DEMRE TO DALYAN

After a visit with Saint Nicholas and the ancient city of Myra, we prepared to leave Demre, modern Myra, (also known as Kale).  This town had a long history as a religious, commercial and administrative  town.  Arab raids in the 7th century and silting of the harbor caused by the harvesting of alluvium, led to its decline.  Today, Demre is all about citrus and vegetables, especially tomatoes and Demre peppers (long, slender, sweet green peppers).  This is obvious by the endless greenhouses, right down to the sea.

 

The greenhouse, from mountains to sea

We stopped to take a photo of the ripening tomatoes in the greenhouses and saw there were rock tombs in the hills in the background.

 The road to Dalyan took us through several towns that have become favorites of British expats, both to holiday and to find "that place in the sun".  The first village was  Kas (Kash, meaning "eyebrow").  It was once a sleepy fishing village, but is now a scuba and yachting haven, full of boutique shops and cafes.  Kas was Habessos to the Lycians and Antiphillos to the Greeks.  All that survives from these past inhabitants are some rock tombs and the ruins of a temple and amphitheater.  The island of Kastellorizo, just a mile off shore, marks the eastern most boundary of Greece.  Although it is sparsely populated, it is considered a port of entry into Greece and boats run daily to the island.

The colorful, very Greek looking village of Kas

Views from different points across Kas to the Mediterranean Sea

We saw this Mosque on the way out of Kas and is struck us as odd that it had an agricultural supply business tucked into one side of it.

The closest sandy beach to Kas is Kaputas (Kaputash), accessible by what seems an endless flight of stone steps.  But, one is rewarded by their efforts as there is an all but deserted private beach with water an amazing shade of aqua.  Across the road/bridge from the beach is a gorge created by the Kaputas stream, apparently a gorgeous hike for those brave enough to face the ruggedness of it.

Kaputas Beach, steps, gorge and the far left photo is of the mainland, to the left, nearly meeting an island, to the right...the rocky points of each

 The next village we pass through is Kalkan, once an Ottoman-Greek fishing village.  It has only been permanently inhabited since the eradication of malaria bearing mosquitoes in the 1950's.  Prior, the villagers migrated to pastures above the village during mosquito seasons.  Now, Kalkan is a stylish hillside harbor town devoted to upscale tourism.  It is famous for its restaurants and pretty beaches, although Kaputas remains the only truly sandy beach in the area.

Kalkan

We left Kalkan with the intention of visiting Kayakoy, a once thriving Greek town.  It is now a ghost of itself since the population exchange that took place in 1923 between Turkey and Greece.  There are over 400 stone homes standing on the hillside along with various other village buildings.  The town has been designated an historical settlement and will be preserved.   When we saw the size of it and the time of day, we decided we could not do it justice and would  have to return another day.  We decided to follow the road on further to look for a beach area to have a picnic dinner, passing through the village of Olu Deniz, the beginning of the Lycian Way walking route that ends in Antalya.  We saw a beautiful bay from high up, and following our noses, and the road, we ended up at Gemile Bay Beach - a small, secluded, gorgeous area with very few people and stunning views.  

The first views of Gemile Bay from the road; we knew we had to find it

 

Views around the bay from our picnic spot

The picnic

And we had visitors...not ants... but some ducks who couldn't decide if they wanted to be in or out of the water and two sweet Labs.  They think something smells really good.

The island we could see from the bay is Gemiler Adasi or St. Nicholas Island; there are ruins on there of a 5th century Byzantine church.

This was a perfect place for our picnic and a nice place to watch the end of the day but, it meant that once again we were not going to reach our destination of Dalyan in the daylight.  When we did reach Dalyan, we followed the road to the town center, not having a clue where this hotel was.  We stopped and Geoff went into a travel agency that was open hoping for an English speaker, as this was a tourist destination, to ask directions.  The extremely gracious owner, a young woman, offered to go with us to show us the way, as she said it was a bit tricky in the dark and she was friends with the owners.  She closed up her business and rode with us to the Hotel Caria where we were greeted by the most wonderful family that made you feel right at home.  We offered the travel agent a ride back to her business and after at first declining and saying she would walk back, Geoff insisted on driving her back, as it seemed a bit far to walk.  Upon returning to the hotel and checking out the room we looked out the windows just to see if we could see anything and were amazed to see the most beautiful view of a Lycian rock tomb flooded with light.  Unfortunately, we could not get any photos to come out decently.  So it is good night and we will continue this journey from Dalyan tomorrow.