Thursday, June 2, 2011

Turkey 2011

LOVED paddle-boarding!








This is an old plane from WW2 sitting at about 20m below the surface. I got down further, but my camera would only go to 10m...very spooky though!






CASTELLORIZO

This amazing little Greek island is the most southern island in Greece and is just 7km off the coast of Turkey. Gorgeous food, great Greek beer and peaceful and quiet! Heaven! :)




































































SHARK! :)















These are two of my 'gang' that walks with me every morning! I'm sure they lie in wait for me and as I pass through the main square of the town, they leap up to me as if they are saying 'come on...we've been waiting for you!' They then escort me all the way on my walk...I love it! :)






Time for a swim! They always take a dip after the walk...





Some incredible street art along the wall of the harbour in Kas.




























A Hellenistic amphitheatre on the outskirts of Kas.








Blue crab for lunch one day on the boat. Delicious!!





MYRA

The ancient Lycian tombs and ruins of Myra, near Demre. Set into the mountains, these tombs date back to the 5th century and are still being excavated, which we watched while we were there.





























Demre is also apparently the birthplace of the patron St Nicholas, who is also known as Santa Claus or Noel Baba! :)





A Roman temple dedicated to Gaius Julius Casear! His name is still visible carved into the stone.












Ancient Lycian tombs set into the cliffside above one of our swims...





General life on tour...






























SAKLIKENT GORGE

Saklikent Gorge - a 20km gorge up which we hiked through rapid flowing waters to get to this amazing waterfall about halfway up.


































































Turkeys in Turkey! :)





Kaputas Gorge and Patara Beach








Roman ruins at Patara












Kalkan






The gorgeous little village of Kas - my homebase for the summer!






This was our lunch on the last day of tour! Mustafa (below) the boat pilot and his wife do all the catering on the boat and the food is incredible! Mustafa braaied this fish on deck while we swam in the clearest blue water I have ever seen! Heaven! :)




This is the gorgeous spot we stopped for the fish braai...the shore is dotted with underwater caves that you can swim right into!



Getting the fire ready for the fish braai!


One of the underwater caves in the bay...you almost expected to find a treasure chest full of gold coin at the end! :)




View from the inside of the cave, looking out at our boat!



Another great spot we had lunch - it's an archipelago of island, which we swim around the inside of - from island to island. Crystal clear water...


A hard day's work after lunch...


Our daily charge...we go out on boats like everyday and do our swims. A beautiful lunch is then served n the boat (not cooked by me which is awesome) and then the afternoon is spent just like in the picture above. It's a very hard life! :)










After our swim from Greece to Turkey!














Simena and the castle.














Walking the Lycian Way from Simena to Ucagiz - stunning views!






Not an unusual sight to see - a herd of goats crossing a main highway! :)

















Stunning views from our hotel - very swish! :)




A view from our hotel's restaurant...







Patara - the ancient city and gorgeous long beach where all the turtle come to nest in season.
















A view from our hotel of the Greek island of Meis, just off the coast of Kas. One of our swims is from this island (although we aren't allowed to touch the land) to Kas...so we technically swim from Greece to Turkey! :)







Aserli Pirate's Cave...of course I had to go in to have a look! :)









Ucagiz - a gorgeous little picturesque village south of Kas.





A typical day-in-the-life of a Turkish cat!





Lycian tombs - these are dotted all around the peninsula and reminded me so much of The Lord of The Rings!







The sunken city on Kekova. In 240 AD sea levels rose due to an earthquake and the city was submerged. Swimming is forbidden, but we went over the city in a glass bottomed boat and it's absolutely amazing to see the walls of buildings and pots in what used to be a kitchen! Only goats remain on the island now...