Day 16; Demre
It's my dad's 85th birthday today. Happy Birthday! And sorry I missed the birthday meal.
Inscription.
First stop today is Theimussa Ancient City which lies just east of Üçağiz. With tombs raided and a culture and lifestyle overtaken by time and the Roman Empire, there is little hard evidence remaining to indicate the daily life of the Lycians. They had a written language and there are tomb inscriptions but any information on them is handed down by the Hittites and Egyptians.
Leaving the Pansiyon and clouds are gathering, humidity rising and rain due in a few days.
A tomb in a garden with a motorcycle propped up against it shows again how modern life sits alongside this ancient culture.
Inscription.
The following BBC article provides some insight and reminds us that the US version of democracy was in part influenced by the Lycians; I suppose the Americans wanted to look far beyond the British they fought to free themselves from.
And this article paints a broad picture.
https://www.worldhistory.org/lycia/
The 21st century me looks at Lycia and wonders at how they could, economically speaking, develop a rich society. I will ponder and come back to that when time allows.
Unusually for me an oasis appears and I stop for a fresh orange juice.
Today has been gratefully flat as the route follows the coast....
....but the going is seldom easy as this photo shows.
I am getting close to the end of the day but still need to find a bed for the night which won't be hard in busy Demre. Stopping for water I am doing OK physically but realise that mentally I need a break as today is 16 days of walking. My recently planned break will be one day off then one day of bus transfer which will provide a much needed reset.
One last hurdle.
On reaching Demre it is too late to visit the ruins at Andriake and it is another tedious hour of road walking to Demre centre where my planned hotel is. I usually don't mind those town walks as you get to see a different side of a place. I walk into a roadside store for a drink and find no one there. A van pulls up, someone gets out and lets off a shrill whistle and says the owner will be here in 2 minutes.
I find my accommodation easily but not before a couple of dogs come out of nowhere en-route and one of them gets in a quick nip. My dog preparation has centred on a single dog situation so this wake up call lets me add to my arsenal of dog defence tactics.
