The Hiking Day

Today I was woken up at 7:30 AM to get ready to embark on the first of the days optional hikes. So the people that chose to go got onto the dingies and they drove us to the island. We walked on a trail up to the top of the mountain. It took us thirty-five minutes. When we got there Umit, our tour guide, said to us "The fastest I've ever done this hike was in fifty-five minutes. We did it in thirty-five." My response was why?! Anyways it was worth it we stopped at the top in a small chapel and then made our way down through the abandoned city to the town lying just over the peak of the mountain. When we got to the city the first thing we did was go into a beautiful abandoned church. We then proceeded to the town center. There we stopped at a small cafe in the town and sat and chatted for awhile. I found a small jewelry kiosk and bought some beautiful handmade jewelry. Then we headed back down the mountain. After we got back onto the boat from our sweltering hike I dove into the Mediteranean and it felt AMAZING! I was slightly burned from our morning hike and almost decided against our afternoon hike, but I so glad I didn't. On our way up we stopped A LOT maybe a bit too much, so I would go a little further following the trail markers and stopping for shorter periods of time. Finally we reached our destination. A shepard's house on the top of a mountain. There we rested and drank delicious sage tea. This family opened my eyes to the world a bit more. Not only does this family live on an island (on which I saw no other homes), but they also must walk twenty minutes at the least to get down to the water to get on a boat and go somewhere if they need something. They then have to carry whatever they bought twenty or thirty minutes back up the mountain. This to me shows the true meaning of hard work and dedication. After the shepards house we continued a bit further up, where we saw out last set of Lycian ruins. Today was a long, but rewarding day.