The anchorage close to the sweet village of Üçağız was as still as a lake but unlike the limpid turquoise waters we had experienced elsewhere in Turkey, the water here was opaque and green. This probably accounted for the fact that we had the whole anchorage to ourselves.
We didn’t stay to savour the sense of isolation for too long as we were on a mission – my great-niece and her boyfriend were arriving shortly from the UK and we needed to get up the coast to Finike so we could meet them from Antalya Airport.
It was very exciting to be having more visitors from the UK – despite Covid restrictions – but rather strange when friends and family in Australia and SE Asia were still quite severely limited in their movements.
We had an uneventful trip from Kekova Roads to Setur Marina in Finike and the entry into our berth was made very easy and stress free by the excellent assistance we received from the marina staff. We were also fortunate to have a big space next to us so there was plenty of room for manoeuvre.
Barbaros, the manager of Setur Marina, was extremely welcoming and helpful and we really liked the marina in every way.
We were considering leaving Sunday on the hard there while we left for our daughter’s wedding and during the winter months. Unfortunately it didn’t have a travel lift big enough to take Sunday but Barbaros very helpfully helped us negotiate a year’s contract with Setur Marinas and for their marina in Kas to lift and store her for an equivalent price to the one quoted by Finike.
Having all this organised set our minds at rest as time was ticking by and we really needed to organise flights to the Netherlands before all the rules changed again and countries started closing down due to the predicted “second wave” of Corona virus infections.
Our boat guests were arriving in Antalya in the evening so we had the whole day in which to enjoy the car we had hired.
We decided to take “the scenic route” to Antalya which took us through the Taurus Mountains and right past the wonderful remains of the ancient Lycian city of Arykanda.
Built on a series of terraces, high up on top of a mountain, Arykanda had stunning panoramic views. Set amongst glorious cedar trees whose needle laden branches sounded like the sea as the breeze ruffled through them, it was easy to imagine what an incredible place it was to live.
We were so fortunate to be the only visitors there for much of our visit so we could easily visualise what this incredible town would have looked like in its heyday – without the distraction of modern day people wandering into our view and interrupting our imaginings.
Some of the archeological finds date as far back as the the 6th century BCE but the excavations are mainly from the Hellenistic and Roman times.
There were some fabulous highlights such as the almost intact row of windows of the Roman bath complex and an excellent theatre, built during the 1st century BCE which had 20 rows of seats, divided into 7 sections. At the edge of every row are holes that were used to support protective awnings.
The town was eventually abandoned in the 6th Century AD after of a series of destructive earthquakes made life there untenable.
After a few hours of wandering through the fascinating site we set off once again for Antalya.
We were amazed just how sprawling and highly populated this city is but later learned that its metropolitan population alone is over one million people and in 2019, 13.6 million tourists passed through the city.
We eventually met up with our guests but only after waiting at the International terminal and then finding out there was a second international terminal just a few minutes down the road (no signs to indicate this whatsoever!)
The next morning we left Finike to head back to Kekova Roads with our guests. It was a sparkling day and Finike with its beautiful mountain backdrop looked gorgeous. We agreed that we would definitely have to return there to explore further next year.
Salty tales from Bali Hai on Sunday 