The mini bus to Koycegiz was 30 lira each and took about five hours. It was definitely the worst transport value we found since it cost more to sit in a less comfortable mini bus for less time than it had to sit in a big luxurious bus for more time. I didn’t really understand it, but that was just the way it was.
As I said before, Hanane had heard about the mud baths at Koycegiz and this had become the number one thing she wanted to do in Turkey. The mud baths are on the shores of Lake Koycegiz and there are a number of ways to get to them. Most people choose to go to Dalyan which is closer to the beautiful Mediterranean beaches and slightly more developed in it’s tourist infrastructure.
Don’t worry, this was catch and release! My wife has quick hands- don’t mess with her!
We had a few people recommend it to us, but something told me to go to the town of Koycegiz instead. Some people we met didn’t understand why we would want to go there at all, but most hadn’t even heard of it although that was possibly because I kept calling it KOY-SEE-GEEZ but the name is closer to KOY-SHEEZ.
Alison had told us there were two pensions there. One for backpackers and one for families. I wanted the one for families since I sort of hate being around backpackers. That might surprise you but the truth is I’m not a backpacker. I have a shoulder bag. I don’t travel to get drunk with other foreigners. I don’t travel to meet other travelers, though sometimes this is a nice thing. I don’t travel to get laid by easy English girls in foreign lands, though that used to be a benefit I enjoyed. I travel because I like to see new places and the people who live in them. I like to see what life is like in the places I go. I already know what life is like in backpacker hostels.
We chose to stay at the Fulya Pension and I recommend it in the highest possible way. For 40 lira we had an air conditioned room with a balcony, plenty of hot water, a big comfortable bed, tv, free bike use, help arranging a boat tour, delicious breakfasts, and plenty of privacy.
We wanted to swim and so we dropped our bags in our room, changed into our swim suits and took a couple of bikes to go find a great place to swim. Lake Koycegiz is incredibly gorgeous. The water is rich with minerals and so has a pale turquoise color that reminds me of glacial lakes in Alaska. As we biked around, I though to myself, “This is the real Turkey” because we passed kids on bikes, old guys coming down to the lake shore after work for a swim, friends sitting in the shady grass along the shore, and guys drinking beer on park benches (though these didn’t look like the bums in Union Square of Seattle.)
We rode past a kids carnival and a public swimming beach and down a dirt road surrounded by high cattails. I showed Hanane how to pull up the roots and eat them raw and they were as delicious as I remembered. We found our spot. We waded out through a little bit of mud to where the shores of the lake dropped off incredibly steeply. The water was very warm. Hanane was a little shy in her new bikini ( I heart Muslim Bikini Girls!!!!) so you won’t get to see any pictures of her but we had a wonderful time swimming there and only left when we looked up and saw a couple of strange folks sitting on the shore just staring at us non-stop. For a long time. It was disconcerting and so we went back to shore where I took a picture of the lookers and waved before we left. Now we can all look at them. Hanane says I’m an awful revenger. It’s true.
That evening we went into the town and found the opening ceremonies of a film festival with live music and plenty of booths and craft stalls. This wasn’t set up for tourists, it was for the locals. We had a fairly nice dinner of schnitzel and kifta for ten lira, we noticed a lot of German food in Koycegiz. We wandered down the shoreline in this beautiful town for strolling and came across a Turkish wedding. We joined the merry makers for a while but then we left because it was time for bed because the next day we were taking a boat tour and going to the Koycegiz mud baths.
This was a wonderful day from back on our first international trip together in 2010. This post is a bit of a mess with all the pictures, but it captures the day very well.
Even though we followed the good advice to go to Ephesus (called Efes in Turkey) late in the day to avoid the busloads of tourists from cruise ships, we still found it to have a population that may well have been in excess of what it held when it wasn’t a ruin.
Within the city there were an amazing number of statues that I am surprised have not been looted. Hanane said she thought they were all fakes. I didn’t want to believe her. Her reasoning was that things couldn’t be that old – my emotional response was that of course they could be.
