On the 14th of August we drove about 1 hour from Olympos to Demre where our sail boat was waiting for us to depart on a 4 day cruise of the Aegean Sea. We departed straight away to for the Sunken City and then to Simena Castle where we anchored for lunch and sightseeing. We were transferred to land to climb up the top to Simena Castle where we saw the amazing views of the bay and islands.
Our cabin on the boat
The Sunken City
The view from Simena Castle
That night we pulled up in Gokkaya Bay for snorkelling, dinner and sleeping under the stars Our dinner was home caught fish, cooked on the boats open barbecue with salad and pasta
Dinner cooking on the boats bbq
yummy!
The following day we pulled up to Yaglica Bay for snorkelling and breakfast, followed by cruising to Kas harbour for lunch. Kas is a beautiful little town featuring many beach bar / resorts where you dive straight in from the cliffs and enjoy the refreshing sea water. The offer a lot of scuba diving here, especially around the plane wrecks and because it was so cheap we decided to give it a go and give our previous diving experiences a refresher.
Kas
Although we didn't see much it was still really fun to be under water scuba diving and getting the feeling again. Afterwards our boat picked us up and we headed to Aquarium Bay for the night where we had meatballs and salad for dinner.
That night the boat started sailing at 4am towards Butterfly Valley. Unfortunately the water was too rough so we couldn't pull in to see the Valley. We continued past St. Nicholas Island to Tarzan's Bay where we spent the night. This bay is really cool, many of the trees have ropes hanging from them so you can climb up the rocks and swing into that water. That night we had chicken wings and salad for dinner.
The Blue Lagoon
The following morning we headed into Fethiye Port where we departed the boat and headed to the bus station to travel to our next destination.
Pamukkale is a 4 hour drive North, in land from Fethiye and contains one of the worlds most amazing natural landscapes. The following day we did a full day tour of Pamukkale starting off At the natural springs where many elderly people go to help heal their arthritis and other health issues - They say drinking the water can fix any illness.
Natural Spring Waters in a town near Pumukkale
Afterwards we headed to the Hierapolis Ancient City which contains thousands of graves and Ancient ruins from the Greek city that exsisted hundreds of years ago. From here was a short stroll to the "Cotton Castle", the calcium terraces filled with natural hot spring water. The original terraces are banned from swimming in for preservation but across the mountain are many replicas where the public can walk through and bath.
Hierapolis Ancient City
The Preserved Natural Calcium Terraces
Before heading down through the main made calcium pools, we walked up to the Hierapolis Ancient City Amphitheatre and although it was extremely hot and very uncomfortable to walk up to, it was highly worth it just for the view and architecture. Unlike many other amphitheatre's in Europe, this one is mostly still in tact from the original building.
Hierapolis Ancient Amphitheatre
We also had the option of bathing in the man made hot springs pool but it was $30 entry and not worth it because you can swim in the cliff pools for free.
Cotton Castle
Me! Bathing in one of the man made calcium terraces
Once we had walked through the Cotton Castle we had a buffet lunch at the restaurant near by and then headed back to the travel agent where we caught a 3 hour bus to Kusadasi.
Kusadasi is a quite a large costal town and a popular destination for many Mediterranean Cruise Ships. Here we spent 2 nights where we relaxed by the pool, shopped in the Bazaar (market) and swam in the sea. I really enjoyed Kusadasi, it is very relaxed and has everything you need close by.
Kusadasi Market
Kusadasi
On our third night it was time to catch the overnight bus to Gallipoli where we had a full day tour booked for the following day. The bus ride took approximately 10 hours and although it doesn't sound the appealing it was actually quite comfortable. On most turkish coaches they hand out free food and beverages including cakes, biscuits, coca-cola and hot coffee.
near Anzac Cove where the Beach Ceremony is held every year
To get to Gallipoli our bus had to cross over on a ferry but I was sound asleep and had no idea this had happened. Suddenly I was abruptly woken up and told we had missed our stop and were to get off a bus. The bus driver waved down a local who was very kind and drove us 5 minutes back in to town.
Our tour began at Crowded House Hotel located in Eceabat. Thankfully they had our room ready for us when we arrived at 8am so it gave us a chance to have a nap and shower before our Gallipoli tour started at 12pm.
The tour began with lunch at the hotel followed by a 15 minute bus ride to Brighton Beach. Here our guide explained the history of Gallipoli including how the Turks became involved in WW2 and the ANZAC's mission.
It was extremely interesting tour but very hard to imagine how a war occurred and many loosing their lives in such a beautiful place. The tour continued on to Anzac Cove, Beach Ceremony, Ariburnu Cemetery, Lone Pine Australian Cemetery, Johnston's Jolly (Turkish trenches and tunnels), Turkish Cemetery and the Chunuk Bair New Zealand Cemetery.
A Photo of Anzac Cove in WW2
Lone Pine Australian Cemetery
One of the remaining trenches at Johnston's Jolly
Yakup Satar - The oldest WW2 Turkish Soldier with his Granddaughter - He died in 2008, aged 110
The Turkish Cemetery
Our tour finished around 5pm so we headed back to Crowded House Hotel to rest before going out for dinner in Eceabat. The following morning we departed Eceabat at 6am and caught a bus to Bodrum (10 hours south from Ecebat).
This was the last leg of our tour of Turkey. We extremely enjoyed it and would recommend to anyone travelling to Turkey to do a similar trip as ours as it is very affordable, informative and versatile.
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