We arrived late last night at Çıralı after visiting Mount Chimaera. We stayed at Plaj Otel, a lovely small hotel that served great food and was very friendly. Today we head to Antalya, where we have an Airbnb booked for one week. Before purchasing the Turkey Tour Package from Group Turkey, we had booked this Airbnb stay. This post, “Olympos Ruins And Beach Why You Need To Visit,” is our fourth in a series of posts. We are documenting our adventures and visits as we travel across Turkey with ITT Group Turkey. We purchased this Turkey tour package while visiting Pamukkale.
Today we plan to visit the Olympos ruins as well as the beach. After which, we would then stop and visit Phaselis ruins before arriving at Antalya.
Why Visit Olympos Beach (map)
We stopped at Olympos beach in Çıralı after leaving the hotel and heading to Olympos ruins. I feel the need to explain something here about Olympos beach or beaches. First, a large beach called Olympos in Çıralı, where you will find hotels, restaurants, and other conveniences. Then there is another Olympos beach (or continuous) located at the ruins of Olympos. Standing on the beach and looking in either direction, it does appear that they are the same, but by road, they are miles apart.
Olympos beach in Çıralı, where we stopped first, has a gorgeous beach. Looks like it would be a lot of fun when the weather is a lot nicer (warmer). Olympos Beach is a natural pebble beach near the ancient city of Olympos. The wildlife in this oasis includes Caretta Caretta (loggerhead) sea turtles that lay their eggs on the beach. This is one of the reasons that Olympos Beach is protected today. This beach is also part of the historical “Lycian Way” hiking route. This is why hiking would be a good idea.
Other sports activities are offered by local guesthouses. These include activities such as climbing and hiking in the coastal mountains. Or if mountains are not your thing scuba diving, bungee jumping, biking, and paragliding for the thrill-seekers.
Why Visit Olympos Ruins (map)
After leaving Olympos beach we headed to visit the Ruins of Olympos, which was near a 40-minute drive from Çıralı. Nearing the Olympos ruins there is a creek that you need to drive through, so if the water is high your not driving across. There is a footbridge available to cross the creek if need be. The entrance cost to the ruins is 40 TL.
These ruins are located in their natural state which makes for an interesting visit as they are somewhat spread out. We walked along the creek at first and came out at the beach. Many ruins to view along the way, some are located across the creek which we did not go visit. After the beach, we head back to the entrance and take some of the many trails leading off of the main trail to see the ruins located there.
With flowers starting to bloom the ruins are a marvelous site in contrast to the just emerging spring colors. We take many pictures just trying to get the right one that captures this moment. We spent several hours just enjoying the sites and looking at the history along with visualizing what life might have been like so many years ago.
Make Sure To Visit Phaselis Ruins (map)
Make Sure To Visit Phaselis Ruins on your way to Antalya as these ruins are worth visiting. You do have to walk around to see most of them but it is well worth the effort. We spent a good hour walking around and exploring. Taking many pictures while playing like children walking in and out of the ruins. A good way to spend some time enjoying ruins from days gone by.
Chronological Timeline Of Turkey
| Paleolithic Age (Early Stone Age) 60,000 – 10,000 BCE | Mesolithic Age (Mid Stone Age) 10,000 – 8,500 BCE |
| Neolithic Age (Late Stone Age) 8,500 – 5,000 BCE | Chalcolithic Age (Copper Age) 5,000 – 3,000 BCE |
| Bronze Age 3,000 – 2,000 BCE | Hatti and Hurrian Civilization 2,500 – 2,000 BCE |
| Troy – II Settlement 2,500 – 2,000 BCE | Hatti and Hittite Principalities Period 2,000 – 1,750 BCE |
| Great Hittite Kingdom Hurri Civilization 1,750 – 1,200 BCE | Troy – VI Civilization 1,800 – 1,275 BCE |
| Aegean Migration and Invasion From Balkans 1,200 BCE | The Anatolian Principalities during the Iron Age 1,200 – 700 BCE |
| Urartu Civilization 900 – 600 BCE | The Civilization of Phrygia 750 – 300 BCE |
| Lydia, Caria and Lycia Civilizations 700 – 300 BCE | Ionian Civilization 1,050 – 300 BCE |
| Persian Conquest 545 – 333 BCE | Hellenistic And Roman Age 333 BCE – 395 |
| The Byzantine Civilization (Eastern Roman Empire) 330 – 1453 | The Seljuk Empire 1071 – 1300 |
| The Ottoman Empire 1299 – 1923 | The Republic of Turkey Since 1923 |
ITT Group Turkey
ITT Group Turkey is a Company that offers exceptional tour packages that can be customized to your specific needs, wants, and expectations. In this series of posts that you will be reading, we have teamed up with the ITT Group Turkey to highlight our travels throughout Turkey. What started out as a search for a transfer from Pamukkale to Fethiye has turned out to be so much more. The ITT Group Turkey pays great detail to customer satisfaction, meaning that they go out of their way to provide a high standard of service for a very competitive rate. ITT Group Turkey can customize a tour package for you, just let them know what you would like to see and do, it’s that easy.
