My Gnome Little World

Good-bye enchanted beautiful Fairy Chimneys, amazing valleys and colorful balloon clouds in the sky.

Hello high desert, Silk Road Caravan Stops, Dirt Roads, Romani Camps, Rumi and Whirling Dervishes!

First pull over is a ancient caravan stop along the Silk Road from China to Europe. The history, the the adventure, the dangers, oh my! The trails from the US East to the West is nothing compared to this.

ADVICE: Do stop at the Silk Road Caravan Stops. Unless you have unlimited time, don’t go off roads looking for more history.

Looking for another ancient Silk Road Caravan Stop got us off road, a wee bit lost and on an adventure.

We finally found it! Ha, no we did not. But we did find one in a small town!

We reached Konya, home of the Whirling Dervish and its creator, who lies in death there too.

I always associated Rumi with the yoga/self help/hippy seen, but he was a Sufi muslim, which is kind of a hippy sector of Islam.

We went to the museum/mosque where the Whirling Dervishes do their ceremony, but unfortunately we were not there on a night they do it. Sad to miss  them, but visited Rumi’s resting spot.

ADVICE:

Try to go to Konya on a weekend to see the real Whirling Dervish ceremony. Do stop at roadside fruit stands to buy a kilo of strawberries for $2.50 (do wash before eating though). And definitely help tortoise safely cross the road.

We walked around the city center and turned in for the night for a long road trip the next day.

The drive where I bought strawberries from the farm, opium poppies grew, and I saved 2 Greek Tortoise to boot! 

And then came Pamukkale, aka the Cotton Castle, which is a hard calcium buildup dripping down a mountain side for 1000s of years from the natural hot mineral springs. And let me not forget Hieropolos, an ancient Roman town, which was smartly built by said hot springs.

ADVICE:

The travertine (cotton castle), Cleopatra’s pool and the Hieropolos ruins are all in one 30 Euro fee. No wait, Cleopatra’s pool is extra, but it is in the same park. Carry towels, bathing suit, and water in with you. We did not know this.

The warm spring water “pools” at the top of the travertine are beautiful but just wear shorts to go in, they are very shallow, not very warm and the bottom is weird to sit on.

And do all three, including the hike up to the theater at Hieropolos.

We packed in a lot that day, the ruins, and a swim in Cleopatra’s pool, which was another hot spring (immediately above) where ruins are tossed about the bottom. She never went, but the water was brought to her to bathe in upon reaching the shores of Turkey. And also, we slightly bathed in the cotton Castle’s very shallow pools of hot mineral spring water at the top of the mountain.

It was another early night for an over the mountain road trip to the beach the next day, with a stop at a farmers market and a quick stop to save another turtle!

And we made it to the sea, the coast, the Blue Lagoon, Baby!  We are having a nice rest for 1.5 days before we head to Rhodes, Greece!

ADVICE:

If you want a quite very chill stay, get a hotel on the Blue Lagoon. If you want party and action, stay in the beach area of Oludeniz. Do hang out and do activities in the Oludeniz beach area. The pirate ship cruises, the sky dotted with paragliders and the all around festivity is appreciated.

Beach Time, Eating, Drinking, a great massage and then we jumped off the top of a 5000 mountain!

ADVICE:

Do go paragliding here if you want to. It is scary before the take off, but so beautiful and relaxing once you are in the air. Other than that enjoy the many colorful parachutes in the sky all day. Also we went in May, so it was mellow and the water was chilly.

It was amazing, but honestly it scared the caca out of me before we took off. I mean, who purposely walks to the very edge of a 5000ft high mountain with a kite on their back. Um, me, I guess, with weak knees, fear in my heart and my brain exploding. But I did it, we both did it.

I’m 60 Damnit!

This was a long one, will go shorter next time.

Thanks for visiting My Gnome Little World.

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Us Gnomads on the way to Rhodes Greece!