Touring Turkey

Medusa and us in Ephesus Ruins at Ephesus Making silk threads from silk worms for rugs in Ephesus L'ame Libra and Karen in the great temple, Ephesus The highway in Ephesus Great Library, Ephesus Another Amphitheater Serince Market Overview of Serince - a mountain town One of the many towns in Turkey where the original Greek inhabitants were exported back to Greece and the town given over to Turks Nancy after a hard day of touring Karen making friends with a Turkish women in her home Notice the lack of fixed furniture and the stove that is used for both heating and cooking A view of Serince's village The view from our room in the 5 star Fantasia Hotel, Kusadasi owned by our friends and music teacher Murat and Sevin The Fantasia Hotel View of Netsel marina from atop the hill overlooking Marmaris

Marmaris to Finike, Turkey

Marmaris bikers - Nancy (L'ame Libra) and John & Joan (Sea Scape) Glen from Corlionis our last dinner out Cathy & Ed (Thisltle) Thistle, LL, Seas Scape & Dakare last lunch before leaving Marmaris Netsel Marina A crowded Netsel Marina.  Notice the Cruise ships out at the far end of the Marina (A Pontoon.)  We are on the other side of the pontoon. Dakare at the Finike Marina Courtesy of Caglar Altunas, Marina Manager, Setur Finike Marina

Lycian Trail - Backpacking

A Tale of the Trail

Before leaving on the Levante Basin Rally, Dan took a back packing trip on the Lycian trail.  The original plan was to do a 5 day trip which got reduced to 3 days.  Dan wound up doing the 3 days of hiking in 2 and came home thoroughly exhausted.  The pictures shown below should provide ample explanation.  Despite the verticalness of the hike, Dan thought that the trail was great, water to drink plentiful and the views absolutely fantastic. Lycian Trail - Part 1   Butterfly Valley is located off the Bay in the middle of the page Lycian Trail - Part 2 Sydima is located about 1/3rd down the page where the trail takes a hard turn to the left Gunter supplied Dan with a sea approach landing to the Lycean Trail Gunter and crew leaving after dropping Dan off Valley of the Butterflies where Dan was dropped off.  It was a serious effort to climb out of the steep canyon with a full backpack People have died on this trail About 1/3rd way up! About 2/3rd's of the way up! Made it to the top! Great views from on top - now officially on Lycian Trail This shot does not do the flowering meadows justice Bee Hives along the trail A group of fellow hikers (Dutch) who adopted Dan on the way We all took a wrong turn and wound up a nice shaded rode Another view from the trail - its a long way down Over the top of the ridge, our next destination was back down to this bay A typical spring along the trail - the water was excellent to drink The Tree Houses where the Dutch hikers stayed Dan's overnight accommodations The next morning's hike (or should I say ascent) Dinner with the Dutch hikers - they were very gracious to Dan About half way up the next ridge Almost on top The morning sunlight lit everything up golden The views from the top were fantastic A local Turkish woman prepared Chai (tea) for Dan and then brought out a whole meal Two young boys from the village Alinca Goats on the road out of Alinca Looking back to the previous ridges climbed My backpack and the next watering hole On the way to Sydima

