Mountains and Minarets – Day 4 – March 20th 06 – Elmali – REST DAY

Day 4 – March 20^th 06 – Elmali – REST DAY

Started the day with a well deserved lay-in until about 10am, then we walked down the main street to get some breakfast. We found a little café and sat outside in the sun and had a large breakfast of soup and Turkish bread followed by an omelet, we never had a clue what was actually on the menu, but the soup looked popular and the guy serving knew the word for omelet and knew very well how to cook one. We let our food go down and had a leisurely walk up and down the main street, them we headed for the hamam.

 We found the hamam and were greeted by the friendly owner, given a towel to wrap around our waist and pointed in the direction of the showers (was he trying to tell us something?). After a wash it was into the main room to bathe by pouring over ourselves bowls of hot running water from the constant supply. We then went into the steam room for a good sweat (as if we hadn’t done enough of that over the last few days) and were idly sitting around when a local guy stood up and started stretching and motioning us to do the same, so that we would be nicely flexed for the upcoming massage, made sense so we joined in.  After a steaming and a bit more bathing we were summoned to the big marble slab for the exfoliation and massage, the supposed highlight of the experience. We were treated to a full exfoliation from a guy wearing what looked like an oven glove covered in sandpaper and every part of our body was rubbed down, except our privates, which never seemed to be on display due to the expert ‘towel handling’ of the masseur and much to the annoyance of the fat bloke who’d sneaked himself on to the middle of the table for a hopeful glimpse!! The de-skinning was then followed by a lather massage which was well needed by our tired legs; it was very relaxing, although a few “ows” were heard from some of the boys! After that it was back for another shower, then back into the reception area where we were wrapped in towels, which made us look like escaped convicts in straight jackets, and served the ubiquitous chai. After a brief lay down we were offered ‘extras’ which turned out to be an oil massage and we all accepted without hesitation as we’d enjoyed the whole experience so far. 

The oil massage turned out to be quite a bit ‘harder’ than the soap massage producing a proportionally higher scream rate from the tables, but it left us feeling great and ready to enjoy our rest day. After more showers and chai we floated out of the hamam with grins on our faces looking forward to exploring some of Elmali, and maybe, just maybe finding a nice little bar. But there was one more thing on our ‘pampering list’ – a cut throat shave! We found a ‘Berber’ and were each shaved (and cut) in turn by the old man with the cut-throat razor, our faces were then burnt with pure alcohol and lemon juice (or some other equally painful rocket fuel) and it was “all topped off with an Elvis quiff” or, to be exact, a side parting was oiled upon our scruffy barnets and were left looking like a bunch of choirboys, Brown and Matt looking especially angelic.

 

So, with our new look Turkish haircuts and revived bodies it was off to mingle with the crowds at Elmali’s open air farmers market to browse and stock up on provisions for the next day.  The market was full of all kinds of fruits, veggies, cheeses etc and at next to nothing prices, we bought crumbly cheese direct from the goat skins, olives by the kilo for a amazingly low price compared to what we’d pay at home, lovely tomatoes, fruit as well as cakes. After that it was off to search for the town’s only bar, which according to a local who spoke good English (having lived there) not only existed but should be in our vicinity. The same guy said he had been in Elmali for 4 or 5 months on national service and we were the only non-Turks he’d seen since his arrival, which made us feel slightly pioneering and pleased that this charming town hasn’t become at all touristy. And considering our presence in the town was rare, we were treated with respect and friendliness by each and every person we came across without any hassle or over curiosity, although we thought it may have something to do with our newly acquired ‘Elmali Special’ hairstyle!! 

After about 2 hours of looking we finally found the Holy Grail which was the local bar on the upper floor of an unmarked building (no-one said it was upstairs!). The bar was very dark and packed with quite a few local men who all smiled and acknowledged our arrival. We had quite a few beers and had our first experience of ‘Raki’ (Turkish spirit like Ouzo, but with special “jelly leg” inducing ingredients thrown in), which culminated in a long drunken “conversations” with bemused locals and eventually in a wrestling match between Brown and the local “champ” who after playing along for a while got tired and flipped Brown into a bout winning headlock before you could say “more raki”.  

