Fethiye

We have been very fortunate with the weather so far. Beautiful spring days and the trees are bursting with blossom. Yesterday it was very chilly in Pamukkale,  it almost felt like snow.  We had a 'rats and mice day' where we took the local minibus,  a dolmus, from Pamukkale village to Denizli town. Denizli is a major service town for the area with a big hospital,  lots and lots of manufacturing plants. It was busy, busy, busy compared to the little village of Pamukkale. We bought  tickets for the Intercity bus to Fethiye which we took today.

So it's so long humble little village of Pamukkale and the blue and white Cotton House Hotel. We weren't tempted by the upside down house, meant to attract tourists, sadly it's a bit of a fail.

We were up early at 5:00 a.m. to be standing at the side of the road in Pamukkale village at 6.00am waiting for the little dolmus 14 seater  shuttle bus to take us back down to the big smoke of Denizli  Intercity bus station.  When we were waiting in the little village centre  for the dolmus it was 1°! The local shop owner invited us into his store to wait in the warmth which was very sweet. 

At the main Denizli bus station the usual street dogs were laying about in the heated waiting room, clever doggies.  While we waited for the Intercity  bus, we got talking to a lovely man who wanted to practice his english. He was a psycho,-social youth therapist and was going back up to the village to work with the young people there doing music therapy art therapy etc. He was so lovely and he was explaining to us about the economic situation in Turkey, what the options are for the future of young people and the challenge around education under the current political regime. He was telling us that many, many people in Turkey  are worried about the future and the general feeling of the population is one of angst and stress. The inflation rate here is 64% and still running high. He dreamed he could take his family to relatives in England and create a better future for his son and daughter. Life sure is tough for some folks here.

As we passed through little villages we saw so many houses and hotels and business ventures that have started and then suddenly stopped. Lots of broken dreams.

Looks like a lot of subsistence living in small allotments.

We've had a great trip down on the bus. We skirted around a lot of mountain ranges hugging the valley floor with spectacular snow on the passes. The driver on the bus has an assistant and he has an amazing little invention like a ironing board with high sides on it.

He pulls the ironing board out from under a seat, props up the legs and then runs up and down the aisle of the bus serving complimentary tea and coffee and snacks, ingenious!  Every little village we passed had a mosque of varying degrees of grandeur. 

We arrived in Fethiye around midday and had about a 40 minute walk from the autobus terminal to our hotel. Good training with our packs for the Lycian Way/Likya Yolu track which we will start in a few days. 

Fethiye has changed from a sleepy little village of 30 years ago into a hustling,  bustling, booming tourist town.  You can see why, the harbour is spectacular.

Our hotel, Miralya  Suites, looks over the marina and the amount of super yachts moored in the harbour is unbelievable. I think there's a few Russian oligarch super yachts down there but we've yet to go for a walk and discover.  Fun fact Russians are the biggest tourist visitor group to Turkey, ( 456,000 p/a) followed by German visitors.

As we walked from the bus station to our hotel about halfway we stopped at a cafe to have a breather. The cafe was full of men, the only ladies present were the ones clearing the tables. Where are all the ladies having coffee?

After our 5am start it felt like a long day. We checked into our hotel, did our hand washing and then found a supermarket for breakfast supplies. Our hotel has great facilities so we can self cater here, bonus! Plus sitting our our balcony overlooking the marina looks very inviting. 

We had a small stroll along the waterfront after our housework tasks. Good to see the odd old fisherman's boats tied up amongst the Flash Harry boats and charter yachts.