or a Whale of a Tale After finishing our busy preparations of getting Dakare ready for the Levante Basin Rally which left from Finike, Turkey in the Spring  of 2005, we headed out from Marmaris, Turkey later than expected.  Because we had spent so much time in Marmaris, we were a bit rushed for time. The only item that could give in our timeline was the amount of time that I would spend on the Lycian Trail hiking trip. The hike was reduced from the original planned five days to three days.    So with no wasted time we sailed direct to Fethiye and once the boat was tied off at the marina I proceeded directly to the marina office.  There I check in and hoped to get directions from the marina staff on how to catch a bus to the starting point of the Lycian Trail. Well that was a dead end... Bus? What bus? They didn't know a thing. Finally someone told me that I could get more information about the buses at the bus terminal in town and as they were telling me how to do this in Turkish and my frustration began to mount, a German fellow, Gunter, who was next in line volunteered: "I am going there tomorrow by boat, if you like, I can drop you off." Well this seemed too good to be true but I was more than happy to take him up on it. He said to show up at the head of the dock at 5:30AM (Ugh!) and that if he didn't see me at that point, he would assume that I didn't want to go, otherwise I had a ride. The Insertion Point Butterfly Valley With that in mind, I ran back to the boat and began my preparations for backpacking which included finding and pulling all of my gear from the depths of the boat (thank god Karen had an idea of where most of the stuff was hidden on the boat,) getting that stuff, like backpack, sleeping bag, tent, etc. and my food organized, packing my bag and last but not least packing my GPS and my cell phone. Unfortunately, after looking at the maps that I had of the trail, there were absolutely no GPS coordinates available and so I spent the rest of the evening, way into the wee hours of the morning, using my Nobeltec navigational program for navigating Dakare over the seas, to find GPS coordinates on key features of the trail map. That being done I caught a few hours of sleep and got up bright and early to meet Gunter on his boat. Now I wasn't exactly sure what Gunter's boat looked like, nor for that matter, where in the marina it was located.  All I knew from what he said the previous day (to steal a line from the movie Captain Ron) was "that it was out there (somewhere)."  ... But there was no Gunter.  Seeing how it was well after 5:30 AM and no boats had left the dock, I felt that maybe he was just off to a late start. After a bit I noticed this semi naked man, wrapped in a towel, heading down the dock and it turned out to be Gunter. He confessed that he was a bit behind.  I caught him on the way to the shower.  He said that he would be leaving within the next half hour or so. There were a lot of "so" minutes involved but we finally got off about 7AM and I was glad to be having two adventures, one on the trail and the one getting there by boat. Well we had a very rolly ride that morning and the first thing Gunter wanted to do was to pull off on the way to the drop off point and have breakfast. So how could I turn down an invitation to breakfast!  We stopped in a really nice cove and his 3 German compatriots began breakfast preparations. It was a slow time for me as I had nothing to do and so I engaged Gunter in several different conversations. One of them was about his interest in doing the Lycian Trail. It turned out that he had his camping gear on board but personal delays in his personal schedule had precluded him from doing the trip.  As he said, he was living vicariously through me. Well let me tell you that breakfast was a real treat. A full blown German breakfast. I had to restrain myself as I didn't want to start the trip on a bloated stomach. Finally we were off from the breakfast anchorage.  It was a short trip to the next bay where they planned to drop me off.  The waves were making there way into the bay and although it was not as rolly in the bay as outside, it was still a bit much. They dropped there anchor, inflated their soft bottom dinghy and we loaded my gear into the dink. They had no motor so they had to row ashore and as we approached the shore it became very clear that this was going to be a wet experience. Indeed it was! One wave came in and flipped the dinghy and threw my backpack into the sea. I was able to salvage it fast enough so that it didn't get fully soaked, but my shoes that I had taken off to keep dry were wet as were my socks. On shore, I change my socks and put on my damp shoes, waved the Germans a Bon Voyage and began my hike. Now what I didn't tell you, and it only dawned on me as I was being dropped off by dinghy, that this was the one place, Butterfly Valley,  that I had been told by my friends not to hike.   They said that the previous year someone had died trying to hike up the trail.  It was very vertical.     From the shoreline, looking upwards to the summit of the mountain,  I was getting a real crick in my neck.  Just looking up at the sheer vertical wall that I would have to ascend with my fully loaded, wet backpack was enough to give me second thoughts,  So I turned around quickly, just in time to see Gunter and his intrepid buddies sailing off into the distance.  Like it or not, I was committed (Ugh!) I didn't even know where the trail was and started feeling like maybe I had made a serious mistake by committing to this approach. But I was there and had no other choice but to proceed. I was able to find a trail easily enough, but I couldn't be sure if it was the right one, although I thought, how many trails could there be in this narrow valley?  Any doubts were quickly extinguished when I found this house sized boulder painted with big black letters in English, warning individuals that this trial was dangerous. (See pictures in adjacent column.)   So I began my ascent, and ascended, and ascended, and ascended...  Euphemistically speaking, it wasn't too bad.   About 2/3rd's of the way up I encountered the first of the ropes to assist hikers in scaling the more or less vertical parts of the trail.  The worst part was the my backpack swinging as I climbed upwards, shifting its weight and my stability / balance.  I had to be careful not to let that change in balance cause me to slip on the vertical faces. So I held on very tightly to the ropes and did just fine. By the time I got to the top I was wetter with sweat than I had been when I fell into the water from the dinghy. Water was literally pouring off my body. I met this nice Austrian woman at the top who started talking to me. I had to apologize to her, for with every word that I said to her (including my apologies), sweat would just blow off my body into her face. She was kind<G>. From there (Faralya) I proceeded to the next bay (Gemile Lemani) where Mama's (in Kabak) and the Nature Village Tree Houses are located. Along the way I passed some beautiful flowered meadows and I met up with a nice group of Dutch hikers who had hired a guide to take then on the trail. I tagged along with then to the Tree House. They had reserved all of the huts, so I gladly pitched my tent and joined them for a nice cooked meal. Their agenda was more leisurely than mine so dinner was the last I saw of them. They partied hardy and I crashed. I got up a daylight (about 5:15AM), broke camp and headed out to the next ridge. It was at least as high as the previous days ascent, but not as vertical. What beautiful landscapes, views of the Med and the mountains! I must have become confused (I think that delirium must have set in) and for some reason, which I cannot explain, I thought that I had only two days to complete the entire hike. That meant that I had to really book in order to do the remaining two days of the planned three, in the remaining one day. I think I must have drained too much blood from my brain making those ascents. In any event, I was committed to get to the finishing point in Sidyma that evening so I could catch a bus back to Fethiye.  I walked and walked and walked - as fast as I could. By the time I got to the bus stop late in the afternoon, I was in one hurting condition. My feet were so sore.... But I was glad to have done the trip. The only regret that I had is that I somehow had missed out on the fact that I could have done the last day in two days rather than one. But it was done and I was happy.  I got to Fethiye and hobbled slowly from the bus station back to the boat. Karen was sitting in the cockpit surprised to see me a day early.  She said she could tell it was me before she saw my face by what appeared to be my painful swagger.  I was so glad to take a shower and get off my feet. I highly recommend the Lycian Trail to anyone who can manage to get away and make it there.  I would compare it favorably to the best in the US. I hope this serves to wet you appetite.  I can't wait to go back! Dan My thanks to Liz and Paul on S/Y Amaranth for introducing me to this great place.

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