On the Move Again!

Leaving Finike

On 11th April 2015 we left Finike marina where we had been for the winter. We had a short motor/sail to Kekova Roads to give us chance to check the new sail etc. There we met up with Tracey and Mike on Rio Luna who had left Finike a few days before us.

 Setting off on the next adventure!

 First stop - anchoring off Ucugiz in Kekova Roads - a favourite spot last year.

Kastellorizon

 A fantastic walk up from the town and then across the island, we found a concrete road at a derelict monastery and followed that through army practice grounds. Met one other person who was out jogging and he assured us that the road would take us back to the port. So we walked and walked until we looked down onto ...a tarmac road? no too big, more like a motorway - it had white lines down the middle ... no it was a runway!

 Oh hello!!

 Long evening shadows when we eventually got back to the port!

Wonderful wild flowers at their best at this time of year.

Gocek

 A peaceful anchorage off the town of Gocek

 The little ferry that trundles back and forth between two of the marinas. I always think it looks like something out of a children's story book.

A favourite lunch - pide (Turkish pizza) at the Kebab Hospital in Gocek  (such a strange name for a restaurant!) A plateful like this costs £1.70!

The next leg of our journey

 A long sail ahead of us so we left Gocek at 03.00 in the morning. An interesting exercise following lights and pre-prepared passage plan as there was hardly any moonlight that night. This was sunrise at about 06.00. We motored out of Gocek bay until sunrise then as we changed course we put the sails up and sailed for the next 9 hours - a good wind, in the right direction - a rare occurrence so much appreciated!

 A well-earned beer for the skipper in Pedhi bay on Symi. We had tried anchoring but the holding is poor and the winds were getting up and forecast to get stronger so we went alongside on the new quay. Glad we did considering how the weather changed.

 This may look sunny and lovely but the boat behind us recorded winds gusting at 57 knots.

We stayed put in this bay for several days waiting for the wind to calm down. We had been joined by two other boats - Australian "The Wombat" with Graeme (Scotty) and Heidi on board and the British boat "Sky Song" with Michael and Christine on board. They were both really lovely couples and we met up each evening for drinks. We had such a good week and hopefully we will stay in touch.

 Out of Pedhi we followed the red and blue paint dotted footpath up to the church at the top and then down the other side into Symi town. This was one of the "donkey paths" that ran between stone walls.

 Looking back down into Pedhi bay and this wasn't at the top! Again, lots of wild flowers blossoming along the way.

 From the blue and white church at the top looking the other way down into Symi town.

 Back in Pedhi, the fishing boats stacked with lobster pots ready to go ....

 ......all shapes and sizes!!

Cappodocia

Cappodocia

What an amazing, weird, fascinating place! 

We caught the dolmus (minibus) from Finike to Antalya (2 hours) and then the overnight coach from Antalya, leaving at 22.00hrs and arrived in Goreme at 07.00hrs. Our hotel were due to meet us at the bus stop but at that time in the morning, the town was deserted so we found the tourist information who phoned through for us and the hotel sent a taxi.

Checked into The Castle Cave House Hotel where we thought we had a standard room with balcony and spa bath. The proprietor was very pleased to tell us that we had been upgraded to a cave! As we were only going to be there for two nights and it was a bit of a novelty we went with it. It really was a square cave carved out of the rock.

 Up on the roof of our hotel

 The view from the roof across the town of Goreme

Our "cave"

The whole region was covered in lava millions of years ago and over time the wind and rain have weathered the soft rock into some truly incredible shapes. The history of Cappodocia begins with the arrival of man more than 10,000 years ago. The Christians took shelter in the valleys because of the Arab raids. People have carved houses and churches out of these shapes and some were lived in as recently as the 1960s. Now a lot of the frontages have eroded away so you see a cross section of the houses, tunnels and churches. The whole area is 20,000 square kms.

Goreme Open Air Museum

Views around the site

Pasabaglari and Love Valley

Here you find the tallest of the forms known as "fairy chimneys", many with harder rock on the top forming  a cap.

 Some chimneys are triple coned creating a weird and wonderful landscape

          


 Views around the site

Hmmmm! Dentist?

Cavusin

 For Sale!!! Dave's next project? I think not!

 Rose Valley

Red Valley

Derinkuyu Underground City

There are at least 36 underground cities in the area, all linked by tunnels. Derinkuyu is the largest and 10,000 people hid here to avoid attacks from the Hittites etc. There are eight levels with animals and winery at the top down through living quarters and school rooms to the church at the bottom. These people had converted to Christianity and could worship here to avoid persecution.

 Ihlara Valley

 A beautiful walk along the river.......

 ......exploring churches carved into the valley sides.

Waterfall over the rocks along the valley.

Pigeon Valley

 Pigeon valley, so called because there are lots of dove holes carved into the rocks. Pigeon droppings were a very valuable fertilizer so they were encouraged to stay here!

A very steep scramble up at the head of the valley!