Girmeler Thermal Springs - the real Turkish Spa!!!!

[iminei]

Girmeler Thermal Springs!

What a wonderful experience! Not for the faint hearted though...this is truly Turkey at its most Turkish!
Girmeler seems to be part of a Turkish Sanatorium as we saw the same people there on the two occasions we visited..

The springs are sign posted as you drive through Girmeler on rusty yellow tin signs by the side of the road, on your right as you drive from Kadikoy (or on your left as drive back from the Kemer roundabout on the D400 as suggested by Kalkankiki) Basically you park at the end of a lane by Iskender (Alexander) caves.....(no we didn't visit the caves. the springs were enough for us!) by a small bar, waved in by the owner, a man whose name we never knew but whose geniality and friendliness are second to none.

Walking past the Iskender cave and downhill, to your right you see a long low white building with doors at either end and a booth in the middle by a clock on the wall ...these are the changing rooms (male and female) for the springs.

Buy your ticket (4TL each) further down the hill from the (very) Turkish young man in the reception building ... (absolutely no English is spoken here) and walk back to the shaded area outside the changing rooms to wait for the 1/2 hour Mens or Womens session to start!

When we first went I joined mid session, changing into my bikini and walking down a corridor hewn in the rock of the mountainside and down the aged but very stable wooden staircase into the bowels of the earth.
The smell of the sulphurous spring is, to no surprise, sulphurous, however below a certain depth the smell seems to disappear, or maybe your sense of smell adjusts, but from a certain depth, holding the nose is no longer required!

So down I went, to join a gaggle of Turkish ladies of various ages, in varying states of undress (naked to fully swimsuited up) who seemed to be putting the world to rights.
Needless to say an English girl in their midst in this most Turkish and untouristy of places attracted quite a few comments, none of which I could understand!

My first visit was short as the womens session I had gatecrashed came to an end after 10 minutes, signified by the lights being flicked on and off and up we trooped to the changing room to emerge blinking into the midday sun.

I was unsure whether Andy would like this experience and was pleased to see him disappear into the changing rooms. He shared his full 1/2 hour session with a very old (nearly dead was how Andy unkindly described him) Turkish man and a young hale and hearty (and rather dishy to my eye as he entered the changing rooms) Turkish 20 something!

I don't know exactly what a sulphurous spring is meant to do to the human body; its said to be good for the skin and joints which is why I seek them out wherever we go on holiday, and I do know that it will instantly kill the most raging hangover (Saturnia Tuscany 2005) but it turned my pretty shell pink nail varnish an interesting coffee colour and it will turn anything silver as black as pitch within 5 minutes... so it might be worth removing any silver jewelry before descending into spring (but if you forget, don’t worry it can be buffed back to reveal a marvelously patinated / antiqued finish or cleaned up completely with no problem!)

After the springs we stopped in at the bar of the man with no name as a courtesy and enjoyed two cups of chai accompanied, unrequested, by a bunch of grapes picked from the vine above us and washed in the fresh and gloriously cold spring water coming from the side of the mountain in front of our eyes and a couple of fresh (and most divine) figs from a tree in his garden!
He chatted most happily to us with no common language, yet managing to convey an immense amount of friendship. When we asked to pay the shocking total of these freshest of fresh produce along with the Turkish tea was iki TL …2 TL!!!

These two visit to Girmeler were, I think, amongst the best memories of my holiday, and I do know that they were the most unique!



Linkback: https://www.enjoykalkan.com/forum/index.php?topic=6371.0

[davidm]

That sounds fabulous- forgive my ignorance but where is Girmeler? How far from Kalkan?

