Interesting drive to the city of Denizli, and our new accommodations

We got the car packed up and we were on the road just after 10:00am. It wasn't that long of a drive... but we ended up doing some detours and back roads and we had told our next host that we would probably arrive around 3:00pm... which we didn't because we found a few interesting places to stop along the way.

First stop was for gasoline. The price of fuel has dropped a bit in recent days, plus the Turkish lira continues its downward slide, making our fuel stop a few dollars cheaper than the last time. It was 6.73 lira per liter ($1.04 CAD) compared to the last time we bought it when it worked out to $1.18 CAD per liter.

We had planned a route taking us on some back roads through the forests and hills. We've found that even the back roads are in great condition, even if they aren't paved. Turkey is probably one of the best countries for road surface conditions of any country that we have driven in.

Heading up hill.

This is bee keeping area.

Quite a few sections of this back road were lined with bee hives. Honey production is a big thing in this area, and one village is even named Beekeeper... of course in the Turkish language.

More bee hives.

Getting some nice views.

The road ahead is a little curvy!

With some nice views.

Scenery along the way.

We only saw one or two other cars the whole way on this section of road.

No guard rails.

We made our way on a gravel forest road to a spot where we could turn the car around, and we went for a hike.

Out for a hike.

So we're walking along this forest road at about 2,500' altitude. I almost stepped on a big spider, and then when I backed up to have a closer look, I realized that it wasn't a spider... it was a small crab!

Really? A crab way up here?

Ruth looked it up, and apparently it's a freshwater crab, and part of it's range is in these hills. You learn something new every day!

We followed what we think was an old road or path of some kind, but it was pretty eroded.

We did just over 5 kms (3 miles) and then got back in the car to do some more driving.

Looking back at the village near where the forest road was.

The rest of our drive was on the main highway. Four lane road almost the whole way except for a couple of short sections where there was construction work going on to make it into four lanes.

We are going to make another stop up there.

We made our way up to the ancient town of Tabae located above the current town of Kale. This ruins site was actually inhabited until about 1960 when it was abandoned due to fears of a landslide. The actual ancient parts are mostly still buried, but you can see lots of signs of what used to be. This site is rarely visited by anybody, and we were the only ones there.

The Cevher Paşa Mosque.

They think that the Cevher Paşa Mosque was built in the 14th or 15th century, and they found records that say it was extensively renovated in 1819-1820. It is still used today by locals who live in the modern town.

The mosque was closed and locked, but I peeked my camera lens in between the bars.

We would have liked to explore more up there, but 1) it was getting late, and 2) it was too cold and windy up there! I'm sure the temperature was probably an okay 16C (62F) or so, but there was a strong wind blowing that made it feel quite a bit colder than that. 

Lots of dried peppers hanging.

We made our way into the big city of Denizli (pop 650,000) where it didn't take us long to notice that virtually everyone had a mask on, even people driving alone in their own vehicle. We figured they must have some kind of law and are being very strict about it, so we put ours on too! 

It was about 4:15pm when we arrived at our apartment building located about a 10 minute walk from the center of the city. Our host came down to greet us, and helped carry our bags up the four flights of stairs. Super helpful guy. He is a chemical engineer and his wife is a dentist and we get the impression that they own the building that houses four apartments. They live in one, and his parents live in one and there are two Airbnb rentals.

We are in the "penthouse".  Yes, we have the top apartment, but not much of a view. Almost all buildings nearby are four or five floors.

But, we are very happy with the place...

Our bedroom.

The living room.

Bathroom.

Kitchen.

Enclosed balcony.

Our view!

Not bad, at $157 CAD ($120 USD) for a 7 night stay.

We were starved, and rather than doing some cooking after a long day, our host recommended a kebab restaurant that does a special kind of roast lamb. He called ahead while we walked over and the place was waiting for us. Just a hole in the wall and we were the only ones in there, although a couple of people came to get take out while we were there.

We explained about not eating bread, or wheat and the meal came and it was delicious!

The meal arrived on a piece of paper.

And you eat with your fingers. No plates or utensils to wash! 

While the meal was delicious, there wasn't enough of it. That food pictured above was supposed to be for two people There was also a small plate with fresh tomatoes and parsley. And perhaps if we ate the bread, there would have been enough food. Anyhow, it was so good that we ordered another plate! We figured it would be pricey because lamb is likely the most expensive meat here, and the last time we had lamb here in Turkey it was on the higher end of the scale.

Anyhow, the bill came to 160 lira ($25 CAD, $19 USD) for the two of us. Definitely pricey for Turkey, but certainly not a disaster. And as I said, it was really good and we walked away full.

Denizli is definitely not a tourist area. During our short time downtown, we kind of felt like we stood out a bit. Ruth with her grey hair, and me with my baseball cap. I did not see a single other man wearing a baseball cap, and many (but not all) women Ruth's age wear head scarves. Most of the younger women do not.

We are going to drive over to a big Carrefour grocery store this morning and stock up for the week. There are a couple of small shops that are walking distance, but we're thinking the bigger store will have some gluten free bread, and maybe even Kevin's chicory coffee substitute that he likes. It's a French brand, and Carrefour is a French grocery store... so we'll see.

Have a look at todays deals at www.campingandrvgeardeals.com

Wednesday's drive.

We walked 8 kms (5 miles) yesterday.

Total distance walked in Turkey 156.7 kms (97.2 miles).