SELALE!

This is the Turkish word for waterfall- exactly what Randa, Mike & I got to enjoy today.  We went to Duden and Kursunlu waterfalls with our friend, Fahri, from the souvenir shop.  Each of us were excited about our trip today, but we also were not quite sure what to expect.  All I can say is WOW!  Today was definitely our favorite day so far! 

 

Our day started off meeting our friends at the souvenir shop at 11am.  The husband then started us on our journey for the day.  We picked up snacks at a store similar to Aldi's and then went in search of the right bus to take us to Duden waterfall.  When we arrived we were surprised to find an absolutely beautiful waterfall only  a few miles outside of Antalya. We could hear the sound of the water pouring over the falls as we walked along the road outside the fence but we could not see anything until we got inside so we had no idea what to expect. Once inside the gate and after a short walk the three of us stopped dead in our tracks when we first saw the falls. The crystal clear water was rushing over a cliff some 50 feet to a cool blue pool below. The falls seemed pretty big to us, especially for being so close to town, but apparently the locals (they are the only ones allowed to) still dive off the cliffs into the falls. There is a cave that goes behind the falls and we were able to hike down around to it so and get some pretty cool pictures.

 

After waiting almost an hour to get on our next bus we made our way to a different set of waterfalls about 40 kilometers outside Antalya. The drive throught the country was beautiful as we passed numerous orchards and large vegetable farms along the way. It was really neat to see life outside the city for a change! It seemed almost like a completely different world and yet both the country and city are very much intertwined with each other.

 

Kursunlu is actually a series of waterfalls inside a national park. The falls themselves were certainly stunning but it is the forest that surrounds them that really sets them off. Once again glass-like water cascaded off the cliffs but this time it was multiple falls forming serveral pools that all continued to meander down the mountain. The water was clear enough to easily see the fish swimming below. As my friend Fahri led us down the paths in the forest we came upon what was once the president's home - built on the bank of the river. Several large trees support the house and in fact the house was literally built around one of them. The view was phenominal! If you had wanted you could've jumped from the porch into a pool of clear blue water below. Absolutely breath taking! We walked across the river one final time taking in the beauty of it as we went and then climbed back up to an old, abandoned restaurant. Fahri sat us down and we ate the snacks he had brought as he told us about his family and the shop he used to own in the park. We learned a lot and it was really great to get outside the city.

 

We came back into town and had tea with Fahri and his wife at their shop. It was fun to interact with them and again we larned more about their shop and the city of Antalya. Dinner was next on the agenda before heading to language school to help out with english. We spent over two hours there just talking to Turks about anything and everything. They were very friendly again and happy to have us there. It was a graduation night and so there was a bit of a celebration and we ate Kisir (a Turkish mix of different things, similar to rice and some spices is the best I can think of to describe it) and Icli Kofte (I have no idea what this was but Randa said it was pretty good). One of the students is married and was kind enough to give us a ride home after class; driving in Turkey is always fun but at night in a car is even more exciting!

 

No questions asked, today was a wonderful day, perhaps the best day we've had yet! We are planning on heading back to the english school in the morning to help out again and hopefully meet some new people and make some new friends. Can't wait!

 

Mike and Abigail