We're lucky we left our southwest Turkey road trip open-ended. Kas was originally supposed to
be just three days, but quickly turned into a whole week and there were five reasons we almost didn't
want to leave Kas at all.
First up are the ancient cities of Kekova and Kalekoy and the best way to
get there is by boat. There are plenty of options out of Kas, but we're glad we picked Bermuda Boat.
There are many beautiful islands along the coast here in this part of the Antalya region
that are only accessible by doing a boat tour just like this one and there's going
to be about seven or eight stops, but this boat tour is about eight hours for 150 liras
and that includes lunch and even snacks later on.
So, as part of our boat tour there is Kekova island, which we just visited, now Kalekoy
which we're currently on. We have about an hour to explore and it's called Kalekoy because Kale is castle,
Koy is village and there's a castle right at the top of this village. So, normally it's 14
Turkish liras, but thanks to the museum pass that Gokce got us, free entrance.
He said the whole village is
actually family together. They make money during the summer and spend it in the winter because
nobody comes here during the winter, or not as many people come here. We made it up here
on the top of the castle. The scenery is so worth it it's so beautiful here.
So, there's actually a few spots in Kalekoy that you can actually stay over.
The cool thing about staying over here though, is you can actually access the kayaks and kayak
over the sunken city as opposed to passing by in a boat. The boats that (are) this size can't go over it.
We stopped by at Aquarium bay and then Camlic bay. They actually served us tea
and some cookies which was very nice, so far this was one of the best tours that I've ever been to.
If you want to spend more than an hour at Kalekoy and have a car, you can drive out to
nearby Ucagiz and rent a private boat for a few hours or even a whole day.
We just stopped by the castle village and this is our second time here this week.
We beat the crowds this time from the boats from Kas.
On the private boat tour we're of course given a little bit more free range as to
how much time we could spend here. We made it up to the top of the castle. The scenery up there is
amazing you can see kind of where the sunken city starts and the bay begins.
So, we had a quick bite at the
I Am Here Cafe, it has an amazing scenic lookout some really unique seating and the ice
cream is actually about seven lira per scoop, so you know, not terrible for the area
This time we managed to come to the other side of the island and we have one of the king's tombs here
as well and this time it's right in water which is so cool
because we've never seen one in the water before.
We're actually very close to the sunken city. The actual like sunken part, that you can see from here.
I don't know if the camera is doing the justice. (The) color changes and we can still see the stones
here, right under the water and the earthquakes actually...
The earthquakes sunk it into the water.
We came to this bay area and even though you can't dive in at where the whole sunken city
area is, you can actually see some parts of the city here so now we're gonna just enjoy the water.
Kas also has some of the best diving spots in all of Turkey. We wound up sticking around
a whole extra day for my first ever scuba diving experience.
We are only two students, it's so cool
you get like a VIP service with everyone is assigned to one instructor. This is going to be
Steve's first experience. I'm very excited for him, but I'm also very excited for myself because
its been over 10 years since last time I did it. I actually have two stars!
My name is Umut. I've been diving the last 21 years and last six years as a professional. I'll explain
just the base of the scuba diving. Inside the tanks there's an air, not oxygen and this is the
most quality air you have ever breathed before, okay. We are using the signing
under the water with our hands, this is the global one.
You look very nice.
That was amazing... go backwards.
So, I think I did halfway decent for my first time diving it was a
little bit hard to remember to like breathe at the same time as they're sitting you down on
a rock or looking at fish.
You could actually swim while waiting to dive again if you want
to dive again, and I'm gonna go join Gok(ce) in the water now because you know she's a little fish.
We got our certifications here, they are not legal documents. We actually have
to come back for three days in a row, to get actual training and actual certifications here.
If relaxing on a beach is more your style, Kas has two famous spots nearby.
One of them even actually has sand dunes, looking like it's straight out of a desert.
So, Kaputas beach is a public beach here, about 25 minutes outside Kas.
There's free entrance, (and) it opens I think at 8.
There are 186 steps to go all the way down to the beach and of course all the
way up the water is though so worthy to come here.
So what makes Kaputas beach kind of so famous,
is its at the foot of a canyon along with its beautiful turquoise water.
There is a cold water running under the ground, the water is actually colder
compared to the other beach parts of Turkey.
It's super wavy, but because of the location of this beach right by the canyon, it's always wavy here.
The sand is so soft and so white. it's so beautiful here.
Now a lot more people are coming and it's already 9:30, so
it pays to be the early bird and it's a beautiful beach.
I mean it really even more than Canakkale region, seems like a Great Ocean Road it's so beautiful here.
It was actually 40 liras for two people to get into Patara, because
the beach is actually within an ancient city, but we got in for free because we have museum cards.
It took us for about an hour to drive here from Kas, we highly suggest you to come here in the
early morning if you want to have some calm and nice water, in the afternoon the wind gets crazy!
Who needs to go to Dubai, when you could just come right here to Turkey, on the southwest coast
at Patara beach and see sand dunes yourself.
Well my mask is here and Steve didn't fly away,
so we're in a good place but it's so crowded here, the sunset is absolutely gorgeous.
Sun successfully set, on another day here in Kas, Turkey.
We have a lot more fun in store for tomorrow.
After spending a whole day at a beach, or on a boat it was nice to be able to
lazily walk around Kas' marina area.
Asides from the marina and the beautiful restaurants right on the water,
there are also side streets in Kas and they have so many beautiful, little boutique shops
and restaurants, cafes, you can name it.
We came to Smiley's tonight and as we were kind of looking
at the menu, the boat captain came up to us and pointed out that this was the best fish restaurant
that you could come to when you're here in Kas. It's right on the marina so we got lagos which is
the special fish here in Kas. I'm really excited to see how good this fish is gonna taste.
So they decided to serve us some extra meze and we have atom and some eggplant paste I guess here.
The atom is very dangerous because of the high level of red pepper it has, but Steve is used to it by now.
Oh my god ,it's so good. I grew up not liking fish at all, but now I'm obsessed.
And now, I understand good fish and this is good fish.
What do you want? All right.
Kas has a bunch of hotel options near the marina, but just outside the city center we wanted to try out
something a little different a first for either of us .
Okay, we have an uninvited friend on our tent.
She's gonna hang out with us for the night I think. all right friend, see you in a little bit.
Such an amazing experience you're gonna get. (I know) I feel like we're gonna love it so much.
Gokce saved the day.
I got the shampoo, I got the towels,
now it's the shower time (and where the showers Gok?) right over there, at the corner.
So this is my first ever glamping experience and I won't lie, I was a little bit nervous when we
booked this, because I'm from New York City, I've really never done camping before.
I mean I've never done camping before either, so this was my first experience as well, even though I didn't
grow up in a big city, but we really wanted to try this because when you're coming to Kas you have
to look for all the activities. There's so much to do we actually were worried a little bit because
especially Steve has sleeping trouble without an air conditioner, but you were fine.
Very relaxed, yeah.
I mean if you don't want to do glamping there are also other options here, there are stone houses,
there are bungalow houses, and there's a really cute house right behind us, it's like a hobbiton house.
I really liked it a lot.
The bungalow and the stone houses have their own bathroom facilities though,
so if you want to spend a little bit more you get your own private bathroom. It's about seven or
eight minutes outside of the Kas city center, so you're probably gonna have to drive back in if you
have a car, or find another way of transportation. I'm sure the owners could help you out
We had an amazing time glamping and in Kas overall,
a week barely felt like enough time and we cannot wait to return again... someday.
Finally Steve and I are riding a bicycle. I've been begging for this for years.