A fitting end to a great “rest” day, and after all wrestling is the Turkish sport and it takes more than a fool with a belly full of Raki and a silly haircut to put one over on these guys!!

Mountains and Minarets – Day 5 – March 21st 06 – Elmali – Elmali

Day 5 – March 21^st 06 – Elmali – Elmali (day ride 42miles, +1600m)

We were enjoying Elmali so much we decided to extend our stay there, it was both welcoming and intriguing and it was also cheap, so we decided we’d take a day ride out of Elmali, without the burden of panniers and ride over a couple of high passes, that was the plan anyway….It was a beautiful sunny day when we rode out of Elmali, after a small downhill we headed out on to the pancake flat Elmali Plain passing isolated mosques with their minarets sparkling in the morning sun and their backdrops that of stunning snow capped mountains, mountains we were soon to be enveloped in.

We coasted along for about 20 miles, all feeling great after yesterdays rest day, getting nearer to the end of the plain and to the mountains, which looked all the more spectacular, shimmering in the background overlooking flocks of minute sheep which grazed the grassy plain in front. We then turned sharp right off the plain and headed into the mountains.  

Straight away we hit a steep mountain road which took us into a small farming village. On reaching the end of the village we were confronted by a T-junction, not knowing which direction we were supposed to be going we were consulting our map when we heard a shout from nearby house. We looked up to see an old man beckoning us over, we duly obliged and rode over to say hello and were invited into his home. We removed our cycling shoes and went to sit on the man’s veranda away from the heat of the midday sun. The man, called Osman, brought us apples (which are what the Elmali plain is famous for, Elmali literally meaning apple) and we helped ourselves. We met Osman’s son, he was called Souliman and we exchanged pleasantries while Soulimans wife went off to brew the Chai. Osman was a real joker with a penchant for whistling, it was like he’d just learned to whistle and was making the most of it, after trying on our sunglasses and listening to Antony’s walkman he posed for photographs, in between bouts of whistling. He took a particular like to Matt’s sunglasses and was trying to make a trade for them, but Matt was having none of it. We were served chai and we chatted, smiled and laughed without really understanding each other, as is the norm, but it was all good fun. We finished our chai and said our farewells to Osman and his family and rode off to the accompaniment of the whistle.

We headed out of the village and up to the first of our passes, with the road surface degrading noticeably, becoming rough and stony, but it didn’t seem to be a problem as we were without panniers on our fat-tyred mountain bikes. But, the “road” just got worse and worse and before long the stony track had turned into a never ending bed of sticky mud, mud which put our local Wiltshire gloop to shame. We stopped riding, but determined to make the pass, we washed the mud from our bikes in a nearby river and proceeded on foot with our bikes on our shoulders, the plan being to carry on riding when the road condition eventually improved, it was a very optimistic outlook from 4 mad Englishman in the midday sun.

Road problems aside, the scenery was simply amazing, one of the reasons that spurred us on in our vain attempt to get to the top, jagged white peaks against a brilliant blue sky, with pine trees as far as the eye could see and gushing snow melt rivers breaking the silence, it looked more like Colorado than Turkey.  After about 45 mins carrying on our bikes, with our cycling shoes each holding about 10 pounds of mud and way into the snow line with no end in site for the mud or the top of the pass we decided to call it a day, making it up to 1650m. The site of bear tracks didn’t help, with visions of being chased by a grizzly while wearing size 24 shoes made of mud creeping into our heads, even though we weren’t even sure they had bears in this area and we knew they wouldn’t be grizzlies, but your mind tends to invent these things anyway. We had a rest and took some photos then turned around and began the descent back, trying to ride, then carrying, then trying to ride again and then eventually getting back to some half decent track we rolled back down to Osman’s village, half expecting him to be there saying, “you don’t want to ride up there, it’s a mud track of nightmarish proportions”.  But he wasn’t around, so we sped through his village back on asphalt now and hammered back down to the plain enjoying the sense of movement once again. 

