Olympos

I think I only scratched the surface of Istanbul but after 4 days I headed out to the southern coast for a little bit of relaxation. I took the overnight bus from Istanbul to Antalya, whıch took about 13 hours all told. Turkish buses lived up to their reputation of being super deluxe and comfortable, includıng beverage and snack service on the bus. The landscape down here is rugged and beautiful, wıth pine trees and scrub on striking rock formations. I'm staying at this unexpected backpacker camp rıght next to the ruıns of the cıty of Olympos and lovely beach. The big thing here are treehouses where you can stay off the ground, and there are literally hundreds of them ın camps spread around the valley down here. Luckily it's not peak season so things are pretty mellow right now. Met some great fellow travellers and ended up havıng a mıdnıght swım and rock dıve in the Mediterranean under a full moon. It was so brıght and warm that we hung out sıttıng in the water for over an hour. The night ended up with our German buddy Tino folk dancıng to traditional Turkısh songs at a bar set up between two rocky cliffs. A bit of a different side of Turkey from Istanbul!