Saklikent Gorge and Ancient Tlos

The entrance to the gorge

On 26 September we boarded 2 small coaches and set off for Saklikent Gorge. We didn't quite know what to expect but there was talk of wading up the river in the gorge and standing under a waterfall. We'd packed our swimming costumes and, as soon as we got to the gorge, we changed into them and put on swimming shoes. Initially we walked on a wooden platform on the left side of the gorge but that ended at a wooded clearing.

Looking back having traversed the rope crossing

This was as far as many of the visitors go because ahead of us a rope had been strung across the river and to progress further you have to wade across waist-deep rapids. Our swimming costumes and shoes turned out to be the perfect gear for clambering over the wet rocks as we worked our way up the gorge.

Once we were past the roped crossing point the water was mostly shallower than knee height but every now and then we had to clamber up rocks where there were mini waterfalls. In front of these there was usually a deeper pool. We'd been told to leave any electrical or camera gear behind because it was easy to slip and end up chest deep in water. Many of the other visitors had clearly not been given this advice and we were surrounded by people waving around their phones on selfie sticks recording every moment of their progress up the river. At the time we were disappointed that we couldn't get any photos of the gorge because it was spectacular, however, our cruise in company chums came to the rescue; all of the photos of the gorge in this blog are ones they have kindly shared with us.

The gorge varied from being as narrow as 4 metres to generally being about 10 metres wide. Looking up, the lower grey rock was washed bare by the winter torrents but higher up it was green with vegetation. The gorge was several hundred metres deep and so the light varied as we turned each corner. In places it was brightly lit by direct sunlight whereas in other areas it was quite dark and it felt as if we were in the entrance to a cave. High up the rock was a mixture grey and orange which reflected down a softer light into the clearings.

We had been given an hour to get as far up the gorge as we could and back to the coaches. We'd been told that there was a large waterfall that we should try to get to. Bypassing the selfie obsessed photographers we were able to make good progress and after about 20 minutes we spotted the waterfall. This gushed down into the middle of the gorge so we enjoyed (I think) an ice cold shower. We did go a little further up the gorge but by then our time was up and we had to return to the coach. Subsequently we learned that there is a second waterfall and also that there are several larger pools which you have to swim across to progress. It's a shame that we didn't have the time to get that little bit further, however, it was still a great experience and we now know what to aim for when we next visit.

With so much of the time for the day's excursion dominated by visiting Saklikent Gorge we were starting to wonder how visiting ancient Tlos could be shoehorned into the day before we had to back at the marina for the evening wine tasting. However, when we got there we found that it was a much smaller site than we had anticipated and it looked like we might make it back to BV just in time. Our specific interest here was that we'd been asked to organise the wine tasting evening and so we had a vested interest in getting back with enough time to set up the evening's entertainment.

Ancient Tlos Lycian tombs and Ottoman Castle

Tlos is known to have existed during the 14th century BC and it has been built on throughout the intervening eras. The ancient Lycian tombs carved into the side of the cliffs are very obvious and largely intact which is incredible given that high up on the peak an Ottoman castle had subsequently been built and which was inhabited until the 1800s.

Lower down there are ruins of a large Roman amphitheatre which is still being excavated and restored;

a Roman baths complex;

a 2^nd century AD temple dedicated to Cronus, the Titan father of Zeus;

as well as a large agora which also doubled as a sports stadium.

It was an amazing mix of ruins and being so compact we were able to see everything and still have time for an ice-cream before the coach had to move on.

By the time we actually got back to Kaş there was no hope of making the planned start time for the wine tasting and so we negotiated a delay on dinner with the restaurant and set to for a speedy set up. Happily, we managed to get enough of the 340 taster glasses of wine poured to start the evening as the rest of the rally group started to arrive. We tasted 8 wines we'd gathered during our travels around the Aegean interspersed with a wine related quiz which Nicky had written.

To break things up, in the middle we had a blind tasting round in which the tasters were blindfolded by the 'blinders' and they had to guess the colour of the wine; port hand raised for red, starboard hand raised for white, or both for rosé. We'd been sneaky and found a particularly light red which we'd chilled and so this light hearted round caused some giggles. This was far from big budget wine tasting; jolly good fun but disappointingly some of the fresh white wines we had enjoyed and bought in Spring did not seem to have travelled well. Clearly sloshing wine around in a hot sailing yacht for 6 months is not the best way to help preserve it!

After the tasting, a very convivial meal in the restaurant below complemented the evening nicely and we both eating some beautifully cooked seabass. Thereafter the party continued as the remaining wine was drunk.

Kaş, Turkey