Kaleköy

Kaleköy :27th June – 3rd July

One of the amazing things about travelling extensively, twenty years after a first major trip, is how technology has changed the way we choose our destinations. In a way, it seems much less intrepid but at the same time, it is nice to get some imagery of where we are going before we arrive so we know what to expect. One of my methods of choosing cool places to stay was to search on Google maps for an area of coastline that looked fairly uninhabited, because much of Turkey’s coastline is very built up.

This is how I found Kaleköy (once the ancient town of Simena), near Kaleüçağız. This relatively small stretch of coastline in Antalya is the once ancient site of the Lycians who inhabited the coast between Antalya and Fethiye around the 6th century BC.                                                  The Lycians were also one of the few non-Hellenistic nations of antiquity who were not termed ‘barbarians’. In fact, their image in antiquity was of a hard-working and wealthy people, neutral in world affairs but fierce in the defence of their freedom and conservative in their attachment to ancestral tradition. Lycia was the last region on the entire Mediterranean coast to be incorporated as a province in the Roman Empire and even then the Lycian Union continued to function independently.

The drive there is very beautiful. After passing the big tomato, the road largely follows the coastal cliff and we pass little turquoise coves nestled below the road. As we get closer, we start seeing Lycian tombs and old castle ruins alongside the road.

One of the amazing things about Turkey, is the amount of fruit and vegetable production. In this particular area, there are hundreds of hot houses growing aubergines, capsicums, cucumbers and tomatoes. On google maps there are huge areas of white where there are row upon row of hothouses. I assume it is too hot to grow vegetables in the sun and the greenhouses provide a controlled environment.

We try to drive all the way to our guest-house, following google maps only to find that there is no road and the area is accessible only by boat. I think this is perhaps how the Chinese couple who drove into the sea when their map continued on across a waterway, must have felt. So we drive back to Kaleüçağız and park the car next to a 5000 year old tomb (quite novel for us but obviously common place  in this carpark) and catch the boat to the Teras Paradise Guesthouse.

Because we packed our things during a bush fire, the car is like a skip on wheels. We spend some time repacking our bags and trying not to look as if we’re moving permanently to our new accommodation.

We have been really looking forward to coming here as it looked pretty special in the photos that I had seen on the website. The next month of  our bookings are all over budget as Rachel will be sharing the costs when she arrives in three days.

The guest-house is right next to the water and there are a series of little Islands and a tomb out front. The water is clear and shallow and sea turtles cruise around all day. Paradise!

There is one kayak to share but luckily, as there are only four rooms in the guest-house, it is mostly ours to use and the boys spend the first couple of days exploring the little Islands and devise a tour circuit that they will take us all on later.

Each day we wake to an enormous breakfast of home-made jams, olives and preserves, fresh bread, tomatoes cucumber and cheese.

I love Turkish breakfasts. I recall being a little overwhelmed by the salty wrinkled olives and bread that I was served for my first breakfast in my new job but quickly fell in love with the abundance of sweet tomatoes and cucumber and the delicious fresh bread.

Across the water from the village of Kaleköy is the Island of Kekova that at one time was part of the mainland but separated during an earthquake. at which time the ancient city of Kekova sank into the sea. The area is hugely popular with foreign and Turkish tourists and no sooner have we finished our breakfast (it is usually 11am by this stage) the boats start pouring in with their amplified commentary and suddenly, the tomb out the front is a pilgrimage site  for people in their bikinis with their selfie sticks. The village is also famous for home-made goats’ milk ice-cream and Fatih, our charismatic, handsome and persuasive host is out on the balcony enticing people in for ice-creams, cold beer and lunch.

I spend much of my day happily writing at one of the tables looking out to the water where the only drawback is the chain-smoking, Turkish day visitors who sit all around me taking advantage of the wi-fi and blowing smoke in my direction.

The sea is so safe that the boys can paddle around safely out front for hours, and it is the first time for a while that I have experienced some time alone.

Stella spends quite a lot of time in her room reading or playing the guitar, which is fine, but we wish she’d get out more. At this rate she’ll have a vitamin D deficiency! However, the trick to travelling successfully with a teenager is to let them have time alone. She and Louie share a room fairly happily but she likes to be by herself when she writes music and sneaks on to the computer to watch bad American sitcoms.

Roger and the boys spend an afternoon on the kayak picking up rubbish (mostly broken glass) and collect two sacks full. The environment here is so spectacular and the sea turtles are truly special, but as in so many places, there is a disregard for the importance of putting rubbish in a bin.

