Cıralı, far from the madding crowd
Well,
I have been on holidays to Turkey recently (may 2008) and one of the places I visited was Cıralı, and I loved it.
I stayed in the hotel of a member of ours, Hotel Canada in Cıralı, and it was an excellent choice , the hotel is very well kept, very quiet (for those who love that), and is beautifully situated.
I was very lucky to have Shirley with me, because otherwise I never would have thought of making this choice, as I tend to stick to more real touristic placeS when I am on my own (anyone travelling alone will certainly understand this). I had the feeling I was really "looked after" while I was there, and that is feeling I dont get that much in life, so it was very relaxing for me.....
I was surprised of myself I did like this peace so much, that must be a hidden part of my character, but in those parts of Turkey, you more have the feeling of being in the real Turkey (or is that just an idea of mine as well ?).
I very much enjoyed the evening meals, served at the table, starting with a nice soup, a choice of mezeler (those typical Turkish small dishes you get for starters : like salads, mantı , mushrooms.....) and a main course, followed by dessert, with all this came a bottle of wine, needlessly to say, I gained some kilos when I returned.
Together with Carrie we went to Phaeselis, Shirley already wrote about this, and on my own I went to Olympos and to the Yanartaş (burning stones if you translate it litteraly)
Now, why Olympos is called Olympos and why you have the same mountain in Greece, still is a mystery to me, but that didn't spoil my joy. I'm not the type that really wants to see every stone that has been left by the Greeks, Romans, Finicians (dont know how to write that), or by anyone else for that matter, but I love the environment of those sites, and therefore, Olympos was made for me !
First I had to struggle through the beach of Cirali (btw, a very nice beach , nice sand, peacefull but exploited as well, so you have everything together there, not sure about swimming in the sea though.....), and then you cross a small river (on the beach, like a little oasis) and then you struggle a little further till you reach the entrance of the site , where you have to pay a very modest 2 Lira
The main road of the site was crowded by people (mostly Turks as it was Atatürk Günü), but I quickly found out , they just did pay that fee to get to the beach, as that is the shortest way if you come by road
(bit strange, isn' it ?),
Anyway, the scenery is lovely and you really have to discover what is there, you see some cards with "temple", "church" or whatever, and then you leave the main road and you start climbing and struggling again and all of a sudden you find yourself in a heaven of peace, with an amazing beautifull light coming through the trees (the whole site is covered by trees and leaves, which makes is so agreable to walk there), you go further and further, wondering if you are still right, and then you come accross a temple (not very well kept, but that is just the charm of it), a thomb, another thomb, a building with mozaïks (inlays ?) and amazingly enough, you are almost on your own there, you hear some birds and you get enchanted by the place, anyway, I was (I did put some pictures on the gallery, hope you can grasp the beauty of the light coming through the leaves),
I ended up at the end (am I good, or am I good) where I did have half of a mellon filled with ice, and I ate it on those corners they make with carpets where you have to take your shoes of.... feeling very happy
Well, talking of those places with carpets, you have them allover Cirali, and they often serve very nice Gözleme with salads, most people only speak Turkish, there are lots, lots of small pensions in Cirali, when you walk through that place , you easily get some fruit of somebody who is in the trees and when they discover you speak a little Turkish, people are even more helpfull
Well, that was Olympos, I also made it to the Yanartaş (or Chimerea, beat me why they call it that way)
The hotel arranged a minibus and we were 6 people to go there, including a small boy of five, but he was a handfull
We all got torches , and the small boy yelled "I'm the one with the torch, let me go in front.....", he indeed had a little torch, made for his size
but my God, was he quick ! Cannot say we slowly walked upon those mountains, and although I wasn't really dressed warmly and it was a night in May, I was really hot when I reached the top
To be honest, at first I was a bit disappointed, there were fires all over and it just looked like some villagers had made a lot of fires, but off course this is not true, those fires come there "naturally", because gas is getting out of the stones, but what makes them ignite ??? I don't know
There were a lot of those fires, some big, some small ,that night it was full moon (ha !) , and that also added to the atmosphere (and made it a lot easier to go down), honestly I have never been on a mountain in the night, so I enjoyed it very well
There were also some stones left from the Greeks up there (as everywhere) and the smart five-year old asked "why are those inscriptions in Greek if we are in Turkey? " I did find that a very good question for his ages, really, that one was too smart for his own good
So off we went, the five year in front (we thought his father would have to carry him, but no way....) and I was really satisfied of myself and tired when we came back, it was a lovely experiences
I also added some pics on the gallery......
Is there more to tell, there sure is, like that man who has a orange plantation next to the hotel, everybody is wellcome and gets free oranges, he is just doing this for fun, he is retired...... That is Turkey , don't you love it ?
