Distance: 20.0 (246.4km), time spent: 8:11 (99:26).
Altitude (start / end / highest): 301m / 22m / 405m.
Weather: Clear blue sky, some clouds.
Melike has already left when I wake up in the morning; she enjoys starting walking when it is dark. Something I also enjoyed very much when I walked the Camino, I have of uncertain reasons stopped doing it on my later walks. Probably because I do not want to miss out on something. Down here by an altogether different reason though, to walk the wrong way in the dark. The waymarking down here is bad enough as it is, so it will not become any easier in the dark.
Apollonia. The ruins are entering oblivion, at the summit of Kale Tepesi the ruins grows over, like this amphitheatre.
It is an easy walk I look forward to today anyway, where the heat is probably the biggest obstacle. How far the trail will take me today, I cannot tell. A short walk from Boğazcık lies Kale Tepesi, a rather unseemingly summit (more of a hill though). It is there, but you really do not make any real notice of it (which may be the reason why it is named as Kale Tepesi in the guidebook, but Asar Tepe on the map). Then again, it is not the summit itself that is interesting, but what is located at the top of it. The ruins of Apollonia.
A door to the church-ruin in Apollonia.
Climbing up to the top and enter the ruins are almost like walking through a jungle and arrive at the ruins of a lost city on its way to be reconquered by the nature. Where the traces of an old civilization disappears in the vegetation. The old buildings and tombs are overgrown and it is quite cumbersome moving among them. The association of finding a lost city (even though it is not) makes the walk cool, but at the same time it is quite sad to see that the ruins has been left to themselves to decay. The most interesting remains I saw was the overgrown theatre, a huge cistern in the ground with a curved roof and what was left of the church.
Trail winding on a rocky and dry ground among trees between Boğazcık and Aperlae.
The area around has not changed a lot from yesterday. The ground is dry and rocky, it is however no less vegetation. Yesterday was a from bay to bay walk, this day looks to be a from ruin to ruin walk. After Apollonia comes Aperlae, where the first has grown over on the summit of a hill, Aperlae has sunk into the water. The first encounter with the ruins is a large cistern that for long has been without a roof and creates a gaping wound in the ground. In the dark you would not have seen the two exclamation marks drawn on a rock just before, and barely the hole itself.
The ruins of an old cistern creates a pitfall at Aperlae. The hole is filled with water. If you fall down into it, you would have problems getting back up.
At the head of the bay at Aperlae, lies Purple House / Hiker's Inn. Further than here Melike and the two German women has not come, then again, the place is a peaceful oasis. It quite definitely would have been a good alternative to walk to Ufakdere instead of Kaş and from there to here. I make up for it by having a longer break here with the mandatory swim. However, I probably should have swum further out than I did, so to swim above the sunken ruins in the water. For the most part, I look at the ruins from a distance this time.
Two dogs had decided to make friends with the two German women, and they are now lying tired next to them. Probably not the best of ideas to attach yourself to a pair of walkers if you are not in good shape, but what does a dog know about that. Melike is calm about her walk and likes to take her time; she has decided to stay at the place.
At the Purple House at Aperlae, Melike and the two German women having a break in the heat.
There are some huge waymarks meeting me after leaving Purple House, clearly a work of someone who wants to lead walkers to his place (there is another café on the other side of the isthmus), the problem is that the official marking has been removed by the same reason. I have some problems finding the correct path, but manages in the end to find my way, there are almost no days without going (a little) wrong. The trail is in the same manner as before, dry, but there must have been grass here before. There are remains of it everywhere; it must be significantly greener here in springtime. Tortoises slowly hurries on.
Aperlae, large parts of the ruins lies underneath the water. Notice the tomb lying half submerged to the right.
Craig, Mike and Chris had said that Ûçağız was a very nice place and recommended a stay there. When I arrive at the place, it is not so difficult understanding why, the small town does look like a pleasant place, but I still feel to carry on. It is all quiet at the place when I am there, as I am the only visible guest there, I sit alone at a restaurant. I have indulged myself with a beer in the heat, together with some good cheese cigars (sigara böreği, great snacks).
An old cistern / will is growing over on a large ova (plain) between Aperlae and Ûçağız.
Ûçağız is situated where Teimiussa was in the old days and the trail leaves the small town on a gravel track above the ruins. I have not in mind walking very far away from Ûçağız however; on one of the promontories closing off the harbour are the ruins of Simena, with Kaleköy lying below it. From the road, I can see the flag fluttering in the wind from inside the characteristic walls of the old fort. A sailboat lies lopsided inside the bay where the path to Kaleköy leaves the Lycian Way.
From the harbour in Ûçağız.
It is relatively quiet in this small village also, though there are a number of tourists here to look at Simena. The place is supposed to have several guesthouses, but I cannot find a single one. Until I by chance ask about it in a restaurant, which turns out to be a pansiyon as well. Kekova Sahil Pansiyon that is more expensive than usual, but of a very high standard. When I am taking a bath outside the guesthouse I understand why I could not find any one at first, all the signboards are pointing towards the sea. It is after all from there the customers usually are arriving from.
On the way from Ûçağız to Kaleköy, which lies behind the ruins of Simena that you can see to the left in the picture (a small red flag marks the location of the old fort).
Simena made the last ruin of the day, from the top there is a great view over the area. On the other side of the strait lies Kekova with its sunken cities, at the end of the bay lies Ûçağız. The walls of the fort has very distinct parapets, inside of the fort there is a tiny theatre carved out from the rock. I had to pay a small entry fee to get in, but when I follow a path out of the ruins it turns out that I come down to the other end of the village, where there were no ticket booth.
View down at Kaleköy and across the strait to Kekova from the ruins of Simena.
While evening descends upon the strait, I sit on a small platform out on the water and eat dinner. I have ordered Turkish meatballs, köfte, which tastes excellently. My mind are now beginning to be preoccupied with the three days long mountain walk between Demre / Myra and Finike, where there are no places to stay or to get food at. That is no problem in itself, what is worrying me is that it is very dry and people that I have talked to says it is probably no reliable water available underway. I have to make a plan for that walk.
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