Meral our tour guide for most of our travels would call ahead of our destinations to find restaurants that served a specific dish or find tickets to the Whirling Dervish when we stayed in Konya. My point is that your guide or driver will go out of their way to make your trip one of those life moments that will stay with you forever. All the small details are taken care of just sit back relax and enjoy your private guided tour.
We babyboomerbudgettraveler did not receive any form of compensation, we enjoyed our trip with ITT Group Turkey and would like others to have the same experience. If you follow one of our links to ITT Group Turkey and book using the phrase “3btraveler” you will receive a discount rate of a minimum of 5%.
How To Apply For Turkey eVisa
The Electronic Visa (e-Visa) Application System allows visitors traveling to Türkiye to obtain their e-Visas online (www.evisa.gov.tr) in approximately three minutes. It is possible to obtain e-Visa 7/24 everywhere with an internet connection. After filling in the necessary information concerning their identity, passport, and travel dates, the applicants can obtain their visa and pay the visa fees online. It truly is that easy; We would recommend having a printed copy, just because.
Our Thoughts “Olympos Ruins, Beach, And Phaselis You Need To Visit”
- We continue to enjoy our guided trip through Turkey with ITT Group Turkey. Dogan, our guide, has done a very good job showing us interesting locations along our way. We enjoyed all of the sites that we saw today, the ruins were especially interesting because of their setting. This just made for a more interesting experience. If passing through this area we recommend that you stop in and have a look, or if looking for an adventure these places are worthy. We are continually in awe of the history that is found throughout Turkey. If you enjoy history and ancient ruins as much as we do, you need to visit Turkey you will not regret it.
Our Positives
- Olympos beach was beautiful and inviting just too bad the time of year was not right to enjoy such a paradise.
- Olympo ruins were very enjoyable with the ruins being spread out, this made for a nice experience of walking and seeing ruins set in a different light. Most ruins are set in a more of a cleared area where it just seemed more natural
- Phaselis ruins were nice to walk around, they also had an impressive theater, lots to see and explore. The added benefit of having a beautiful beach didn’t hurt
Next Stop
Cindy and I, and my sister, are off to Antalya for seven days. We had booked this before purchasing our tour from ITT Group Turkey and could not get out of the booking. The time here will give us an opportunity to catch up on our blogging rest a little and enjoy the city. During our last two days in Antalya, we will have Meral back as our guide. We are all looking forward to her return as she has become much more than our guide. She knows what we like and goes out of her way to make sure that we are having fun, learning, and getting our daily workout. Please come visit us while we are in Antalya I promise to keep entertained and informed as well.
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Recommended Travel Essential
Cindy and I call ourselves nomadic, so we use certain essentials to make this way of life easier and more comfortable with our lifestyle. With this in mind, we have composed a list of what we feel are essentials and some tips you might use to plan or take your next travel adventure.
- Travel Packing Essentials to help organize and make this task less stressful
- Travel Safety Essentials to make your life on the road a little safer, giving you peace of mind
- Living essentials to make life a little more comfortable, be this resting, working, or playing.
Accommodation Options While Traveling The World
- Booking.com is one of our go to’s when we are looking for a place to stay for a couple of days or longer
- Agoda.com we find is best to use when in Southeast Asia, but hey you never know what you might find
- Airbnb.com used to be our go-to but some of their cancelation policies are reasonable, give them a try as well
Travel Insurance
We always travel with travel Insurance, just medical or complete trip coverage. We use Heymondo as we find their costs reasonable. Remember, don’t travel, and without coverage, the savings are not worth the possible costs.
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