Antalya over Iran
After visiting snow capped Cappadocia, I was ready for a change. Although beautiful, I’ve been craving a warmer climate since being in Turkey, so I decided to visit Antalya. Antalya is the supposed gateway city to the Turkish Riviera. I took an overnight bus there, and watched the sun rise over the occasional rugged hillside. As Antalya came into view, snowy mountains graced themselves over the beachside city. I did some scoping through the guide book before coming here, and decided it would be really cool to visit the eternal flame at Olympus. Unlike the JFK monument in Arlington Cemetery, USA, this is a naturally occurring phenomenon.
I check into my hotel, and after shooting out a quick e-mail set out for the small town of Chirali, which is the closest village to the eternal flames, which are referred to as Chimera, Yanartas, and more colloquially, “fire rocks.” I took a mini-bus as directed to the drop-off to Chirali, but after several minutes of sitting around with a Russian couple, realized the bus wasn’t coming to drive us the 11 km. So we started to half-happily walk down the hillside to Chirali. After 3-4 km, a truck driver offered us a ride in the back of his truck to the village, where we could walk the rest of the way. The truck was filled with orange crates, which we arranged into a nice seating arrangement after several minutes of precarious planning.
Smiling at us, the driver let us off at the crossroads indicating it was the village of Chirali, and I left the Russian couple heading for a hotel, and walked the expected 3 kilometers to the Chimera. The walk was refreshingly rural with smells of freshly turned fields, mandarins, oranges, sandalwood, and fire. I was happy to be simply hiking with no salesmen offering me tea in their carpet shop, or a shoe shine, and the hills buttressed against the coast were a welcoming and warm change.
The last kilometer of the hike was inside the park, and a large change of scenery from the farmlands into rain freshened pine forests. The pathway was well manicured with large stone steps cut and piled onto the hillside, which meant you had to watch where you placed your feet every time. After a countdown of distance marked by local rocks I arrived at a small outcropping devoid of foliage, and surely enough on fire.
It took me several minutes of just staring to completely comprehend what was happening, but it was definitely a surreal moment. Yes, I understand the physical science behind it, but part of me was simply regretting not having friends, marshmallows, graham crackers, and Hershey’s chocolate bars. The small area doesn’t have just one flame, but several openings where gas seeps up, and continually combusts. I was the only person visiting the sight and was happy to have the alone time. Once I was satiated with visiting the ruins, envisioning ancient stories of Chimera being captured below the ground here, doomed to spend eternity breathing flames to the surface to guide ancient sailors and feed local folklore, I started my trek back to Chirali.
The hike was uneventful back to this small farming and tourist city nestled in a large park, and I crossed the eventfully large river back to the main road out of the remote area. A few locals drinking beers helped flag down a car to drive me back to the bus “station” 8 kms away, and more importantly all uphill. I waited by the side of the road until sure enough the mini-bus arrived from around the bend, and welcomed me back inside. Happy with my day-trip I promptly passed out and occasionally woke up on the 1.5 hour bus ride back to Antalya.
The next morning I wandered around the city, mostly out of curiosity and was offered an arrangement of opportunities from trying tea, buying leather coats, playing backgammon, and taking a 3 hour boat tour. The tourist driven city was more or less in steady state boredom. There was always a half-hearted attempt to try to get you to buy something, but the shop keepers were content to smile and be friendly. I left the following night back to Ankara to pick up my India visa, and immediately head to Istanbul to catch a flight to India. Once I’m in India, I plan to meet up with my first planned EWB project in Abheyour, Haryana, India. The team will be building a rain water harvesting and filtration system for a local primary girl’s school.
Sadly, this means I am agreeing to not travel overland as my father did to India. I am very envious of what my Dad was able to do, but realize the safety risks. When my father made this trek, they went overland from Turkey through Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan before reaching India. It will probably be a couple weeks before I post again, as I am unsure of internet availability in rural India.
