Driving day 4 from Cappadocia to Kas, from Döşemealti to Termessos to Çirali

May 01, 2026

April 26

Sunrise from room 3003 at the Evdìhan Otel Döşemealtı outside of Antalya. I kept admiring how the light changed my mountain vistas. We're heading up into them today! We stayed here at this hotel in Döşemealtı because it's close to the Termessos Ruins & national park

buffet breakfast on the top floor of the Evdìhan Otel

The drive was interesting to my ecology brain as we drove through several ecosystems. First the flat valley floor with fertile soil and lots growing.

Then beautiful pine forests

As we ascended towards Termessos, it changed to chaparral like California with oak & madrone trees which I haven't seen yet in Turkey.

For details, read my post from Termessos. It is a stunning setting for Roman and older ruins.

www.grayhairedglobetrotter.com/2026/04/termessos-national-parkmilli-parki.html

Used our all Turkiye Museum Pass.

Three fav photos from my post

Termessos theater all to ourselves for 45 minutes

There are a lot of unrebuilt rocks/ruins

This tree was a park-the-car so I can walk back uphill to take a photo! as we drove down from the national park

of course I was starving, nearest restaurant from park and had many locals inside the Yenbahar Firin

pide and meat kabobs were delivered to our table quickly. This is the only wet and muddy toilet this entire trip. It's notable that of the many many toilets I used, only this one gets this recognition. All the others have been exceedingly clean

Next stop, Gayb-I Bungalows Cıralı, Turkey. I used Booking.com to book. This is a funky place designed for foreign tourists--so different than everywhere else we've been for entire trip until now. The sofa and all other furniture is very low to the ground. Made me feel my age, that's for sure.

low lighting except in the kitchen also emphasized how much I've aged

Really nice and spacious porch Mosquitos like me out here so returned inside

Journal notes: We are in the very spacious #7. It’s huge with really nice patio as well. Our room wasn’t ready at 2:30 so we went to beach for an hour. It was too hot for us there and we had to return to put on our bathing suits until there were mosquitos. There is a blooming bird of paradise by the pool! There isn’t a lot of light except in the kitchen so J moved his luggage into the living room in order to find things. Shower shoes provided. No shampoo or soap provided in the shower, or water in kitchen so plan accordingly.

low season crowds/ had to mostly to ourselves

protected turtle nests

Thrilled by the many new flowers & grasses

Returned to the coast/beach where we walked and got dinner

Ate fried calamari and a Mediterranean salad at at Emek

After dinner we decided to visit Çimera, a place in ancient Lycia notable for constantly burning fires that continue to burn today. Thankfully my boots were in the car and wished I’d also taken my trek poles that I left behind in the car. The blooms were a pleasant distraction from the rocky 1000ft climb over rocky (know I repeated, can't emphasize enough) and sometimes steep and slippery terrain. The fires were astonishing, quiet & mesmerizing. We got there about 7pm when there was plenty of daylight. Wanted to get down in the light since it was rocky and used my hands a few times to assist my decent (and accent as well). It was only 10 min drive from our bungalow at Gayb-I. Used our all Turkiye Museum Pass for second time today.