Lycian Way Day 10: Coban Beach to Aperlae

Coban Beach to Aperlae

Starting km: 184

Finishing km: 204

Distance walked: 20km

With the disaster of the previous evening, it was nice that we are least got to appreciate the views out from "our" bays. They actually weren't even exclusively ours, as there were at least three other tents there, only the second time we'd had anyone else at a campsite with us.

The following morning the walk along the coastline then up away from the shore was mercifully easier than the previous night's.  And though it was much hotter down at sea level, things went fairly smoothly.

We made it to the base of the hilltop city of Apollonia in early afternoon, though declined to climb up, because:

1. There were many more ruins to come and
2. We wanted to ensure that we reached out destination for the night, an actual pansiyon (guesthouse/pension) rather than a campsite, with time to go for a swim.

As if to prove point A., with a few km of gentle downhill behind us, we arrived at the remains of the city of Aperlae.  All that obviously remains are the city walls, and dozens of tombs scattered across the landscape.

A short walk over a narrow isthmus from Aperlae and we reached our planned pansiyon.  The wind had really picked up, and even though it was only 16:00, our shadows were already very long.  So a swim didn't really seem that appealing anymore.

But we still got to sit on the covered dock and watch as the clouds built and greyed on the horizon.  Though the whole evening was a little pricey, we had a delicious dinner of a whole grilled fish, with yummy oregano, lemon, onion and garlic sauce and a side dish of yogurt and spice covered grilled veggies.  Further accompaniments took the form of bites from mosquitos (bad) and watching lightning in the distance (good, since we were sleeping indoors).

An altogether better day, and one that finishes in a comfy, cozy bed, all clean (albeit from a cold shower).

Today also seemed to be packed with other walkers: the five or so we shared the campsite with in the morning, a group of eight or so Ukrainian hikers, and a huge group of maybe 30 Turkish day hikers.  This after rarely seeing more than four or five other walkers a day since about day three!