Ghost town of Kayaköy, and hike to the Af Kule Monastery

Another busy day for us yesterday. We finally made the effort to get a reasonably early start, and we left the apartment just before 9:00am. It was only a five minute walk to the dolmuş stop. Dolmuş is the turkish name for a local minibus. The ones we were in seat perhaps 16 people. Because of Covid, they do not take cash payments right now, nor do they take standing passengers. Apparently in normal times they can get quite crowded.

There is a regular route between Fethiye and Ölüdeniz so we didn't have to wait any longer than five minutes. For payment, most people buy a prepaid "tap" card and then top it up with credit as necessary. But I had read that you can also tap your credit card, and sure enough it accepted my Visa card and I instantly got an email notification from my bank that my my account was charged. What a great system!

No idea what the actual Turkish lira rates are, but my credit card was charged $1.12 CAD ($0.85 USD) per person for the first Dolmuş that dropped us off in Ölüdeniz. Then we had to wait just over half an hour to get another one to Kayaköy that was charged at $0.70 CAD ($0.53 USD).

Cheap enough, and certainly convenient to be able to simply pay with a credit card.

The ghost town of Kayaköy.

Settlement in the area dates back 3,000 years however this ghost town actually has a fairly recent history. Most of the buildings are from the late 1700's to the late 1800's. Many of these homes were actually occupied by Greeks prior to WW1, and a treaty in 1923 forced the people to move back to Greece, and Turks didn't want to occupy the area "due to ghosts". You can read the complete history here.

It was very strange wandering around what was once a thriving community.

6,000 people lived here at one time.

And there were very few people around during our visit. I think we saw a total of perhaps 10 people the entire time, and half of them were workers or trinket sellers.

This is one of the last ones to have been lived in.

We decided to head higher for an overall view.

It was turning out to be a perfect day.

Forecast high of 24C (75F).

You are never far from a Turkish flag!

From there, we made our way to the second part of our day trip. When we were on the boat tour the other day, they had pointed out a monastery far on top of a rock face overlooking the sea. We had read that you could hike there from Kayaköy, so off we went.

Part of our hike was on this dirt road.

From Kayaköy, it was just over 6 kms (3.7 miles) to the Af Kule Monastery. It was a variety of paved roads, dirt roads, and rocky paths to get there.Along the way, a local dog (with collar) came running up to us, jumping up and down and obviously very happy to see us. We did not pet him, although he was very friendly. 

He just wanted to go for a walk!

He came with us the entire way...

We named him Ralph.

"C'mon guys, let's go!"

Our first view from the monastery.

The story goes that one man built this entire structure back in the 11th century. There was a cave already here, and he built the facade and a few out buildings.

Ruth at the base.

The stairs going up were not in very good shape and in fact it made my legs weak looking down after I climbed up! And I'm sure that in many countries the whole thing would have been off limits.

Me, climbing the stairs.

I made it to the second window.

Ralph, waiting patiently for us.

Ralph.

He was such a good dog. We sat and had a snack and he didn't even ask for any food. He looked well cared for though. On the way back we had to return the same way and as we approached the area where we met him, he gave us a glance and headed down one of the roads leading to a few houses.

Waiting at the bus stop.

We had to wait another half hour or so for the bus, but this one brought us right back close to the apartment and it was also charged out at $1.12 CAD ($0.85 USD).

Our last sunset from the apartment.

Today, we move on to a little village where we have a two week stay booked. We also pick up our car rental this morning. It will be nice to have wheels... there is so much to see!

We walked another 11 kms (6.8 miles) yesterday.

Total distance walked in Turkey 69 kms (42.8 miles).

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