{"id":15,"date":"2014-09-01T12:00:45","date_gmt":"2014-09-01T12:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jacknoen.wordpress.com\/?p=15"},"modified":"2018-08-21T14:02:48","modified_gmt":"2018-08-21T14:02:48","slug":"st-paul-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jacknoen.com\/be\/st-paul-trail\/","title":{"rendered":"Saint Paul Trail"},"content":{"rendered":"

In August 2014 we traveled to Turkey. We walked the Saint Paul Trail, or at least big parts of it. A +\/- 400 km journey from Perge to E\u011firdir and later back to Beskonak. Although the trail book discouraged hikers to walk the trail in August because of the heat and a lack of water, we went anyway (Nina is a teacher, so we didn’t have much of a choice). Luckily there were many\u00a0water\u00a0sources on the way for shepherds and their flock.<\/p>\n

1st of August<\/span><\/p>\n

We arrived in the airport of Antalya and immediately took a taxi to Perge, where the route starts. There were lovely ruins and many dilapidated greenhouses on dry grounds.<\/p>\n

\"Leaving <\/a>
Leaving Lier <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Over <\/a>
Over the Alps <\/div> <\/div>
\"Many <\/a>
Many greenhouses <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

A local family offered us some tea and watermelon. We read that it was not polite to decline offers in Turkey. So, although we’d just started to walk, we accepted the invitation and sat down and enjoyed the tea. I don’t like watermelon, but I dared not to decline the offer, so Nina had a great time watching me eating watermelon :-).<\/p>\n

We continued the route after half an hour. It wasn’t easy because we couldn’t find the white and red markings that lead the way. So we tried to find our way, using the route description in the book. Apparently the route had been altered.\u00a0 A lady shepherd with sheep in the woods told us we were on private property and we had to get to the road. And so we did. A pity, because of that we missed a nice roman aqueduct. We walked on an asphalted road. Not exactly what we’d planned and hoped for. But we did meet a turtle!<\/p>\n

\"Turtles <\/a>
Turtles and… <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"... <\/a>
… frogs <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Because of the unexpected tea and watermelon we arrived too late at the park of Kursunlu. It was about to close, so we missed the waterfall. At the entrance of the park was a tab, where we filled our bottles so we had enough water\u00a0 for the rest of the evening. We found a nice place to camp at a little river bank and as the sun set, we cooked our first meal. In the dark we bathed in the river and took pictures of a little frog.<\/p>\n

During the night our sleep was roughly disrupted by gun shots. We were a little scared, but also very tired, so we went back to sleep very quickly.<\/p>\n

2nd of August<\/span><\/p>\n

We woke up early, fortunately without holes in our bodies. A little crab delayed our departure, because of course I couldn’t resist taking pictures of it. Nina put a compete on her foot as it was hurting a lot.<\/p>\n

Again we had to cover quite some distance over an asphalted road. Our feet were sweaty and it was extremely hot. Luckily there was a little shop where we bought some bread, cheese and a fresh Ayran. You should try it!<\/p>\n

\"Early <\/a>
Early morning <\/div> <\/div>
\"Crab\" <\/a>
Crab <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Is <\/a>
Is this the finish? <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

There were also some big barking dogs, they got Nina pretty scared. They followed a scooter and Nina feared for her legs. But as we passed, it seemed it was all barking and no biting.<\/p>\n

We walked through some nice villages where time stood still, an old woman passed by and gave us some fresh figs. They were very soft and fresh, so they were much appreciated.\u00a0 At the mosque we filled our water supplies. Afterwards we could refill at the beautiful graveyards. We could even refresh our feet or go to a toilet…but we preferred not to, even though Nina’s foot was hurting a lot.<\/p>\n

\"Lovely <\/a>
Lovely villages <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"_IGP0703\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

We continued our journey and finally saw the small path with palm trees which led to the regulator we would have to cross. It was a beautiful place. We took a break. I took pictures of a fisherman and Nina took off her shoe. It wasn’t pretty. Lesson learned: don’t use compete.<\/p>\n

