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Fethiye: The Beauty Of The Absent Beast
The haunting sound of the call to prayer drifts over the tiled rooftops and up the hillside, echoing off walls and bringing an essence to the pre-sunrise shadows of morning. Other mosques join the chorus, the lingering tones of numerous muezzins funnelling out across the water and upwards through the streets, but apart from the call, all is calmness and serenity. Flags on masts hang limply in the breezeless dawn, rigging silent and still, a single boatman manoeuvres a small craft out through the moored yachts leaving his gentle wake to lap the wooden jetties, the sound of the motor simply amplifying the sense of peace. As he moves further…
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Travel Stories: Under Pressure In Turkey
As I switched on the ignition, dashboard warning lights, instead of fading out after a couple of seconds, stayed shining and winking like an aeroplane cockpit. The first of these said flat tyre. “Not problem, not problem”, said the car hire guy, waving his hands dismissively and pointing me towards the vehicle exit. Even as I walked around studying the four tyres, each with no obvious sign of defect, he continued to bark the same phrase. “Not problem, not problem”. Hire car boss man came over to intervene, helpfully grabbing Google translate on his mobile and pointing to the word “tyre”. I held my palms upwards to show the international…
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The Road To Alanya
Our second road trip from Side takes us further along the D400 coast road to what will most likely be our most easterly destination, the large town of Alanya. Alanya is just over 60 kilometres from Side, and like our previous Turquoise Coast drives along the D400, the views of the beautiful blue Mediterranean are fantastic. But the drive is noteworthy for another reason too; most of the second half of the journey takes us through an incredible run of gigantic resort hotels. These places are mind boggling, colossal hulking buildings shoulder to shoulder for mile upon mile; for us, the unacceptable face of mass tourism. Their appearance ranges from mock…
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From Cirali To Side: Phase 2 Begins
Something different is stirring in Cirali tonight. Restaurant staff are standing in the lane looking at the sky, exchanging opinions. Children chatter excitedly. Tables and chairs are moved indoors, perspex partitions manoeuvred into place, logs thrown on to fires. Something is definitely stirring. Our final three days in Cirali have been punctuated with thunder storms, but it is clear that tonight’s storm, now looming in jet black clouds over the Taurus Mountains, is causing an extra stir amongst the villagers. They obviously know more than we do. What follows is a spectacular display of sheet and fork lightning, electric blue and stark white, from the flicker of a welder’s torch…
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Kas: Sunken Cities, Sarcophagi…And Santa
Well, the first news is, we’re not going home. Our tour of south west Turkey is giving us so much enjoyment that the thought of leaving this glorious place, and weather, and returning to quarantine and maybe lockdown as the short days of the English winter descend, has lost its appeal. If it ever had any. So we’ve changed our flights and will now be in Turkey for another seven weeks, not returning to the UK until 1st December. We know the weather here will cool down – summer is over, after all – and there may be COVID related changes here too, but we’ve decided it’s worth the risks…
