Having given up the mountain walk we decided to take a short walk out to the local ruins. There are a few walkers in our guesthouse and one had recommend we talk the walk. We also needed to get a few kms in the legs to keep them going as we have some long days ahead.
We headed out on a long straight local road somewhere between 4-6 kms. It went through orchards of mainly oranges and pomegranates. No hothouses – or just a few with vegetables. We spied our first sheep for the journey. One lot being rounded up by a shepherd in a paddock. The other small group grazing in an orange orchard. Finike is known as the orange capital of Turkey, but I’m yet to see any orange juice for sale in the bars and cafes. Along both sides of the road were channel for irrigation and there were lots of tortoises basking in the reeds and mud banks and they slide into the water when they heard/sensed us coming. They must have good eye sight or senses as they were really quick to get into the water and stir up the mud to hide. We also saw a crab.
Then it was the ruins of Limyra. First a few tombs in the hills and then a really pretty stream, with lots of fresh flowing water. There was some old mosque nearby and an old lady was trying to get us to come inside. I’m not sure if she wanted to sell us a rug or get us to pray or perhaps she was going to tell our fortune.
On the other side of town was the rest of the ruins, quite an expansive settlement complete with its own small amphitheater and up behind on the hill more tombs. Two men, manned a kiosk and for a fee of $2 you could get the key to the gate to see the old ruins. We didn’t bother. There is only so much you can guess about it’s history and I’m getting to the stage of ‘seen one ruin seen them all’
On the way home we came across a tortoise crossing the road and took his photo. Then a car came around the corner and waited some considerable time before it proceeded so as not to squash it.
Walking back into town we walked through a new building development with lots of finished apartment buildings and many more in the making. Apparently the Russians are buying up the town and the inflated prices are meaning that the locals cannot find or afford a house to purchase. Many Russians use this coast for holidays and since the war many have chosen not to return to Russia and also recently many have fled their own country. We noticed that all the apartment buildings each have a bbq / pizza oven on the balcony. Cooking with wood or charcoal is definitely still a major part of life.
Hitting the beach which is a mixture of pebbles and black sand, we found a restaurant grilling meat so we chose a lamb kebab each which was served with a variety of salads, one of which even has pomegranate on top. Despite Danny’s expression it was one of our most favourite so far.
For some reason our host served us dinner at 5pm tonight. He is taking another guest to Antalya at 3am tomorrow so maybe that was the problem. With such an early meal we decided to take a walk along the beach to town which is about 2kms away. We were in quest of a drink as our guesthouse only serves water and tea. We tried at several bars along the beach and then in the town, but were told by a waitress that no one sells alcohol in town. We have noticed that the supermarket near us sells beer so maybe tomorrow we can have a drink on the beach before returning home.
Three doors down the road from us is cat heaven. I spied all these cats plus more down the side of the building, which is opposite two skip bins where the local dump their food scraps.
Jane treks Lycian Way 2022 