Unknown Chemicals
After spending a number of days lounging around Fethiye, Kate and I decided it was time to leave. It was a nice town, but hard to meet other tourists (although we did meet a few nice ones!) and we’d heard nothing but good things about Olympos (home of the famous treehouses.) So we set off to take a bus to Olympos.
Now, Olympos is only 20 pages ahead of Fethiye in the Lonely Planet, so I sort of thought the busride would be short. Which is silly, because the LP does cover the entire country of Turkey. Of course, a little research let me discover that it was actually a 6 hour bus ride (and the only non-overnight of the trip) so we basically spent most of the day just getting there. Now, another thing hinted at in the Lonely Planet was the fact that the bus didn’t actually stop at Olympos. Instead, it stopped at a restaurant on the side of the road, where you got off and were picked up by another bus that came at irregular intervals and waited until it was full before driving the remaining 15km or so to the treehouses. We were a little apprehensive, but fortunately it all worked out okay (and our getting dropped off on the side of a road in a strange town didn’t happen until later in the trip, lucky us.) Also, another bonus, we met a nice Australian (working in London) named Anne, who we talked to a bit - always nice to talk to someone besides Kate! (As by this point in the trip we had approximately gone through every possible conversation we could have, about three times. Hehe.) She was also on her way to the treehouses, en route to a Blue Voyage (which, if/when I ever make it back, is on the shortlist.)
Well, after the pretty but otherwise unremarkable busride through seaside terrain (and a number of yachting towns) and the bus transfer, we finally made it to Olympos. All of the tourists decided to stay at the same treehouse, as it was basically the only one with other people there. (There are a number of treehouses to choose from at Olympos.) Now, I feel like I need to clear something up, since people seem very excited by the treehouses. They aren’t big grand structures with multiple levels. Instead, they’re basically huts in the woods, set off the ground a little. Kate and I got a double, which was basically just a mattress on a wooden floor. But it was cheap! And it included dinner (the price was about 12 dollars.) And supposedly the water was hot.
The plan for the day was to do a little walking around the ruins in the short amount of time we had left before nightfall, and then go on a little tour to see the Chimaera fires after dark. The ruins themselves were picturesque but (fortunately since we didn’t have much time) not very big. However, we also discovered a little beach (we and every other visitor there, of course) so we walked along it for a while. Afterwards, we returned to the treehouse for the fantastic all-vegetarian) dinner and bus to the flames!
Now, the flames were actually very cool. They are these chemically lit fires that always burn (and have burnt forever, basically) on the slopes of Mount Olympos. Apparently sailors used to be able to see them at night. Also, and this is something I didn’t know until I actually arrived and read the signs, these were the flames used to light the original Olympic torch! How cool is that! The only regret I had was that I didn’t bring any marshmellows to roast over them. Now, one thing disappointed me. The LP described the composition of the gas that lights the flames as “unknown, though it is thought to contain some methane.” Now, I thought it was interesting that there was anything like this still unknown, so I made sure to comment on that to everyone. Of course, we arrive and there’s a big sign with the chemical composition of the gas down to the nearest hundredth of a percent. Thanks Lonely Planet, you let me down.
Also of note, on the long hike up to the flames I again fell and again hurt my poor injured right hand. Lucky me. Oh, and I looked like an idiot in front of everyone. Which was great, since it came after the big unknown chemical scandal.
So yeah, the flames were cool - at least I didn’t fall and burn my hand on them! And afterwards we went back to the treehouse and just hung out, chatting with other travellers, eating chips and drinking Turkish wine. Now, if I haven’t mentioned it, there are two kinds of people in Turkey for the eclipse. Science geeks who travel around the world hunting solar eclipses (and immediately recognizable) and, speaking of unknown chemicals, dreadlocked hippies who were here for the Rainbow Festival or some big psy-trance festival (also immediately recognizable.) Apparently the treehouse we’d picked was quite a psy-trance hangout. Hmm, I wonder which group people thought Kate and I were in (ha. ha.) Ah well, it was a fun night - and the next day we made our way to Antalya and from there to Goreme!
Tags: Travel
