Day 140: Tuesday 5 August – Kaya Köyü and The Beach At Oludeniz, by Ken

I had been battling with Vodafone for nearly two months after an agreed discount to our home internet service by virtue of me having a Vodafone mobile disappeared. Palavi and then Nigel got on the case saying they would fix it. Yesterday evening I received by email the monthly bill from Vodafone based on the charge without discount plus a $10 late payment fee!

This morning I emailed Russell Stanners, Vodafone NZ’s CEO, asking if he could intervene. Two hours later Valerie from Vodafone called me, apologised for the hassle I’d experienced and said a member of her staff would sort it and email me in the morning. Good for Russell and Vodafone, if only I could get the same level of reponse from TomTom.

We were on the road in Smarty well before 8:30 heading for the town of Kaya Köyü. In a deal brokered by the British in 1922 to resolve tensions following the civil war between the Greek and Turkish population in that part of Turkey 1,200,000 Greek Christians were sent to Greece while 400,000 Turkish Muslims were moved to Turkey from Greece. The whole population of Kaya Köyü left either voluntarily, or were evicted. Attempts to settle the Greek Muslims in Kaya Köyü failed because they were farmers and needed land. Consequently, the town of 2,000 houses and a number of churches and schools became a ghost town. The straw and mud roofs of the houses gradually deteriorated and, following an earthquake in 1957, the government gave permission for the local farmers to use timber from the houses for reconstruction.

We came across the town almost by accident seeing the remains of houses on a hillside overlooking a few houses and stalls aimed at tourists. A stallholder told us we were the first to arrive and gave us each a pin with a small dolphin and the Turkish eye for good luck. Jane spotted some brightly coloured purses covered in small beads, all colours of the rainbow were represented and then some. The woman wanted 35 lira, Jane haggled and started to walk away when the woman wouldn’t accept 25. That clinched the deal and a “free” key ring was thrown in. Next Jane spotted Turkish pants, unlike their Moroccan counterparts that she invested heavily in two years ago, the trousers on sale were being worn by a number of the local women. 15 lira got Jane a pair of trousers.

Kaya Koyu

Jane Haggling

Hagglee

We walked up the cobbled streets of the town, it was an eerie sight with tightly packed roofless houses, most with cisterns for collecting rainwater. It must have been a hive of activity less than 100 years ago, now the only signs of life were tourists. In some houses we could see the remnants of blue paint on the walls. The fireplaces in most houses were on the first floor surmounted by squat rectangular chimneys with a vent in each face. We wondered whether that meant they kept their animals on the ground floor. We walked past a large church which was closed for restoration work and then up to the top of the village where we paused for a while to drink water and cool off.

Here's some shots of the abandoned town:

Two tour buses arrived as we made our way back down and the place soon filled with people and their guides. We stopped at a restaurant above the stall where Jane had bought her purse and trousers for water and çay (Turkish tea). Jane triend to befriend a flock of nearby geese that promptly went for her.

Morning Tea 

We headed back down to Ölüdeniz, it was still early and the town was far less busy than yesterday. We parked in the shade of a tree in the Ölüdeniz Nature Park and walked a short distance to the beach, a wide and long strip of sandy shingle, paid for two loungers and an umbrella and settled down for the rest of the day. We read and took the occasional dip to cool off. I was easily distracted and spent a while watching a large motor launch meander slowly off shore for quite a while before picking a spot to drop anchor. 

Beach, Oludeniz With Jane Striding Purposefully

Jane Cooling Off, Oludeniz

Deciding Where To Park

Ölüdeniz is a world class paragliding spot with a take-off spot 2,000 metres up in the hills behind the beach. The sky was busy with paragliders, many of which were tandem. I noticed there were eight paragliders flying in formation, one above the other. I had never seen anything like that before and thought it must be extremely difficult, not to mention dangerous, as the canopy would mask a pilot’s view of what was going on above. I was mesmorised by the sight and watched the group slowly descend flying in a wide arc. Then, they suddenly broke formation, went their separate ways and prepared for landing.

Paragliders Flying In Formation

Turning

Tandem Paraglider

At lunch time we walked into town and picked a place on the front serving a mix of English and Turkish dishes. There were a lot of English voices and burgers and fries were being consumed. We both chose a traditional Turkish dish of chicken breast stuffed with cheese and vegetables in a chilli and tomato sauce accompanied by salad and rice. As we waited for our food to arrive there was occasional excitement as tandem paragliders landed on the pavement outside opposite a booth advertising paragliding flights. After lunch Jane asked how I felt about ordering another Efes while she went for a poddle around the town. It wasn’t too reluctant.

