Lycian Way

We got up having hardly slept. To start with a mossy was flying around our heads and buzzing in our ears. We had left the windows open and the curtains, too as the a/c had no remote control. Then just as we were dropping off the muezzin started followed by the the cocks crowing!
We were almost on our own for breakfast and there were filo pastry cigarellos filled with spinach and cheese as well as fresh OJ cheese, tomatoes, cucumber and bread and jam. One of the boys brought us fried eggs as well. Then the other two arrived as we were about to leave. A went to pay our host who charged an astronomical amount for the wine - two teas and our wine was TL65. We collected our picnic - half a loaf each split in two with some cheese triangles plonked inside, a tomato and a whole baby cucumber. This was in a large polystyrene box far too big for our rucksacks as there was also a pomello each. We unpacked the boxes and just used the polybags, managing to get those into our bags. Then we set off for Olympos, quite glad to leave this pansyon behind.
We walked down to the beach road and paid our entrance fee to the ruins, then crossed the river at the far stepping stones to the south necropolis. Immediately we started climbing up from the river and were quickly looking down on the ruins. The path then followed the hillside round crosssing a dry river bed several times and climbing up and up. We were glad of the breeze as it was hot work and it took us about 3hrs 15 minutes to the summit where we were met by a stiff wind. Just before we got to the top we met a young Aussie lad who was coming down who had warned us that it was pretty windy on the top and that we should find some shelter by an old hut if we could. We had also met some others on the way, notably some singing Italians, who were so busy with their song and with hurtling down the path, that when they came to us - we stood to the side to let them by - they were completely surprised to see us . They hadn't noticed us at all.


So as we got to the summit we saw the ruins of the old pirate hideaway city. These pirates were partly to blame for the demise of Olympos as the Romans laid waste to Olympos in order to capture them. It was never the same again. We also passed a Dutch couple who were very cheery, then we found the path to the hut, which was completely taken over by the French walking club, but there were also plenty of rocks to sit against to shelter from the gale! We had about half of our picnic and one of the pomellos, then decided to get on our way, so as not to get too cold. There was another British couple walking down at about the same time as we started off again and then the French group came, too, and we all mingled together as they passed us with a cheery ' Bonjour!'. They were just ahead of us most of the way down. The last section of the trail was quite difficult and we missed a vital turning off the track where someone had bulldozed a new road through, obliterating the signs. We should have turned off the track at some point, but ended up in the greenhouses and walked down to a main road (still a dirt track, really) and followed the river down into Adrasan. All the while the wind was blowing and as we walked first past all the pansyons along the river and then along the sea front, we were sand blasted with the dust being blown about in the wind. It seemed a long trek to our pansyon, but we eventually arrived and Fezule welcomed us with a cup of tea on the upstairs terrace of Maviay and the wind blew. We also met Carol who with her husband Ismet owns the place. She said that they had had to retreat indoors as the stormy wind was so bad. Fezule took us to our room and we were glad of a rest and showers before dinner at 7.30. We realized that there was no power and A went across to ask if we hadn't switched something on, only to find that indeed there was a power failure due to a cable coming down in the wind. Our room was plain and cheerful with its ensuite and small balcony
We went across to the main building for dinner inside and as darkness fell we had dinner by candlelight. Carol remarked that it was very quiet as with no electricity there was no music, so we chatted. The brother of a British girl who worked there had also arrived with his girlfriend. They were interrailing around Europe and had got as far as Istanbul on the train, then had made a 14hr bus journey before Carol had picked them up in the nearest big town. We had a delicious dinner if a sort of bisque soup followed by sizzling chicken with mushrooms and veggies with a cheesy topping and lots of salad. Then we had some sliced fresh fruit and a cup of tea. We retired quite early as we were so tired after the walk and the sleepless night before. We were reckoning up the distance and felt that adding up the signs and the distances in the book, we must have walked over 20kms.

Maviay Hotel