Day 5&6: Oludeniz / Blue Lagoon / Butterfly Valley

Wow looking back now for the past 48 hours at Oludeniz it feels like we've been here over a week. Oludeniz (Dead Sea) is a beautiful beach town with turquoise water wrapped around in a mountainous landscape. Its also the Paragliding capital of the world as the temperature, close up mountains are in perfect condition for floating through the sky. It was hard to convince my partner in crime to glide with me but I really wanted to be up there. Paragliding started in 1989 in Oludeniz and it's the most popular destination in the world for this not-so-crazy adrenaline rush sport. I had to drive up 1900m to glide off of a downward sloping cliff. Once you are in the sky you don't have to do anything but enjoy the amazing view of Blue Lagoon, St. Nicholas island (where supposedly Santa Claus lived for a while) and 12 islands of Fethiye. It's hard to put the experience into words but if life brings you to Oludeniz you must do Paragliding.

1000m baby!

Blue Lagoon

Beautiful Oludeniz

When we first arrived to Oludeniz we went to the beach right away and soaked up the sun on the Blue Lagoon. Waves were quite high which made it difficult to get in with rocky sands. It was the cleanest and the best looking beach so for I think. As people started leave towards the sunset it became even cooler to hang out on the beach front. At night we went out and had some Sangrias at the cool spot - The Hangout. This rooftop terrace was overlooking at the main strip of Oludeniz shopping plaza and the beach at the same time. Next day I started my day with the excitement of Paragliding where Ellen slowly rolled out to the bed and enjoyed her breakfast. She was able to see my take off and landing near the office of the company, Airborne, which I recommend highly for Paragliding.

After the cool experience which you will have to wait to see the ugly pictures from the top of Blue Lagoon, we wanted to go to Butterfly Valley. This interesting yet another hidden gem was found by bunch of hippies back in 70s and now becoming a bit more popular. You can only get there by boat or some serious hiking. Since we didn't have any mountain gears or hiking shoes we took the short route, Rocky boat for half-an-hour. As you get near the Butterfly Valley, where butterfly season is in Spring, you see the amazing little cove that gets you. To me it was like an island from the people's mood and the limited number of people they have at the Valley. We sipped our beer and enjoyed the sound of waves and rocks gliding back and forth as much as we can. In the "island" there was also a short hike to a waterfall that we were recommended to visit. Seeing personnel passed out on the shade from the heat, animals laying out in the sun, couple of butterflies dancing in the sun it was a great hike that ended in a small but very refreshing waterfall. I more or less took a shower there to cool off and eto enjoy the hike back to the beach. The trail was 1km and it also leads to an access point where the true hikers can climb this way out of the valley to the village of Faralya. As we reached out to the Secret Heaven's beachfront again there is a small bar on the rocks with a stunning view of the valley and the sea, surprisingly called The Rock Bar. We had our last drink in BV hoping that the last boat will be late in departure. There were a few people that come here for camping and seeing their tents was tempting enough to rent one for us.

Rock Bar @ Butterfly Valley

Relaxing Responsibly @ BV sponsored by Efes

Lively downtown Oludeniz

On the ride back to Oludeniz we saw an amazing resort that is owned by a British man who literally bought an entire cove and paid for the road access to the government. I guess money can buy a paradise in the end. In the evening we had a nice dinner at one of the few authentic Turkish restaurants. We smoked the night away with a cool Hookah and people watching. Our waiter was hitting on a British chick saying 'I Jealous now' was enough to see as a true pick up line for this beautiful part of the world! Next is long awaited Kas!