I never saw such a huge blister in my life. Nina was a bit scared she would not be able to put on her shoes again. Because of the heat, her feet had swollen and the shoes were a bit tight. Second lesson learned: buy bigger shoes for hiking! In the end she decided to pierce the huge blister<\/p>\n

To cross the regulator we had to walk through the water over some kind of concrete dam. Nina was a bit worried about the water in combination with the pierced blister. But there was no other way except me carrying her to the other side. But since it would mean I would have to carry her for about a 100m and also our 2 backpacks that was not really an option.<\/p>\n

\"Lonely <\/a>
Lonely roads <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Fisherman\" <\/a>
Fisherman <\/div> <\/div>
\"River <\/a>
River above the regulator <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Nice!\" <\/a>
Nice! <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Over <\/a>
Over the dam <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

The water was a pleasant surprise though, it was very fresh and clean. It was lovely to walk through it. Nina liked it even more, if it wasn’t for the blister she would have crossed it several times she said. At the other side, we took our lunch break. That wasn’t such a good idea. The Turkish hospitality has its limits. There was a very pushy family, showing off a shot goose and insisting on touching all our stuff and on having diner. It was too much to bare, so we took off and rested under the shadows of some trees. That was a pity, because actually we wanted to go for a swim.<\/p>\n

We had a pretty long walk ahead of us in the afternoon. It was still very hot and we finally decided to camp in a field close to the village of Ak\u00e7apinar. We took a refreshing dip in one of the many small irrigation canals around the fields. This gave us some courage and in the early evening we hid our packs at the edge of the field and went to Ak\u00e7apinar. In a local grocery store we bought some food for the evening and the next day.<\/p>\n

However, on our way back we walked by some\u00a0 sort of “touristic outdoor activity center”, obviously there were no tourists at that time, but a friendly golden retriever seemed to invite us to visit the place. We could use some refreshing soft drinks and followed the dog to the small bar. At first we could not find a person but after a while we found a friendly guy who seemed a bit surprised at first but then offered us some drinks. After we made clear we were hiking the Saint Paul Trail and planned to camp in the field he offered us to camp on their terrain. We didn\u00b4t decline that offer! A quick and exiting ride on one of their quads brought us to the field to pick up our stuff, and soon we were preparing to set our tent.<\/p>\n

Again it was golden retriever (Blacky) who interfered. He sat down on the tent as soon as we tried to set it up. It sounds funny but it was really kinda impossible to set it up… In the meanwhile some other employees of the outdoor company arrived at the site. We enjoyed dinner with them and they told us we could sleep together with them in their little cabin. So it happened we slept together in one upper bunk bed, surrounded by some friendly guys and all night long a television playing kung fu movies… I must say, I will not forget that night any time soon, and to be clear, I mean this in a positive way.<\/p>\n

3rd of August<\/span><\/p>\n

Next morning we left with a good spirit. The day promised to be shorter than the one before as we hiked further than expected. And even more promising, we would pass 2 waterfalls and planned to camp right above them. The guys of the outdoor center had to bring tourists to the first waterfall, so we knew we would see them again once we also arrived there. We had some trouble with Blacky though, he followed us very stubbornly… We tried many tactics to make him go back, but we failed. Although we knew we would meet his owners again at the first waterfall, we were worried he wouldn’t make it that far in this hot weather. When he came at the point he could not keep up with us anymore, fortunately one of the guys passed by in a jeep and picked him up.<\/p>\n

\"Blacky\" <\/a>
Blacky <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Having <\/a>
Having a break <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Arriving at the first waterfall “U\u00e7ansu I” we took a break and had a swim. The place was very touristic and lots of accommodation was available. Tayfun, one of the guys of the outdoor center arranged\u00a0 our lunch at a democratic price, which was pretty nice. Soon we wanted to leave as the place was a bit too busy to our taste. Following the trail to the second waterfall “U\u00e7ansu II” everything became much more quiet immediately. Luckily we knew we had to pass the second waterfall otherwise we would not have found it. It turned out to be a little paradise just for the two of us! We spent quite some time swimming and relaxing.<\/p>\n

