Finally, Steve and I, are riding a bicycle... I've been begging for this for years.
Leaving Kas was really difficult, but what we heard about Olympos and Çıralı had us very
excited. Right from the start Çıralı surprised us in a way we were not quite expecting.
First thoughts, initial impressions it definitely has a very Bali vibe.
It's a lot of green and it's so
peaceful and I can imagine a lot of people being into yoga practicing here. We talked to a lot of
people and they said that they find a spiritual level here, it's easier to connect with the nature.
And also, because of this high yogi population, they're coming here for camping purposes, there's
a lot of cafes restaurants kind of tailored for their taste.
That spirituality that you see throughout Bali, kind of resonates here as well and it's been pretty cool to experience.
We never thought we'd see some place like this in Turkey.
If you can't go to south Asia, if it's
too far, or if the Corona still (has it closed), then probably this is the place for you to come visit.
So, this place really reminds me of south Asia at most, in this whole block. It feels like you're
in a nature, in this area. There are a lot of trees inside of the bar as well. The menu is
also tailored towards for more international people. Also, we just actually spoke with a travel
agent here. He said the reason why a lot of businesses here are similar to south Asia, is
the heavy population of campers and yogi people come in. Basically for their needs
and their expectations and what they like, are being shaped here with or without being aware of (it).
So, what are we doing tomorrow?
So, Gokce loves to go biking and our hotel offers free bikes,
and I haven't rode a bike in I don't know how many years, but we're going to go biking tomorrow morning!
Hayatim (my life), when was the last time you actually rode a bicycle? (Too damn long.
Let's see if you've forgotten.
Trying to relearn how to do this, let's get out and explore.
Our hotel actually provided all these bicycles. Its good for us to be able to quickly explore
around Çıralı and we're gonna actually, maybe ride over to Olympos, are you ready for that?
I'm a little bit nervous because there's no bike lanes here in Çıralı. Struggling a little... (okay)
The road ends here. Our hotel manager said it's all good if you just park it here, nobody will
take it, everybody in this village knows each other so nothing will happen.
All parked, see you soon!
With incredible nature and a bit of a southeast Asia vibe, Olympos is one of a few spots near Çıralı we were told we had to check out
Welcome to Olympos, normal entrance is 30 Turkish liras per person,
but again museum cards save the day and we got into Olympos for free.
Its another ancient Lycian city that became a Roman city as is the norm for this area.
It just feels like you're in a giant botanical garden and there's also ancient ruins from (the) Lycian (era).
Steve, what's over there?
A Lycian king tomb for the Lycian king Marcus Aurelius, not the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius.
The Lycians knew where to build their ancient cities, right?
We're here to see the mosaics, but we can't see them. Either they're buried or
these little red parts are considered as mosaics. (laughing) We can't see the mosaics help us.
All right, we made it through Çıralı to the Olympos side. There's actually no beach access
directly in Olympos, the only way for people from Olympus to get to the Çıralı beach area is to walk
through the ancient city or drive all the way around it takes about 30 minutes, so people just
wind up walking straight through this ancient city, pretty cool way to get to a beach, wouldn't you say?
I'm actually very upset, I came here with the hopes of seeing all those tree houses. In the past you
used to climb up the tree and there were houses, but over the course of the years they said the
demand increased (and) they couldn't allocate each tree to have a tree house. So, now the tree houses here
are just like bungalow houses. It is not as authentic as it was before and not to mention corona, they
said impacted this whole area drastically. It was getting much more lively, especially at night.
Its around 11 30 now, and look at the crowd now for tickets. Come early for sure.
So what are we doing Steve?
Walking back to Olympus, down to the beach, where it'll hopefully be a bit cooler.
How's it going Steve?
Okay I guess, getting the hang of it (you're fine).
Finally Steve and I are riding a bicycle. I've been begging for this for years...
okay... my left arm is not okay...
We won't have to amputate, trust me. (I know) Okay, hang on.
I did not listen to Steve, he told me to stop, I didn't stop.
As you can see, my hands.
My knee's fine, but my arm is not in the best place right now.
My friends and my cousin couldn't shut up about this place, so apparently the gas coming out of
these like little rocks there's a natural fire, but we have to rush right now before the sun sets, so let's go.
To get into Yanartaş, or Chimaera is nine liras per person, the museum card didn't help us
out this time. There's an ancient story around the Lycian time that Pegasus and the Chimaera fought
here and the fire is actually still a reminiscence of the Chimaera coming out from the ground.
Wear comfortable shoes when you're coming up to Chimaera or Yanartaş, its about a kilometer
up hill and it's all rocky and a little bit slippery.
And there are such cute kittens all over.
These last few hundred meters, definitely a challenge. They make you earn the gas and the fire.
Just like the Greeks (and the fire!) like the Greeks wanted. Up a hill, with beauty and fire.
My New York accent right there (laughing).
This is our lost stretch, we can do it, let's go. Full moon Steve.
I'm going to turn into a werewolf (laughing).
This is my first time coming here. These fires are flame from the natural gas coming underneath these rocks, which is so unbelievable.
These are the actual Chimaera flames, I guess I thought they'd
be a little bit bigger. There's a few bigger up the hill actually and you can smell the gas coming
straight up out of the ground. Somebody actually lit their cigarette here before, which is pretty
cool and of course only in Turkey.
It got chilly here, its nice that they uh put the fire on here.
Cigarettes, marshmallows you have it. There's a few big,
big flames and then there's a few smaller ones. Really really cool, unique experience
up in the top here of Çıralı, four or five kilometers outside of the main town area really
So, we made it to Adrasan, its about 30 minutes away from
Çıralı and Olympos and that's where all the Suluada boat tours are going out from
It's definitely a bit wavy here, just like Ölüdeniz, hopefully the waves die down, cause we
don't really want to get seasick again, Gok(ce) would be happy about that.
Yeah, I don't want to get sea sick.
How's the music?
I'm lucky that I didn't break it (her arm), except I don't know if I'm gonna be able to swim.
Unfortunately, I don't think we're gonna be swimming at this first stop. We just looked in and
there's a ton of garbage in the water.
The whole wind and waves are bringing the garbage in the entire water to this bay.
Apparently its our luck, it's usually never this wavy. We're gonna go into the water
and hopefully I'll feel better, ahh, I'm not feeling so well right now.
Honestly, our hotel told us not to do this boat tour
to Suluada, it's not worth it and coming here and seeing it in person,
Thailand a bit more like than the Maldives... to be quite honest, it's crowded now so you're
definitely not getting that tropical paradise you would expect from Instagram and YouTube.
(laughing) And Steve is drowning.
I'm not as good as Gokce at this, but because she only has one workable alarm, you're stuck with me today.
We just stopped at Crying Cave, there's water coming directly out of the top of the cave
you could actually drink that water it's fresh drinking water.
(laughing) After 25 years, I'm swimming with a noodle now.
We're actually almost back to where we started from, this is our last stop on this
tour but it's so funny, the water is calm so nice and it's so beautiful here.
It just made us feel like, why the heck did we leave in the first place today, I have no idea (laughing).
While 2020 didn't go exactly as we planned, we're just really thankful we got to explore more of
Gokce's home country, including Turkey's turquoise coast for the very first time.
Now, it's back to Istanbul for us.