Day 11: Fethiye – Karakoy – Oludeniz
We woke up to a beautiful sunny morning in coastal Fethiye. A welcome change from the dingy quasi-sun we’ve been having for most of the trip indeed! We made a plan to take a hike around the peninsula over to the ghost town of Karakoy and on to Oludeniz, the beautiful blue lagoon, as the German couple we were talking to at breakfast had done the same route the previous day and recommended it. Our awesome hostel guy drew us a map and gave an additional explanation to go along with the Germans’ and so we set off at about 11AM.
The harbour was beautifully calm and clear and the shipyards are all full right now with the boats being refurbished for summertime, which will begin in about a month here. We had originally intended on doing a boat cruise for 4 days along the coast, but unfortunately, the season starts at the beginning of April. The boats are beautiful though and Leah and I have concluded that we should probably move to Turkey, buy a boat, open a cafe, and live the good life!
Our walk started with a hike up a giant hill at the first turn the map showed us. We had some confusion once we reached the top of the hill as we were supposed to hang a left onto a trail, which is really not clearly marked. We flagged down a passing car and got some directions from a kind Turkish man. Unfortunately in Turkish however, so we were still unsure about whether we were on the right route or not. We decided we were headed in roughly the right direction though and continued on our way up a dirt road through the forest. Luckily, we came across a sign post by a field of goats not too far up the road that indicated Karakoy was just 4km ahead. Winning!
The day was quite hot so we’d soon stripped off our layers and rolled up sleeves. We were treated to some beautiful views of the Mediterranean along the way and a few turtle friends crossing the road too. How they move that quickly with such limited leg movement is quite incredible. We also ran into some goat friends along the way. There seem to be goats and sheep everywhere in Turkey, roaming randomly about, along sides of roads, highways, in forests, in fields, in people’s yards…it seems unclear about who is in charge of these creatures, but they are obviously tagged on their ears. It remains a mystery.
So eventually we reached the end of the road and with it a sign that indicated that Karakoy was a further 5km along the road….say what?! How had we walked further and yet gained an additional km to go? Clearly, despite the expert directions, we had taken a wrong turn somewhere along the road. We decided to press on, having come so far already, and to skiP forward through several more minutes of hot sweaty walking, we did eventually end up at Karakoy. We spotted the ghost town on the hill and took up with a puppy friend along the road. This big sandy blonde dog decided to befriend us, although at first we weren’t sure if he was friendly or quite scary. He ended up being playful and friendly and accompanied us down the road towards the ghost town where he kept us safe from another, smaller, barking/growling dog. Our new friend carried on with us up into the ruins at Karakoy, which have to be one of my favourites so far. How incredibly unique and beautiful and still very much intact, these ruins dates from 16th/17th century. They certainly have an eerie feeling about them and you can freely crawl around them exploring. Definitely glad we didn’t give it a miss. Our puppy friend abandoned us as we left the ruins, even though I had bribed him with a piece of cookie.
At this point, it was already about 2pm and we still had another 6km (uphill partly!) to get to Oludeniz, so despite the helpful directions of a French speaker, we decided to hop on the dolmus to get to Oludeniz. This beach area is STUNNING. The water iis an incredible shade of blue that changes in a gradient as the water gets deeper. We plopped our butts down and proceeded to have a wee picnic until clouds started to roll in and we went to catch the dolmus back into town.
Upon returning to town, we located some dinner at Arty’s Fish and Chips which is near the beach in Fethiye. I had a fish burger, which was delicious! There’s also free WiFi there and an awesome clean bathroom. Maybe not Turkish food, but certainly tasty and fresh. With the sun setting, we headed back to Fethiye Guesthouse to turn in for the night. We were telling our hosts about our day and the one was surprised to hear I was vegetarian. “But you look meaty!” he said, much to our laughter. Still not sure whether to take that as a compliment or not…
tRNscontinental 