\"U\u00e7ansu <\/a>
U\u00e7ansu I <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"U\u00e7ansu <\/a>
U\u00e7ansu II <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"U\u00e7ansu <\/a>
U\u00e7ansu II <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

With a bit of pain in our heart we finally left for the last bit of our trip this day. We planned to camp right above the waterfall and hoped we could find a spot near the river with a view. A relatively short walk and some searching later we found yet another paradise! Right above the waterfall we discovered a very beautiful pool with a handmade ladder so we could get in and out, well, in was not a problem anyway… A couple of meters further was a very nice camping spot with a terrific view.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/a>
A pleasant surprise! <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Our <\/a>
Our own pool <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A room with a view <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Later in the evening a man (Ibrahim) also visited the place to take a dip. He told us he had a restaurant\/guesthouse in Kozan, a little village nearby. Nina’s foot was still hurting a lot and we decided we would have lunch at his place the next day before continuing a little further to the ruins of an old Greek city “Pednelissos”.<\/p>\n

4th of August<\/span><\/p>\n

We had a good and long sleep \ud83d\ude42 In the late morning Ibrahim came by and we went to his house with him. We had a lovely lunch and Nina’s foot was treated very well. We had some doubts whether to stay for the night or not, in the end we decided to go on to Pednelissos, a few kilometers further and search for a camping spot there.<\/p>\n

\"Ibrahim\" <\/a>
Ibrahim <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Our <\/a>
Our patient in good hands <\/div> <\/div>
\"Our <\/a>
Our home \ud83d\ude42 <\/div> <\/div>
\"Pednelissos\" <\/a>
Pednelissos <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

In the late afternoon we arrived at Pednelissos. This turned out to be a very beautiful site. For us it seemed unnatural, such a beautiful historical site, with no protection, care taking or anything! Not even somebody asking money to visit… Well, it helps to create some kind of an authentic atmosphere.<\/p>\n

5th of August<\/span><\/p>\n

Next morning we decided to have another easy day. Nina\u00b4s heel was still kind of one open wound and not very pleasant to hike with, to put it mildly. In our guide we read that in the nearby village of Hasgebe (or Haspinar) we could find “a pleasant pension with wooden cabins and a small pool”. So we hiked a couple of kilometers to Hasgebe and began our search for this pension. It took a while but we finally managed to find it, however, it looked desolated… When we finally dared to enter the domain we were chased by some angry dogs. Luckily also a young man showed up holding back the dog so we could enter again. Long story short: his dad who created the (once) beautiful pension had died less then a year ago. Since then his wife and son Karim\u00a0 (the young man we met) had been in serious trouble. Both seemed to be pretty devastated and not being able to continue the business. The whole domain was almost in ruins and was for sale. Karim was very friendly though and we could sleep in one of the old houses even though almost everything inside was broken…<\/p>\n

\"_IGP1148\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"_IGP1167\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Worst part was that the house could not be sealed properly and the mosquito net was not in one piece anymore! Early in the morning we had to get up because the mosquito’s were attacking too fiercely. Nina’s foot was a bit better and became less important in comparison to the bloodthirsty\u00a0 mosquito’s, so we left very early in the direction of Haskizil\u00f6ren.<\/p>\n

6th of August<\/span><\/p>\n

We had a relatively easy hike ahead of us today. About 10 km’s of mild climbing over dirt road and then about 3km’s of steep climbing over track.<\/p>\n

The first part went pretty well, passing the charming village of Sazak with it’s pittoresque graveyard. A morning break at a small river meant some fresh feet and a moment to give Nina’s foot some further treatment. Although it was much better we still took it slow to give her wound some time to heal.<\/p>\n

\"Early <\/a>
Early morning <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Sazak\" <\/a>
Sazak <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Sazak <\/a>
Sazak graveyard <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Fresh <\/a>
Fresh feet <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

