Kaş Camping: Our Third Year and Cycling Adventure
Just like in the previous two years, we took our first vacation at Kaş Camping this year.
This year, we are better prepared due to the experience gained from previous years. We try not to take too much luggage, but Özden stuffs my mother and father’s large suitcase to the brim. At least it’s neat, but it’s still very heavy.
A difference this year is that we are in Kaş with our bicycles. Two days before coming, I bought a Salcano City Sport 10 model bicycle from Yeşil Bisiklet. Suspension, hydraulic brakes, 27 gears, and so on… It was a bit pricey. The bike alone cost 950, plus accessories, a car carrier kit, etc., totaling 1500 (Turkish Liras). But now we will be able to get around Kaş by bike.
As always, we plan to leave after work, but because we are hungry, we decide to eat at my parents’ place before we go. However, we can only set off at 9 PM. This delay causes us to lose a lot of time. We encounter both bridge traffic and issues with lack of sleep.
As always, we stop at the Afyon İkbal facilities. Don’t mind me calling it a stop; we actually sleep there until morning. This is very nice. We set off again in the morning, feeling rested, and we get to see the scenery as we drive.
What we love most on the road are the products local producers gather from their own gardens and sell. Since we are on the road exactly during cherry season this year, there are plenty of cherries. We buy cherries from one seller. They are very, very good. Not overly sweet, but terrific.
The bike carrier on the back of the car makes me nervous. My eyes are constantly on the rearview mirror. Since I was warned at Yeşil Bisiklet not to exceed 90 km/h, and I am already a slow driver, I shouldn’t worry, but I can’t help it. My eyes are on the back.
Finike or inside Antalya? I mean, should we go to Kaş from the West or East entrance of Antalya? I should go from the West, but since the roads are worse than the East, I go from the East entrance this time. The journey never ends.
We finally arrive at Kaş Camping toward the evening 🙂 around 5 PM. The weather is breezy. The sea is choppy.
The next day, we go to the beach, but the wind is still blowing. We swam in the sea but got very cold. Getting the flu was instantaneous.
Maça, Scorpion, and Sea Turtle
When Özden suggests we eat meat for dinner, we head straight to the butcher. We buy three slices of meat and return to the camp. I start cooking the meat on the stove we bought from Migros three years ago, which serves all our needs.
Meanwhile, “Maça” (a Kangal dog) who smelled the food appears beside us. He looks so sweetly that one cannot resist. Anyway, one slice each is more than enough for us. So, the remaining slice goes to our guest sent by God.
The next day, we are at the table again at the same time. Maça slowly comes toward us. He wants to be a guest again.
We share our meal. But today, he doesn’t seem very pleased. We have tuna salad for dinner. He doesn’t turn up his nose, but it’s not like yesterday…
That yellow, earth-colored scorpion we saw last year is with us this year too. It quietly passes under the table and disappears among the stones. We also see fireflies this year. They emit a very beautiful green light. I can’t take a picture of it.
And most importantly, a “sea turtle” appears on the shore. It is sooooo beautiful. It lifts its head occasionally and then moves on.
In the following days, we get more accustomed to the sea. The weather is still windy, but now we enter the water more easily and swim more. They say the weather was the same five years ago, and they explain that the weather might improve a month later. Never mind, everything is still very beautiful for us.
Gezi Park Protests and Kaş Tradesmen
Since we came directly after breaking away from the Gezi Park protests, we are naturally saddened inside. In the evenings, Özden and I follow the current events.
Meanwhile, there are protests being held in Kaş square from 7 PM to 9 PM. Very few people support it, but we can still hear their voices from the camp.
We see banners above some shops in the upper streets of Kaş and feel happy.
Our vacation is almost over, and although we are happy to be returning to Istanbul and going to the protests, it is impossible not to miss Kaş. The tradesmen in Kaş are generally resisting the resistance. They are unaware that the alcohol law passed by the parliament says that alcohol cannot be consumed in public (meaning you cannot set up a table in front of your shop), it cannot be advertised (Efes, Tuborg signs will be removed), and it cannot be sold retail after 10:00 PM (this applies to the grocer citizen, whom we call the kuruyemişçi).
In this environment, a few people, whose number does not exceed that of the tradesmen, are protesting in front of the Atatürk Monument.
The season supposedly closes here on October 29th; all the tradesmen gather around the Atatürk Monument and celebrate. Let’s see what their celebrations will be like this year. Of course, since the law will be implemented 90 days later, there is no enforcement yet. We will see next year. I will especially go to “Calamar Restaurant” and see what they will say.
We were with them again during this holiday, yes, my and Özden’s bodies are full of bites, but we are happy.
The Road Back and Pamukkale Visit
We make our preparations on Friday evening. We want to leave early tomorrow. Last year, on the way back from Kaş, we visited Eskişehir. We actually wanted to go to Pamukkale, but it hadn’t happened.
Now we set off on the road to Pamukkale. We decide to have breakfast on the way and leave. We stop for breakfast somewhere on the Burdur-Antalya border.
The place is very nice, and their breakfast is good too. They even have tarhana soup. We like it so much that we buy a jar (10 TL).
We arrive at Pamukkale about four hours later. We take off our shoes and climb the hill. We didn’t know that people come here in their swimsuits and swim in the water—well, maybe next time. We didn’t know there was a city beyond the hill; we find ourselves in the ancient city of “Hierapolis”. Water channels were built for every house within the city. The carved channels eventually merge and flow down.
The theater is reached by a steep slope, and between the heat and the incline, we get thirsty. There is a buffet managed by the Denizli Provincial Special Administration at the theater. I buy one 1.5 Lt water and one Fanta from there. The attendant says 9 Liras. Woah, what a price. Anyway. Anyway, saying that they will face the consequences of this somewhere, we move away from there.
We can only descend halfway into the theater. The other parts are closed off. It appears that some restoration work is still ongoing. For example, I think the temple has just recently opened.
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