Days 4 & 5: Tomatoes and Ancient Civilizations
The morning of our third day began before dawn at the Patara Green Camp, which had been a lovely respite from the trail. (Splashing in the sea screaming “I am a sea beast!” is quite restorative.) Overnight one of the camp doggos made off with one of Zeynep's shoes, though thankfully not too far, and in the morning a camp kedi was quite interested in her shoelaces. A good start to the day.
Our next destination was Kınık, known primarily as the modern town next to the ancient city of Ksantos. In more recent times, thousands of tomato greenhouses have sprouted in the surrounds, so our walk was a flat stroll through industrial-agriculture land. Uninteresting other than the constant near misses with agressive yappy dogs, and brief walk-by of the ruins at Letoon.
On arrival in Kınık, we weren't feeling great about our prospects for the day. We'd made very good time, meaning we were now looking at twelve hours sitting in a town dedicated to the marketing of seeds and fertilizer, the sale of haircuts and mobile top-ups to greenhouse workers, and banks for sending remittances home. Zeynep wondered aloud if there was a dolmuş (minibus) that might be able to take us somewhere less bleak for the day and night, and lo and behold, the next dolmuş to Kalkan left in five minutes (and cost $1.10 per person).
Kalkan is a charming seaside town popular with Turkish and British vacationers. In our case, it afforded a chance to do sink laundry, and enjoy a view from the terrace that elsewhere in the world you'd pay a fortune for.
After a good night's sleep, up early again to catch a taxi to Çavdır; the guidebook suggested skipping the 4km stretch of highway between Kınık and Çavdır, and we were happy to oblige.
The hike from Çavdır to Üzümlü was much more interesting, more in fact than we bargained for. Much of the route is literally on top of the Roman-era aqueduct that fed Ksantos. At first this was charming: “holy smokes we're walking on something that was cutting edge 1000 years ago and it's still here!” Then the scrub and trees start closing in, then the pointy bits on the vines start snagging clothes and skin, then the water is rushing past, then we're in Myanmar-esque jungle so deep Zeynep mutters “it's like the Heart of Darkness” while I frantically check the GPS (which really does its best work when under a mass of trees, in a valley, let me tell you).
Eventually we emerged, scratched and scraped, in the village of Üzümlü (“the place with grapes”), which nowadays is mostly populated with charming vacation villas. And a really charming campground where we are currently camped under trellises heavy with grapes. The Mediterranean ain't so bad.
My sister Erin is currently en route to join us for a week or so, and once she gets here tonight the pen is hers!
Day 4: West Patara to Kınık
Total distance - 13.76 kilometers
Total elevation gain - 35 meters
Total walking time - 3 hours
Day 5: Çavdır to Üzümlü
Total distance - 9.5 kilometers
Total elevation gain - 341 meters
Total walking time - 3 hours 20 minutes