At noon we arrived at Pinarg\u00f6z\u00fc, the spot where we had to leave the road and take a track up in the direction of Haskizil\u00f6ren. In Pinarg\u00f6z\u00fc was a spring with a fish-farm and we decided to take a long lunch break and enjoy the food. The water of the spring came over the roof of the covered terrace and fell down in the fish-farm, pretty nice! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Both the fish and the grilled chicken wings we ate were simply delicious! When even the weather turned a bit and gave some rain, we stayed for quite a long time playing cards.<\/p>\n

\"Lunch <\/a>
Lunch with a wet view <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Haskizil\u00f6ren\" <\/a>
Haskizil\u00f6ren <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"View <\/a>
View above Haskizil\u00f6ren <\/div> <\/div>
\"View <\/a>
View above Haskizil\u00f6ren <\/div> <\/div>
\"Camping <\/a>
Camping spot <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Cooking <\/a>
Cooking dinner <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Finally we gathered our courage and started the steep climb to Haskizil\u00f6ren. Yet another charming village where time stood still for the last couple of hundred years. About a kilometer above Haskizil\u00f6ren we finally found a nice camping spot near a water point.<\/p>\n

7th of August<\/span><\/p>\n

This day we had a long hike ahead of us, 23km to \u00c7andir a village near the artificial Karaca\u00f6ren lake. But more interestingly, close to a canyon! \ud83d\ude42 Since we also enjoy some relaxing from time to time we had the plan to stay in a small hotel for two nights and spend a day in the canyon.<\/p>\n

About the trip to \u00c7andir I can be fairly short. Beautiful views, some lost moments and taking forever! The last part was kinda boring, along the road with many marble mines along the slopes of the hills.<\/p>\n

Very dusty and tired we finally arrived in \u00c7andir. Some public party was going on in the village and we were invited by some of the locals to join them. We agreed to come back once we settled in the hotel. Alas, the hotel was fully booked, probably due to the party… Another, bit more expensive, hotel still had rooms but was a couple of kilometers further up the road in the direction of the canyon.\u00a0 When we finally arrived at the hotel we had walked close to 30km in hot and dusty weather. A welcome shower and another delicious dinner with local fish (yes, the hotel was also a fish-farm \ud83d\ude42 ) softened our mood. No energy left to go back several kilometers to the party…<\/p>\n

\"Morning <\/a>
Morning view <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"_IGP1356\" <\/a> <\/div>
\"Sheperd's <\/a>
Sheperd’s cup <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Karaca\u00f6ren <\/a>
Karaca\u00f6ren lake <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

8th of August<\/span><\/p>\n

Yay! We slept long in the morning! And later we went to the shop in \u00c7andir to replenish our food stock. But that was only the “boring” stuff, afterwards we headed to the canyon for some well deserved relaxing! And yes, relaxing it was! We were very happy we made this decision and did not just hike on without spending time in the canyon. Almost no other visitors or tourists were around and it was just very very beautiful and refreshing.<\/p>\n

\"\u00c7andir <\/a>
\u00c7andir canyon <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"My <\/a>
My sunshine \ud83d\ude42 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"\u00c7andir <\/a>
\u00c7andir canyon <\/div> <\/div>
\"\u00c7andir <\/a>
\u00c7andir canyon <\/div> <\/div>
\"\u00c7andir <\/a>
\u00c7andir canyon <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"\u00c7andir <\/a>
\u00c7andir canyon <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"\u00c7andir <\/a>
\u00c7andir canyon <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"\u00c7andir <\/a>
\u00c7andir canyon <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

9th of August<\/span><\/p>\n

Alright! Back to business! Our route continued through the first part of the canyon followed by a very steep climb up the mountain. No water spots on the way and again very hot weather. Luckily we were rewarded by some beautiful views all the way back to Karaca\u00f6ren lake. Some of the parts were quite fun with iron hand-holds to aid on steep and narrow sections over the eroded rocks.<\/p>\n

