It was a sad day to disembark our Blue Cruise that we called
home for the past four days. We said our
goodbyes to our new friends and exchanged our contact information. We loaded our things into a shuttle bus where
we made a pit stop in Demre Turkey before continuing our trip to Olympos.
Olympos, Turkey is a well known village that caters to young
travelers from all over the world who are usually ending or beginning their
Blue Cruise.
We opted for a well known
“treehouse” style lodging, Bayrams. The accommodations
itself isn’t the traditional treehouse that comes to mind but small first and
second story dwellings made with tree scraps.
The Mo and I shared an AC dorm with 4 other travelers from the UK and
the room itself was on the smaller size with just enough space to serve its
purpose.
The vibe at Bayrams was
definitely one of a chill and relaxation vibe.
Upon arrival, we scoped out the comfortable common lounge area with a plethora of picnic tables and gazebos
furnished with carpets, pillows and padded seats allowing for great
conversation with other travelers or just a nap.
Other fellow guests engaed
in games of backgammon or cards while others surfed the net with the available WIFI.
The “pansiyon” didn’t allow outside food or
beverages in the lounge area so many people got the freshly squeezed orange
juice or light lunch. Their cheese rolls
were amazing and delicious!
The narrow Olympos is very
rocky and pebbly. There isn’t much to
see on the road itself besides various snack shacks and other budget lodging. We walked down the street and paid the
entrance fees to the Lycian ruins and headed towards the beach to take a dip to
cool us off.
The beach was very rocky but
the water was blue and beautiful. It
wasn’t as salty as our previous beach trips and the water temperature was
perfect. It was a delight to see both
tourists and locals soaking in the rays at Olympos beach. The beach had a beautiful view of the ruins
on the cliffs of the mountains.
Similar to the cruise, we
were notified that dinner was ready by the sound of a bell indication. Everyone got in line to be served a vegetarian
dinner. The setup was reminiscent of a
soup kitchen where the staff served the portions of the meal so there would be
enough food to go around. I’m not sure
if the food wasn’t as tasty or if we were still full from our lunch, but we
didn’t eat much. The stuffed peppers
were good but everything else was boring and bland, which surprised me since I’ve
read rave reviews about the dinners at Bayrams.
Right after dinner, we took
a 45 minute shuttle to the base of the mountain where we would see the Chimera
flames. The hike would have been easy if
I was in shape and didn’t stuff my face the past couple of weeks. I sweated like crazy but made it up the top
to see the eternal flames.
The next day, we just hung out and relaxed. We forced ourselves to hit the beach one last time and grabbed lunch at a place Syn found and fell in love with. The Mo and I split the highly recommended gozleme, which is a Turkish "pankcake" with "flaky" crust and whatever filling your little heart desires. I opted for the minced meat and potato filling which was hearty and buttery.
