Another Bite at the Cherry

Late on Friday evening I discovered that my flight to Turkey was for 6.30 the following morning, not Sunday, and my casual preparations went into ovrdrive. So far I haven't discovered that I've left behind anything vital but it's early days. My flight was uneventful and I used it to catch up on sleep. Arriving at Dalaman I frigged about for a bit mithering over a 40 lira taxi fare to Fethiye, then met a couple of Scots ladies, expats waiting for the husband of one to get through passport control. They offered me a lift to Fethiye!

From there it was a 2 and a half hour coach ride to Kaş, my destination. On the way I saw much that reminded me what a great place this was to be; the dramatic landscape, the sweet scent of pines, and cistus ladanifer (which, from a past encounter on Crete I have decided is addictive), the sight of a flying stork, and, in an agricultural district a moped apparently being ridden by a huge mass of blue plastic boxes. There were glimses of parts that I had walked through last year with Nancie Crick; we passed through Kinik, the scene of a chaotically busy market on our visit;above Kalkan I was able to pick out, like a scratch across the hillside, the hairpin path I had taken up to the Summer pastures (yaylas) of Bezirgan. Then there was the coastal stretch between Kalkan and Kaş; turquoise waters lapping the luminous limestone rocks, islands floating on a hazy Mediterranean.

It didn't take me long to find a friendly "pansyon" and it was a joy to shower and change before enjoying çay (amber sweet tea served without milk in a small tulip-shaped glass).  I ventured into town for a meal and ended the day back kn the roof terrace of the Melmet writing a WaterAid fundraising e-mail.

Breakfast the next day featured the following; bread, honey, a boiled egg, olives, loquats (small apricot-like fruit - many gardens in Kaş have a tree full of them), orange slices, strawberry and bananas in yogourt, tomatoes, two kinds of cheese. I'm not worrying about my seven a day!
I spent the day visiting the "small but perfectly formed" amphitheatre (in ancient times a harbour, Phellos, and a town, Antiphellos existed here), then strolled in luminous air and 23° warmth, shopping (for dried fruit), visiting the imposing "lion" tomb, and enjoying lunch next tk ghe harbour. This early in the season therexare few tourists so I was sharing the streets mainly  with Turks, making the most of the gentle heat and relative calm before the annual invasion.

I fancied a haircut and braved a barber shop. I got the "full monty". A shave with classic lather and a cut-throat razor preceded a meticulous trimming of not only my head but nostrils ears, and eyebrows!

At one point my barber produced what looked like an over-sized cotton bud, rather greasy and charred. He was looking at my ears as he dipped this in some clear spirit and lit it like a tiny firebrand. I was preparing to use a gesture if protest and/or appeal when he flicked some of the spirit into my ear and flashed over it with the fiery wand. And the same thevither side. I've no idea what it was supposed to achieve but it was quite painless and seemed to keep him happy.

This was followed by facial and cranial massage, then shoulders, arms and hands were thoroughly kneaded, finally each knuckle of my fingers being pulled until they clicked (again surprisingly without pain).

After a brief return to the pansyon I felt like more exercise so decided to walk up to see the rock tombs. This is my third visit to Kaş and I have yet to see them... and that is still the case. I missed them but I did find the start end of the Lycian Way route down from Çukurbaği.

Last year I failed to complete the descent from this plateau; just after stepping down from the rim I began to lose sight of the confirming route marked stones. Eventually I abandoned my attempt to descend as it was becoming clear that going "off piste" would probably be fatal.

Now I had another chance. I ambled up the path for a while, admiring the increasingly panoramic views back down over Kaş. After a while a group of about 25 students passed me on their way down. After talking to their leader I decided that if mere teenagers could do that then I could make the ascent. Which I proceded to do, accepting that I would have to come down the same way, there being no public transport to convey me back to Kaş from the top, as I discovered last year.

The ascent was arduous but gratifying. There was lots of interest to look at in the way up; flowers and plants, spectacular views and encounters with sone impressively horned goats. And the descent was easier and quicker. I only suffered one *unscheduled recumbence! (Ed. slipped and landed on his bum)