\"Looking <\/a>
Looking back over \u00c7andir canyon <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"\u00c7andir <\/a>
\u00c7andir canyon and Karaca\u00f6ren lake <\/div> <\/div>
\"\u00c7andir <\/a>
\u00c7andir canyon <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"what <\/a>
what a view! <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Now we had to choose between two different routes going to Adada, the ruins of an old Greek city. One of them would lead us to Sut\u00e7uler and continuing from there to Adada and the other to M\u00fcezzinler. The former would be easier and with more accomodations, the latter a bit harder but closer to the original Roman road. We opted for the second even though this meant descending back to the canyon to cross it\u00a0 and climbing steeply out again on the other side. The descend caused some stress and when we had lunch in the canyon, again we had some doubts about our choice. These doubts soon disappeared as the steep path from the canyon contained well preserved sections of old Roman road. The giant slabs of stone are pretty impressive! The feeling of walking on a road that exists already for about 2000 years adds to the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Later in the afternoon we had some welcome rain and we camped in the woods close to M\u00fcezzinler.<\/p>\n

10th of August<\/span><\/p>\n

Another sunny morning started another sunny day!\u00a0 We were a bit excited as we would end our day in Adada. Leading to the ancient Greek city we would also walk on a part of intact Roman road. Judging by the description in our guide it seemed as that would be a wonderful experience.<\/p>\n

Well, what can I say, the biggest part of the day we had a nice hike, but not much more than that. However, the roman road to Adada and the city itself turned out to be superb! The roman road, again consisting of giant stone slabs, was in very good condition and it was very impressive using it to climb up to Adada along the slope of the hills.<\/p>\n

\"Thirsty <\/a>
Thirsty locals <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Roman <\/a>
Roman road to Adada <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Experiments <\/a>
Experiments with ants and peanuts <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Nina <\/a>
Nina just loves donkeys \ud83d\ude42 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Adada\" <\/a>
Adada <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Sleeping <\/a>
Sleeping in a Greek theatre <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

The ruins of Adada itself were also very beautiful. Unlike Pednelissos some minor actions were taken to protect the site and give some information. There were some “guards” chasing the free roaming goats when they climbed up the forum for example :-). We were all alone until a man with 2 kids and 2 dogs appeared to the scene. We had a chat and of course we were invited to go and drink some tea with him and his family. In good trust we left our bags with the guards, jumped in the car and went to what appeared to be the house of his parents nearby. We had a nice time practicing our Turkish. When the man drove us back to Adada we picked up our bags and searched for a nice place to camp. We decided that the middle of the Greek theatre was the right spot! Unfortunately we ran into a problem when we found out there was no water to be available anywhere near the ruins. The guards were already gone and the only option we had was to walk to the village of Sagrak a couple of kilometers down the road. So off we went for some extra exercise, fortunately we met a donkey on our way to compensate for the extra trip (Nina just loves donkeys!).<\/p>\n

Just one more little adventure happened in the evening. We were already in our sleeping bags in the tent, ready to call it a day. When at once a car drove up the site to our tent. Surprised I got out of the tent, blinded by the headlights… Turned out it were the guards again checking what was going on. Surprisingly they did not have any problem with some tourists camping in the middle of a theatre built thousands of years ago \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

11th of August<\/span><\/p>\n

From Adada we went into the direction of Siphahiler. We were looking forward to the first part of our daily hike as it would pass through a small canyon. However, when we arrived there, we found out there was no water at all running through the river. With this disappointment we opted to take another route over a dirt road which would take us less time and effort in comparison to climbing through a canyon. So it happened we arrived pretty early in Siphahiler. We had a tea in this little village and bought some rations in the tiny shop. Since it was to early for lunch we got back to our feet and went off in the direction of Kirinti. At a welcome water point we halted for lunch. While enjoying our lunch some wild horses appeared! They wanted to drink but were afraid to come close to us, we decided to move a bit further away and watch them drink.<\/p>\n

\"Wild <\/a>
Wild horses <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The road to nowhere <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

