KAS | Exploring TURKEYS magical Turquoise Coast
The most picturesque street! You might need to be quiet. There is a massive turtle! Come and find one of these glorious beaches! Are you coming? I'm liking Kas, I am liking Kas. We're Marianne and Chris and we've been travelling full time since May 2018. We must be insane! Whilst attempting to drive around the world in Trudy our home on wheels this happened. All British travellers abroad are advised advised to return now.
As borders closed around us we decided to wait it out in Turkey until we were able to continue our adventure East We've arrived in the picturesque seaside town of Kas, here in Turkey's Antalya region. Kas is located 106 kms South of Fethiye and 189 kms from Antalya. It has a Mediterranean climate with warm wet winters and dry hot summers.
And Kas is one of the best dive destinations here in Turkey. And looking how blue and clear that water is you know why ! And because it is so far to the airports either Dalaman or Antalya it is a lot quieter than the other towns along Turkey's turquoise coast. So this morning we have driven down into the town of Kas, which is only probably five minutes drive from the villa that we're staying in. And today we're going to have a little walk around this wonderful cool seaside town. So we're just walking literally just started walking from the van and we can see this sign here, saying tomb and there's some steps here so we thought we'd go and have a little look.
This little path's lovely, they've got all these massive cactus, look at those! And then we're getting a view over the town, it's actually bigger than I thought it was, and I can hear chickens, i can hear chickens calling out over the town this morning. The sky is blue, it's going to be a wonderful day and the path just keeps going up! I love the vegetation. I didn't expect to find a footpath literally a minute's walk from where we parked the van.
And we've kind of come to the side of town. Prickly pears on the bush there! And we've got a little friend following us, it came running out of the house just at the bottom of the hill, and it's being very playful it's a very fun puppy. So we've come to the top, we've walked up from the street below and look at this amazing looking tomb here. Oh it's a very pretty the area, they've got these lovely little yellow flowers, there's butterflies, olive trees, What a lovely day! It's funny because we're always using the words wonderful and awesome and beautiful, but for us this is not typical in Shropshire where we come from in the UK, this isn't normal for us to see such lovely olive trees and Spring is starting to come up and all the new flowers. The only flower i've recognised is primrose, but it's just lovely and from up here we've got the first view of the little harbour here in the town of Kas. There's apparently an amphitheater i think on this side, and then we're going to walk down have a look around the harbour, there's a few beaches in town that we want to show you too.
So we're going to have a look at this tomb. You have got to watch your step coming down here. So looking on the sign at the bottom of the hill, this structure is 4 and a half meters, wide and 4 and a half meters tall. And it was carved out of the rock you can see behind. It wasn't made out of stones or rocks, it was carved out of the bedrock on this side of this hill here. One thing i've noticed about the tombs, is they they always have nice views, look at that! So we think the amphitheater is this way, so rather than walking down the hill and walking around, we're going to try and cut across the top, are you coming? I think you might be! Spring is definitely in the air, because as we're walking along you can hear a really loud buzz of bees, and i don't know whether you can see? but there are bees everywhere! There must be bee hives nearby because i've never seen so many bees.
Where's the dog? The dog's going crazy! He's burning off all that morning energy. He is like a kangaroo ! It is absolutely wonderful up here, yellow flowers, mountains and blue skies! It's a really nice walk up here isn't it ..... and your wife! And of course .... I'm with my wife, of course that is why it is nice !
I feel like i'm walking through the meadows it's so picturesque and lovely and i wasn't expecting to see this right in town. and you can smell the flowers and pollen as well, can you smell the pollen, it's lovely. Amphitheatre this way, I think. Oh I can see it, i can see rocks! So i'm looking at this structure that we've come across here and i'm guessing, I think this should be the amphitheater i'll know when we look over this wall. Yep that is indeed the Amphitheater, what a view! And here's something you don't expect to see ....
There's a yoga class happening, right in the middle of the bottom of the Amphitheater. You might need to be quiet! Sssshhh! I've just run up the stairs, because we got down the road and I realised i forgot the Gopro up here! And very kindly the man over there was watching it, and a lady over there picked it up and was waving it at me! So thank you everyone involved. That would have been a mini disaster! One of the things when you're filming is sometimes you put the cameras down to get the shots, and then you walk away and then you think, Oh i've left it there! But we were super lucky that these guys found the camera for us! Oh thank you! Thank you very much! From Russia with love ! Oh thank you ! Oh we're driving to Russia - Ohhh !! So if you're looking for the Amphitheater it's about five minutes walk from the town. We did a shortcut over the hill, through the beautiful scenery up there, it's like meadows it is! And now we're going to head along the coast into the town centre.
