to the captain how well an icecream would go down. The next thing, out of nowhere a little dingy with an outboard comes zipping up, complete with two big chiily bins full of ice cream to sell us!! They weren't cheap but they were very welcome!! We arrived back around 6pm and we decided to do something a bit energetic and go up to see the Chimera. A little way out at the eastern end of the village and back up another valley, gas comes out fissures in the side of a steep hill. The gas ignites and flames burn there perpetually. They've been doing this for thousands of years and for thousands of years people have been climbing the hill to see it - there's even a ruin up there (what else!) - an old temple to Hehpaestus (the god of fire). The flames are at there most dramatic at night obviously, but the path up to them is steep and rocky and we were advised to go up on dusk when you could still see and take torches for the trip down, which we did. It was definitely a very steep and long climb up, but well worth it. The flames aren't big and are apparently smaller than they have been ages ago, so maybe the underground gas field that feeds them is becoming depleted finally. However the sight of fire issuing from many openings in the ground is very strange and quiet mystical. Of course there was a group of Germans up there using the flames as a BBQ for their sausage dinner which kind of took that away.
We didn't stay long up at the Chimera, and came down for dinner at the hotel. However after dinner we had been invited to come and have coffee with two friends that we had made on the boat trip - Ece, a lovely young woman and her mother, both from Istanbul. They were staying for a week in a pension about as far away from our as is possible to get in this small village - a lovely place with 5 cabins set in beautiful gardens right on the beach. We were pretty tired after our trip up to the Chimera, but in the end, the great conversation and company meant we didn't get back to our beds until 1.30am!!! Our latest night yet.....
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