Blue Cruise

Cruising around the eastern Mediterranean for four nights, being fed three massive meals per day, swimming in crystal clear, blue, blue water, sunbathing on deck, and partying at night. A 'Blue Cruise' is definitely the best way to see the Turkish coast!

Our cruise started in Fethiye and went all the way to Kale (near to Olympus). The bathroom in our cabin was the largest bathroom that we have had to date, but you had to time your shower to get any hot water - it took us about a day to realise that the engine had to be running! Along the way we saw some amazing sights including Butterfly Valley, St Nicolas Island, the town of Kas, the Sunken city, and some of the best coastline and coves we have seen.

The real bonus of the trip was the people that were on the cruise with us. There were 10 people in total, 2 NZers (us), 7 Australians and the token Pom. We all got on like a house on fire and we have been travelling with most of them in one way or another since. (And we're not only saying that because we've given them all this blog address...).

The crew was another story. They were well weird (hanging round with a Pom means we picked up some English slang). The captain took delight in stroking all the boys faces and telling them their beards were beautiful, tickling our feet (not in a nice way), and getting the two girls working on the boat to give his disgusting feet a pedicure - ew gross. I guess it was a trade-off for having good guests!

On our last night we were supposed to head to 'Smuggler's Inn' (a so-called 'pirate disco') for a big party. It was not to be (apparently it had been closed for about a year we found out later), so we made our own fun on the boat. Lots of raki (Turkish spirit), beer and vodka created a giant karaoke fest which culminated in a midnight swim organised by Adrian. While the Antipodeans jumped in with glee, it took a lot of convincing to get Wayne, our Englishman, to join in. He spent the next day telling us we were all crazy...

The photos tell the real story so as soon as we'll get them uploaded as soon as poss.

We were off the boat and onto a cramped minibus for 2 hours through to Olympus, not the stle that one had become accustomed to on the boat. We arrived Olympus in the middle of a long weekend and a rock festival, to say it was a bit of a shock to the system to see so many people after having only seen 15 people for five days would be an understatment.

We found the pension we had decided to stay at and booked into a 'treehouse' (in the loosest sense of the word, it was a house and there were trees about). We had a look about and lay on the beach and organised a tour to see the Chimera.

The Chimera is a natural phenomenon that just doesn't seem like it could be natural at all - flames bursting out of pure rock. There was a bit of a shambles over the tour as the one we booked with was cancelled at the last minute, leaving us scrambling to find another way there. Trying to organise transport at 10pm after having had about four hours sleep the night before was challenging to say the least. It all worked out in the end, thank goodness, as it was just awesome to see. Next time I will take marshmallows.

The following day was spent exploring Olympus. It has a stunning beach (unfortunately a bit ruined by the amount of rubbish about), some Roman ruins set in amongst the undergrowth, and a hippy vibe that threatens to suck you in and spit you out about 5 years, a giant beard, and several brain cells less later. We got out while we still could.

Next stop, Cappadocia.