Update from the Turquoise Coast
Yesterday morning we motored for about 4 hours, stopping near the town of Dalyan. After a huge breakfast, Zola and I snorkeled for a while, and India and Tallulah took out the sea kayak.
Zola and I saw an amazing flat fish, with both eyes on the side/top of its head, and with frill all around the edges of its body. What was amazing was its ability to nestle down into the sand, and then change the color of its skin to match the color and grain pattern of the surrounding sand. It is probably not called the chameleon fish, but we will find out.
In the early afternoon we took a “putt-putt” boat across the bay, through the reed channels of a freshwater lagoon, and up into Lake Koycegiz. The putt-putt was a flat, open motor boat, which could have easily seated 30 people under its awnings. It was piloted by a handsome captain in his early 40s, named Ilyus.
Ilyus took us to a protected turtle beach (where two nests apprently had hatched that morning, but we saw no baby turtles). A man with a blue crab on some fishing line had lured an adult turtle, which we got a quick glimpse of.
After the turtle, Ilyus motored through the reeds, and moored near the ruins of a town called Kaunos.
Kaunos was settled 4,000 years ago, but the ruins are primarily Greek and Roman. We walked through lime and pomegranate orchards for 20 minutes to reach the site. The best-preserved part of Kaunos is a 5,000-seat amphitheatre, built by the Greeks and expanded by the Romans in the 4th century AD.
Once we got back on the putt-putt, Ilyus showed us the most extraordinary part of the Kaunos ruins. Starting in about 2,000 BC, the Lycians carved elaborate, huge tombs into the rocks of a cliffside, overlooking the lake.They look remarkably like the facades of antebellum mansions in the Southern US. Unfortunately, no one is allowed to tour the tombs any longer, after an Italian fell to his death a few years ago.
After the Lycian tombs, Ilyus took us to a sulphur mud bath, which was the wildest part of the day. We swam around in a pool of hot and sticky (and stinky) grey mud for a little while, then let it bake onto our skins. We showered off the mud, and got into a very hot sulphur spring pool for a float. This is all somehow supposed to be healthy, but we smelled like rotten eggs, and are all still pulling dried mud from our ears and noses.
Ilyus dropped us at a lakeside cafe to have drinks, and to watch the sun set behind the awesome Lycian tombs. Our crew had asked Ilyus to get some additional supplies for the boat. He came back with beer, Pringles, Turkish newspapers, and Nutella. I can imagine Loqmin telling Ilyus, in Turkish, “We have a shortage. These freakin’ kids eat a lot of Nutella.”
Once we got back through the reeds and out of the freshwater, we had a rough and rainy twilight crossing back to the gulet. Ilyus had let Zola drive for most of the trip over, but he was all business on the way back.
After dinner, Loqmin taught us to play a Turkish version of Liar’s Dice, which sparked huge rivalry and a lot of laughs. India crushed us all repeatedly (including Loqmin, to his great surprise).
Overall, another amazing day in Turkey.