So they've got this sign here and it explains that the amphitheater is the oldest one in Anatolia. And it's the only one in Anatolia that faces the sea. It does say that it can seat 4,000 people! I'm not sure about that! There's no way you would get 4,000 of me sat in that amphitheater! I think people were smaller! They must have been much smaller back in the day. And if you're looking for a parking spot? There's two motorhomes there, and there's the Amphitheater, with views over the sea. So this is where we walk to the Amphitheater, and i've just spotted through the trees that there is lots of beehives, so that's why there were so many bees up there. Chris has just snuck into the undergrowth to film the beehives! There's so many pretty little flowers that are popping up, the grass is really lush and green here, so that rain that we had a couple of weeks ago has really helped nature.
It's funny being in Turkey in springtime and seeing all the flowers blooming and the remnants of the fruits on the trees, in the UK in winter, the leaves and the fruit, everything would have fallen down, but you can still see lemon trees just behind me that have still got crops from last year because the moderate temperature here. And the climate is so moderate, that fruit and leaves can stay on the trees. It's really nice i see why people come and live in Turkey and winter in hot countries. I've just pointed out my favourite little house in Kas to Chris! It's a beautiful little character house, right opposite the sea, just small enough to be able to do your housework in 10 minutes and right next to a lemon tree and with lots of beautiful flowers! We're just walking through the town from the amphitheater, and we're remarking on how many lovely hotels there are all with this beautiful sea view.
They're all like small sort of boutique, cool looking places to stay, it's got a really different sort of chilled vibe doesn't it? Yeah we did read online that it had like a boho cool vibe, and it does, yeah, we like to visit and experience the place ourselves first, and we've only been here a couple of hours but you just get this vibe! The manager here just spotted us filming and I was just saying how beautiful his hotel is, so he's invited us to come down and see the sea view. We've noticed that a lot of hotels now are closed up or locked down, so the flower beds and the flower pots and things have been left to go a little bit, but here it's remarkable, everything ..... I have to walk backwards just to show you this view! There's mosaics all over the walls, different coloured ones, different shapes, it's another example there! just walking down these little steps, and then you carry on walking down here .. So that ended up being an absolutely wonderful pit stop! We went down we checked out the hotel because it just looked so cool, I would definitely recommend that hotel it's somewhere i would stay. You don't have to walk far in Kas to come across some more evidence of a wonderful history and this ruin here is actually an old temple that dates back to 1 BC. Chris was laughing at me because look at how square they are! The work that would have gone into creating these big blocks.
How much work and elbow grease would it take? That is true! Rather than a brick wall, yes clay bricks that have been formed, these would have been carved, dug out! Hello As always the cats come and say hello here in Turkey. Why can't we keep one? Can't we keep a cat? Do you want to come in the van? I think he would! One of the other activities that you can do here in Kas is go paragliding. There's one now coming off the top of the mountain behind me. And if you're looking for the market, every Friday there is a market here in Kas, that you can see behind us, which is located between the town and the yacht marina.
We're in the harbour and there are lots and lots of fishing boats so the fishing industry here must be really big. We were talking to some of the local guys about the dive boats, and they were saying that most of them have actually come into dry dock now because it is not diving season. So they're all in and you can see them all up on the sides being repaired and having some work done ready for when the season opens. Finding out about the diving in the area, we're seeing why it is probably one of the most special places in Turkey, we're just finding out that it's a marine protected area. There is a massive turtle that is just underneath us, just down there.
Look at that! it's a loggerhead turtle and it's a boy, look at him he's massive! I've got a little cat here, and it's very interested on what's going on over there and the camera may not show it but there's fish, so we we've just been watching all the fish together. Walking down onto the harbour wall here, looking back you get a wonderful view of the main town. Stunning! One of the popular day trips from Kas is to the island of Meis, I think that's how you pronounce it? that you can see behind me, it's so close but believe it or not that island is actually Greece.
So you'll be going across an international border, so make sure you take your passport! The boats aren't actually running at the moment but apparently it's a very beautiful day trip to go on. Just walking along the wall here and seeing all these boats that are dry docked, and just seeing all the skill that you need to sand all the wood and prepare them, and getting them ready to go out on the water next season, i was going to say there's loads of work going on and what we love is the fact they just balanced on these sticks, the whole way along they're just on sticks ! And it's just amazing that the weight of the boat can be supported like that. So we're walking along to the lighthouse at the end here, it's a lovely walk you've got to see on both sides. Lunchtime! In fact it's quite late it's about half past two - and we just found this restaurant that sells pide, kebabs and ekli ekmet. Oh it's closed? Somewhere on the corner? Oh there.
So although the restaurants are still closed, we can get take-out. What have they got ? No problem, we just wait, no problem. So we've got our take-out, we've come down to the park to eat, because i'm absolutely starving! let's see what we got. sauces, are we going to share it? It depends if it's delicious then no ! Oh look at that this is the lahmacan which is like a really thin almost like a pizza dough, with some meat on it yeah it's meat flavoured with spices and some dips here. Look at that something to dip it into spicy and creamy. Are you eating it before i turn the camera on? It's nice? yes, it's so lovely when they're cooked fresh, they're hot and steamy, meaty and herby and flavoursome and oh there's a kick of chilli in it! Oh lovely lovely! I think that one looks a little bit spicy, i'm going to roll it up and then dip it in the chilli there .....
