After an amazing week in Istanbul it was time to leave and explore new places in Turkey. My first stop after Istanbul was the coastal town of Antalya, then I continued along the coast to Fethiye, and afterwards I headed inland to Pamukkale.
When planning my first stop after Istanbul I knew I wanted to head to the coast. In my research I was able to find a cheap flight to Antalya, which is on the southern coast of Turkey, so that’s where I headed next. Other than booking my flight and accommodation in Antalya I had nothing planned other than exploring the area and seeing all the area had to offer. Unfortunately, my time in Antalya did not go according to plan. Not long after arriving I got sick and ended up spending most of my time resting and hoping to get better as fast as possible. While I wasn’t able to really explore the area, I was able to walk through the old town of Antalya. It was a cool town with a blend of old buildings and cobblestone streets and newer buildings. There were also amazing views of the water and mountains in the distance. I may not have been able to see all that the town had to offer, but in talking to others in my hostel room I was able to hear about some of the other places to see and visit, from beautiful beaches to waterfalls. From what I heard and the little bit that I saw, I look forward to eventually being able to go back to Antalya and properly explore the area.
One good thing that did come out of my time in Antalya was that I was able to meet two super nice women who were staying in my hostel room, Mica and Chelsea. When figuring out where to go next, as I talked with Mica, we discovered we were both headed in the same direction so we decided to go to Fethiye together. After four days of resting and recuperating I was feeling better and headed to my next stop, Fethiye. To get there we took a bus and it was such a nice experience with large comfortable seats and complimentary snacks and beverages during the ride. After a three plus hour bus ride through the beautiful Turkish countryside we arrived at the Fethiye bus station. The next step was figuring out how to get to our hostel. Our hostel owner had reached out before our arrival and asked what time we would be arriving and told us that there was a minibus that would take us close to our hostel. Without much more information to go on we set out to figure out the town's public transportation. It was an interesting experience trying to determine where we needed to go since Google Maps did not have any information or knowledge of the bus routes and the buses only had signs with a few names indicating the direction they were headed. After asking multiple bus drivers we finally found the correct one and made our way to our hostel.
The hostel was a house that had been converted into a hostel with one shared room and two other private rooms. Since it is the off season, when we arrived there was only one other person staying there. With some time still remaining before sunset we walked towards the water to catch some of the sunset. It was a beautiful and relaxing sight to finish out the day. On our first full day in Fethiye, we headed to the main part of town to wander around and found a bazaar. After walking through the bazaar we continued our wandering to the marina. Since Fethiye is much smaller than Istanbul and Antalya, it did not take long to explore the busy area of town so we headed to the beach to spend the rest of the day there. The next day, I met Mica in Öludeniz, a town near Fethiye that is known for paragliding. It was another relaxed day spent on the beach and in the water. At the beach in Öludeniz the water was bright blue and crystal clear; it was amazing for swimming. After hanging out on the beach for a while we started wandering towards the blue lagoon that was on the other side of the beach. To end the day we wandered back into the town to watch the sunset and the paragliders. We happened to be there at the same time as a large paragliding festival so there we saw countless paragliders.
The third day in Fethiye was a day of rest and planning. On our fourth and final day we decided to once again head to a beach. The morning of our fourth day in Fethiye we found out that during the night a new guest had arrived at the hostel and it happened to be a woman, Laura, who we had met in Antalya. Laura decided to join us on our trip to the new beach we planned to visit. Since she had a car she offered to drive all of us instead of us having to take multiple buses. Getting to the beach ended up being more of an adventure than we realized as we had to drive along a long winding mountainous road with steep cliff edges. After a stressful drive we arrived at the beach. It was beautiful and quiet and we ended up spending most of the day there. While it was beautiful, we decided that the beach in Öludeniz was just as beautiful and easier and less stressful to get to. On our way back to Fethiye we stopped again in Öludeniz to watch the sunset and close out the relaxing beach day.
After spending four days in Fethiye, Mica and I headed inland to Pamukkale. Pamukkale is known for its white travertine terraces filled with mineral water. We arrived in Pamukkale on a Saturday afternoon and after spending time drinking tea in the garden of our hotel we went to explore the town. It ended up taking less time than we thought it would to explore the town since it was so small. As we walked back into the hotel, one of the owners of the hotel, Özbey, asked if we wanted to join two other women in going to the top of the mountain for sunset. We said yes and it ended up being a great decision. After grabbing jackets we met two other solo travelers, Amelie from Canada and Cynthia from Brazil, and got in the car with Özbey and headed to the top of the mountain. When we got there one of his friends joined us and brought some snacks, rakia, and wine. We ended up spending two hours on top of the mountain hanging out and watching the sun set. It was such a fun experience. After it was finally dark and we were all hungry, we headed down the mountain. Özbey dropped us off at his restaurant and told us that he had already ordered some traditional Turkish dishes for us as that was something we had talked about on the top of the mountain. We had a grilled chicken and rice dish that was delicious, çig köfte, manti, and a mezze plate. It was a great end to a fun filled evening.
The next day Mica, Amelie, Cynthia, and I had a traditional Turkish breakfast at the hotel and then Özbey drove us to the top entrance of Pamukkale ruins and pools. Not knowing much about Pamukkale other than having seen the photos of the travertine pools, I was very surprised to see a bunch of Roman ruins. What I learned was that the ruins used to be a Hellenistic spa town called Hierapolis and what we were seeing were Greco-Roman ruins. My favorite part of all of the ruins was the amphitheater; it was grand and beautiful. We ended up spending most of our time there exploring the ruins before finally heading to find the pools. Unfortunately, when we got to the pools we were disappointed to see that most of the pools were empty except for a few that were crowded with tourists. While it was a cool sight, we all agreed that we were let down by the pools but we were all completely surprised and impressed by the ruins, which ended up being our favorite part of the day. By the time we got back from Pamukkale it was already late afternoon so Mica and I decided to extend our stay there by a day so we could have time to plan and hang out with Amelie and Cynthia more. The four of us spent most of our second day in Pamukkale just hanging out in the garden of our hotel and planning our travels.
"Travel because you have no idea who you are until you experience yourself through different people and realize how we are all the same."
- Unknown
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