At this point we had to choose again between 2 routes. One going more or less directly to Yukari G\u00f6kdere and another one slightly longer passing Kirinti first and then going to Yukari G\u00f6kdere. Although we could not know at the time, it seems\u00a0 we made a bad decision there! We decided to go to Kirinti first, this route however turned out to be very frustrating… In the beginning the trail was still recognizable and some markings were found, but later on the markings and trail disappeared all together. We had to find our way completely on GPS, however, as we noticed earlier on our trip the route shown on the GPS was not always correct either… With still a long way to go to Kirinti, no trail or markings, no water points, climbing fences and sometimes very difficult terrain to hike, we did not enjoy this afternoon at all. In the end we managed to get in Kirinti, but it was already dark and to make things worse the pension we planned to stay overnight (as a well deserved treat) did not exist anymore. Luckily a family of fruit sellers gave us fresh fruit and drove us to a camping spot near the Kovada G\u00f6l\u00fc lake. Since it was completely out of direction,\u00a0 the next day we tried to ask if they would pick us up again next morning. To our understanding they agreed to pick us up again next morning at 10am. In the end we were happy to have a camping spot with a water source, we pitched our tent in the dark and prepared dinner. Both very tired, we went to sleep soon afterwards.<\/p>\n

12th to 15th of August<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course nobody showed up the next morning to pick us up… We had no choice but start walking in the direction Kirinti once more. As we were walking beside the road we decided we would try to hitchhike to Kirinti. Still fed up with the recent events an idea popped up in our minds… what if someone would pick us up and would go in the direction of E\u011firdir (a larger village at the shore of E\u011firdir lake, and also the place we would halt for some days)? It was still 2 days of hiking to E\u011firdir, but at that moment we were not very keen on hiking anymore… Surely, as we were getting closer to Kirinti a minivan stopped to pick us up, and yes, he was on his way to E\u011firdir… Our decision was made very quickly, we jumped in and skipped a part of our planned route to E\u011firdir.<\/p>\n

\"Hotel <\/a>
Hotel room view <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"E\u011firdir <\/a>
E\u011firdir g\u00f6l\u00fc <\/div> <\/div>
\"E\u011firdir <\/a>
E\u011firdir market <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

In E\u011firdir we booked the first hotel that looked fine and basically we spent the next days relaxing at the shores of E\u011firdir g\u00f6l\u00fc and in the village.<\/p>\n

16th of August<\/span><\/p>\n

After E\u011firdir we headed back in the direction of the\u00a0Mediterranean Sea on a different part of the Saint Paul Trail ending in Beskonak.<\/p>\n

First off we had to get back to Adada to start the second part of our trip. We managed to get there using one of the local buses leaving in E\u011firdir. As Beskonak is actually meant as an alternative starting point for the Saint Paul Trail merging with the original route in Adada we would walk it backwards.<\/p>\n

We arrived in Adada at around noon, after having lunch we left to the East, crossing over grassy highlands. For the first time we also saw other hikers, although just from a distance!<\/p>\n

\"Guard <\/a>
Guard chasing goats over the Adada Forum <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Highlands\" <\/a>
Highlands <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A young sheperd <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Nina <\/a>
Nina pitching the tent <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

We didn’t plan to cover a lot of distance for the afternoon and enjoyed the beautiful grassy highlands. Lot’s of sheep, cows, donkeys and wild horses wandering around, sometimes accompanied by shepherds, young or old.<\/p>\n

We decided to camp soon after we passed the little village of Yenik\u00f6y. Later in the evening we were talking outside, watching the stars and listening to the cattle on the plains. At a certain moment the imam in Yenik\u00f6y started singing… Well, it was a magical evening.<\/p>\n

17th of August<\/span><\/p>\n

We got up well rested. The day passed by pretty nicely, hiking through mostly woodlands with sometimes wide views. We passed the highest point of our trip and started the tradition of taking a picture of ourselves at this point. Furthermore we met some cows with funny hair :-).<\/p>\n

\"Cosy <\/a>
Cosy cows \ud83d\ude42 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Highest <\/a>
Highest point picture <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A room (tarp) with a view <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Only in the evening when our tent was set up we had a little adventure. We went to a close by water point to wash ourselves, and when we came back an angry dog was standing next to our tent. Armed with a solid stick I managed to scare him away. But we were not very happy with him wandering around… Luckily he did not come back!<\/p>\n

