At Least I Got a Facebook Profile Pic Out of It
So the Chimera was kind of a let down. It's a site on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. The towns Çıralı and Olympos are nearby, but the closest big city is Antalya. The preferred spelling may be Chimaera, but I'm just going with Chimera. Anyway, the legend goes that Zeus buried Chimera in the ground and poured molten lead down his throat, causing him to breathe fire (or something to that effect). And to this day, Chimera continues to breathe fire: there are maybe 20 cracks in the ground where escaping gas spontaneously ignites upon contact with the air. The LP said you can cover a hole and put out the fire, but the fire returns as soon as you uncover it. I kind of wanted to see if I could pee one out, but my bladder wouldn't hold for the 1.5h walk, and there were people around, anyway.

Sounds like a cool site, right? Twenty small fires, littered across the ground? That's just it--it sounds cool and probably warrants a googling/wikipedia, but it's really not essential to see. It looks exactly like a gas fireplace...because that's what it is. The flames are cool, but they're mostly steady, due to the constant stream of gas. So you're just watching a fire, without anything visibly burning, and without any sounds.

It just wasn't worth the logistical details, e.g. trying to be there at night.

Dinner's here: mutabal and red gallayah!

Labels: bar trip, Olympos (TR)

- posted by roger @ 7:34 PM