Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Kuwait City, Kuwait on March 31st.

Monday, January 18, 2021

Drive from Antalya to Fethiye, and an encounter with the Turkish police.

We were a little late leaving yesterday. Had the car all packed up and ready to go by 11:00am, but our Airbnb host was a little late coming to get the key, and then we stood and had a nice chat with him for a while before leaving. But, we knew there would be very little traffic, it was only a 200 km (124 mile) drive, and we couldn't check in to our apartment in Fethiye until after 4:00pm.

Again, weekends are on lockdown for the Turkish people, but foreign tourists are exempt. We figured being on the highway there might be stop checks.

But we only saw one stop check the entire time. And it was on the other side of the road as we were leaving Antalya, so it didn't affect us.

The route we took led us up into the mountains from sea level up to about 5,500'. Lots of great scenery! Here are a few pics from the drive...

As we figured, there were hardly any cars on the road.




Our car has a thermometer on the dash that measures the outside temperature. When we left Antalya (which is on the coast at sea level), it was about 13C (55F) but of course as we drove up in altitude I was watching the temperature steadily drop. As we reached the highest part of the drive, we also reached the lowest temperature, at 1C (34F) and we even had a few snow flurries.

Beautiful scenery, and empty roads.





Ruth had packed a lunch so we made a stop along the way and sat and took a break and had something to eat. We wanted to get out and go for a hike somewhere along the way, but we didn't really want to do it where the temperature was hovering around the freezing mark! So we continued on until we were at lower altitude.






We had an hour and a half or so to waste, so we took a bit of a detour. It was about 2:30pm when we arrived at the base of a hill that leads up to another ruins site that I had researched. We weren't really intent on the ruins site itself, it was more the uphill hike and exercise that we were looking for.

So we parked the car, and off we went. It was 5.7 kms and 1,200' uphill to the ruins site. And as I said, it was already 2:30pm.

Heading uphill.
And yes, it was still a bit chilly!

More great scenery.

We were about half way up when we heard a vehicle coming up behind us. 

Surprisingly, it was a Jandarma van with four officers in it.

The Jandarma in Turkey is a federal police force operated by the army. They have jurisdiction in areas of the country where there is no other police force. They also do traffic control on the major highways. 

Of course the locals are not supposed to be out and about, so they pulled up alongside us and stopped. None of them spoke English, but they understood when we pointed at ourselves and told them "Canada" "English" and "Tourists".

Then, as I expected, they asked for our passports. And we do carry them with us, so I handed them over. We were a little nervous about this because of course our visas expired last week. But we also had the doctor's letter which is written in Turkish, so hopefully that would explain our situation if they questioned it.

But, they flipped through the pages and didn't question anything.

They asked if we thought Turkey was beautiful, and we agreed. They all laughed and handed us back our passports and headed on up the road. We were pretty sure we would see them again, because the road only goes as far as the ruins site.



Look at this great boondocking campsite!
It even has a fire ring.
GPS 36.724082, 29.247861

We arrived at the entrance to the ruins at 3:40pm so we had done that 5 km (3 mile) climb in an hour and ten minutes (including our stop with the police) which was a pretty good pace.

Sure enough, the police guys were there, sitting in a little hut having a chat with the guy who runs the ruins site. We were actually surprised there was anybody there. 

He came out and spoke to us, and he held up four fingers. I thought he was saying there was a 4 lira charge, and I pulled out some money to pay, but it turned out he was saying that it closes at 4:00pm, and he was being pretty firm that we had to make sure we were back at the entrance at that time!

So we had 20 minutes! And it was a 1.4 km circular route through the ruins, with some pretty steep sections.

Man, that was a workout! We never stopped to admire anything, but I did snap some photos along the way...


Heading uphill... some more!




What a gorgeous spot. 
Shame we didn't have more time.

Ruins covered in pine needles.



A small stadium.

A small theater.

Ruth, at the city wall.

