THE ELUSIVE WATERFALL

We followed the directions given to us by the hotel owner.  "Be sure to go and see our beautiful waterfall just outside the town,  it's just a 15 minute walk through the woods, even children can do it!"  he assures us as we leave the hotel lobby.
 On the outskirts of the town of Köyceğiz, we ask for further directions from a local stall holder who was delighted when we bought some oranges from his well stocked stall.

Soon we were driving on a very rough road which had another road turning left.  We decided to go straight ahead walking on for more than 15 minutes but there was no signposts and no waterfall,  just two small steams which came down from the mountains.  The trees were beautiful.  We saw some beautiful wildlife which kept us busy with our cameras.  We walked on and came to some big stones and rocks.  We did a bit of climbing thinking we were near.  We could see another small stream flowing by.

We were a bit disappointed on not finding the waterfall having managed to climb over some very large boulders on the stream but to no avail.  We turned back.  On our way out we saw a car parked and a young man got out.  I immediately asked him if he knew where  the waterfall was located.  he replied "yes".  Mary's Turkish is much better than mine and he explained to her where it was and that he would take us there.  We had gone in the right direction but it was much further on.  So on we walked,  up a hill over some rough gravel and stones and suddenly we see a make-shift bridge!  It was quite flimsy,  like something from an Indiana Jones movie in which someone falls through and is hanging on with one arm!!  There were a lot of "woooo's and ough!!'s and what on earth is that?

This photo is taken from the opposite side.  We now had to make decisions.  Would we cross it, could we cross it?  Our young man who is called Deniz said "no problem,  I'll help you!"   With my not so perfect eye sight, it looked not too bad to me!   I did not see the missing pieces of timber and the thinner lats on the farther side. 

 Mr. D and Mary are both nervous of heights.  Mr. D said he would wait and take some photos in that area.  I said I wanted to go ahead with the others as the fountain was now only about another 10 minutes away. Deniz went first and guided Mary to the other side.  Isabelle and I followed slowly but carefully.  When I got three quarter way across,  I saw the open spaces underneath my feet and the water flowing below.  I paused for a moment and then jumped over the spaces and quickly got to the other side to the cheers of the others! 

Below is the elusive fountain!   The next surprise was that we had to climb down the side of the rocks to get to the base of it!  We had come this far,   I was definitely going to do this last stage!
Mary decided to stay above while with the help our our guide Deniz Isabelle and I managed slowly but surely to scramble and hold on to bits of branches and rocks as we made our way down. It was not a very big waterfall!  But we had such fun as we made our way to it!

 

A mini holiday

Our dear friend Mary has been planning a trip to Köyceğiz since the end of last year.  She arrived back in Turkey at the end of March and when her friend Isabelle from Paris came here on holiday, it seemed the right time to set off on our trip.  I'd given a neighbour a supply of cat food and she kindly agreed to feed the cats whilst we were away. 
On a bright sunny morning,  with our bags and cameras packed we set off in Mary's 'Duster' car.
I felt very comfortable and relaxed with Mary at the wheel.  She is a very capable driver,  very knowledgeable regarding rules of the road (unlike quite a lot of male drivers here!)  It wasn't long until we were out past all the heavy traffic on the Bodrum roads and heading for Mugla.
After a brief stop for tea and some photographs we were on our way again. 

The roads took us up high into the mountains.  As we gazed upon the views far below us, it felt like we were looking out from a plane window.  There were narrow roads and hair-pen bends and Mary navigated them beautifully. We even found a traditional Turkish village and a lady cooked delicious gozleme (very light dough filled with herbs and cheese and baked quickly over an open fire.)

 

We arrived in the evening at Lake Köyceğiz.  It was even more beautiful than I had imagined having already seen photographs of the lake and surrounding areas.  It was very quite with just a few restaurants open and we found a lovely hotel with little balconies which overlooked the lake.  After checking in,  we wasted no time.  We were out straight away with our cameras capturing the evening light on the lake.

 

We sat and chatted while we watched the beautiful sunset.  We enjoyed a delicious meal and got an early night.  We set our alarms for 6am and we were up and out the next morning to capture the sunrise.  It did not disappoint!

Someone else was up early too!

After an hour or so, we returned to our hotel to review our photos.  We had worked up a good appetite and enjoyed a delicious breakfast of eggs, cheese, tomatoes and olives.  We took a walk up to the town square where I bought some honey from a very large shop selling nothing but honey.  Every type of honey from every flower!
We packed ourselves into the car.  The surroundings of the lake as a whole and particularly the banks of its Dalyan sea connection are important nature reserves.  There was plenty to see as we drove along. The lake is fed by the Namnam and Yuvarlakçay rivers and a number of mountain brooks. At the south side, there is a NW - SE fault line, bordered by several sulfurous hot springs, amongst others Sultaniye Spa. We made our way there and soon we were relaxing in the very hot and very relaxing springs.

We stayed for two nights at the hotel.  On leaving they advised us to visit a waterfall in the woods just outside the town.  This proved to be quite an adventure.   Story and photos to follow soon!