We rode back to Elmali on the road we came out on, with a nice breeze carrying us along and eventually arrived back in Elmali in the last light of the day, heading straight to our new found bar to reminisce on  a day of stunning mountains, whistling old men and the all consuming mud. And although we never made the passes, we were damn glad we tried.

Mountains and Minarets Day 6 – March 22nd 06 – Elmali – Korkutelli

Day 6 – March 22^nd 06 – Elmali – Korkutelli (33miles, +575m)

Today we said goodbye to Elmali. We checked out of the hotel and rolled down the main street, our bikes once again fully laden. We came to a rest at our favourite breakfast spot, our four bikes stacked up outside the café were becoming a familiar site.  The sun was shining and the air was pleasantly warm.

 We breakfasted on the same gorgeous soup and omelets as we had every day since our arrival and watched the locals walk up and down main street going about their daily business to the back drop of the town’s ear piercing tanoi system, blasting out who know’s what! We said goodbye to the café owner and rolled out of town feeling that we had experienced some of the real Turkey that we were hoping to find and feeling a little sad to be leaving it. Today was the beginning of the end of our short cycling trip as we headed North West to Korkutelli which would ultimately lead us back to our starting point of Antalya.

We left Elmali behind us and hit the open road, the scenery was similarly spectacular to what was on offer on the road into Elmali except the sun was out in abundance, emphasizing the now familiar jagged snow capped peaks on every horizion. The road was rolling and quite forgiving, but yesterdays long day meant for an early rest stop, so after about 10 miles we pulled into a small farming village for a rest. We headed for a small patch of grass in the village centre, dumped our bikes and lay down in the morning sun and watched life go by in this little corner of Turkey. 

It wasn’t long before we had our first visitor. A little old lady came out of her house and parked herself on her front step across the road from us and began an animated conversation with the four us while we smiled, nodded and pointed and smiled again. She seemed happy to do all the talking as we all laid back and drifted off to her cackling and the sounds of the animals from the nearby farms. After a watching an old shepherd and his flock amble past us we decided to hit the road once more, feeling refreshed from a good hour lying on the grass and a bit of food. We cycled out of the village and got back on the main road and readied ourselves for the only major climb of the day; up to the “Karaman-Beli” pass a cool 1330 meters above sea level.   The road was fairly flat up to the foot of the pass and nobody was in a rush, we were all happy to sit back, and enjoy the ride. We did, however come to a small hill, which ended up as a sprint when a couple of mad dogs with nothing but murder in their eyes attacked us one by one as we pushed it up the hill. They had picked their spot and devised their tactics well, as we hit the hill they charged out from behind their owner, who seemed to be oblivious to it all, and formed a pincer movement coming at us from both flanks, barking war songs at us and if it weren’t for some lung and leg busting sprints the outcome could have been different. But we reached the brow of the hill one by one, as the dogs retreated back to their ambush position to wait for the next two wheeled victim and the victorious cyclists waited at the top and howled as their comrades were chased down one after another, at one stage we didn’t think Andy was going to make it but a well timed kick put paid to that.  The pass turned out to be a lot easier than we had figured and we were all feeling pretty good when we hit the top.

 

The mountains were turning back into hills now and it would be the last we would see of the snow capped peaks ringing the “middle-earth” like Elmali Plain, but the place had certainly made an impact on each and every one of us and we all vowed to return one day. In front of us was a 10 mile downhill into Korkutelli and we were itching to go. We took some photos at the pass and readied ourselves for the speed fest ahead.  Heads down, bums up, the last one into Korkutelli gets the Efez in!  We headed into Kortkutelli town centre and after a couple of beers we found a hotel and slept for the rest of the afternoon.  In the evening we went for a walk around Korkutelli, it seemed a little less welcoming than Elmali and lacked some of the atmosphere, but as we were only staying for a night, it might not have been a fair comparison. We found a shop selling chicken soup, it was fantastic, we had two bowls and as much bread as we could eat, with the smiley owner treating us like royalty. Then it was off to a coffee shop, selling “real” coffee and the most tempting of cakes. It was the only decent cup of coffee we’d had since arriving in Turkey! And it washed down the chocolate cake perfectly. We then went to look for a bar, but Korkutelli wasn’t offering one up so we ended up in a chai house full of men playing games, smoking and watching belly dancing videos on the TV. We stayed for a few cups of chai and some people watching and decided to call it a night. On the way back to the hotel we spotted an off-license, what luck! We bought some “extra strong” Efez Pils and retired to the hotel’s lounge to reminisce on our adventures……and that’s the last thing I remember.

