I took two buses to get to Olympos, Turkey. I stayed in one of many “tree house” hostels in which the tree houses are built on varying height stilts around the trees rather than in the trees. It was cool though. It was a total chill place with hammocks and cushioned platforms to kickback on under the trees. They even played funky chill music all the time. With free breakfast and dinner, and wi-fi, I was not complaining.
The ocean was only 500 meters away through the ruins of an ancient city. I hit the beach first with its wonderful warm blue water and big rocks to dive from. I spent a few hours the first day just diving off a 26 ft (8m) rock. The bad part was the rock was very rough and as careful as I was I still ripped up one of my toes. (much worse to come).
That night I took a minibus up to see the Chimera flames on the mountain. They are from naturally occurring gas escaping from the ground at high temperature. When they come into contact with air, they ignite. It was a 30 minute ride and a mile walk up the mountain to the few flames that are left; they have dwindled over the centuries from covering the mountainside to only a few spots now. They are still cool. You can put them out and they reignite. There were a couple of Turkish women up there singing folk songs under the stars and it was very cool.
