18km Ulupınar to Olympos

Andrew in our treehouseAfter so much hard work yesterday, we enjoyed a little bit of a late snooze, dozing right through the call of two mosques and the dawn cries of several roosters down in the valley.

Craving a change of breakfast as well – there’s only so much bread and jam you can take – we cooked up a deluxe breakfast frittata in our little frying pan, complete with peppers, onions and potatoes. A pot of large coffee on the side and we were well and truly happy campers. The only thing missing was some melted cheese on top and a side of crispy bacon and buttery toast. Oh, the things we will cook when we get a kitchen again one day!

Just as we rolled out of the field a local man walked by, perhaps coming to check on his bees, and looked perplexed to see us. He gave us the “where have you come from” look; one we know well by now. We just smiled and jumped on our bikes for the downhill cruise towards Olympos.

A little confusion ensued at the turnoff as there seemed to be some signs indicating a left turn towards the sea and others suggesting we continue on the main road a little further. We decided to make the turn and after flying downhill for a good few minutes, negotiating several hairpin bends, we were more than disappointed to find out the “road” leading to Olympos – clearly marked on our map as something that should have been accessible by car – was in fact a path along the beach.

Home for the nightWe just couldn’t face the idea of hiking back up to the main road and back down again for what should have been a very short journey along the coast so we irrationally dragged our bikes along the sand for a few hundred meters and eventually, with much relief on our parts, hit a path into the village famous for its treehouses.

A home amongst orange trees was soon ours and after a scrub up we set out to explore this beautiful area, a magnet for backpackers and it’s not hard to see why.