From Kas to Kekova to Finike

 After we watched the little fishing boat from Meis ( the Greek Island) being loaded with all the supplies that had been bought at the market, we also left Kas.

Our next destination was an anchorage near Kekova.







 The picture above is from Kekov with the remnants of a castle on top of the mountain.

We left the anchorage and went on our way to Finike. The sea was almost like glass and we started the generator to get some laundry done while on the way.















Finike our next stop.  Because of the many orange groves around Finike they have the orange as the city symbol.




















 Nice gardens close to the harbor and again we are reminded that we are going further south because of the ever increasing, and abundance of tropical plants.










This group of young people heard us talking English and they were very eager to chat with us and practice their English.

In Finike we rented a car and went to the nearby city of Demre. The interesting fact about Demre is that this is where the bishop st Nicholas had his church. St nicholas was an only child from a wealthy  merchant. His parents died when he was still a youngster and he became a very devout christian. He distributed all the wealth he inherited to the needy, mostly children. Thus he became the st Nicholas who is to this day remembered on the 6th of December ( the day he died) to come and bring gifts to children in Holland and other western European countries.  You can read more about this good man on his web site the st Nicholas organization. 


It is interesting to note that the north American Santa Clause is derived from the Dutch Sinteklaas.
 

Some of the pictures of the original church where st Nicholas was the bishop.












Some of the original paintings  from this third century building are still visible today.

Also very interesting to note that Demre (Myra) the place where st Nicholas built his church, claims to be the first "christian" city.
  Demre is also the last place that st Paul of Tarsus visited before departing for Rome where he was killed.

All this reminds us that this area "Asia minor" is the very place where the apostles traveled and started the first Christian communities. 

Today (June 4th) we sailed from Finike to the beach in front of the old city of Olympos.
Yesterday we visited this sight by car but did not go to the beach.
However judging by the crowd we thought this must be a nice beach to visit.
So we did, by boat and tonight we will anchor in front of the beach. Forecast are very good so we decided to take a chance and stay at anchor here for the night.
As I make this post I look outside and see a full moon reflecting off the Mediterranean water.

The little wind we had earlier has laid down and the boat is gently rocking from the swells coming from the open Med.
The temp was 30 deg. C this afternoon and has gone down to 23 deg C (11.00 o,clock) so we should sleep like babies!!!

 

A picture of some of the remnants of Olympos.