From the sea to the skies… Lycian Way
The Lycian Way, according to The Sunday Times, is included in the list of the ten best hiking trails in the world. The length of the entire trail is 505 km. It passes through the most beautiful places of ancient Lycia: along the picturesque rocks and peaks, through mountain meadows and alpine villages, descends to the beaches and picturesque coves. Sometimes it is a solid primer, sometimes it is the remains of an ancient stone road or just a narrow mountain path.
For our journey, we decided to choose the most picturesque and highest mountainous section of the trail: from the village of Goynuk to the village of Cirali with an ascent to Mount Tahtali (2366 m). This is 1/5 of the trail - 103 km.
1 day
Finally, from damp autumn Kharkov, we flew to sunny Antalya.
This is not an advertisement for Pegasus Airline, this is Antalya!!!!
Transfer from the airport to the bus station (1 hour), from there by bus to Goynuk (another hour).
It was enough for the driver to hear the code word "canyon" and he dropped us off exactly at the right place - at the beginning of the trail leading to the Goynuk Park checkpoint.
The trail itself to the checkpoint made us very happy. The fact is that the enterprising owner of the cafe Ali (the cafe is located about 1 km from the beginning of the trail) turned it into a kind of storehouse of valuable advice, I would even say a mini-guide in stone. On large boulders, with bright red paint, mostly in Russian, he described all those pleasant moments that await tired tourists in his cafe (for example, hot scrambled eggs was very colorfully described), he also gave a lot of valuable advice, not forgetting it to drown competitors.
One of Ali's tips
In general, we reached the checkpoint merrily giggling, despite the decent weight of the shoulder luggage.
We decided not to go into the canyon itself, immediately went to the marked path and went to climb. The climb on the first day, especially if it was the day of the flight, was decent - we climbed 700 m and immediately dropped 400 of them, going down to the river for the night.
First meters
Canyon view
View of the amusement park: in this part of the canyon there is a warm lake with fish and turtles, cafes, all kinds of rope rides. The trolls were especially impressed
We rise higher
On the first day, it would have been possible to walk a little less, but the whole tactics of our campaign, the planning of overnight stays was firmly tied to the availability of drinking water. On the first day, having discovered several dry springs and the absence of rivers in the right places (summer and early autumn were very hot and dry), we realized that water problems awaited us, and despite our fatigue, we teleported to the river in the dark.
2 day
We stopped for the night in a very picturesque place. The mountain river, forming either small waterfalls or small lakes, squeezes here between huge boulders scattered through a shady forest. No problems with wood. The chain saw we took with us was never used.
Morning tea
In the morning we begin to climb to the small mountain village of Goynuk Yailasy.
It’s good to walk along the canyon in the morning - shade, water as much as you like, but all good things come to an end someday. We also leave the forest on a dirt road, right under the scorching sun. And all the time uphill, uphill!
And suddenly after the next turn in front of us are several houses of a mountain settlement and .... pomegranate paradise. No, of course, we didn’t climb into someone else’s garden and didn’t tear grenades from the trees, but what fell from the trees and all the more cracked ... it was ours. And besides, in such quantities that in the future the sight of these healthy fruits, and especially the smell of freshly squeezed juice, personally caused cramps in my stomach and hmm ... .. profuse salivation.
Pomegranate Paradise. So far only a photo session, so the face is so pleased
Without reading the article to the end, you are already reading our description of the tour - Hike along the Lycian Way
These few houses are the village of Goynuk Yailasy.
You can stay overnight here if you wish.
In general, in this part of mountainous Turkey, we saw a lot of abandoned houses and gardens. Somehow, my soul ached from this devastation, especially from the sight of abandoned gardens.
Abandoned house
Overgrown and abandoned almond orchard
From Goynuk Yailasy the road was no longer so difficult, rather walking, we quickly reached an excellent clearing, the spring was nearby. We decided to stop for the night.
Evening porridge
3 day
I conditionally called this day “asphalt day” for myself. Most of today's path we trodden on the asphalt. On the one hand, it’s nice to walk along the road, especially since cars rarely drive on this asphalt, but on the other hand, why haven’t I seen this asphalt at home? I'll jump ahead a bit. The next day I received full compensation for the asphalt day.
View of Gedelme. From this point we went down to the city for 1 hour
Asphalt day. Descent to Gedelm
Today we went down to Gedelme - the first "city" on our way. Having replenished the stocks of bread in a local restaurant, we went to see the sights that we had read about on the internet - a tree of happiness - a plane tree, a fortress and a cave.
Attractions are not impressive. Near the plane tree, the local population fussed, obsessively trying to provide us with paid services. Why exactly this plane tree was appointed the tree of happiness, we did not understand, the fortress was in a deplorable state. Looking at the fortress, they decided not to go into the cave.
Ancient plane tree - tree of happiness
The castle was not impressive.
In Gedelm, we got advice from a local restaurateur about the way forward. I would like to note that the locals in the mountainous part of Turkey are very friendly, they do their best to help to the best of their language abilities.
