On The Road

I had to work my way back around the lake from Kaunos and so got to enjoy it all over. Just past Kaunos I got a lovely view of the river delta.

I almost hit this suicidal turtle who tried to cross the road. Saved the little bugger.

I had lunch at a lake side restaurant in laid back Koeycegiz.

Getting fuel in Turkey is always interesting. First, you’ll never run out. There are gas stations everywhere and a lot of them are huge enterprises with attached mini markets. At around EUR 1.50 fuel is the most expensive I have seen and it pays to look around as there can be quite a difference between stations. However, the price on the road sign doesn’t always agree with what’s on the pump. The stars aligned at this station. As soon as I unmounted my tank was refueled by an assistant while a female assistant offered my some lemon scented hand cleaner, the same you get after each meal here. She also offered me some tea with my fuel. Now that’s service. When I paid with my credit card I noticed the eclectic collection of payment processing machines. There must be many competing systems here but my cashier handled the transaction with a big smile and without a glitch.

Shortly later I finally figured out what the water that is running out of pipes along the road is for. I had seen this many times already but could never make sense of it. It’s a Turkish car wash. I’m still a little puzzled though. The water always runs and it seems to be an incredible waste of water.

After getting stuck in a traffic jam on a bridge, due to a May day celebration, I reached the coast again. Once again nice views of the Aegean see.

The coastal road took me straight to Kas. I have dreaded this part of the trip. In my imagination the coast is packed with concrete bunker hotels filled with Speedo clad all inclusive European drunk tourists. Well, that part is still to come but a guy I met in Selcuk recommended Kas and I liked what I saw. I pitched my tent next to an Austrian couple, which came the long way up from Tanzania on their bikes.

They told me of the cold weather ahead and so I’ve settle in for a few days, enjoying the good life, hoping things warm up a bit in the Northeast.

A nice sun halo could be seen on the day of my arrival.

P.S.: The much dreaded Speedo man did make an appearance.

A thunderstorm woke me up my last night in Kas. The tent was shaking violently from the wind. There was a lot of thunder and lightning but not that much rain actually. In the morning I managed to pack my tent away dry and was hoping it wouldn’t be so bad. Well, as soon as I left the city limit it started raining.

When I stopped at the ruins of Myra the rain even increased and I decided to have lunch and watch the soaking wet Russian tourists in their beach outfits instead. Just after lunch it cleared long enough to take some pictures of the Lycian rock tombs.

I didn’t linger long and made my way down the coastal highway to the east. I hit Antalya during rush hour and of course the rain picked up to a sizable downpour. I pressed on until I reached Side. A bit of a shocker with all the tourists from the nearby hotels descending onto this little village. I parked my bike and starting looking for a place to stay. I found a nice place with parking, hot shower and heating. Perfect, now I just had to convince the official manning the gate to let me drive into the village. He basically just ignored me and I decided to drive around the gate

In the morning I walked around the ruins for about an hour before breakfast.

Side Ampitheater

During breakfast heavy rain started and I was debating weather I should leave or stay put. The owner of the place checked the forecast for me and it looked like rain for the foreseeable future everywhere I wanted to go. Might es well leave then…