Lunch

Jane reappeared much earlier than arranged, well before my Efes was finished. She was disappointed that most of the places in town were restaurants, not the clothes and jewelry places she gets so much enjoyment from. While she was gone I thought a tandem paragliding flight would make a good present for my birthday next week. We visited the booth next door where a man was haggling with the manager, unsuccessfully, over the price of a flight. I was quoted a price in British pounds, there were enough in Myrtle’s safe. Next question was how many stone was I, about 100 kilos was my best guess. “More or less than 100” was the next question, ‘Probably more”, I speculated. Then I was told 100 kilos was the limit. In hope, I asked if he had scales and he walked me around the corner to another booth. I was astonished, I was 106 kilos, my diet of Mythos and then Efes, more food than I would eat at home, wine in the evening and the occasional ouzo or raki, combined with not a lot of exercise meant I had put on weight! There’s just no justice! On our way back to the booth, and Jane, the manager tried without much conviction to sell me a day trip on a boat with a water slide as equivalent to paragliding, or a quad bike ride through mud and rivers would be even better. I declined saying I would be back when I had lost weight.

We spent the afternoon on the beach and then headed back to Mabel. We had noticed earlier in the day an elderly German registered motorhome parked nearby. There was a small Australian flag stuck on the back and a New Zealand flag on the front. As we passed by two young men were standing under the awning. They were Jamie and Adam from Christchurc, although Adam had been working in Australia since he graduated as a structural engineer and Jamie was working in Wellington as a courier driver before he set off on his OE. The Australian representation was from Reneė from just north of Sydney. Adam and Reneé had travelled through South America and Morocco before meeting Jamie in Germany where they decided to buy a campervan and travel together.

Jane spotted a couple of women dressed in tangerine bridesmaids dresses when she visited reception to enquire about the laundry she had left there earlier in the day. Jane came back saying that had prompted a blank look but they would look into it and get housekeeping to bring it over. It sounded very much like our unfortunate experience in Fes when the man at reception thought our laundry was a gift and distributed it amongst his mates. While most was returned, I never did get my best shorts back. I went to investigate the wedding, there were couples in the bar area, speaking English with a northern accent. Men in white shirts were wearing tangerine coloured buttonholes. Tables were being laid for a reception.

I reported back to Jane there was indeed a wedding and we returned to the bar so Jane could watch. Unfortunately, she couldn’t as the ceremony was being held some way away, but sound was being broadcast in the bar. How strange, but Jane was able to hear at least some of it. Later we could hear clearly the amplified speeches while sitting under Mabel’s awning. Lots of ribald laughter, hooting and bawling. Close your eyes and you could imagine you were in the bar of Haslingden cricket club after a match.

Later in the evening Jamie, Adam and Reneé came to join us and talk about our respective travels. They were doing a not dissimilar circuit to us, but in the opposite direction. They had travelled through Poland, Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria to reach Turkey where they had started in Istanbul and were doing a clockwise loop via Cappadocia and Kaş. That enabled us to share experiences and we got some good tips for Cappadocia and a recommendation for a camping ground they had found in the centre of Istanbul. They had got their DGS card for the tolls by stopping at a toll plaza, dodging traffic and going into an office (Ptt?). However, they had been told subsequently there is no means of checking whether you have paid toll charges when you leave the country.

Adam's, Renee's and Jamie's Motorhome (Note Cheese Under Front Wheel)

We heard they had stayed at a particularly poor camping ground where they had filled their water tank. Later Reneé was having a shower and thought there was something strange with the water. It turned out to be salt water and they had a tank full of it!

Over a bottle of wine we learnt they had spent the previous evening gazing enviously at Mabel and our gear set up outside. As we pointed out, we couldn’t have afforded what they had at their age. They had bought theirs in Germany under a buy-back deal that included insurance cover. They had a few problems with their camper including a spare wheel that was the wrong size and were stranded temporarily in Turkey when a tire blew out. However, passing motorists had stopped to help, removing the punctured wheel and driving back the way they had come to have a new tire fitted. Unlike us with our purpose made ‘cheeses’ to level Mabel, they had picked up a couple of concrete blocks for the same purpose. They were also cramped for storage having to stow their outdoor gear inside when on the move. They were surprised we didn’t have air conditioning, they were better off than us in that regard with a fan by the bed over the cab to keep Adam and Reneé cool and another in the back for James.

We were still deep in conversation when Reneé looked at her watch. It was 1:15, we decided to call it a night.