18th of August<\/span><\/p>\n

Not much to say about the next day. We basically had a big fight and spend most of the day being mad at each other. When we made up and finally arrived at the pension in Kasimlar a little further we decided to stay for the night. A little trip to the village and some shopping was all we did for the remainder of the day.<\/p>\n

\"Morning <\/a>
Morning sun <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Church <\/a>
Church ruins <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

19th of August<\/span><\/p>\n

The next day we were in for a change of landscape. The woodlands made place for vast amounts of eroded rocks. The desolate and dry landscape seemed inhabitable, but still some shepherds and their flock lived there. It was amazing to see even cows wandering around in this rocky desert.<\/p>\n

\"2D <\/a>
2D tree <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Eroded <\/a>
Eroded rocks <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Eroded <\/a>
Eroded rocks <\/div> <\/div>
\"Lizard\" <\/a>
Lizard <\/div> <\/div>
\"Eroded <\/a>
Eroded rocks <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Through <\/a>
Through the gates <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Many lizards later the landscape slowly became softer and softer. Finally we arrived in the village of Kesme. A slightly bigger village with yet another pension waiting for us. However the owner of the pension was not home, so we had to wait in a small shop practicing our Turkish a bit more with the shopkeeper, which was a rather nice experience. Finally Mustafa, the pension owner, arrived and took us with him.<\/p>\n

20th of August<\/span><\/p>\n

A nice sleep at the simple but decent pension gave us new energy. We had breakfast with the family and the daughter practiced\u00a0 her English a bit with us.<\/p>\n

We had quite a long day of hiking in front of us as we wanted to reach the village of De\u011firmen\u00f6z\u00fc. In the first part of this trip we had to pass a pretty adventurous trail. At some point we were just walking along a very steep slope of solid rock. It looked and felt very “bad ass”, but in the end it was not that dangerous.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Acrobatic <\/a>
Acrobatic stuff! <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Acrobatic <\/a>
Acrobatic stuff! <\/div> <\/div>
\"Camping <\/a>
Camping above De\u011firmen\u00f6z\u00fc <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Soon we passed through the village of \u00c7ukurca, we met an Imam at the Mosque who invited us to have some tea with him and his kids. The children tried to practice their English a little bit with us and we had a nice and open conversation with the Imam himself. They also invited us for lunch, but since we still had a long way to go we declined politely and continued our trip.<\/p>\n

When we finally arrived in De\u011firmen\u00f6z\u00fc<\/span> the sun was setting, no sign of the shop we hoped for… But it was not really a problem as our rations were not depleted yet. We crossed the river and found a nice camping spot on the higher grounds. The late bath we took in the dark river was very welcome after a long and hot day of hiking.<\/p>\n

21st of August<\/span><\/p>\n

Another hot day arrived! However, this time we would have another view again. We followed K\u00f6pr\u00fc\u00e7ay River, and besides a steep but\u00a0short climb and descend in order to pass a little gorge, we walked mostly on level terrain beside the river bed.<\/p>\n

\"K\u00f6pr\u00fc\u00e7ay <\/a>
K\u00f6pr\u00fc\u00e7ay River gorge <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Nice <\/a>
Nice climbing! <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"K\u00f6pr\u00fc\u00e7ay <\/a>
K\u00f6pr\u00fc\u00e7ay River gorge <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Wide <\/a>
Wide river bed <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

At various times during the day we took a dip in the river, however, the closer we got to \u00c7altepe the less water ran through the river. We even skipped some difficult rocky sections by walking in the empty river bed.<\/p>\n

In \u00c7altepe we encountered a little shop, closed however. But as soon as the owners noticed we wanted to buy something they were very happy to help us. We\u00a0 even spent some nice time with them drinking tea and trying to communicate in Turkish.<\/p>\n

