As one would imagine our first full day at Oludeniz was spent on the beach enjoying the sunny weather and warm water. The water was a beautiful shade of blue and the beach surrounded by cliffs from which paragliders projected off of, to then soar high above the sun burnt tourists. Unfortunately the area was packed with other people and the beach itself was not all that marvelous.

So the plan was to get away from it all and hike a portion of the Lycian Way. World famous, it is described as an easy walk that hugs the Mediterranean Coast and allows for nightly accommodation among rural coastal villages. Sound idyllic doesn't it. Our original plan was to hike for 3 days along this route but was modified for the sake of our parents. As common with an independent travel lifestyle, plans get modified and sometimes outside of ones control.

Our first day of hiking started beautifully enough through pine forest and past outlooks from cliffs over the ocean and into tranquil bays. After about 2 1/2 hours of hiking the trail got washed out and the trail became indistinguishable. However we had been warned of this by other trekkers and so somewhat confidently we made our way down through the stony landslide. About an hour later we all gave up our pride and admitted to being thoroughly lost. Lets just say slightly stressful. Thankfully upon our backtracking we came upon other trekkers who were relaxing in a portion of the stream that we had been following and we were steered in the right direction. So about an hour later we find the beach and choose to seek the recommended accommodation at the Olive Garden, supposedly a 45 minute uphill hike from the beach.

Proceeding on, we hike for a hour up hill, despite seeing numerous other accommodation (most looking pretty dingy) we still do not find ours. So with Mike searching ahead, my parents and I take a seat to wait out the investigation. After about 15 - 20 minutes Mike is heard calling to us and we proceed down the dirt road that we had been following into the small town of Kabak. After a few steps it is realized that dad is no longer following, I turn around as my name is called to discover that dad is walking peg legged completely unable to bend his left knee. So with road side pick up from our tree house accommodation owner, that is how we decided to end our group hike on the Lycian way.

Actually it turned out to be a great thing that dad's old knee injury was reaggravated because it meant staying an extra day and night at the scenically located "tree house" (really like mini log cabins) accommodation. The Olive Garden had turned out to be a great recommendation as far as a place to stay because it provided amazing home cooked meals (and we were the only customers), with a location perched on a cliff overlooking an undeveloped portion of the Mediterranean coast. So with the free day the men choose to lounge while the women decided to hike the planned portion of the Lycian trail with a detour into Butterfly Valley (so we took a dolmus - mini bus- to the next town over with plans to hike back using the Lycian trial).

Another day turned into an adventure as we discover that our "trail" into Butterfly Valley is more like a treacherous scramble down the valley's vertical cliff walls. 4 portions of the "trail" actually became no longer a trail at all, as we had to rely on ropes provided to keep from falling off of the cliff entirely. And as our day started off adventurous, it ended the same way. Needless to say that our 2 hour hike back ended up being 31/2 due to multiple detours (read lost in that statement) and made it home just as the moon was coming up. Overall it was a lovely day due to the gorgeous scenery and the great mom/daughter time.

From October 14th the only highlight to mention is that after 3 days of convincing mom did adventure off to do paragliding at the beach of Oludeniz where we had previously visited and this is the day Andrea starts getting an eye infection. The rest of the day is spent traveling south along the coast to Kas.

The next day, due to Andrea's eye infection plans for scuba diving are changed into a day of kayaking over a sunken city and past more undeveloped coast villages in an ancient harbor. Easy enough since we all have been on numerous kayaking trip before - I guess I should have learned not to assume. Literally within 10 minutes it started raining and the wind picked up creating swells large enough to threaten tipping the kayaks (and I swear only sun when we had pushed off into the sea). Needless to say the views that we were supposed to see as we glided over the sunken city were obscured by the waves. Thankfully the treachery only lasted for about an hour so after a brief coffee break we had a really enjoyable second half of the kayak trip.

The 15th was spent visitin the Olympos ruins. The Olympos ruins are set along the Mediterranean coast with a beautiful non touristy pebble beach. These ruins are not really excavated so exploring them is fun as paths took us through forest with plants growing on, in and over most of the remains.

Then a 3 hour night hike brought us (excluding dad) to the slopes of Mt. Olymps with ~20-30 mystical flames spurting forth from the earth. It is still unknown as to what the combination of gases is that escapes from the earth and combusts upon contact with the air. For hundreds of years these flames have been burning and it is said that in ancient times coastal mariners were able to easily spot the flames at night.

October 3rd - 7th
Istanbul

October 8th
City of Selcuk & Ruins of Ephesus with a detour to Virgin Mary's house

October 9th
Hierapolis (Ruins from Roman City) and Pumakkale (Cotton Castle)

October 10th - 15th
Oludeniz, Lycian Way Hike, Olympos Ruins and Chimaera

October 17th - 21st
Cappadocia region

October 21st - 24th
Tokat and Amasya

October 25th - 26th
Amasya and Ankara

Turkey Country Summary