Saklikent Gorge and Kaya

Arrived in Kayakoy via Fethiye on the 31st.  Charming hotel in a small quaint village but it was stinking HOT!  No A/C but İ snagged the only fan.  Screens on the windows and a fan are all that you really need to make a place comfortable...yet so many places lack even that. Hard to understand why İntrepid does not insist that their hotels provide these basic ammenities...so anyway...

The pups at the pansion

Took a local dolmus (creaky pack em in tight minibus) to the gorge for a slow but steady ride.  Once we arrived, the journey had been completely worth it.  Cold icy light blue waters streaming out of the spectacular gorge.  We climbed down the rocks into the torrent of waters that gushed past the mouth of the gorge and walked in.  Off-white, white and light tan colored rocks rocks rising up on either side of us. The gorge is 18km long and so narrow that the sunlight does not penetrate which means that the pools of water we kept encountering were cold and refreshing.  There were a number of areas where you had to climb up rocks to get to the next level up to continue the hike.  İ turned around about midway and wandered back to join a few others chilling out on the cushions right above the rushing water at the mouth of the gorge. We had ice cream and rested until the others returned.  The place was filled with locals and tourists and very busy.

Kayakoy abandoned village

This morning we hiked up to the abandoned village formerly called Levissi...a collection of brilliantly sited stone houses that comprised a formerly bustling multi-cultural village.  The village was abandoned after WWÝ and the Turkish War of  Ýdependence when the Greeks were forced to leave and subsequently founded Nea Levissi just outside of Athens.  The remaining Turks were not able to sustain the village and and had to abandon it.  Some also say that they left because they thought that it was haunted...not an entirely crazy idea due to the traumatic way many of the inhabitants were forced out.  The bones of many of the former inhabitants are buried behind one of the main churches in the town.

Back at the Pansion rather late, we nevertheless managed to consume a number of bottles of wine, enjoy grilled meat and delicious mezze before retiring for good.  We were kept company by the number of cats, kittens, two dogs, flying ants, mosquitos, chickens and roosters! 

1-Kayakoy abandoned village

2-Kayakoy abandoned village

3-Kayakoy abandoned village

4-Kayakoy abandoned village

5-Kayakoy abandoned village

Saklikent Gorge

2-Saklikent Gorge

3-Saklikent Gorge

1-Saklikent Gorge

4-Saklikent Gorge

5-Saklikent Gorge pools of cool water

6-Saklikent Gorge

7-Saklikent Gorge

8-Saklikent Gorge

9-gorge Entry right before rushing water