We might have to go back! That is delicious this sauce is really spicy, garlic, onion, herbs, is it like ezme but with heat? and this one's creamy - yogurt and mint. It's really nice to take the heat out, guess what we've got? look! Open it! pide, we're turning into pide monsters ! Literally pide has almost overtaken the gozleme favourite that we have. It's really good! We've just arrived at this cargo shop and Ersel in Istanbul has organised for Aunt Julia from Canada (Mariannes Aunt). Julia sent a homemade calendar for Marianne, and one for Ersel as well, and he's couriered it down from Istanbul to Kas to this office, so we're hoping that the calendar is here.
There's a lovely feel walking around Kas, although during covid times with the restaurants closed and we're out of season, it would be so lovely, i can just imagine it in the summer with all the people outside eating, the hustle and bustle, the water fountain behind me spraying, and this is where we just had lunch sat in this sort of layered style seating in the square here. But a lovely feel walking around the town, i'm liking Kas, yes we are liking Kas. They've got some very trendy cool boutique style shops here, and I was very lucky to go shopping in Ephesus, we try not to buy any stuff because the the size of the cupboards in the van. But i bought a really nice white flowery shirt, and a green flowery shirt in Ephesus, And I decided to treat myself to a blue one! So thank you lovely shop in Kas that has lovely clothing ! There are lots of tour companies here ! You can go coasteering, sea kayaking, you can go diving! So many things to see in this area no wonder it's a mecca for tourists, and why so many expats and tourists end up coming back here time after time, and some of them even move here.
So we found a sarcophagus here, known as the King's Tomb. Look at that! I think that's the biggest one we've seen that is seriously high! So the lyceum tomb here dates back to the 4th century, that's pretty old. They've got all this ancient writing here on the side of the tomb, I wonder what it says? All the cats hanging around, they know the tourists are going to come don't they.
I think this cat is definitely getting a bit of love and it's purring, look how happy you are! Are you happy? And right next to the King's Tomb, I think we have possibly found the most picturesque street here in Kas, it is stunning. So we're going to go and have a little walk down there. So the very picturesque street is sometimes locally known as the 'slippery street' because the stones on the floor are very slippery! So if you do walk down there, be careful not to slip! Walking down all these little side cobbled roads are so picturesque, perfect for those little instagram photos that you're looking for.
Although Kas is quite a small town, it's lovely just to walk around these little cobbled side streets, look at the flowers, lemon trees, these lovely blue doors ... Wow look at that, there are so many little quaint turnings and little cobbled streets and steps! That's a blooper! You can imagine this in the summer with all the flowers out, everything open, cocktail bar here, it does have a very cool feel about it doesn't it ? It's lovely! Is this the smallest bar in Turkey? The Old House Shot bar? and there you go that's where they serve from, I love it! So we're just wandering around town and Kas is known for the blue blue waters! but also the beaches, there are lots, but also a beach that we've heard about that is super super small! And i think it's just down here .... It's tiny! it's so small! You want to try ? No! Is it cold? No! Oh she says it's cold ! Yes it's a cold ... there is a natural spring that makes it colder than other places. But it doesn't stop us swimming, it's a beautiful beach! Are you going to put your feet in? Okay - you're going to get wet trousers! And cold! How cold is it? it is cold ! And when you come to Kas, one of the things you have to do is come and find one of these gorgeous beaches ! And about 15 minutes from town is another beach over there that we're heading to now. That is the other beach, look at that, it gets very busy in the summer, but you can come and hire deck chairs. It's not very expensive. Beautiful blue water, the sun is shining even though it's February,
and only a couple of people down there. Between Kalkan and Kas there is the famous Kapitas beach it's only about 18 kms from Kas, so it serves as a beautiful beach if you're looking for a day out from Kas. In the height of season you won't find a spot on this beach it is so popular, but right now in February it's lovely and quiet. Walking around Kas, it is starting to get dark now that's how much fun we've had today, but there are there's lots of restaurants and this one here is very cool, it's got a boat which is actually a table, you can sit on that boat! Walking around town it's actually making me hungry and I can't wait for the restaurants to open again, because you've got all these wonderful places, look at all this seafood and food that is on sale here, it won't be long i think, there's talk that they're planning to start opening the restaurants again in March. It has a mediterranean climate warm wet winters ..... the dog is going nuts! the dog's going nuts!
What are you doing? you're crazy dog, you're putting me off you're running around like a lunatic! Kas is located ...... how many miles ? 169 didn't you say? It has a lovely hot dry summer and a cool ..... i can't remember!
2021-03-08 22:25
