- O L Y M P O S - l o s t p a r a d i s e -
S t o r y t e l l i n g P h o t o g r a p h y
Olympos (Greek: Ὄλυμπος) was an ancient city in Lycia. It was situated in a river valley near the coast.
Its ruins are located south of the modern town Çıralı in the Kumluca district of Antalya Province, Turkey.
We heard about the Olympos, a kind of lost paradise beach on the south coast of Turkey. Rambling around, we got there hitchhiking.
The roads in this country usualy drove good people towards us, and we never even had to wait a lot to hitchhike in Turkey. This time was no exception.
There were people living here in the past, surrounded by the beautiful mountains and bathed by the Mediterranean Sea.
My brother Paulo opening the windows of perception.
As we went there in December and January the place was almost empty. Over there this is winter and people are cold, but for us it is a great month to be rambling around the south coast of Turkey. Pretty much no tourists, and the restaurants and shops closed, low season, so we could be comfortably camping and living in the beach for some days.
And what a beautiful place to camp... Reminisce.
This is not a sunset. It is a sunrise. I felt the orange light hiting our tent and woke up to take this photo.
Basil and Paulo in the morning sun.
Lila the flower.
We met people from Russia that were also camping and they welcomed us to join them.
Irina came with her man Basil and their little boy Marik all the way from Russia with bicycle. They were already for some months in Turkey. Everyday they came with a bunch of oranges from their walks around the beach. Lovely family. And lovely south coast, oranges everywhere.
Marik and Lila
We would walk by the beach and enter the magic forests in the surrounding mountains.
Wanderlust in the woods.
We always had to stop to enjoy the view.
Family time.
Nathalie smiling in peace. She also comes from Russia, and arrived alone in Olympos. There she met two more Russians that came from a town close from hers. They never met before in their country but in the beach they became good friends.
Marik, our leader in the tracks. The way his parents are raising him became an inspiration for us. They let him run free in the mountains. We have to fall to learn how to to get up again. He is so small and already cycled all the way from Russia - his bycicle was attached to the one of his father.
January invited us to swim in the Mediterranean. Me and my brother Paulo. Photo by Lila.
Climbing again.
You see the little blue point far away in the distance? It's our tent. Yes there before the little river.
Chilling in the sky.
Dani, Nathalie and Lila around our kitchen's fire.
Ibrahim Demirel, a man we met that lives close by.
I had a great surprise after publishing this collection about Olympos. Basil, the father, saw it, and he sent me a message in which he thanks me for reviving such sweet memories.
He told me about his family, where they are living, and he introduced me their new member. Now Marik has a brother. This message made me incredibly happy, to know that the stars keep shining their way, and to know that my efforts on telling stories are meaningfull to somebody. Hope one day we meet again !!!
photos and text by:
Oliveira de Carvalho ©
photographer // videographer
open for submissions and suggestions
+33 6 48 60 53 53
carvalho25n@gmail.com
Thank you everyone for this amazing days in paradise. It was really good to find this group in the beach, such nice people. Time to hitchhike back. Hope to see you soon my friends.
