90km south of Antalya is Mount Olympus and a few small villages. These villages have nice relaxed beaches and few few hotels and restaurants, but the most interesting thing about this mountain is that it is on fire.
There is methane gas underneath the ground and it spontaneously ignites. It looks especially good in the early evening and at night. Getting here is rather interesting. From the D400 highway you descend quite steeply towards the ocean on a single lane road (which of course has two way traffic). Once you reach the ocean the road flattens out and you start to see interesting signs.
You will note that it doesn’t tell you what (or what not) to do, just that the area is flammable. Once you park, you pay a small fee and there is a 2km hike up a steep hill. I’m noticing a trend here with hikes up steep hills. Water is a must here (for you, not to put out the fire) as it was still 35 degrees at 8:30pm.
You will see the hill on fire before you get to the top and you can get some good pictures. If you put out one of the fires, a new one will start just a few metres from you. There were just a handful of people watching the fire, so it didn’t feel that touristy. I gather there are not many bus tours because they can’t get down the road!
Driving back to Antalya in the dark was interesting, but that’s another blog post……