Gorges and Bicycles

After two nights in our little tree house in Kabak it was nice to leave and head back to civilization.  But before we got to civilization our first stop was to the ancient city of Pinara. Colleen kept thinking that we were goint to Panera and was a bit disappointed that there was no one there selling fresh baked bread.  But I digress... Pinara was one of the most important cities from the Lichan period (according to both our guide, Mutlu, and the lonely planet).  We saw many tombs, an agora (I checked and there were not any agoraphobics in the group) as well as a theater.  Most of the homes had been destroyed by various earthquakes over the years.  When we got to the theater, Mutlu sang us the Turkish national anthem and then Eram and Amir put on a traditional Pakistani dance (I think it was traditional) and then the whole tour group got together and Eram led us in another dance. 

After Pinara we all hopped back in the bus and many of us napped as we headed to our lunch spot at a place called Yaka Park. You have the option at Yaka Park to stand in the brisk water with trout for 5 minutes and in exchange you get a free drink; 15 minutes for free lunch.  We all decided to forgo the pond and pay for our food the old fashioned way... cash. 

After a leisurely lunch we headed to our next stop, the Saklikent Gorge.  Here we all donned our water shoes and walked hand-in-hand across the very cold stream of water into the gorge.  Once we were in the gorge the water was pleasantly warm and muddy.  Mostly the walking was easy but there were times scrambeling over rocks through the water that were a bit dicey.  Fortunately we all made it back our with all our limbs intact. 

The drive to Dalyan was long and a bit boring but I had no trouble sleeping after spending most of hte day under the beating sun.  Once we got to our hotel we only had a short time to shower, change and head out for dinner.  We decided to try Pita Pizza.  It is actually called Pide which is essentially Turkey's equivalent to pizza. It was one of the better meals so far in my opinion, ranking about even with the Turkish pancake.

In the morning of Day 6 (I can't believe how quickly the trip has gone) we headed our for our day of cycling.  Because the temperature is so hot in the summer we were able to skip the 10 km climb that usually starts the day and instead drive up to the top of hte hill and begin there.  Unfortunately, this didn't eliminate all the climbs but it got us out of the longest one.  Once we reached the top, we were all fitted with bikes and began with some off-road biking.  Mostly it was gentle enough, but there were definitely moments where I questioned whether I was due to break my left arm again (it's been 7 years since the last break).  Furtunately I made it through the and the dirt road turned into a nice smooth asphalt.  Well maybe not smooth but definitely better than the rocky dirt one.  We stopped for tea and lunch along the way and eventually made it to turtle beach for a swim.  The beach, while not as blue as the water at the blue lagoon, was nice and sandy and much warmer than our last swim.  The breeze kept us cool but soon turned a little too windy just as it was time to head back to Dalyan.