Another Sloth Out Day

Decided to keep the rental car for one more day as this means we can spend all of Sunday getting to Yalikavak is we need to - so effectively gives us an extra day to do what we want on the way round the coast. And right now what we wanted was to do nothing!! So arranged to have another night at Hotel Canada (not exactly booked out at this time in the season!) and prepared ourselves for a hard day doing nothing much.

On the beach

We actually got a little bit energetic and headed for the beach. We wandered down the beach about 200 metres to the entry to another valley where the remains of another Hellanic/Roman/Byzantine town - called Olympos (there are lots called this) are scattered. The city was never particularly large or important, but it is right on our doorstep - and now that it is in ruin, it is very romantic - both sides of a valley with a lovely river running through and various little tributaries threading their way past fallen pillars and massive stone blocks. And the whole now taken over by trees and vegetation.

Ancient Lycian tomb

And at the end of the ruins something that resembles a hippy camp from the 60's!! And wannabe hippies are still coming here to live in what looks like seriously uncomfortable huts built around trees - glad we're in Hotel Canada!!!

After such an exhausting 30 mins, it was time to hit the beach. Found a nice spot with only a couple of people in shouting distance (one of whom was a nubile young woman who was sun bathing topless much to Chris's delight) and put in a tough couple of hours sunbathing, reading our books and swimming when it got too much for us.

About 1pm we headed back to the hotel - Tina to try and catch up on the weblog (harder than it might seem while lying by the pool and trying to camouflage the tourist tan), Chris for more reading now he's found and interesting book on Turkey.

Ruins in great romantic setting

Also at the pool were a couple of Swiss families who are staying here - 2 mums and 3 really nice young kids who spend as much of their time as possible in the pool (even after dinner!!). While we were all hanging round the pool, the kids decided they would put on a show that night - put up posters and everything - then spent the rest of the afternoon practicing and showing the notice to all the other guests (all 8 of us) and the hotel staff so we'd be sure to turn up. You could feel the expectations mounting as dinnertime approached!! Then after our usual great dinner around the pool, our 3 young performers turned on a synchronised display of as many various ways of jumping and diving into the water as you could think of, including using the lilo's and pool noodles as props. Hilarious especially after a few beers and some red wine..... We sat with Martin and Deb again and all 4 of us clapped and cheered (and there might have even been a standing ovation at the end). No photos unfortunately.....

More romantic ruins...

Why did the chicken cross the road????

Back at the pool....