Kayaköy

This morning we visited the Greek village Kayaköy that was abandoned in the 1920s after the Greek/Turkey war and exchange of population.

This village is on a hillside, the valley floor was used for crops. When the Turks from Greece arrived, they built houses in the valley floor, and didn’t use any of this Greek village.

The colors mostly had faded, but were visible in a few places.

The village had two churches, neither was open to visit, but you could see the outside.

Not only did we see the abandoned village, but the wildlife has moved in. The barn swallows have moved into abandoned buildings.

Sheep can be seen grazing amongst the houses.

We saw a tortoise climbing up the hill towards us on the trail eating poppy flowers.

We heard the nuthatch calling several times before we saw it.

Then as we were leaving the area there was a field of poppies that we stopped at briefly for photos. Three storks flew overhead while we were there.

After lunch, we could go swimming. The water is about 77 degrees F, but it’s a little windy. The water is also quit salty if you get a bit in your mouth. You float really well, it was hard to surface dive to go down to look at things. I swam for about 45 minutes. Donna made it in, but was too cold and got out right away, she thinks the water was colder than 77. A few others also swam, some getting out more quickly than the others.