We started in Siteler and walked to Armutalan which seemed to me to be the easier direction as the climb seemed more gradual than the walk down. 

A man looking at least a decade younger than we came huffing and puffing up from the Armutalan side. 

The distances of the different hike options….but where would you be when you got to Arkutҫa or Asparan?  We weren’t quite sure where we were when we got to Armutalan. 

We heard but didn’t see birds or any “porky pines” or any other fauna.  We saw several kinds of wild flowers but didn’t know what they were.  I’ll have to get out my Wildflowers of North Cyprus and see if any of them match what’s here.

Starting out in Siteler which looks much like all of the other trails we’ve hiked around Marmaris.

Stopping for a snack!    Randal, Rick and Mary

Along the way you could look back and see the water

Varity of wild flowers, purple, yellow and white.  Spring should be lovely here.  Jane, whose family owns Buttons the dog,  knows about wild flowers and has mentioned going on walks to see them.

This silted over “fountain of the forest” was just near a waterfall and stream. 

There were lots of waterfalls along the way but the trail was dry

Randal and Rick examining casings from shotgun shells.  Notice that Randal’s new hat has ear flaps that he can use when it’s cold.  Nice hat.  At the far end of the trail, more accessible by car…we heard the sound of hunting but didn’t find it any cause for concern. 

After walking almost an hour we found our first map.  It was a good thing too or we might have ended up in Arkutҫa.  But then we’d have know where you were when you are in Arkutҫa.  Another day for that experiment. 

Our way down the mountain to Armutalan seemed a different ecosystem with more open areas and moss everywhere.

We stopped for our picnic lunch just near a large bee-keeping operation: lots of blue box hives and a small shack for the keeper.

Marmaris is famous for its pine honey and you can see why.  We’ll have to try some as well as the “bitter orange” marmalade. 

Our first view of town; far, far away……

Some local graffiti

At the foot of the mountain was an  upscale community and a trail that might need exploring.

There were some lovely homes, quite different from the small apartments near the Old Town Center of Marmaris.  Randal and I have never explored this area, even on our motorbike.

It says something about English my second mother tongue or “second main language.”  As there is an image of the Statue of Liberty I’m thinking they’re learning American English rather than British, Aussie, Kiwi or Indian English.  I was intrigued by the thought that Turkish people should want their kids to learn English and be connected to an American Culture Association. “This training 8-9 hours a day spent with the student teachers during the training model that it replaces the parents only one English teacher for English speaking teachers (but not students understand) gözlemletir students to speak English is a natural process. It’s not a special case of Ayed child speaking English, and in the ordinary course of life, and is a communication method that you should use this method to communicate with the teacher understands. learn to forget anymore, and English.”  This is a Google translation of some of the information on the AKDKIDS website which is only a bit more understandable than the original Turkish.

This is the photo that goes with the information above.  I still have no clue. 

www.akdkids.com is the site but it’s entirely in Turkish as far as I can tell.

Further along we saw this colorful scene; orange, red, pink and the blue of the woman’s blouse that I zoomed.

I don’t know if she saw me.  I thought she made a lovely subject with the flowers and her blue shirt.

A dolmus came along and we flopped onto some seats almost 3 hours since we’d hopped onto the 10:55 dolmus to Siteler. It was definitely worth the 2 TL not to have to walk another hour to the marina. At the end of the run we just sat there hoping the dolmus went further into town..but it didn’t so we had to get off and walk….to the bakery near West Marine a few blocks from the marina.

What Marmaris really needs is a Crispy Crème or Dunkin Donut.  These Turkish treats were just not sweet enough to reward us for our long hours of hiking.  What Randal and I really wanted was one of those gooey sugar laden cinnamon buns like you get in the ariports and make yourself sick on.  I did buy a huge loaf of bread because the bread and simits here are wonderful.

We were really pretty tired when we got back to the boat.  But we rallied and had friends come for dinner. They said good-night about 10 PM and I watched an episode of Murdoch Mysteries and then went to sleep.  Randal came a bit later and neither one of us moved until 7:40 AM Sunday morning.  We had to get up, eat breakfast and get ready to meet Mary and Rick for our weekly walk to the Sunday market and lunch at Brothers.  After our Saturday hike over the mountain, the Sunday walk felt twice as long as usual.  Monday morning Turkish lessons start again so no long morning hike.  Yippee.