Turkey. Not only is it my preferred meal, however now it has ended up being one of my preferred countries. After our long ferry trip from Greece to the port town of Marmaris in Turkey, we walked with our heavy bags about 4kms to our hotel. Again, thanks to booking.com, we had an house with wi-fi, breakfast as well as a big pool for $11.
We were so exhausted from the long journey that we settled down for a 3 hour nap, woke up for some dinner as well as then back house to bed! Marmaris was a good port town, however essentially it was just a location for all of the UK to gather. whatever was set up for them: footie games playing whatsoever the restaurants, full English breakfasts – including back bacon (even though this is a Muslim country!), fish as well as chips on special, actual HP sauce, baked beans, Scottish breakfasts total with black pudding…etc. It was a overall traveler trap.
Every store that lined the waterfront was either an Web cafe, souvenir shop, traveler agency, western type restaurant, bar or garments store. We walked around as well as went to the exposition during the day as well as that was essentially it. Not our type of town.
Turkish Delights to buy in Marmaris, Turkey
After 2 nights we moved on to discover somewhere much more secluded, tranquil as well as local. We chose on a town along the Mediterranean called Kabak. If you’re searching for somewhere off the beaten path in Western Turkey, this is the place. We took a bus from Marmaris to Fethiye, to Oludeniz, to Kabak as well as then walked down a 2km rocky path to where our ‘camp’ was. The whole area was stunning, absolutely breathtaking.
We’re so thankful we chose to go with all the effort to get to that spot. The location was called Shambala as well as was a camp set totally in nature, in a completely undeveloped area, surrounded by trees, set on the side of a sheer cliff with outstanding views of the Mediterranean down below, as well as huge cliffs on either side.
It had a hippy, chilled out vibe as well as was so outstanding we ended up costs 5 nights there. This location is ideal for budget plan backpackers. The camp was total with huts, bungalows, tents, an on site restaurant, pool, chillout area as well as bar. We chose a hut at the extremely back of the camp, furthest up on the cliff with the very best views of the Sea. We even had a restroom inside our hut as well as a mosquito web to cover the bed…which I liked since there wasn’t a window or a cover on the front side of the hut, anything might (and did) get in!
We had a spider incident. A big, black, spotted, monstrous beast of an arachnid…well the size of the palm of my hand anyways. I couldn’t sleep keeping that thing on the wall above our heads, it wasn’t in a web so it was certainly a hunter. We had to get one of the workers to find as well as eliminate it from the premises. We had no even more issues, say thanks to God.
us on the bus from Fethiye to Kabak, Turkey
Nick walking down the cliffside to our gorgeous Shambala Camp, Kabak, Turkey
Dariece enjoying the views of the Mediterranean from the pool at Shambala Camp, Kabak, Turkey
Every morning as well as night a big buffet of food was served as well as was included with the cost of the room. The meals were so tasty as well as cooked by a regional chef so we were able to try different Turkish dishes. For breakfast we would have regional cheeses, cucumbers, yogurt, fresh bread, difficult boiled eggs, cereal (are Cornflakes thought about local?) Gozleme (Turkish pancake) baked with spinach as well as cheese, as well as a tea.
Dinner was a different choice each night. Our preferred meal was the extremely very first one; when we were the only people staying at the camp. We were served freshly caught tuna cooked with spices, slices of eggplant rolled as well as grilled with cheese inside, sauteed mushrooms, rice, eco-friendly salad, regional fruit (kind of like an apricot), cream of broccoli soup, bread as well as for dessert…the many chocolatey of chocolate pudding with coconut shavings on top! Which really is Turkish, they are understood for their puddings. Every night the meals were fantastic as well as we tried numerous different dishes.
We spent a great deal of time reading as well as suntanning by the pool. A couple of days we walked 20 minutes down a path to the most gorgeous bay for swimming. The only issue was there wasn’t any type of shade so we couldn’t spend all the time there. The Sea was the ideal temperature, the clearest, many turquoise water as well as was surrounded by sheer cliffs all around.
Nickwalking down to the spectacular beach on the Mediterranean, Kabak, Turkey
The gorgeous beach at Kabak, Turkey
Another day we chose to go to Butterfly Valley. It’s extremely touristy as well as is expected to be the nicest beach ever. So, we set off…2kms up the hill from our camp to the primary road, hitch-hiked with an English man from Liverpool to the top of the Butterfly Valley as well as then started our good down to the beach. It wasn’t easy, nor was it extremely safe, however it was the most exhilarating hike yet. The descent was on a narrow, rocky path, which zigged as well as zagged directly down the sheer 400m high cliffside. In the steepest as well as many harmful parts, there were ropes fixed to the rocks to assist the climb down. We didn’t discover everything that difficult descending from the top, it took about 30 minutes.
Nick looking down at the Mediterranean, a extremely steep climb down. Kabak, Turkey
Nick utilizing the ropes to descend down the steep cliffs at Kabak, Turkey
Careful! climbing down to Butterfly Valley, Turkey
Literally when we were off the cliff as well as making our method to the beach, 5 huge trip boats pulled up, blaring music, bbq’ing on board, the trip guide yelling from a megaphone, perfect. They poured onto the beach in hoards, English, French, German, Spanish, Asian, you name it, they were on the boat! even so, we didn’t believe the Butterfly Valley was almost as good as our beach back at Kabak. So, we went for a swim to awesome off from the hike as well as headed back to deal with the daunting trek back UP the cliff. It was challenging going up, we took numerous breaks as well as it took us about an hour. I don’t believe we’ve sweat that much in a long time!
hiking back up the sheer cliffs, Kabak, Turkey
Once at the top we waited for a bus, none came. We tried to hitch-hike, nobody would stop. So, we started walking back in the warm of the day (over 30 degrees). So far in Turkey it’s been over 30 degrees every day. We walked for about 4kms as well as then lastly somebody chosen us up as well as took us to the turn-off to our camp, where we walked the 2kms down.
Along the method we saw a indication for “free spring water” so we stopped in to fill up our water bottles. We ended up having fantastic conversations with the owner as well as his buddy who was going to from Istanbul, her English was perfect. They were both so kind as well as hospitable. They provided us fruits from his garden as well as then just as we were believing we’d state goodbye as well as bring on, lunch showed up!
They shared their meal with us stating “things are much more gorgeous when shared”. We had Turkish pizza, eco-friendly salad made of fresh organic components from his garden as well as a chilly soup made of yogurt, cucumbers as well as mint. So good! We thanked them as well as took our heavy, exhausted legs back to our location as well as instantly into the pool. A fantastic day.
After a few days there, we satisfied up with one more Canadian, Kyle from Vancouver. Nick as well as I were able to download the hockey game as well as the three of us viewed it on the laptop one night with some beers. The tranquil yoga retreat area was sometimes disturbed by us yelling at the screen! All the locals were thinking about what we were watching. However, when they realized it wasn’t soccer, they brought on.
Nick as well as our new Canadian friend, Kyle, enjoying some beers as well as the Stanley cup Finals, Kabak, Turkey
After a fantastic 5 nights there, we chose it was time to relocation on. We were eastbound for the town of Olympos, understood for its treehouses as well as bungalows in the forest! seems like one more fantastic location to relax.
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