Mountains and Minarets Day 7 – March 22nd 06 – Korkutelli – Termessos – Antalya

Day 7 – March 22^nd 06 – Korkutelli – Termessos -
Antalya (50 miles) 

We had our final day of cycling billed as an easy downhill meander into Antalya, with a visit halfway to the historic ruin known as Termessos and it would have been just that, except for one thing; the wind, which we had in our face all the way and turned an easy downhill roll into a bit of a slog. We left Korkutelli at what was our earliest start time of the week, 8.30am, it had taken 6 days to get our tired bodies tuned enough for a 7am wake up call from Antony, who was always up first.

We rolled out of Korkutelli, with a slight breeze in our faces chuckling as we passed a shop called “Arse” and gradually picked up speed as the road began a gentle downhill. The scenery today was rather dull as we headed out of the mountains, nothing like what we’d been spoilt with over the last few days, so we just put our heads down and banged out the miles.

The wind was getting stronger and the traffic busier as we motored along the main road to
Antalya.

There were a few small climbs, made all the more difficult by the wind but it was mostly descending so we couldn’t complain when we made a very small climb to the only pass of the day, Tatali Beli – 970m, nice for us coming downhill from Korkutelli, but a difficult slog coming from Antalya at sea level. After a brief photo stop at the pass we set off on another windy downhill getting up to some serious speeds this time, this took us all the way to the junction for Termessos where we found a restaurant for lunch.

After pizza and chips it was time for the climb up to Termessos, which was perched on a rocky outcrop 1200m above sea level, 900m of which we were about to tackle. As we were riding up, then back down the same road, we decided to leave our panniers and gear with the guardian to look after for us in his hut and we just took the bare minimum on the climb, some clothes, walking shoes, food, drinks and cameras.  It was a hot day and we set off at a bit of a pace, suddenly feeling full of energy on our un-laden bikes, the road was narrow with many switchbacks, the fast pace turned into a bit of a race and we clocked about 45 mins from bottom to top, with Antony, who had the legs for it today, taking the polka dot jersey on this occasion.

After a rest we left our bikes under the watchful eye of the parking attendant, changed into our walking shoes and set off up the path toward the ancient city. The city of Termessos is located high in the mountains among jagged peaks, looking out over a stunning valley, it is both isolated and seemingly impenetrable, which must been why the mighty Roman army could never conquer it. The ruin itself is very well preserved, which may have something to do with it’s location and to the amazing craftsmanship that went into building it’s solid walls, many of which are still standing perfectly straight today.

The highlight of this amazing place though, had to be the beautifully preserved amphitheater, it’s stunning location at the top of the city set between pinnacle top granite peaks looking out to the valley below was simply awesome, and was made even more dramatic when the cloud swept in over it’s walls just as it had done thousands of years before. You could almost hear the crowd cheering as they watched the games going on in front of them, out of their seats, arms waiving in the air.  We wandered around the ruin for a couple of hours then headed back to the car park to retrieve our bikes, looking forward to the 10K descent in front of us and after 10 minutes or so of gravity assisted glee and burning rubber we arrived back at the guardian’s office to collect our panniers. We joined the main road again and set off for Antalya which was a windy 20 miles in the distance, this final leg of the journey being the least scenic of all. 

We eventually found Antalya old Town and pulled into a bar, we’d turned our pedals for the last time on our week long tour of Turkish Lycia, we’d had torrential rain, burning sun, hot and cold wind, sweat, blood and raki, we’d dragged our heavy steeds through sand, rivers and tar-like mud and above all we’d seen some of the most glorious scenery and met some the most warm and hospitable people you could ever imagine, not bad for a week.

The four large beers arrived at our table, it was time to celebrate now, and that as they say, was that….. 

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