[iminei]

hi david,
girmeler is a teeny tiny place in the middle of nowhere, we specifically sought it out as i have an interest in such springs.
we first went after a visit to saklikent and tlos, its in that region, the second visit was after a truly marvellous visit to patara.
i shall try to, with aid of a map of ancient lycia ,  explain the easiest way to got there...i'm assuming you will be coming from kalkan.
drive toward fethiye on the d400, past the turn for patara, past turns for essen and pinara until you come to a real crossroads, highlighted by the lighty things they have in turkey, for alcata and curmokoy. head towards curmukoy...this will be a right hand turn coming from kalkan.
its a real country road at the t junction by the tin barn on the corner,(remember this for the return journey, its real easy to miss and then you will be on an enormous loop)  turn left (or up, as if you were continuing in the same direction on the d400) there will be another t junction again turn left (or up, away from Kadikoy) follow this road there will be a sign for tlos (i think) on the right somewhere, unless you are going to visit, ignore.
pretty soon you will come into a town over a bridge, there should be a yellow tin sign on the right with aleksander hole, thermal springs....follow this sign, again over a small bridge and then there really is no where to go. the man with no names cafe/bar provides excellent shade and no doubt he will come and beckon you in....(if you do go there, i managed to post a pic of him and I ,on our second visit, in the gallery on this site,it might be nice, if you could find it and work the technostuff, to print it and take it? )
if you have the right map 'A map of ancient lycia' with detailed route plans for excursions scale 1:250 000 the ref is 36*40 by 29*22.5 approx.

[lorilou]

Crumbs Iminei - that's great! Thanks for the map idea too.
I have your pic with Turk with No Name printed and will take it with me ... Really looking forward to it now.

Pics at the spring are gorgeous, and on Yilditz very romantic, by the way!

You've worked out how to to it! Still cant work it out ...
thanks again!

[iminei]

no i have worked out how to get 'upload failed' up and then find my pic, not in my gallery but just there.
when are you going lorilou? i'm very small and light, can i squeeze myself into your case? please?
will you be going to girmeler and on a boat trip?
im in withdrawel and need answers now!

[lorilou]

Hi Iminei
You got bit!!! Thankfully you can get a few fixes from this 'Virtual Kalkan'

Three weeks today ... I'll be there by now, hopefully looking at the view from the roof terrace, sipping something chilled and musing on where to go for dinner ... I've just managed to cut my packing list in half so am congratulating self on having plenty of room for stuff to bring home - but I think they might notice an extra body on the way out ...

In the meantime, if Antler's note is anything to go by, we'll soon have a "Foolproof Guide to Uploading your photo's to the gallery" ... so you can share some more of your pics and I can get a few of mine up there from last year ...

Stay tuned - it helps!
L

[Rockykalamar]

Thanks iminei for sharing your super experience and for the very  helpful directions! It's great to hear about different experiences!

[lorilou]

Sorry Iminei forgot to say, yes to Springs and boat trip is already booked.

You look 'blissed out' in the springs photo's! 

(And those steps look fairly challenging, just as you described).

Stay smiley and chilled.
L

[antler]

Hi lorilou,

OK, I've just had a dummy run and jotted down each move to load up a pic into the Kalkan Gallery - you can see my latest last pic (on Yildiz II with Ahmet and Zeynep). Believe me, I need to keep looking at this pic to help the diet - which is beginning to work, and still 3 weeks to go!

Tomorrow I'll post again with the steps I took and what to look out for - and hopefully it will help,

cheers

Antler

[lorilou]

Hi Antler
It's very kind of you to work on a clear plan for posting photographs - thanks very much for taking the time to simplify things. It's obviously do-able ... Just not to some of us!

I'm looking forward to being able to get a few pics posted - I really enjoy looking at everyone's contributions  ... the pictures bring stories to life - like Iminei's trip to the springs and her surprise boat trip as posted today. She tells a fantastic story, but the photographs - well, they are the icing on the cake!

Speaking of cake (tenuous link) pleased to hear your diet is working. Ours seems to be making no difference whatsoever, despite best efforts. Waistbands in our house seem to have shrunk, somehow ... perhaps it's the sea air?

Here's to Kalkan in three weeks, it will be bliss to be back there whatever the tape measure tells us.

You'll be celebrating all week, so we'll keep a look out for the man with the biggest smile and the weeny waist ...Your next pic aboard Yilditz will involve a six pack!

Thanks again
Lori

[lorilou]

Well Antler, true to his word, has come up with the goods!

See his idiots guide to posting pics here:
http://www.enjoykalkan.com/forum/index.php/topic,6394.0/topicseen.html

Thanks Antler! Hopefully you'll be able to see the results of your labours over the coming weeks - give you a few new Kalkan fixes before your trip!
Cheers!
L