We reached the next village on our way - Yayla Kuzdere (8 km from Gedelme) quite cheerfully - again on asphalt. On the way, we met an apathetic turtle. Neither our stormy enthusiasm, nor a long photo shoot forced us to budge. She only occasionally hissed at us.
From Yayla Kuzdere, the ascent to the Tahtala saddle began. From here, our tomorrow's goal - the summit - was already clearly visible.
View of Tahtali from Yayla Kuzdere. The saddle is clearly visible on the right. They drop their backpacks and climb the mountain already light
At the end of the day - a bonus. Huge plane tree in the meadow. Much prettier and bigger than the advertised happiness tree in Gedelm. It was he who we appointed as our tree of happiness and revolved around him for a long time. The tree was simply mesmerizing with its size.
Our tree of happiness
Day 4
Today, as promised, we got a full compensation for the previous asphalt day.
In the morning we continued to climb the saddle of Tahtali. First we walked through the fabulous cedar forest. Huge trees were overgrown with moss, which hung from the branches in a silvery beard. Sometimes it seemed to me that I was on the set of The Lord of the Rings. So everything looked like.
In the cedar forest
We ran through the fairy forest and ended up in the Moon Valley. As a result of karst processes, stone sculptures of bizarre shapes, small local ridges and large round funnels were formed here.
And you can look at such landscapes on our tour - Hike along the Lycian Way
Moon valley
A rather steep and long ascent to the saddle of Tahtali begins from the Moon Valley. Having risen there for dinner, we had a bite to eat, hid our backpacks in the Christmas trees and went to the top.
In general, in all the descriptions on the Internet, I read that they rise to Tahtali only early in the morning, and mountain guides lead groups that way. They spend the night somewhere near the saddle and start climbing to the top early in the morning. This is explained by the fact that after 11 o'clock in the morning dense clouds gather over the top, and for the sake of which people usually rise up, namely, the most beautiful views on the coast can simply not be seen.
But we, approaching the saddle, saw an almost clear sky above the summit, decided to climb and quickly ran upstairs.
On the way to the top, I always felt like I was turning into a lizard. It was so hot and dry
On the way to the top, I always felt like I was turning into a lizard. It was so hot and dry
At the top there is a cable car station that rises here from Chimer, an exorbitantly expensive restaurant and a shop with expensive souvenirs. However, we didn't need all that. There were enough absolutely stunning views of all the surrounding ranges, the coast, even Antalya was visible.
All! Now just down to the sea!
The reward for such a difficult day was a wonderful parking lot under a huge yellowed plane tree.
Day 5
In the morning, it was somehow difficult for my legs to walk, the descent was steep and the backpack seemed somehow heavier, but the approach of the sea was inspiring.
From spending the night in an hour we went down to the small town of Beychik and somehow slowly went, I would even say wandered, to the town of Ulupinar, which is famous for its trout restaurant. Here, before you eat a fish, you can first catch it with your own hands, and then they will cook it fresh for you. It seemed to me some kind of barbarity, and so we just had lunch of trout baked on a tile and a salad.
Yesterday afternoon we were so high...
Trout restaurant in Ulupinar. We came here again on bikes
Separately, I want to say about tea. When you walk all day with a backpack in the heat, you want to drink unrealistically. So I ordered tea from time to time. In restaurants in Turkey, tea is served in a strange and unusual vessel for us - a glass of 80 grams. But I'm used to drinking tea in mugs !!!! Big!!!! How many such glasses, by no means cheap, should I drink to get drunk in Ukrainian? Yes many!!! And there is no reason for the waiter to look at me so suspiciously when I order tea for the seventh time !!! In general, a glass of tea is about Turkey.
In Ulupinar, we lingered longer in order to approach the lights of the Chimera in the dark.
Chimera Lights
This place was fascinating, I wanted to sit by the fire for a long, long time, think, make plans ... but you need to go down for an overnight stay. We spent the night, descending from the fire-breathing mountain
Day 6
Today you can not rush, sleep longer. Only 2 hours left to the coast, to the campsite in Cirali.
The campsite is located on the left side of the bay, next to the beach. We set up tents under orange trees from which ripe oranges fell into our tent regularly, there was a hot shower and a kitchen with gas. It all cost 10 liras (45 UAH) per person per day.
The wonderful host of the campsite somehow understood my English and allowed me to use the bike for free. So after the walking part, the cycling began. I have traveled all over the coast.
Camping
We went on an excursion to Cirali, looked at the ruins of the ancient city of Olympos, climbed all the surrounding bays and swam, swam ....
And I, lying on a warm beach, increasingly looked towards the mountains. They called, they beckoned. I understood that this is my world, my little personal world, where there is freedom, clean air, wide views, people who are not concerned with mercantile issues. I can run here every time when the pressure of society becomes critical, when certain elements of social life arise that have to be taken for granted, not dependent on one's own strength. When it makes no sense to fight for your selfish rights, but you just need to find a way to get away from the blow, save your nerves. For yourself and society...
Storm
On the last day a storm arose. The sea was clearly saying goodbye to us. All. It's time.
The bus to the Autumn station is served. Doors are closing…
Yes, Yes - the doors are closed for you if you are not already here with us - Hiking the Lycian Way
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