The most surprising thing about Olympos is the huge volume of choice when it comes to places to stay. Since Thailand, I haven’t seen this many bungalows, backpackers, or pancake stands – perhaps the hardest part of coming to Olympos is picking where to stay.
After two very fun days there, we moved up the road to 
The nearby farms saw his success and they copied the model. Now, while I didn’t hear anyone say this overtly, there seems to be some bad blood between the farmers and Kadir these days – on the one hand, Kadir is the stranger in a valley filled with family – and on the other, people stole his business model and then – according to one source – when his property caught on fire while he was away – just let it burn and didn’t notify anyone until it was too late. Kadir says that when he arrived his tree houses, bungalows, bars, and even the trees were completely gone. I’m assuming that no one was here when it happened since Kadir said that nothing was saved.
We stayed in a deluxe bungalow facing a gorgeous rock face and the beautiful clear water stream. It was big, clean, had AC and heat, hot water and was comfortable. We found the included breakfast and dinner to be tasty and filling. All of this for about 25 Euro per night, is a steal and one of the best deals going in Turkey, if you ask me. If you want to go even cheaper – you can rough it in the treehouses or sleep in the dorms, but honestly – the lack of comfort and privacy wouldn’t be worth it for me. Still, the backpackers we spoke with who were doing that, loved it.
Camel Wrestling. Sounds dangerous. I didn’t know exactly what to expect when I saw it on Couchsurfing as a group activity for those near
The strange thing for me was just how much camel meat was actually consumed at this event which was in a way, honoring camels. And yeah, in case you are wondering, I got a camel sausage sandwich and it was delicious! Spicy, not as hairy as sheep sausage and was the perfect thing to watch the camels wrestle by. That and some raka.
I’ve had a fascination with Sufism since I first learned of it. Interestingly, I was reading the poems of Rumi, way before I ever knew what a Sufi was.
The dervish pictures in this post are from internet sources.
In Central Anatolia lies a land that looks like it comes from The Lord of the Rings- Cappadocia. Even the name has the ring of a fairy tale Kingdom.
Flash photos weren’t allowed and several guides told us not to take photos at all which was a bit extreme(they say the flash destroys the color of the old paintings). And in fact, everyone was doing it.
We exited feeling that we had both seen enough churches. While we didn’t have the time this visit to go to the 
Fishtanbul!
and even a submarine. Plenty of hands on exhibits and you can even schedule a boat ride and a submarine tour. (
Could there be a better family excursion than a trip up the waterway that divides two continents? You can make stops in Europe and Asia and visit the Marmara Sea and the Black Sea before coming home. Plenty of treats along the way like the special yogurt of Kamlica and the delicious hamsi (Black Sea Sardines) at the Anadolu Kavagi village at the top of the Bosporus just before the Black Sea. 
Along the way we stopped to drink tea and have breakfast. The location was pretty but not very good for those of us who hadn’t brought something to sit on! It was a cool ass place! Ha ha.
Finally reaching what seemed to be a peak of sorts, we started to gather wood for our weenie roast. Once again, the choice of spots wasn’t the greatest for those of us without pads to sit on, but since my Turkish is minimal I went with it, even though a more comfortable spot was not very far away with places for people to sit.
Santa Claus – He’s Not Who You Think He Is
In 325 A.D. He became the Bishop of Myra (Now Demre, Turkey) and was a part of the Council of Nicea who cobbled together the Holy Bible from a vast assortment of documents. He died December 6, 343 A.D. In fact, in many parts of Europe, December 6 is a day to give gifts and exchange presents.
After he died, he was made a saint and a tomb was built for him in Demre. The Church of St Nicholas was built over that tomb in the 6th Century. It is a ruin now, but still a very beautiful piece of Anatolian Byzantine architecture. Many of the mosaics and frescoes have survived. There is a tomb there, but the bones are in Bari.