Olympus

Into the inky-black night we rode. The night bus, while no where near luxurious, had seats slightly bigger than what you might find on an airplane. However airplanes don't toss you around climbing and twisting through mountain ranges in the pouring rain, and the also don't stop every two hours for a coffee and a wee since there are no bathrooms on the bus.

Anyway.

I was happy to see the sun rise and arrive with my life intact in Antalya.

Antalya is a big city- in fact, I was kind of astounded at how big and sprawling it was. It's got a reputation as a beach resort town, populated mostly by Russian beach-goers. No sleep and watery instant coffee made for a slightly grumpy girl, so I made the snap decision to push onward. Another bus was sought, this one for another 2 hour drive down the winding and mountainous Lycian coast to Olympus. The bus drops off at a roadside cafe, where more watery instant coffee was consumed while waiting for yet another bus. This one took us down the windy, mountainous dirt roads to the tiny beachside backpacker town of Olympus.

For about $20 a night, you can stay in a little wooden cabin here. Not luxurious by any means, but maybe one step above camping. About a half dozen of these "treehouse" villas line the main street of the village (which you have to cross a stream on foot to get to) and most have a lady making Gözleme and fresh squeezed orange juice for you.

It's a beautiful area. It's popular with rock climbers, but I don't know if I'd want to get scraped up here.

It's a well known spot for ancient ruins. Evidence of an entire roman village from 2 BC still remain in the valley.

Most of the ruins are pretty grown-over with brush, but you can pick your way around them and see the baths and temples and dwellings and crypts. Be prepared to get a little dirty and scraped up.

Working through the ruins, the most stunning beach materialized ahead.

While the air was sticky and thick with an offshore thunderstorm which was making swimming a little risky and dramatic, but Cirali beach was one of the prettiest I've seen. The large pebbles were hard to walk on, but the mountains and castle ruins dropping down into the Mediterranean was a sight to behold.