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| Fethiye and the Lycian Way |
When leaving Olimpos to get to Fethiye, we traveled along the coastline following a very ancient path known as the Lycian Way. It is actually, from what I here a pretty cool trekking trip that would take 5 days, and it would end in Fethiye. However, we couldn't do it since we didn't have that kind of time. We traveled by bus instead. The island you see below is actually the Greek island of Megiste.
We got there late in the evening, and Kristina wasn't feeling good. It was a mixture of headache, dizziness, and homesick (missing the man of her dreams). It was too bad. Once we got to where we stayed, Ideal Pension, the rest of us decided to go out, see the town at night, and to get some food. We were fortunate enough to find an open fish market, where we could by are fish directly, and then give it to a restaurant that would cook it for us. It was actually quite convenient. Vilena got a small fish, and Lessa and I shared a medium sized Sea Bass. The meal was "çok guzel" since they gave us fish sauce that blew tarter sauce out of the water. It enhanced the taste of the Sea Bass, and I was once again in fish heaven. Apparently, we should have bought our fish directly though from the boats that were docked in the harbor because the market buys it from them, so they get a take in the profits, which increases the costs for the consumer. If only we knew to cut out the middle man...That night we sat down with a couple of people from all over. There were surprisingly a couple of Americans and Canadians that were staying in our Pension. American's are not the biggest tourist population in Turkiye, especially not around Fethiye. Turkiye gets actually more tourists from Germany, and Russia. Fethiye however is a tourist haven for the British. I have no idea but everything in Fethiye seems to be catered to the Britts. I have seen so many Fish and Chips restaurants that it started to creep me out that I was having trouble finding a place where I could enjoy a good kebab.
The next day, Lessa, Vilena, and myself went walking around, and we found a hilltop to roost on to take some great pictures of the city below. The bay area is naturally protected by outside weather interferences making it a very nice vacation spot. The outer bay area has 11 or so islands. We could have seen them but we decided to go on a different boat cruise in Ölüdeniz that took us throughout the bay area there and allowed us to see St. Nicholas island. Fethiye has quite a bit to offer however. Its nightlife is new to the scene but, from what I have heard, is very popular. It hosts all the comforts of small western towns and plus some additional comforts only found in Turkiye. I actually fell in love with the area because it was very similar to Antalya in matters of how mountains run along the ocean, and how there is a lot of history behind the areas settlement. It was first founded during around 450BC as a Lycian colony. Lycia is the area of Anatolia that forms the peninsula in modern day Southern Turkiye. It was later conquered and added to by the Romans. Then came Arabic invaders, then the Seljucks, the Crusaders, and finally the Ottomans.
Lycian burial tomb. Someone important was obviously buried here...if he requested this in a will then I think he over exaggerated his own importance. Honestly, people who ask for their own memorials...
There's me going somewhere that was out of bounds. It was, however, just another lonely tomb.
After we finished with the hill we continued to walk around and we found a lot of areas to further experience and explore. For instance, there was one area of town where there was a lot of shopping outlets. The girls then only had one thing in mind. They went shopping, and I scoped out the place in search of any good deals. This little town however is still pricy at first. I say at first though because you can always haggle with the shop owners for a much lower price. Needless to say though I got bored, and went back to the pansiyon where I enjoyed tea with the owner and set up a cruise for us the next morning and paragliding for me the following day. Sweet!The cruise we were on was a nice choice by me for an all day activity. Basically it consisted of cruising to see the Blue Cave, swimming and laying out at Gemile Beach, seeing the Lagoon, and hiking around St. Nicholas' Island. It was a fun time. I almost went waterskiing actually but they were offering water skiing with out a proper slalom ski. They only had a pair of skis meant and the one I could slalom on was in horrible shape. Dad, you spoiled me with an awesome ski and now I have trouble accepting anything less.
Once again the water was extremely clear and clean, and it was a pleasure to swim in. A little on the cold side, it didn't take long to get used to it. I enjoyed it immensely. Unfortunately, Vilena was the only one willing to join me more then half the time. Everyone one else on the cruise were older tourists coming to see the sights, and the few that were my age decided not to swim. I tried to inviting. I invited others in, and I was trying to show how much fun it is to dunk someone (Vilena) but no one hardly came in so I swam by myself most of the time. 
St. Nicholas' Island was a very small Island in the Lagoon that surprisingly had a lot to offer in the ways of ruins. A lot of it was kept in tact very well, and the entire island was covered with them. I was pissed that we had so little time there because the guys running the tour screwed up majorly in leaving on time. St. Nicholas' Church was very much still intact besides the roof. Actually this is where the actual St. Nicholas lived for some time to give away his immense fortune to help others. 
Overall, it was a fun little getaway. I enjoyed it immensely. I just wished however that when I was exiting the van when we arrived back at the Pension, that I checked my bag for my camera. I don't know how it happened, but somebody reached in my bag and snatched my camera. I can't even fathom who did it! The bag was next to me the entire time, and the people I was sitting next to did not seem like the type to steal due to the severe hypocrisy. The couple I was sitting next to were both obviously culturally conservative. The woman was fully covered, the man hardly spoke a word to any westerner, and the man hardly ever let the woman out of her sight. I even figured before hand that there was no chance that these people would steal. The only other alternative would be is if someone working on the cruise grabbed it when I wasn't looking while paying the bus driver. But the guy would have had only ten seconds to nab it and the couple I was sitting next to would have seen it! I know that when I was on the bus that I had it, but when I left the bus it was gone (and so was the bus). I was very upset about the whole thing. I didn't care as much for the camera as I did for the memory card. I had over 400 pictures on it! Those preserved memories of mine were worth more then my bloody Canon Power Shot! It gets me incredibly angry when I think about it. Who in the hell would steal my camera. The people in the bus were obviously well enough off to not be forced to steal, so why in the hell take my memories?!I was upset the entire night, and entire next day. There was however one exception to this...
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