On 31 May, the time has come. We are in actually pretty much the only place we had already planned to visit at the beginning of our long journey: Ölüdeniz. It is a "paragliding paradise", or at least they like to sell it as such... we are curious.
From the van to a flat
The first big change is giving up the Vanlife. We rented a room in a flat just outside Fethiye. The flat belongs to the almost 60-year-old Norwegian Jan and the almost 30-year-old Russian Vera, as well as their little puppy Peffi. An interesting, but very warm and welcoming constellation. We were looking for this room temporarily because Bianca has to work.
For her to be able to write in peace, she needs quiet, a reasonably pleasant climate and stable internet. That is sometimes difficult in our rather tiny van. But soon we are also very happy with the room: it has air-conditioning and the temperatures continue to rise with each passing day... this is unspeakably pleasant in the air, but on the ground and at night a cooling down is most welcome... just like the pool that belongs to the compound.
Ok, so Bianca sits in front of her desk for days now, bored and a bit annoyed about her life choices. There's that too. But what does Luca do? He grabs his paraglider - and off into the action.
Gleitschirmfliegen in Ölüdeniz – was zu erwarten ist
So why should it be so special here? Why so popular? It's just a mountain and the sea and a beach too, isn't it? That's true, but it's still an experience. The four launch sites (at 1200m, 1700m, 1800m and 1900m) are on the mountain Babadağ. The official landing site (which is also used by all tandem pilots) is the beach of Ölüdeniz - in the blue lagoon. The view from the top alone is worth the flight. Most of the time we take off at 1700m with a south-westerly wind direction from where you can glide down in a relaxed manner. Even a flight without thermals lasts 20 minutes due to the large difference in altitude and offers the pilot an incredible view.
The conditions get airborne have not been as easy for us as they are here for a long time: Almost every day the wind direction and strength are right, there is an cablecar that takes you directly to the large, asphalted take-off area, and there are heaps of bars and restaurants at the landing site. We enjoy this comfort, but also realise that it means we don't come into contact with the local paragliding scene for the time being. In high season, the local paragliding scene is said to consist of 300 tandem pilots who make up to five flights a day. It is just before high season and already very busy. The tandem flight companies are perfectly organised, the tourism machinery is running at full speed.
We meet Charline and Thomas, who are also travelling with van and paragliders. When Thomas hears about our planned safety training, he decides to join us. There are still a few days left before the start of our course. So we spend a lot of time in the air and on the beach of Ölüdeniz.
Adventure flight into the "Butterfly Valley
On a flight from Babadağ one has a breathtaking view of the Mediterranean coastline dotted with many bays. Of these, the Butterfly Valley is a particularly charming one, as it is not accessible by road. You can only get to the beach in the deep gorge over water, or from the air. I choose the air route, of course. Together with Thomas, I dare to take a little adventure flight. After seven kilometers we are above the valley. There's no turning back now, because we wouldn't reach the normal landing site. While circling to reduce altitude, the previously tiny beach becomes bigger and bigger and the landing is not so demanding.
Just like James Bond!
British party boat tourist, after my landing in Butterfly Valley
Safety course (SIV) with Sinan Çalışkan
Ölüdeniz is one of the most famous places in the world for a safety training. British instructors have been coming here several times a year for years. The courses are expensive and often booked up quickly. Too quickly, for our style of travelling without a schedule. At our last paragliding spot in Turkey (Pamukkale) we received the contact of Sinan Çalışkan, a renowned Turkish pilot and instructor. In the last few days, Sinan flew to fourth place at this year's Çameli Spring Cup (a paragliding competition in cross-country flying), now he is our coach at the safety course.
The short introduction with tutorial videos on the ground is more discouraging than motivating. During the steep spiral manoeuvre you sink around 15 m/s and there are such strong G-forces that the field of vision becomes smaller and smaller until you pass out (worst case). In a "full stall" the paraglider is slowed down so much that it no longer flies. The pilot is thrown back and if the brake is released at the wrong moment, one falls into the paraglider (worst case).
Sinan explains all this to us in a calm way and encourages us that everything will be fine. He has done everything hundreds of times before. The next day we start with the first exercises. It goes quite well. We quickly have the basics under control, so from now on we only train the advanced manoeuvres: Spins and Full Stall. We get along well with Sinan and feel in safe hands. That is enormously important for us, because it is very intensive. After two flights we are completely finished and decide to call it a day. During the night, I repeat the spiral dive a few times in my dreams.
After four days and ten flights we complete the safety course. We are relieved and feel safer at the same time, but also have (even) more respect for paragliding. We learned what can go wrong and how challenging it can be to get the glider flying again. Sinan was a super instructor - many thanks!
Ölüdeniz – British parallel-world
Ölüdeniz is really great for flying. Everything else, however, we found to be pretty horrible. The influence of tourism is enormous here and shows itself from a weird and somehow sad side. We are on Turkish soil, but the culture is a mix between England, Ballermann, China and India. The restaurants advertise "authentic British breakfeast" (= a can of Heinz beans in front of the menu), "best beer selection", football and prices in pounds.
The party boats leave the beach already at ten o'clock in the morning with loud bass and rip off the tourists with overpriced drinks. We realise how privileged and "alternative" we actually are on our journey. We know that this extreme form of tourism is limited to a few hotspots. To "must see" and "bucket list" places. Fortunately, all the hustle and bustle is already over a few kilometres outside. We are happy to move on after two weeks (!) and leave the bawling karaoke singers behind us.
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