After my days in Cirali, I took the bus back to Aydin and then to Kuşadası, which is a very nice place, but it was a bit of a culture shock .... still I loved both places
I have been on holidays to Turkey recently (may 2008) and one of the places I visited was Cıralı, and I loved it.
I stayed in the hotel of a member of ours, Hotel Canada in Cıralı, and it was an excellent choice , the hotel is very well kept, very quiet (for those who love that), and is beautifully situated.
I was very lucky to have Shirley with me, because otherwise I never would have thought of making this choice, as I tend to stick to more real touristic placeS when I am on my own (anyone travelling alone will certainly understand this). I had the feeling I was really "looked after" while I was there, and that is feeling I dont get that much in life, so it was very relaxing for me.....
I was surprised of myself I did like this peace so much, that must be a hidden part of my character, but in those parts of Turkey, you more have the feeling of being in the real Turkey (or is that just an idea of mine as well ?).
I very much enjoyed the evening meals, served at the table, starting with a nice soup, a choice of mezeler (those typical Turkish small dishes you get for starters : like salads, mantı , mushrooms.....) and a main course, followed by dessert, with all this came a bottle of wine, needlessly to say, I gained some kilos when I returned.
Together with Carrie we went to Phaeselis, Shirley already wrote about this, and on my own I went to Olympos and to the Yanartaş (burning stones if you translate it litteraly)
Now, why Olympos is called Olympos and why you have the same mountain in Greece, still is a mystery to me, but that didn't spoil my joy. I'm not the type that really wants to see every stone that has been left by the Greeks, Romans, Finicians (dont know how to write that), or by anyone else for that matter, but I love the environment of those sites, and therefore, Olympos was made for me !
First I had to struggle through the beach of Cirali (btw, a very nice beach , nice sand, peacefull but exploited as well, so you have everything together there, not sure about swimming in the sea though.....), and then you cross a small river (on the beach, like a little oasis) and then you struggle a little further till you reach the entrance of the site , where you have to pay a very modest 2 Lira
The main road of the site was crowded by people (mostly Turks as it was Atatürk Günü), but I quickly found out , they just did pay that fee to get to the beach, as that is the shortest way if you come by road
(bit strange, isn' it ?),
Anyway, the scenery is lovely and you really have to discover what is there, you see some cards with "temple", "church" or whatever, and then you leave the main road and you start climbing and struggling again and all of a sudden you find yourself in a heaven of peace, with an amazing beautifull light coming through the trees (the whole site is covered by trees and leaves, which makes is so agreable to walk there), you go further and further, wondering if you are still right, and then you come accross a temple (not very well kept, but that is just the charm of it), a thomb, another thomb, a building with mozaïks (inlays ?) and amazingly enough, you are almost on your own there, you hear some birds and you get enchanted by the place, anyway, I was (I did put some pictures on the gallery, hope you can grasp the beauty of the light coming through the leaves),
I ended up at the end (am I good, or am I good) where I did have half of a mellon filled with ice, and I ate it on those corners they make with carpets where you have to take your shoes of.... feeling very happy
Well, talking of those places with carpets, you have them allover Cirali, and they often serve very nice Gözleme with salads, most people only speak Turkish, there are lots, lots of small pensions in Cirali, when you walk through that place , you easily get some fruit of somebody who is in the trees and when they discover you speak a little Turkish, people are even more helpfull
Well, that was Olympos, I also made it to the Yanartaş (or Chimerea, beat me why they call it that way)
The hotel arranged a minibus and we were 6 people to go there, including a small boy of five, but he was a handfull
We all got torches , and the small boy yelled "I'm the one with the torch, let me go in front.....", he indeed had a little torch, made for his size
but my God, was he quick ! Cannot say we slowly walked upon those mountains, and although I wasn't really dressed warmly and it was a night in May, I was really hot when I reached the top
To be honest, at first I was a bit disappointed, there were fires all over and it just looked like some villagers had made a lot of fires, but off course this is not true, those fires come there "naturally", because gas is getting out of the stones, but what makes them ignite ??? I don't know
There were a lot of those fires, some big, some small ,that night it was full moon (ha !) , and that also added to the atmosphere (and made it a lot easier to go down), honestly I have never been on a mountain in the night, so I enjoyed it very well
There were also some stones left from the Greeks up there (as everywhere) and the smart five-year old asked "why are those inscriptions in Greek if we are in Turkey? " I did find that a very good question for his ages, really, that one was too smart for his own good
So off we went, the five year in front (we thought his father would have to carry him, but no way....) and I was really satisfied of myself and tired when we came back, it was a lovely experiences
I also added some pics on the gallery......
Is there more to tell, there sure is, like that man who has a orange plantation next to the hotel, everybody is wellcome and gets free oranges, he is just doing this for fun, he is retired...... That is Turkey , don't you love it ?
After my days in Cirali, I took the bus back to Aydin and then to Kuşadası, which is a very nice place, but it was a bit of a culture shock .... still I loved both places