Later in the afternoon we crossed the river to a very nice little pension. It was obviously brand new with nice wooden cabins. It belonged to a young couple with their little daughter. As the man was not at home his wife welcomed us very friendly and in the evening prepared some delicious food for us.<\/p>\n

22nd of August<\/span><\/p>\n

With only 2 days of hiking to go we left off early in the morning. Climbing a rocky slope with some music of Kool & The Gang \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Soon the landscape changed once more, so called “men rocks” started to appear everywhere. The weather changed, and finally we had some rain. After all the hot and dry weather we had to experience during the previous weeks we enjoyed it!<\/p>\n

\"Through <\/a>
Through the gate <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Men <\/a>
Men rocks <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Mysterious <\/a>
Mysterious woods <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Selge\" <\/a>
Selge <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Our day ended at the ruins of another ancient Greek city, Selge. Specifically the theater is still in good shape and pretty impressive. The first signs of coastal mass tourism started to show again. We were still in time to see some buses loaded with tourists visiting the site, and of course the locals trying to sell them souvenirs.<\/p>\n

When things calmed down a bit we put up our tent somewhere at the back of the theater and prepared our dinner on top of the rim while enjoying the sunset. We even saved a turtle which seemed to be stuck in a bush.<\/p>\n

23rd and 24th of August<\/span><\/p>\n

Our last day of hiking! We didn’t have a lot of distance to cover this day, but it did include quite a steep descend into a canyon at the end. In the beginning we were still surrounded by the “men rocks”, but slowly the landscape changed into woodlands again. The final descend was pretty tense, Nina is not very keen on steep descends, and this one was the steepest she ever did. In the end we did manage to get down and we rented a little cabin at an old hostel near the river.<\/p>\n

\"Men <\/a>
Men rocks <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The steep canyon slope we had to descend <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Enjoying <\/a>
Enjoying the canyon <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Enjoying <\/a>
Enjoying the canyon <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"And <\/a>
And of course our goat friends were there as well <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

The next day we enjoyed ourselves at the canyon. The was not much water, but enough to have a swim with the goats! A nice and well deserved day of rest after our first serious hike together.<\/p>\n

25th to 29th of August<\/span><\/p>\n

On the 25th of August we left for Antalya. We walked down the river until we reached a touristic area with a lot of rafting companies. I don’t know how they do it, but suddenly the river was full of wild water and many rafting boats. We played with the idea to have a go ourselves, but decided in the end we wanted to go straight to Antalya. That was not that easy, there was no public transport available, so we had to hitchhike! We got a short ride from one the rafting companies and later were picked up by a friendly family who dropped in a little village with some instructions to take the bus. The bus took a long while to get there though, and it was very very hot, well over 40\u00b0C. So we had a tough time waiting.<\/p>\n

\"Antalya\" <\/a>
Antalya <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Antalya\" <\/a>
Antalya <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Antalya\" <\/a>
Antalya <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

When we got to Antalya we were struck by the enormous difference in behavior of the people in Antalya compared to the behavior in rural villages. As friendly and generous as they were in the villages, as focused on (tourist) money they were in Antalya. Although I guess the amount of tourists and the way some of them behave encourages this.<\/p>\n

That being said, we managed to find a nice local restaurant, and we pleasantly surprised many locals with our (limited) knowledge of the Turkish language which we picked up along the way.<\/p>\n

And with that our trip in Turkey finally came to an end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In August 2014 we traveled to Turkey. We walked the Saint Paul Trail, or at least…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":78,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[280,58,7],"tags":[45,36,39],"class_list":["post-15","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-by-date","category-countries-list","category-turkey","tag-trailstar","tag-pentax-k-5-ii","tag-saint-paul-trail"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"be","enabled_languages":["gb","be"],"languages":{"gb":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"be":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.jacknoen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/igp1607.jpg?fit=1200%2C795&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7k94x-f","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jacknoen.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jacknoen.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jacknoen.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jacknoen.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jacknoen.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.jacknoen.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4934,"href":"https:\/\/www.jacknoen.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions\/4934"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jacknoen.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jacknoen.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jacknoen.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jacknoen.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}