Day 3 of Turkey Vacation: Ölüdeniz, and Bus to Kaş on August 21st, 2016

by admin

Third day of sightseeing in Turkey, maybe this was the least active day so for.
The plan of the day was no more than paragliding down the mountains and over the beaches at Ölüdeniz, and then took the bus to Kaş.

Hotel Frontyard

The images in this post are hosted on Imgur. Email me should there be any display problems.

So we were picked up by our paragliding company from our hotel at around 0945, then it was a short drive to their company storefront on the beach of Ölüdeniz, where we agreed to the terms and conditions, watched how others paraglide above us, and have them drive us up the mountains.

Forest South of Fethiye

Streets of Ölüdeniz Town

Boats along Oludeniz Beach
One-day package tour of the islands.

About those boat tours, I personally preferred the tours offered at Kaş, which featured underground ruins of Kekova Islands, rather than just simple island tours at Ölüdeniz (or Fethiye). Another benefit of adding a stop in Kaş was that, we got to enjoy the Turkey’s beautiful coastal route D400 on our way to Antalya. I know most buses from Fethiye to Antalya chose the inland thoroughfares over the winding coastal route.

Mediterranean beyond Oludeniz

It’s hard to put the paragliding experience into words. Well, the views of the Ölüdeniz gulf was spectacular, the breeze on my face was invigorating, it’s just so nice.
But I won’t put any of my photos here, since my face was in every one of them.

Since we three didn’t have much breakfast, we decided to finish lunch just on the Ölüdeniz beach. At around 75TL, it turned out to be the most expensive meal we three had in Turkey (the others were amazingly steadily around 50TL). I guess it must be due to the beach access.

Restaurant where We Had Lunch

Hamburger as Our Lunch

Pizza as Our Lunch

Beach Chairs on Oludeniz Beach

After that, we took the local bus back to Fethiye (I guess it’s 5TL/person, if I remembered correctly), fetched our bags at the hotel, and headed for the bus station. Luckily, we arrived at the bus station just in time for the 1430 bus to Kaş.

Fethiye Suburb

D400 Route outside Fethiye

Mountains East of Fethiye

The majority of the leg from Fethiye to Kaş was through majestic mountains of inland Turkey, the coastal D400 route only constitute a small portion of that towards the end.

Turkish Farmland and Mountains South of Fethiye

Turkish Countryside

Gateway to Kinik Town

The town of Kinik was next to the ruins of Xanthos, a UNESCO world heritage site. It’s only after I searched the Internet that I recalled the reconstruction of Nereid Monument I saw a few years ago in the British Museum.
Our bus made a stop in the Kinik Bus Station. Having visited the ruins of Ephesus, my parents didn’t want to visit any more “similar” ruins, so we didn’t plan a stop here.

Half an hour later, finally, Mediterranean Sea.

Mediterranean Sea by Kalkan

Town of Kalkan

Streets of Kalkan

Mediterranean Sea by Kalkan

Fields South of Ulugöl Town

The majority of people on the bus seemed to be local residents doing commute, so I seemed to be the only one that couldn’t stop running camera shutters.

Rocky Shore of Mediterranean Sea by South Turkey

Islands in Mediterranean Sea by South Turkey

Kaputaş Beach

Islands in Mediterranean Sea by South Turkey

Island Connecting to Mainland

Rocky Shore of Mediterranean Sea by South Turkey

Greek Islands of Ro and Kaştellorizo in Mediterranean Sea

Rocky Shore of Mediterranean Sea by South Turkey

Signs along Turkish Route D400

Plaj Beach

Rocky Shore of Mediterranean Sea by South Turkey

Coastal Turkish Route D400

Greek Island of Kaştellorizo in Mediterranean Sea

Kaş Peninsula and Greek Islands of Kaştellorizo

Coastal Turkish Route D400 and Distant Greek Islands of Kaştellorizo

Coastal Turkish Route D400

Kaş Peninsula

Kaş Peninsula and Coastal Turkish Route D400

Kaş Peninsula

Ships Harbored in Kaş Marina

Ships Harbored in Kaş Marina and Kaş Peninsula

It was only 6 o’clock when we put down our bags in the hotel, so my father and I decided to scout around this little town and booked us on tomorrow’s boat trip to Kekova’s islands.

Streets of Kaş

Walkway near Kaş Harbor

Ships in Kaş Harbor

Turkish Flag against Setting Sun

Although the turmoil going on elsewhere in the country hadn’t spread to this little tourist town, its repercussions certainly did, as basically every boat in the harbor was offering Kekova trip at 70TL per person, which was a lot cheaper than the rates I saw in online blogs. We finally managed to talk it down to 60 EUR for 3 persons.

Ships in Kaş Harbor

Ships in Kaş Harbor, with Backdrop of Mountain

I also saw on other blogs that there was also paragliding in Kaş. Well, the mountains next to Kaş harbor was nowhere as high as the ones near Oludeniz (although rising airflow could make a huge difference), and the landing spot in Kaş was frankly, a harbor driveway parked with cars. I was so glad I made the right choice about paragliding in Oludeniz.