* Pictures noted from bottom to top - From Finike we started our 4+ hour ride to Gocek. On the way we decided to make a detour to the ancient city of Myra. First, we took a quick peak in the famous St Nicholas Church (St Nicholas the original Santa Claus or as he's known in Turkey, Noel Baba) (picture 1). The place was crawling with a zillion Russian tourists since St Nicholas is also one of their big patron saints as well. Second stop was a visit to the most accessible Lycian tomb complexes on the Turquoise Coast (picture 2). Just amazing!
Further along the route we made another short detour to Xanthos, one of the most illustrious cities in the ancient Mediterranean (even mentioned in Homer's 'Illiad'). After following a road sign or two and getting lost as a few were missing, we finally arrived to this unassuming, but impressive site (picture 3).
After a short viewing we returned to the car where the road took us from mountains to the sea. We stopped for lunch along the water's edge of the lovely, narrow cobbled streets and whitewashed Ottoman houses of Kas. It was nice to relax and people watch for a bit before getting back on the road.
We arrived at our harbor-side hotel in Gocek (picture 4). The hotel manager was very pleasant and helpful with suggestions on dining options and activities which made up for the lack of style or special ammenities (especially after L'Orangerare in Finike). Once settled in, we took a walk along the water's edge and through the town finding a place to eat some unexciting Turkish mesas before returning to the hotel for the night.
The next day was gorgeous - sunny and warm - and per the manager's introduction we met Captain Gezi Teknedi on his lovely day boat where we joined about 12 people (other independent travelers mostly from the UK) for a cruise throughout the beautiful bays and islands surrounding Gocek. We visited an endless amount of private coves for wonderful, refreshing swimming and snorkeling in the super clear, blue and turquoise waters (picture 5). We enjoyed a grilled fish (picture 6) and chicken lunch, barbecued personally by our captain followed by more swimming, sunning (picture 7), and touring around coves and waterways each more idyllic than the last. A full 8 hours on and in the water was just a perfect way to spend our day.
We returned to the hotel, showered, and went out for some delicious kabobs at the neighborhood 'Kabob Hospital'.
After a quiet night's sleep we were up and ready to get back on the boat for another day of swimming, sunning, and touring since it was so relaxing and fun the first time. And much to our delight it was all that again. Feeling relaxed after our full day we were back at the hotel to do some computer work and read before going out for dinner along the harbor.
The next day we were packed and ready to go to Seluck-Sirince our next stop on the beautiful Turquoise Coast.
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