Turkey 4 - So Much Sun!

We've been here for over two weeks now and the weather is fantastic. Every day is sunny with a high in the upper twenties and lounging on the beach is becoming dangerously addictive. It's just the right temperature to sit comfortably without getting too hot or too cold. Elise really does love the beach environment and we've made a point of going as frequently as possible. Since our apartment is about eight blocks from a 10-kilometre long pebble beach, frequent visits are easy to do. The only problem with all this sunny weather is the best cliff-bands in the area face due south and bake in the midday sun. For this reason, we've been confined to a north-facing cliff along with every other climber from across the world that has come to visit. Busy days...

We've done a bit of sightseeing and have enjoyed socializing with many friends from Canada. In particular, we've spent some time with Dale and Nancy Robothan from Canmore, who have a son, Isaac, who is the same age as Elise. She really looked forward to his arrival and drew a picture for him.

Pictures from the week:

We visited another ancient coastal city in ruins, Phaselis. It had a wonderful sandy beach in a cove. Elise and I snorkelled and saw a fantastic assortment of fish. A highlight was a small starfish, which we brought back to shore and put in a bucket of seawater for inspection. I exclaimed with great authority that the starfish was dead. Elise disagreed and then, lo and behold, the starfish started moving around in the bottom of the bucket. Elise has reminded me about 10 times now how "she was right and I was wrong" when it came to the state of the starfish. She seems quite pleased about this and continues to lord it over me.






Flowers on an ancient wall in the ruins of Phaselis.


Pam and Elise sit and ponder the past in the ruins of the amphitheatre.


On another day, Elise and Pam made a flower lei out using blossoms from the garden out front. It was very pretty and we all took turns wearing it.


We visited a city park in Antalya called Duden Selalesi (falls). It was quite a bit nicer than I was expecting and Elise had a wonderful time exploring all the tunnels behind the falls.




Finally, we spent an evening hiking to the Chimeara, a coastal area on the side of Mount Olympos where methane gas leaks out of the Earth's crust. When the gas reaches the air, it ignites creating numerous seeps or flames that creep out of cracks in the stone slabs. We hiked up late in the afternoon and stayed until after dark. Turkish legend has it that this is the origin of the Olympic flame. It was a memorable night.

View down the slabs toward the sea.


Crowds at the slab.


Elise posing beside some flames.




Resting before the hike back down.


A view of the Antalya waterfront with some impending looking storm clouds. This shot was taken from a beach just down the coast that we visited one evening.


We are comfortably settled into our apartment now. Unfortunately, one of Elise's little friends brought her a cold. Pam and I are hoping we escape the illness. At least we are all resting well now. Until next time!