After our sailing trip we had five nights left on the Turkish coast before heading back to Istanbul. We picked up our rental car and decided to head for three nights to Patara, a tiny little town known for its ruins and 18 km beach. Apparently if you Google "the best beach on the Mediterranean", Patara comes up as number one. It is pretty stunning with amazing sand dunes but not sure this one makes the top of my list. The surf and wind were pretty intense which made for one too many take-downs. But it was still very beautiful.
We enjoyed a few too many Turkish pancakes from this woman who had her own little ottoman-style cafe on the main road in town. I use the word "road" lightly as Patara is only home to about 900 people. The sweet and savory pancakes were whipped up from scratch and were super tasty - somewhere between a thin-crust pizza and crunchy crepe.
Our rental car was a lemon! Our first hiccup was a flat tire. We drove from the beach to town (five minutes) and when we got out of the car a Turkish man was laughing and pointing at us. Apparently flat tires are funny in Turkey? Luckily we had a spare which covered us for the rest of the trip. The air conditioner also leaked - more like a running tap on our feet - but hey we still got from A to B.
Our Hotel Patara Viewpoint was great. Nice pool and great views of the sea and the valley. Although our host wasn't the most colorful (Bueller, Bueller) you couldn't help but laugh at his monotone attempts at being a generous host. It gave the place a different kind of charm.
The view from our room.
The day we arrived in Patara was my birthday. Ahead of time Josh organized for fresh flowers and Turkish delight (famous sweet in Turkey) in our room. This completely surprised me! Very thoughtful.
CIRALI
We made sure to stop for a brief two night stay in Cirali - another great recommendation from the Goehrings. Cirali is a really tiny town nestled in the mountains, and on the sea - right beside Olympos home to the Greek Gods. We stayed at Anatolia Resort, which we quickly realized should have been labelled Anatolia's Farm House. There were literally a hundred roosters and goose-looking-things who were kind enough to get us up at the crack of dawn. Follow that up with the call to prayer from a mosque situated 50 meters away and we definitely had a couple of full days in Cirali! Funny, they neglected to mention all of this on their website. Made for a couple laughs and Cirali still proved to be one of our favorite stops.
Anatolia's lent out bikes to their guests. Mine was meant for an eight year old and Josh's probably even younger but they were great to take around town and explore. In the photo you can see Anatolia's on the left and the mosque on the right.
The beach in Cirali with Olympos mountain in the background. Cirali was even smaller than Patara (about 300 residents) which made for a couple quiet naps on the beach.
From this point we did about a 30 minute walk through the ruins of Olympos. Then headed back to the beach for some sun.
As per usual we adopted a cat. We were hanging on the beach and heard a cat crying. Soon enough he was cuddling with us on our towels. We named him Pringles (he loved our Pringles chips).
On our last morning we hiked a rocky mountainside above Cirali village to check out Chimaera which is a fascinating natural phenomenon - about a dozen flames burning from a mass of rock with no apparent fuel to sustain them. Apparently the flames have been venting from the earth for thousands of years.
Last stop in Turkey, Istanbul (Round 2). On the list: The Bazaar, hookah, and rain???
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Location:Patara and Cirali, Turkey
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