Thundestorm camping

Tuesday, 28th of February 2012

The spring is coming! With every day the white tops of the mountains around us seemed to decrease and instead of gloves we used sunscreen now. For one week we enjoyed the warm sun. I could prove that I brought my dress and flip flops for a reason and my feet were happy to breathe fresh air after months of being covered from big socks and waterproof shoes. It was so warm that Roberto, Orkun and Emir have even gone to swim in the sea.

The view up towards the old castle of Fethiye

We started spending our weekly 1 ½ days off getting to know the surroundings instead of doing laundry and watching movies. After more than one month in Fethiye we have finally managed to walk along the coast to the wharf and to see the famous tombs in the rocks.

The most famous one was constructed in the 4^th century AD for King Amintas, the founder of the town Telmessos, ancient Fethiye. Hiking some hills we accidentally stumbled upon the old castle and enjoyed a beautiful view over the entire town. On the way back we visited the ancient roman amphitheater.

Thanks to the sun we were also able to do some process in the garden work. But now we have to take double care to not injure any animals with our tools, because the baby puppets start to enjoy sunny days outside now and seem to play everywhere at the same time.

This is what happens if you force a dog to dance with you.

I miss camping and cycling. It is great to have a bed to sleep in every night and an everyday life and I also like Fethiye a lot, but still I miss being on the road.

Yesterday we wanted to go to the Greek Island Meis (Greek: Kastellorizo), but found out that the ferries only run on Fridays and that they have tripled the price. It rose on 100 Lira for a 20-minutes ride with return. In Istanbul crossing the sea and returning takes the same time and costs 3.50 Lira.

Our plan was to go to the Turkish town Kaş, camp there and then take the ferry to Meis by the next morning, come back to Kaş at noon and then get back to Fethiye with each a new stamp in our passports. Vicky was all impressed of the camping idea. She has never been sleeping in a tent and wanted to join our trip. Our friend Alicia also liked the idea of going out for a while, signed in and invited two other friends as well, Selin and Ersoy.

I was just busy organizing when Selin came to me and said: “I heard that you two are also going to join our trip?”

We found out about the ferries just a few hours before leaving Fethiye. Though it was not our trip anymore anyway we did not mind making some quick plan changes.

Preparing the campfire just in time – the sun sets early still.

Vicky has brought all the camping equipment and I had already wiped the dust off our tent, so we ended up camping just one or two kilometers away from home. We hiked some of the hills outside the town and put up the tent just on the highest spot – the one with the best view. Alicia, Selin and Ersoy went to Kaş anyway.

Vicky’s first night in the outdoors

In the night, Eda, Emir, Orkun and some friends came to visit us. We all sat on the campfire, sang songs from each of our home countries and drank wine and beer. Long after midnight we climbed the tent and were surprised of the warm temperatures – for the first time since Austria I slept inside the tent without my big socks. At 4.30 in the morning Roberto woke up by the sound of thunder. Together we counted the seconds between lightenings and thunders to see if the thunderstorm came closer.

The wet way back home.

When it came down to six seconds I woke Vicky up. That is the uncomfortable side of camping on the highest spot – we are closer to lightenings. It surprised me how quickly we could pack all our things in. When we arrived back home it was still dark outside and I was nearly sober again. The rain continued all day long.

Still we have offered Vicky a real adventure and she was sure that this was not her last time spending the night outdoors.