The boys have prepared a tour on the kayak.

Louie is in charge of land based Island activities and Jasper is the snorkelling guide.

Stops on the way include the tomb, the underwater Christmas tree snails, heart rock, big crab bay, giant turtle bay, snail rock, pottery bay and the deep blue.

Holey shell rock, volcano island, the 4000 year old water tank and interesting rock with a tiny blowhole are part of an extended tour which I will have to take at another time as I am apparently an unusually heavy load and some reconfiguring will need to happen.

Following a sea turtle.

The day before Rachel’s arrival, we wake to the news that there has been a terrorist attack at Ataturk airport. The Turkish government has shut down social media and while we have a few concerned friends checking on our whereabouts, after about 10am there is no way to contact anyone. Everyone around us is on their phone speaking to relatives and friends. I spend the day getting acquainted with the political situation in Turkey and why people we have spoken to appear to blame President Ergodan for the current unrest.

A year ago, Islamic State issued a threat to Turkey that marked the end of an understanding that the Islamic State would not target Turkey, as repayment for Erdogan’s generous open-border policy during the first four years of the Syrian conflict.

There is a strong feeling amongst those we have spoken to, that Erdogan’s plan to support Islamist groups to ‘muck around neighbouring countries’ has put Turkey under threat. That “it’s not often that the leader of a country so generously serves the citizens of another, putting his own nation’s security at risk”.

At the end of the day we hear from Rachel, who has decided that she is not comfortable flying into Ataturk airport. The kids have been preparing for her arrival, fine tuning the kayak tour and making art works. I knew they were looking forward to a change of personal dynamic in the family, particularly Stella, but I think our social isolation has finally hit us; that while there are people all around, there is nothing like a familiar face. There is a sombre mood that night. We talk quite a bit about terrorism and  gently remind the kids that while we are all sad that Rachel is not coming, there are much sadder and devastated families as a result of what happened.

The village of  Kaleköy is a series of terraces with steps and pathways leading from the sea, through housing and pensions, up to the Byzantine Castle at the top. It is too hot to contemplate a midday walk up hill so we wait until the evening to explore the castle. It is very beautiful at the top and it is easy to see why this is considered the jewel of Turkey. I find the house I would like to live in, which is part of an ancient Lycian tomb complex. Unfortunately it is currently owned by the richest man in Turkey.

The next day we have booked a boat trip with Captain Mehmet whose family owns our guest-house. He brings along his 9 year old son who doesn’t speak any English but we hope the ‘language of play’ might take over between him and the boys. ( It does about an hour before our return home at 6 pm!)

We cruise over the top of the ancient sunken village of Kekova which we had imagined we would snorkel through like the man from Atlantis so are a bit disappointed to find that we can only look at it through a window in the hull. The area is still full of ancient ceramics and ruins so it is not surprising that snorkelling and diving has been banned here to preserve what is left.

Having the whole boat to ourselves is a bit of a luxury and in between snorkelling we lay on the top deck on the cushions in the sun and pretend that we do this all the time.

Captain Mehmet has a circuit that he does which takes us to a whole lot of deserted little Islands and peninsulars with ruins of churches and tombs and a huge pirate cave. We stop for a fish BBQ and delicious lunch which he whips up in the boat galley.

Our last day is spent enjoying the sea. I take lots of photos to upload to the guest-house website and we visit the Lycian necropolis up near the castle, at the end of the day.

Louie has made a special shell collection which he has hidden somewhere very secret for his return in ten years time. This is one place to which he definitely wants to return.

The next afternoon we load our stuff into the boat and head back to where our car is parked.

We leave the Teras Paradise with some reluctance as it has been a very happy and relaxed time of relative family harmony, and drive to Antalya.
We have changed our plans slightly since Rachel decided not to come and Fatih has recommended the Duden waterfall in Antalya, which spills from the edge of a cliff into the sea.

We choose a hotel nearby, looking over the sea where we arrive just in time for a swim. While I’m taking photos from the upstairs balcony of the boys in the pool who are performing various synchronised swimming routines, Roger suddenly dives in from the side of the pool and swims underwater. I assume he’s wanting to be part of a photo but instead he surfaces underneath a mother and her young child and I’m watching in horror as he appears to grope around underneath the water. Coming up from under the water and pulling people’s pants down is a bit of a family trick and for all intents and purposes, that seems to be what he’s doing. Until suddenly…it seems that he’s just rescued them both from drowning, as they walked off the shallow edge into the 2.5m deep end. What a relief, I thought we had a situation on our hands.