Why do boys always like to play with fire?

Friday, November 21, 2008
Travel from Antalya to Kas, Turkey

Some of the beauty that is Turkey.

Well I must say that I am liking the whole traveling with a group thing. No looking for hotels, no trying to figure out how to get anywhere, no checking bus and train schedules and no getting lost. All I have to do is get up and make it to the van on time. And the van leaves at normal human hours like 0900 so how hard is that.

An overall look at Perge. I know, not much to look at but use your imagination.

Anyway, moving on. Our first stop today was at an ancient Roman city named Perge. Very neat old place. We were able to see the roman baths, the agora (market) and the stadium. The walls of the Roman baths were full of holes as the stone would have originally been covered with marble.

What you will find under the floors of those Roman baths.

The ruins themselves looked very similar to other ruins I have seen over the past couple months but still very cool plus sometimes it is not the ruins themselves that are important but the history they have seen.

Evidence of some of the restorations that are taking place at Perge.

I cannot remember all the stories that Ergun told us but I do know that the city was surrendered to Alexander the Great around 334 BC and it is considered to be one of the most important towns of ancient Pamphylia.

The nymphaeum dates to the 2nd century AD and was responsible for supplying water.

The group of us.....not wanting to waste another photo-op. Just in case you cannot tell us apart yet, starting from the front column Me and Paul, Monica and Reshmi, Ed and Liezel, Eva and Sam and finally Winston.

Yeah I know.....I look good in anything.

Once we left Perge, we headed to the mall….yes the mall. It had all the stores you would normally see including Zara and Nine West (unfortunately I made eye contact with Nine West so had to take a moment to look at cute boots) but really we were there for the grocery store. We decided to stop today at the old Greek ruins of Phaselis for a picnic on the Mediterranean before touring the ruins. The drive there was very nice. Kind of reminded me of driving through the Okanagan in British Columbia….mountains on one side, water on the other.

A look back at Antalya as we head to Kas.

I did of course dip my feet in the Mediterranean but it was way too cold to even think about swimming.

Yeah this was as far as I was going......it was cold.

The old Greek theatre.

The area of the ruins themselves was pretty small but there was another theatre to check out. It was way up on a hill and had a very low backdrop (a couple traits of Greek theatres) so we got a great view of the surrounding area.

A few of the cats who joined us for lunch. Yes they have little dishes of food because Liezel just couldn't let the litte guys go hungry.

Ed attempting to move a piece of the ruins. The cat is helping out. Ed got the nickname the Cat (and dog) Whisperer because the stray animals just seemed to flock to him.

I must say that I love ruins and can look at old stuff all day long but I am starting to see the same things over and over again. While I appreciate it all I am trying very hard not to get too tired of ruins before we get to Ephesus and Troy (which are still to come on our trip). So basically I may be quickly passing by some of the baths and agoras because they really are starting to look the same.

Hanging out on the beach. Really wished it was summer so I could enjoy the Mediterranean a little bit more.

A few fishing boats also just hanging out.

Reshmi enjoying a blanket and a hammock before our hike up the mountain. It was a little chilly.

After a bit of a drive we had one more stop before he headed to Kas and our hotel. This actually involved a bit of a hike up as well. It was at Mount Olympos to see the Chimaeras or yanartas which are basically burning rocks. It was about a 3o minute hike up to where gas actually seeps out of holes in the rocks and burns when it makes contact with the air. It actually looked very neat as we arrived just as the sun was setting. The boys really enjoyed it as it turns out the bunch of them are pyros and fire makes them happy. Let’s hope they don’t burn down any hotels.

Hanging out with one of those fires. It was nice and warm. I could have stayed there a while.

After our arrival in Kas we headed into town for some dinner. Kas is a very small little town on the Sea. It is really quiet this time of year as the tourist season really is over by now. The place just seems really relaxed. On the way back to the hotel we became acquainted with some of the local wild life….and when I say that I mean the stray dogs. We were followed most of the walk by about 4 dogs but the size of the group seemed to increase as we continued along. Most of the time they were pretty quiet but every once in a while they would get a little rough with each other and actually at one point a single cat had the 4 of them backed-up. We learned the Ekrem is afraid of dogs he disappeared quickly. We found him comfortably hanging out at the hotel.

Tomorrow should be a pretty quiet day as it is a free day for the group….the first one we have had thus far. I think a lot of us will be sleeping in......I know I will be.

Julie