Aperlai Lycian Ruin Day 10

Thursday, June 7, 2012
It is hard to believe that it is the 10th day of our trip already. Because we have so many photos a 3rd web album had to be created: https://picasaweb.google.com/106489226857978603917/TurkeyAlbum3

Today was similar to yesterday. We went to our first swimming cove at 10 in the morning. I thought it was colder than the other spots we were yesterday. Some thought it was the same or warmer. I guess it is whatever your body is prepared for at 10 in the morning with a nice breeze.

We just had to get in.

Mehmet, Paul, and Jean is still thinking about it.

Noodles on the boat even. Tom stands on a very shallow part.

Carl loving the noodle.

We had a good time swimming around the area. We then got underway to go to Aperlai which is another Lycian ruin. We had a nice rocky 30 minute walk to the ruins. Along the way we encountered The Purple House, a camp and Pension. http://aperlai.com/

We walked around the ruins where there were terra cotta shards and limestone ruins. We then took a swim around the sunken walls of a ruin.

The gate to enter the Lycian Way.

It looked like the moon at times.

A house. I believe the "purple house".

One of several outdoor sleeping decks.

Sarcophagus

The Apse of a church.

More Lycian home ruins. We are standing on the wall of yet another house.

We took a slightly different path on the way back which avoided having to wade through the water. We stopped at a group of sarcophagus. Some of the sarcophagus had Lycian writing which used Greek letters. Mehmet mentioned that the Lycian language has only been 20% deciphered.

Tom trying one out.

We returned to the restaurant at the dock for a nice home cooked meal. The choices were lamb chops or sea bream. It was a delicious meals with a nice salad, french fries, bread, and the main course choices.

See the ketchup and mayonnaise?

The outdoor cooking stove sports fish, lamb, bread, and french fries.

Jean taking a picture of the beautiful table.

Leslie modeling her rock ring. It's going to sell for big bucks!

Goodbye to the walk and to the restaurant.

At the restaurant we saw another traveling group from the University of MD. Mehmet asked the owner of the restaurant about the group and he mentioned that the professor leading the group had a permit to visit the site and has been coming for the last 4 years.

At the end of the meal, Carl mentioned he wanted some Efes Beer mugs to buy if he could. Belinda got a pair of Efes glasses. We settled the bill and took off for the next swimming hole. We swam for a bit then had tea and a delicious chocolate cookie called "It's Mine". We then headed back to Kale Village. There were a lot of boats in the cove for the village but Hasan had no problem parking his boat in a tight spot.

When we got back to Kale Village, we all changed our clothes to go shopping at the market above the village for textiles (scarves, table runners/cloths, shirts, etc).