South Turkey

Bananas, fairy chimneys and underground cities.According to the guide book, Incekum’s golden crescent of sand is deserted. Pass through a similar setting covered in hotels. Turn around ten miles later. Lesson here is don’t buy out of date guide books. Things develop. The standard of rooms is the highest I have seen. A mainly German clientele. Figures. Hot showers a relief after the tepid stuff that trickles out elsewhere. But after being sternly addressed in German through loud hailers in the expensive hotel grounds by men with walkie talkies I decide to move on. The big places section off the beach. They are welcome to their five star apartheid.

Do the sites. These ancients really had it sorted out. Cities that were civilised. Big gymnasia, bathing, talking areas. Mechanisation could now provide the labour of the work force. It makes you think. If only. Just need to deal with the problem of multi-national capitalism first.

And they understood drama. The theatres are set on the purple mountainside, vast valleys stretching beyond the stage. They knew about awe. Geography contributes to the action on stage, setting a vast perspective. I think all this on an outcrop, perched on the edge, the place to myself. Birds fluttering the only sound in the wind. Alone.

This country is a surprise. Drove for a day with sparkling lapis lazuli sea to my right and mountains to the left. Twisting up, huge views, and then down into small bays with a beach and fishing village. Marmalade oranges and russet reds in the hillsides. Then up again. The air is a balm for the lungs. There are banana groves here. I mean, bananas in Turkey. I never knew. The bigger towns have green houses devoted to them. The food has changed too. Out goes luke-warm veg in sauce. In comes everything with green chillies. Kebabs with zip.
Cappadocia is marvellous. Fairy chimneys and underground cities. A fantasy landscape. Wonderful. Two wheels is the only way to do it.