Çıralı
Chimaera
Çıralı
is world famous for the Chimaera, Lycia's eternal fire an
extraordinary natural phenomenon, and for its beautiful beach that provides
nesting grounds to sea turtles. Add to this the
beautiful Akdere creek and the ruins of the ancient
city of Olympos that are within walking distance and
you would believe to have found paradise.
Çirali has a large sandy beach, extending for
about three kilometers.
It is one of
the few protected beaches where the loggerhead sea turtles
Caretta-Caretta lay their
eggs. The Caretta-Caretta turtle can
reach 1.2 metresin
length with a weight of
about 100 kg. It has become
protected as an endangered species in the
Mediterranean Sea. As one walks towards the Akdere
creek and the Olympos site, the wide sandy beach covered with pine trees,
turns into a pebble beach.
The eternal flame of the Chimaera, sometimes also written as
Khimaera or Chimera - Khimera was named in antiquity after some mythical
fire-breathing super monster, part lion, part goat and part snake. The
monster got eventually beaten by Bellerophon on his winged horse Pegasus
and since then flames emerge from the rocks here. At this day, the
Khimaera's profile is in use as the logo of the Turkish state oil
company. Yanartaş (Burning Rock) as it is called
in Turkish, is located on the top of a 300 m high hill that is part of the
Olympos national park (Olimpos Milli Parkı).
After the car park it is a 20-30 minute hike to the everburning flames of
Chimaera.
Çıralı is actually a
small hamlet belonging
to the village of Ulupinar that is located on the mighty Tahtalı
Dağ (Mountain with wood). At the village of
Ulupinar, next to a 250 year old water mill and amidst the waterfalls of
the Ulupinar river, there is a very nice restaurant: Ulupinar Değirmen ve Şelale
Restaurant (Ulupinar Mill & Waterfall Restaurant), serving delicious Turkish
food such as fresh trout, filled mushrooms and of course the ever present
rakı.
Çıralı
is located at a distance of 70 km from Antalya and only 30 km of the
package-tourist resort Kemer. Fortunately, as it is in between two
environmentally protected areas, namely the archeological site of Olympos
to the
south and a nature preserve to the north, Çıralı
sets for Turkey the pace to ecotourism and organic agriculture.
We spent three marvelous days in the
Çırali pension owned and managed by
friendly Cemil, his wife Nermin and their lovely daughter. At Cemil's
pension any meal from breakfast to dinner is a true feast, with delicious
fresh, natural ingredients, most coming
from Cemil's own garden. Cemil was also kind enough to be of help in
providing transportation to the Chimaera and to Demre.
More information on Cirali can be found
here.
Click on the thumbnails to get a greater picture
