Mediterranean Trip, Part 2: The Chimaera and Olympos

After Konya, Jon and I headed down south for our beach-ey Mediterranean holiday. We stopped in Antalya, but didn't hang out there too long since I will be going back this weekend for our Fulbright meeting. Our first stop along the coast was in a place called Olympos. Olympos, not to be confused with the mountain in Greece, was a Greek and then eventually Roman town in Southern Turkey. The ruins are really beautiful, situated between two cliffs, along a gurgling stream letting out right into the ocean. Jon and I stayed in a little cabin just behind the ruins. We had to actually walk through them to get to the beach.

Nearby Olympos is a natural phenomenon called the Chimaera. The area is prone to geothermal activity; in other words, natural gas is emitted from the ground, and, for reasons Jon and I can't understand, ignites upon hitting the air. So basically it is kind of a natural eternal flame. After dinner one night Jon and I set off by foot to find it, which turned out to be quite the adventure. We had to walk through the ruins at night, which was really spooky, and then along the beach and then basically up this mountain into the woods. All said and done it was a 2 hour hike one way. But totally worth it. As you can see to the left, it is literally giant balls of flame coming from the ground. It was really cool seeing it in the middle of the woods at night. Scholars, even Classical authors, posited that this phenomenon was the source for the old myth of the Chimaera, an ancient Greek monster that was part lion, snake, and goat which breathed fire. I figure, if I were an ancient Greek sailor from Olympos, and I noticed random fire emitting from the ground on a nearby mountain, I would probably figure it was some kind of monster as well.

Part of the ancient city of Olympos, which we walked through to get to the beach. This arch was probably part of the Byzantine settlement.

Jon and I diverted from the main road for a few minutes to explore some of the ruins, and we were wandering through the woods until I noticed bits of Ionic columns lying around. Then I looked up and saw this massive temple door peeking beyond the trees a little bit. It was awesome! 

This is what we found when we got to the beach. Straight up Mediterranean awesomeness. The water was really clear too. Unfortunately, it was still a little too cold to swim, but I did wade in a little bit.

Jon is a connoisseur of skipping stones. I just threw this in because he didn't know I was taking pictures and I think it is a fun action shot.

The ancient site had a lot of cool mosaics. You can see me and Jon in our shadows. It is hard to see, but I think the mosaic is of a duck.