Circular Walk from Our Villa to the Deserted Village of Karakaya and Gumusluk Inland Village.
Distance : about 5 miles
Time : allow 3 and a half hours.
Remember : water, sun screen, sun hat,walking shoes, socks, long trousers
Grade : Walk is easy apart from a 10-15 minute section (stony and often overgrown) as you approach Karakaya and the scramble up to the windmill.
Turn right out of the villa, pass the amphitheatre on your left and follow the road round to the right, past the pool and the site office. At the top of the slope is a black wrought iron gate. Go through the gate and turn left onto a dirt road. Keep right uphill. The road swings left behind new developments and you have good views out to sea of the Greek islands.
(For panoramic views of the islands, Gumusluk inland village and surrounding countryside with old windmills on the horizon, scramble up the highest mound to your left. Brilliant at sunset!)
Over the brow of the hill the road swings right inland in front of a tall wall of a development with a blue waterslide and tennis court. Continue along the now (mainly) tree-lined road as it meanders and takes you downhill.
At a junction just before a large water trough on the left, turn left. Trees overhang the path after a few yards. There is a view of an old windmill over to your right. (You can visit it later in the walk.) When you reach a makeshift broken wooden gate, turn right over a stream bed onto a small track. The next 10 – 15 minutes of the walk is stony underfoot and is on a largely disused ancient track, much overgrown and rock strewn in parts. However, keep the stone wall topped 
with barbed wire to your left and follow the sunken track uphill between two walls. After 10 minutes a house appears on your left behind the stone wall and you reach a track beside the entrance to the property.
Follow this good path a few yards uphill to join another track. You will turn right here to continue the walk, but first turn left for spectacular views of the bay and islands after 50 yards. Retrace your 
steps and continue up the concrete slope to the ancient village of Karakaya.
This path skirts the village, so return to it after you have explored the village. (Many houses are in ruins but several have been renovated and are used mainly as holiday homes.) The path brings you out at a parking area and a road. Follow the main road ahead of you lined with 
telegraph poles on the right. Don’t forget to glance behind you as you walk for some of the best views of Karakaya. There is also a water tap along the road if you need to replenish your water bottles. After 5 minutes you reach the (lime green) electricity substation.
From the substation you can visit the ancient and almost derelict windmill you saw earlier. Allow 10 minutes each way. Go through a gap in the fence to the right of the substation, next to an electricity pylon. Climb uphill towards the next pylon and then continue forward. The windmill appears after another few minutes.
To continue the walk keep the substation on your right and go down a wide screed path, parallel with the road but soon turning right. Enjoy great views as you walk. The path descends for 10 or 15 minutes and as it starts to ascend slightly you pass a new pool centred development with a dozen or so villas on your right. (Gümüs Evleri) The track becomes a paved road and at a junction turn left. When you meet the ‘main’ road turn right beside the veterinary clinic (Veteriner Klinigi Özge). After a couple of hundred yards turn right after a bus shelter on your right, onto a track signposted ‘Avukat Evyilmaz’. (Or for shops, a café and the bakers in Gumusluk inland village continue along the road for a few hundred yards, then retrace your steps.) NB the café on the right is ‘men only’ and no alcohol is served. However they are very friendly and when we went there not realising it was men only, they served us and even popped over the road to get us a beer!
At the water cistern (large, white, dome-shaped) turn right and follow the path back to our villa. (25 minutes) Look out for views of the windmills and Karakaya over to the right on your way. After a large water trough on your right (10-15 minutes) you will meet the path you took on the way to Karakaya. Keep left here and continue on the main path. The blue water slide soon becomes visible to your right. As you reach this complex you can take a left turn to cut off the corner, going past an attractive landscaped villa with pool to your left. At the top of the track turn left and Opus village is on your right.
We have attempted to show this walk on google maps; click this link to Karakaya Circular Walk to view.
