Mmmm so much for me going to Olympos, I never made it. Why? It’s a long story but the short version is……….. Four hours into the journey from Kas to Olympos someone on the bus spotted a blanket of thick grey smoke in the far distance. As we got closer and could see down into the valley we ascertained it was a forest fire but it still looked to be a fair distance away from Olympos so we and the Fez rep were not overly worried. However as we drove down into the valley it became obvious judging from dense smoke and the number of fire engines we saw that this was a huge forest fire and it wasn’t as far away as we’d first thought. Some ten minutes later, and 3km from our accommodation in Olympos we were denied road access by the local gendarmes.
I’ve never seen Turkish men run before, they have no sense of urgency what-so-ever, but on that day I was surprised and shocked when I saw the fire chief running! Forest fires are common in Turkey; in fact there was a huge one in Patara only 3-4 weeks ago. Luckily no-one was killed but sadly several buildings and hundreds of acres of land burnt to the ground.
Anyhow eventually after several hours it was decided that the plan of action was for the bus to ‘go in’ pick up evacuating fez passengers and get the hell out. We were also given the choice of staying if we so wished or of by-passing Olympos altogether and going directly onto Antalya. For some strange reason I didn’t have to think too long about my decision!!!! As we drove away darkness was beginning to fall and scarily we could now see that the fire now creeping towards Olympos on two sides.
I knew I wouldn’t regret my decision not to stay in Olympos and it just wasn’t meant to be.
Later that night as we arrived in Antalya it was reported on the news that there were now 3 fires raging in Turkey and one person had been sadly been killed!!
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