We thought that following the coast road would mean riding aimiably beside a sparkling sea, listening to the gentle slop of waves on rock, yellow-legged gulls keening over our heads...

Second day of our west-bound bike journey and our eyeballs are bulging, backs complaining, and lungs bursting. Up we go from Tekirova, away from the delightful coast and into the wooded hills, up some more as the rain begins in earnest and I am reconsidering wearing shorts. What is this, the Tour de Frickin France? Two hours of uphill, three. Some Turkish drivers in their Tofas automobiles honk at us encouragingly. Nadya and I are both hoping the rain won't be monsoonal like it was in Tekirova. I haven't seen rain like that since living in Bhutan. Fingers numb, knees knocking, finally we drop down into Kumluca and hide in a restaurant. 

We are now in Patara, back on the coast, having completed another murderous climb between the towns of Finike and Kas. Our appetites have soared. We gobble spinach and cheese pancakes called Gozlemeler and drink Turkish chai: black, sugared tea. There are few tourists about in December, so we are having no trouble finding pensions or campsites. Patara Gate Camping costs us 400 lira for a night (about $CAN 12). 

We have come to Patara to learn a bit about its classical origins. The Kingdom of Lycia stretched from Antalya to Dalyan in the 12th century BC and was invaded in turn by Persians, Athenians, Egyptians, and Romans. It takes a full day to walk around the ruins and appreciate the marks left by different empires. There's a necropolis with sarcophagi, a bouleuterion (look that one up!), a Roman bathing house, a collonaded street, and an ampitheatre. Emperor Nero built a lighthouse above the eighteen-kilometer beach. We have the ruins almost to ourselves. Sardinian Warblers, Black Redstarts, and Chiffchaffs flit about the olive trees; Great Egrets and Widgeon are in the reedy marsh nearby.

Heart

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Temperatures can reach 20 degrees Celsius in the day and dip to around 6 at night.

We will try and post a blog a week.

Tony