Feeling a little worse for wear, after my bites had swollen very badly and combined with a very poor nights sleep, I very nearly decided not to get off of the truck. But in thee end I was very glad I did as the hillsides are really something to experience!
Bathing our feet in the warm salt water at Pumakkale. Looks like a giant snowfall all year round!
We spent around 2 hours in the blisteringly hot sun walking down the hillside, stopping to paddle in the warm salty pools of water and to take plenty of pictures! Once we reached the bottom a well deserved ice cream was in order, before we hopped on the truck and made our way to a small clearing where we prepared to spend the night.
Before long we had attracted the attention of a couple of locals, one of which came proudly sporting his Fenabache football shirt. I showed him my Dover Athletic shirt, but the only English words he could speak were "Manchester United", "Chelsea" and "Champions League". I don't think he was overly fussed by Dover!
The next morning we made our way to our campsite for 3 nights at Oludinez. We stayed at the Sugar Beach resort, but to be honest I did not think it was all it was cracked up to be. For the camps size, it seems to focus on getting people who are not staying there to come and use their beach and bar, with the camping area being very small and basic.
Vicky and Janet testing out the latest addition to the tent, the hammock!
During our dinner on the second night, one of the residents came out of his shack with a gun and shot one of the cockerels that are running around the site here. He then said in very good English "That will stop the f***ing thing waking me up in the morning!" From what we gather, we think (and hope) that he owns the birds, as he then tried to sell what was left of it to us for our dinner. We said no.
During the second day here, many of the group decided to go paragliding, and whilst I stayed on the ground to play photographer,Vicky drove up to the top of the nearest hill to throw herself off into a 15 minute glide to the floor. She has now declared that she would like to take up the sport to go alongside scuba, skiing and blo-karting. I have suggested she might like to take up a cheaper sport such as darts (note: this suggestion was not met with great enthusiasm!).
Although it is difficult to tell, this is Vicky during her sky dive. I wasn't nearby when she came in to land as I was distracted...bad husband!!
Today, our final day at Oludinez, we took a day long boat trip around the local coastline, stopping at a number of places along the way for swimming and refreshments. Both of us ventured off of the back of the boat, but there was little to no sealife to take in unfortunately. The water was pretty cold as well, and it being a cloudy day did not help everybody's enthusiasm to stay in the water too long!
Tomorrow we head off to Olympios for 3 nights in a hostel, including David's 70th Birthday party, so we will try to update again as soon as possible.
On the way out of the campsite we came across this friendly little fellow who we decided to name Alfie. He's only a baby, and about half the size of one of our hands.
Alfie the tortoise
Did you get into the pool with all the roman ruins...you know the one that has a cure for every ailment that befalls man (and woman)? Amazing wildlife. Pleased your encounters were the slower freindlier type. We came across lots of large snakes on our expolation of the lesser explored sites of Turkey!! Great blog Dan, and hope the 'birds eye' view was awesome Vicky. Where next? Sue x
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