Antalya to Ephesus via Pamukkale 

The rain finally cleared and we were able to leave Antalya. I would be lying if I said I hadn’t enjoyed the total time out. Sometimes you just need it. We pushed out of the old town and followed the coastal highway, battling it out with some truly demented drivers. The cycling was beautiful though, the sparkling Mediterranean on our left and the mountains on our right. Sometimes we climbed into forests, other times we were right on the coast and able to swim. The weather stayed in our favour, at least for a few days.

On one day we ran  into 4 other cycle tourists. One Turkish guy, two French and a Swiss girl. After not seeing anyone throughout the winter it signalled to us that ‘the season’ had started. Cyclists were leaving Europe and beginning the long trek East. It happened that we all met in the evening and thus camped together in a place that wasn’t quite open for yet and therefore let us stay for free. Like always it was exciting sharing stories about where we had been and where we were going. It struck me again how close Europe is. Just that day we had marvelled at views of some Greek Islands.

The history of Ancient Greece is also starting to creep in here. For the very next day we visited the UNESCO site of Xanthos. This city was around before the Greeks as an ancient Lycian centre of culture, followed by Persians before it was eventually Hellenized. The Romans came next and then later it was abandoned. Now some beautiful ruins with some very cute goats and tortoises remain. It is quite amazing to find these kinds of places on your cycle route!

Soon the rain found us again and then as we headed back into the mountains, the snow. We took this route in order to visit Pamukkale, a series of hot springs and travertines that are an amazing white colour and considered a highlight of Turkey by many. This detour from the coast gave us some tough times.  Firstly due to the agriculture and villages it was difficult to find somewhere to camp. We finally asked at a petrol station one night and were confronted with how different this part of Turkey is to the East. The first guy we asked was confused and sent us further afield. The second guy gave us some concrete to camp on, even though by this time it was snowing and he had a large warm room all to himself. It actually didn’t bother us to camp at all, we were warm enough. It was just the realisation that attitudes are changing as we get further west. We were still spoiled from Iran! Unfortunately the guy at the petrol station ended up being a total creep and came knocking and whispering at our tent at 2am and 4am. We told him to piss off and he eventually left. Thankfully this was our only creeper in Turkey.

Snow and a roaring headwind greeted us the next morning. Making sure to be extra loud we woke the creeper (I may have yelled at him) and then limped about 200m to the nearest open cafe and ate two breakfasts back to back. Eventually we had to leave however and it was one of those days that I almost questioned why the hell I was doing this. Almost. We pushed into a raging, icy headwind all day. Our only relief were the ever present petrol stations with their free tea. Intermittently we would collapse into these, consume food and tea and try and put off leaving. Towards evening the wind improved somewhat and the dull, over farmed landscape gave us some trees in which to camp amongst. I had been dreading another petrol station encounter. I really love the end of a cycling day. Collecting fire wood, building a fire, starting dinner, scribbling in my journal as the light gradually fades. It is at this time that I feel most at peace with the world.

Reprieve came in the form of sunshine and a light breeze the next morning. I was overjoyed and cycled the remaining kilometres to Pamukkale in high spirits. Poor Astrid had however woken up with ‘elephantitis of the face’. That’s what we called it anyway. One side of her face was puffy and swollen, we guessed from cycling into the wind all day. Sadly no photographic evidence exists. Once we reached the town we made the rather dubious choice of deciding to cycle 6 km up a steep hill to the campground. It took an hour and a half of arse breaking climbing to make it up there. The view was pretty great and the beer was pretty cold, so all was not lost.

The following day we hitched hiked down the hill and explored Pamukkale. This might sound a bit harsh, but I don’t think it was worth it. They have re routed a lot of the water and it really doesn’t look that spectacular anymore. Maybe it was also the weather as it was grey and soon began to rain quite heavily. Just above Pamukkale sits Hieropolis a Greco-Roman Byzantine city founded early in the second century. It was a spa town and many people came there to bathe in the healing waters of Pamukkale. I wish I could have seen it then. There was something quite atmospheric about exploring these ruins in the rain.

What goes up, must come down and so it was for us. What had taken us so long to climb we now managed in under 15 mins on the way down. We wound our way through the countryside back to the highway and then something that rarely occurs happened. A ripping tailwind, smooth surface and good weather. Plus nice scenery. The cycling was so easy, at one point I wrote an email on my phone as I was pushed along by the wind! We made 120km easily that day and settled into an olive plantation feeling pretty happy with ourselves.

It was a short push to Selcuk the next day. This modern Turkish city is visited primarily to see the Greek-Roman ruins of Ephesus. This ancient city is huge and amazingly well preserved, I felt like I could get a real feel of what it must have been like to live in one of these grand cities as I walked around gazing at high columns and marble. Ephesus is also known as having the first ‘public toilet’. I am not sure if this is actually true, but the story is good and it’s fun to see.

So I will leave you now and let Astrid continue with our journey Westwards, towards European Turkey and Greece.

Love

Jude