We never stopped, and I made it back to the guard booth at 3:58p, with Ruth a minute behind me!

I think they were impressed. I'm pretty sure they had bets going that we would NOT be back by 4:00pm!

And then we made our way back down. We did the 5 kms (3 miles) back down in 42 minutes. Not that it was a race, but it was quarter to five at this point and our host in Fethiye was probably starting wonder where we were.

Oh, I forgot to mention that we have no more cellular access on our Turkish SIM card. Turkey has some really strict rules about cellular access for visitors. We had read that it was 120 days, but received a message a week ago saying that our 90 day tourist visa was up, and unless we registered the phone (which can be done, but it's very expensive) and submitted the registration number, our access would be cut off. And that's exactly what happened.

So our only internet access is through WiFi when we are in an apartment, plus I have a Keepgo MiFi device for emergency. The data on the keepgo is pricey, so I don't turn it on unless I really need to.

Anyhow, I couldn't easily contact our host, so we were in a bit of a rush.

Made it to the apartment and he was there waiting with the key. No problem, because he lives in the same building.

Our last day in Turkey, and it's probably the worst weather we've had the entire time. High of only 9C (48F) today here in Fethiye, and overcast. Fortunately, they've lowered the chance of rain so while it's dreary, it won't be wet.

Yesterday's drive.

Tomorrow is a big travel day! We will try and get a blog posted from one of the airports along the way!

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A bit of a deal on the popular Dash Rapid Egg Cooker.

And in Canada...

The popular Zinus 8" Short Queen Memory Foam Mattress is on sale. Great deal if any of our Canadian readers need a new mattress in their RV. 

14 comments:

  1. You’re on your way. Love all the pics in this post!!!!

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    1. Yes, we certainly are on our way!

      It was a beautiful drive so it wasn't hard to get some nice pictures along the way. :-)

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  2. Have a good trip out of Turkey and to Tanzania ! Safe travels! Be safe and keep us posted!

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    1. Thanks you, so far so good! We will do our best to keep you posted as we make our way to Tanzania and thank you for following along with us. :-)

      Delete
  3. Beautiful scenery you can check out when you have the MH.
    Be Safe and Enjoy your trip to Tanzania.

    It's about time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are so many places to explore in the motorhome and we sure do look forward to returning to Turkey in it. :-)

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  4. Beautiful scenery...wow, glad you made it back before closing or they could have locked you in! LOL Safe travels tomorrow!

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    Replies
    1. It was a gorgeous drive, we really enjoyed it.

      Lol, they would have a hard time locking us in when there isn't a fence around the whole site, it is right there in the middle of the forest. :-)

      Delete
  5. Thank you for taking us along on your Turkish vacation. Love the photos. Safe journey to Tanzania.xx

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    Replies
    1. We are so happy that you enjoyed our posts! We think that turkey is very underrated, it is now a country that is at the top of our lists for countries that we have really loved.

      We are now looking forward to new adventures in Tanzania, and I know we are going to have some good ones. :-)

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  6. What a beautiful drive! Reminds me of some of the spots we've visited in the US, but less traffic. Hope your travels to Tanzania are safe and not frustrating. I absolutely can't wait to enjoy your time there vicariously. Turkey has been wonderful!

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    Replies
    1. It was definitely a gorgeous drive. The coast is beautiful but we think the interior of Turkey is amazing too, we really can't wait to come back in our motorhome to explore more of Turkey.

      So far our travels/flights to Tanzania have been going well, we will report more once we get ourselves settled in there.

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  7. After seeing all the pictures of stone walls and buildings it makes you wonder why we don't build houses that way now. It's obvious they last forever and you could pass them down through the generations. Plus, they don't catch fire and must be pretty easy to heat. All the materials we use for modern structures that don't last and pollute the planet.

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    Replies
    1. We aren't so sure that the stone buildings hold up so well to the earthquakes here, that is why many of the ruins here are exactly that, ruins! Also they may keep you cool in the summer but they are COLD in the winter!

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