Antalya and Standard Transmission Vehicles

From Side to Antalya it’s about 80km, so one would have thought about an hour would have been enough to make the trip. Well, I left Side at 3:30pm and finally managed to meet up with my next Couchsurfing host in Antalya at around 7:30pm.

Antalya had not much to recommend. It was simply a big city with a semi-nice old town and port. Unfortunately the weather was turning a little sour so the coast and the water had lost a bit of its charm. Julita and Paulina arrived after a long flight from Vancouver via Calgary and Frankfurt and then a 12 hour bus ride from Istanbul to Antalya. They were good sports and more than willing to immediately head to town to explore, albeit at times in a zombie-like fashion.

Our main goal in Antalya was to figure out a vehicle rental so that we could explore the coast at our leisure. The catch was that all main rental agencies were at the airport and we had no intentions of going there. We finally managed to find a place that was going to rent us a nice Suzuki Jeep like vehicle with gas (propane) for about 450 TL for 5 days with a drop off on the west coast of Turkey. The upside of the gas vehicle was that normal petrol costs about $2.20 per liter whereas gas is only about $1.20. The lady who rented us the vehicle reminded me of Estelle, Joey Triviani’s agent and it was hard to tell whether she was any more reputable than her Hollywood counterpart. However, this had been the best price we had found all day so we signed the contract and arrange to come for the vehicle the following morning.

Well, the next morning it turned out that Estelle got yelled at by her husband for offering us a price that they couldn’t honor. After some arguing and frustration we ended up getting a small Diesel Renault Clio at the rental place next door for 550 TL. We’ll see whether the decision was a good one or not, but it is definitely beneficial to have a vehicle and to be able to travel wherever we want.

Paulina started out as the designated driver, I the navigator and Julita as backseat decoration. However, after ½ hour of driving and after having stalled the vehicle about 10 times on an intersection, Paulina gave up and handed the wheel over to Julita. Now Julita is our designated, and speedy driver, I’m still the navigator and Paulina has been promoted to the backseat tour guide that tells us all about the Turkish history.

Our first day’s adventures took us to Chimera, a place where some form of gas escapes from the earth and upon contact with the air catches fire. There are about 30 of these little fire spouts dotting the hillside. Next was Olympos where Greek and Roman ruins go all the way down to the sea and where backpackers abound. There we fell asleep on the beach, had a delicious meal and got back in the car to head towards Kas.

In Kas we spent a nice night, wandered around in the morning and then hit the road again.

Can (John), our Couch Surfing host in Antalya, wonder how the three of us ended up traveling together and today so did I. Here’s a sample of the dialog that went on this morning.

Julita: Do you have a sister?
Paulina: Yes, but she doesn’t really look like me.
Kasia: She actually looks more like Julita than you.
Paulina: I don’t know a Julita.
Julita: WHAT???

And the saddest part of it was that none of this brilliancy was attributable to jet lag. I think over the next month or so I will definitely have to work on my patience.

Today’s adventure took us to Saklikent Gorge, an 18 km gorge that sometimes reaches 200 meters in hight and is often only a few meters wide. The first 50m of it are a nice boardwalk above the roaring river. However, from that point onwards you’re walking in the river. At times this is only ankle deep, but the further we went, the narrower it got and the stronger the currents. By the way, the water was freezing.

At one point there was simply no way to continue in a manner that would guarantee the safety of my camera. At about the same point in time Julita decided that she wasn’t going to continue any further. Paulina and I handed off most of our belongings and escorted by a few local youth, proceeded onwards. I should mention that the floor of the river is this black clay like sand. As a result the river is this chalky color with absolutely no visibility. You have no idea where you are placing your feet.

After we left Julita we were escorted through the river over boulders with raging currents, waist and chest deep in the water, trusting our guides that if we lounge and place our feet where they are pointing, we will land on a rock and not sink fully into the river. At times this worked, but at other times a moment’s hesitation was enough to make the lounge a few inches to short and to plunge us into the chilling waters. After passing a waterfall, and clambering over more of these rapids, we decided that we went far enough and began our return journey.

Later on in the season with the water level lower, the gorge is much easier to explore and from what I have heard, further on along it has fantastic slides carved into the rock by the force of the water. Slightly disappointed that we couldn’t make it that far, we were nevertheless happy to have gotten as far as we did, despite being soaked and frozen.

From Saklikent it was off to Oludeniz with a brief stop for a goat. Driving over 60kph along little narrow roads in the Turkish countryside Julita all of a sudden slammed on the breaks, stalling the car to a complete stop. All of this was because the little car that passed us in the opposite direction had a goat in the backseat that was sticking its head out of the window. It took some convincing to stop Julita from turning our car around to give chase so that she could have a picture of this unusual sight.

Now it’s time for a day of relaxation in Oludeniz with a boat cruise in store for tomorrow.