Phaselis- a Fiat Adventure.

It seems ages ago since we went to Antalya, climbing has slowly moved forward, Steve got his 7c+ project and an amazing 7c, and I have onsighted confidently at 7a, but not pushed on much from that. Easter brought hoards of climbers, mainly from Germany and with them some bad weather. Loads of extra climbers and rainy days has meant the solar showers haven’t been that efficient, our last rest day was spent hiding from the rain and it was a relieve that Thursdays rest day dawned sunny and we picked up our little Fiat for a day of exploring.
Another Great Route

The first thing to overcome is driving in Turkey, up here in the mountains all road rules seem to be ignored, you drive on whatever side of the road suites you and maybe honk your horn if you are going around a particularly blind corner. On the main roads things are a bit easier, although impatient Turks still hover feet from your bumper and will squeeze past you regardless of whether there is room. But it’s at night the real adventure starts, trying to escape from Antalya on pure directional instinct in the dark is hairy. The three lane roads are a jungle of cars weaving in and out, all lines are ignored and you just have to find your space on the road. Our Fiats wing mirrors are nicely designed to let you see what’s further to your side. Probably a great invention on motorways, but useless at telling you if that Turkish motor bike is 2 inches from you bumper or a foot! But we survived.

Back to the real purpose of hiring the car, to see a bit of Turkey! Our Plan was to head south along the coast to the ancient city of Phaselis. This 7^th century BC city was founded by migrants from Rhodes and saw work from the Lycians, Greeks and Romans. It was recommended to us by an archaeologist staying at Jo-Si-To and nestles between three bays completed with ancient quays. In a way it was ideal for us, far more compact that Olympus, which allowed us to see everything in around 3 hours, long enough to appreciate everything with our attention span, which regardless of how amazing a place is expires pretty swiftly after 3 hours.

The Theatre

One of the joys of being in Turkey out of the peak tourist months is that we were virtually alone in Phaselis. We could stroll down the paved high street, wander around the agora’s and baths. Try and work out if there was a pattern in the mosaic, sit for 20 minutes in the theatre, which built to seat 1500 people had acoustics which allowed you to whisper to each other from one side to another, a distance of 50 metres. You could then get lost in the hilly acropolis and wander around the tombs which were being revealed by the eroding see in the necropolis. We explored every corner of it, and even had time for an ice cream.

The Necropolis with Old Harbour in the Background

With this done we drove into Antalya, ate cakes, kebabs, played darts and then headed back to camp. Nicely bringing to a close our time in Turkey, our last two days are being spent getting a few more routes done and looking forward to seeing family and friends again.

Jo-Si-To

If you want to know what it’s like to live in a council estate, then fly Thomas Cook. It’s like being in that dodgy pub down the road, any form of eye contact could result in pain! When the seat belt sign is on they need the toilet, when we’re about to land, they all need the toilet. Might be something to do with the beer.......But, it was uneventful, I managed to not to make contact with the guy with the scary eyes and not mention to the heavily tattooed guy in front that bouncing around in his seat like an excited school boy was really irritating.

Jo-Si-To Campsite
However, we were met by pouring rain, not the winter sun we had been expecting and transported up to the mountains and the campsite which will be our home for the next 24 days. The campsite is nestled between the steep limestone cliffs and the surrounding mountains. http://www.climbingcamp-antalya.com/ Run by three Germans it is the picture of organisation. Breakfast is at 8.00 to 9.00 and dinner is served promptly at 8.00. But! what a dinner, great food, great location, hot showers and so far brilliant climbing! It’s got to be on everyone’s list of places to go at least once.

Steve and I opened up the first day climbing with probably one of the best routes of its grade in the world. Saxafon is a 40 degree limestone cave, dripping with Tufa’s. The climb goes straight through this impressive terrain and features major jug pulling and a beautiful hands of rest at ¾ height as your rest your bank against a gigantic stalactite. The route is then finished off with more jug pulling and the crux in the last moves. The great part of all this is the 15 minutes maximum walk in.

Although we haven’t found another climb to match Saxafon there seem to be plenty of potential candidates waiting for us to have a go.

Katherine Schirrmacher on Geyıbekı Games

Back to the campsite, it’s currently slowly filling up as we approach Easter. From the continent are plenty of Germans, Austrians and a few Slovenians. From the UK are the usual bunch of Sheffield Trad boys and girls getting some winter sun. Katherine Schirrmacher is here with Nic Sellers checking out potential routes for her coaching holiday http://www.lovetoclimb.co.uk/ here in September with Steve McClure to pass on their wealth of information to us mortals. Better get back to the climbing, my lunch time break from the sun has finished and it’s off to find a crag in the shade for the afternoon.

Crag Tortoise