Termessos/Guluk Dagi

The wind in Egirdir forced a return to Antalya a day earlier than planned. Not a problem though, as there are plenty of interesting day-trip options. After much consideration, I decided Termessos would work best - but not as part of a £100 tour! Instead, I headed back to the Otogar and got a cramped dolmus to Kortukeli, asking the driver to drop me off by the Termessos road junction. The weather was perfect - although still very windy, sunny, very clear, but cool. It is a 9k uphill haul to even gain the lowest point of the ruins, and without a car I had to walk. This worked well though, as it was the most practical way to get into the mouthwatering mountains that are so obvious from Antalya. The road was extremely quiet, no more than 2 or 3 cars passed. I jogged small sections and reached the ruins in reasonable time, heading through the collonaded street to the spectacular Pisidian theatre, in an unbelievable location at the top of the Gulluk Dagi plateau (just over 1000m). Above, an impressive crag, then the valleys stretching down to the coast. An incredible place, and I had it to myself. Near the agora, I saw a superb black-eared wheatear (and lower down a semi-collared flycatcher). I jogged all the way down, stopping at a little food shack for wonderful home made tarhana soup and cay. At the junction, I stuck out my arm and the first dolmus took me back to Antalya.