Burton Dane Travels

We're traveling through Europe and parts nearby for a year. We'll be posting our pix and adventures here.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Cirali










Cirali is situated in a small, serene space separating a stony beach and gray, cut cliffs. The development is limited to small, two story buildings surrounded by orchards and gardens.

Most of the 50 or so pensions are starting their restoration work to open for the season. We are at the Azur Hotel, one of the few open year round. This area is popular with German tourists in season. Now we are accompanied by two dogs, a cat and some chickens.

A little south of us are the ancient ruins of Olympos and a backpacker shanty town near it. At the ruins we wandered through thick growth over ancient walls and canals. We went through domed rooms and past small shelters for cremated remains. There are tooled stones and mosaic floor pieces laying around. This was a chance to fulfill another lifelong desire to be in an unrestored ancient city.

Last night we hiked to the Chimera. These are a dozen or so places where gas escapes from a mountain side and feeds flames. At night, the flames cause a glow that can be seen from miles away, even out at sea. Up close, they are like eternal campfires. It was a moonless night with no people around. It’s not hard to understand these as a source of worship and myths.

3 Comments:

  • At 11:00 PM , Blogger Greenwalds said...

    Loved the Chimerea photos. I feel the eternal silent light guiding the 5th century BC Athenian ships coming to protect their own from the Persians.

    Whirling Dervishes, looks like Ben's been whirling a bit to much on the Hooka.

     
  • At 7:50 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Wow, I love the pic's of flames coming out of the mountain. Everybody needs one of those. Did they smell of anything?
    I remember hearing on NPR that they found a similar gas vent under the the temple of Delphi, explaining, at least in part, the visions of the Oracle.

    JB

     
  • At 1:17 PM , Blogger Burton Danes said...

    We expected a sulphur smell but there wasn't any. There was a slight smell, similar to other "clean" gases burning.

    They say these gases spontanously combust on contact with air. We tried an experiment on a small one and it didn't relight. We felt horrible. Don't tell anyone.

     

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