We pulled out the map of Turkey and did some rough sums and realised, wow, Turkey is one big country!  Our plan, such as it is, is to drive across the southern stretches of Turkey and then head north until we hit the Caucasus countries of Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan.  But when you look at the map those mysterious countries look a long way away.  Well, we’re up for the challenge.

After pulling two more forlorn locals from the sand on the beach near Ephesus we went into the town of Selcuk to see the ruins of the 6^th century St. John Basilica after the apostle who visited Ephesus twice in his long life, and climbed up to the Ottoman-era Citadel which proudly guards the city below.  The temperature was just a notch below unbearable and both sites were worth the effort. 

We’ve both been pleasantly surprised at the extensive ancient Greek and Roman history that is hosted in Turkey and how well the sites have been preserved by the local authorities.  So we didn’t hesitate to head south to the town of Didim to see another Temple of Apollo, this one purported to be the biggest of them all.

OMG! We’ve seen old stuff and we’ve seen good stuff and we’ve seen a lot of stuff but we’ve never seen BIG stuff like the Temple of Apollo in Didim.  Originally featuring 122 massive columns, intricate carvings, a huge open space, an extensive wooden roof and more room to move than we’ve seen anywhere else, this temple just rocked. 

Each of the three remaining standing columns weigh 40 tonnes and even though they’re sliced up it is hard to image how in the third century BC each huge slice was lifted up on top of the previous one.  We say BC now stands for Beyond Comprehension.  One guy I spoke to there simply shook his head and said “Impossible”. 

We followed a secondary road up and over the mountains, then along the coast until we hit the thriving super-duper up-market resort town of Bodrum.  Described as where hedonistic decadence is surpassed, Bodrum is the hot spot for those with big bucks and an endless battery for late nights.  Not exactly our scene but fascinated with the opportunity to mix it with the in crowd, we parked for the night in a downtown open-air carpark and walked down to the beach for a beer and a swim…or two. 

Wow, what a place.  With probably 95% of the tourists being Turks, Bodrum is a great reminder of how Turkey is a rising economic star with a large and growing middle class, foreign and domestic investment, real estate development everywhere we looked and successful people who are moving up.  Anyone who thinks Turkey is a developing nation didn’t get the mail.  And when it comes to Bodrum, we blended in no problem (ha ha).

Our journey eastward along the Turkish Aegean coast continued but not before we visited the Ottoman-era castle on the rocky promontory in the middle of Bodrum which – in addition to magnificent views of the marina and the umbrella-covered beaches – featured one of the world’s best marine archaeological museums.  We became instant experts on all things related to 3,000-year-old boats being found on the ocean floor and their artifacts and riches brought to the surface for study and display.   Absolutely excellent.

We followed the instructions from Karen – our usually reliable GPS – through more rich Turkish countryside and up and over a couple of impressive mountains to settle for the afternoon at Calypso Beach, a long public beach near the town of Fethiye where we could park Tramp on the sand, swim in the ocean and generally chill with the Turkish holidaying hordes who were doing the same thing.  It wasn’t our usual style to be packed in so close but we’re adapting well to the Turkish camping standards and loving the cultural experience.

The next morning, after another swim of course, we headed to the nearby ghost town of Kayakoy.  This ancient Greek town was evacuated after WWI as part of the peace settlement between Greece and Turkey when the Turks forced, sometimes violently, all the Christian Greeks off Turkish soil and in return many Muslim Turks in Greece came back to Turkey.  Large Greek communities in Turkey were completely abandoned, including this town on a steep hillside not far from the holiday resort town of Fethiye. 

We walked amongst the ruins of this old town, abandoned exactly 100 years ago, upending countless lives, no doubt causing pain and suffering for many people.  But to the Turks’ credit the town, or what’s left of it, has been saved and remembered as a chapter in Greek-Turk history that is less than stellar.

We then headed towards another landmark of a completely different nature.  Saklikent Gorge is a super narrow canyon carved through the mountains that has created an incredible experience for literally thousands of Turks who walk up the canyon every day.  We couldn’t resist this amazing cultural experience and joined the holidaying crowds, first along the boardwalk, then walking through the river and up the narrow gorge, a fabulous experience.  Turks are great fun to travel with.

On a special day because we didn’t see any ancient ruins we made our way along the stunning Turquoise Coast coastline, as it’s called, to the regional holiday sensation destination of Kaz and camped across the road from this fab shoreline and a great beach club.  Turkey just keeps pouring it on.

After another morning swim, because why not under these perfect conditions, we followed the steep coast and turned down a narrow side track to the small seaside town of Kekova.  Our target for the morning was actually underwater, a Lycian village that sunk below the surface during a massive earthquake in the second century AD. 

We walked down to the little marina and hired a local boat from a friendly old captain and he took us on a one hour trip past ancient Lycian tombs, the island town and fortress of Simena and the sunken village off the shores of Kekova Island.  The whole experience was just sublime, the boat trip, our old captain serving us watermelon and a few words of commentary, the turquoise water, the islands, the sunken village, the whole thing was WOW.

We continued to follow the coast, knowing that every stop in Turkey was absolutely magic and realising we were falling further and further behind our rough schedule to get to the Caucasus countries.  But we’re not good on timelines and we drove down to a place called Chimaera where, in a fluke of weird nature, some sort of methane-like gas is emitted from little pockets in the rock and burn perpetually.  It was a sweaty one kilometre trek straight up the mountain that I did solo to see this geologic oddity which was very cool but in 36 degree heat perhaps not the smartest thing to do. 

We camped the night in the carpark of Goynuk Canyon, a narrow canyon carved out by rushing water the provides visitors options to float down, do a boat trip or even a bit of canyoning.  We did none of that but it was a fab night by ourselves amongst the steep mountains, olive and pine trees. 

So we’ve proven that Turkey is big and it has too many wonderful distractions that delay our trip to the east.  We’ll have to make better time or we’ll be in Turkey forever…which isn’t all bad!