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  1. #1
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    Travel to Turkey and hiking on the Lycian Way Trail (& lots more)


    Just back from a 3 week hiking trip to Turkey, although we did much more than the hike of the Lycian Way trail.
    5 days in Istanbul (3 on the European side, 2 on the Asian side), a side trip (and hike) to Cappadocia where we did some incredible hiking, (without seeing anyone else!) skiing at Erciyes ski slopes, then the 7 day hike (about 1/3 of the 500 km Lycian Way trail), then rented a car and drove parts of the seacoast to Antalya. Unfortunately, this was during Ramadan so, not many smiles or night time fun going on in Turkey. It's a 13 minute video that I just finished. Enjoy!
    Last edited by fiddler; 06-05-2023 at 08:29 AM.

  2. #2
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    What a wonderful journey! You did an excellent job with the video. It was very interesting to see.

    I have to ask, who are your hiking buddies?

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    Quote Originally Posted by fiddler View Post
    Just back from a 3 week hiking trip to Turkey
    Looks like it wasn't too hot, i hate hiking in heat - thanks for the post

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by misskit View Post
    What a wonderful journey! You did an excellent job with the video. It was very interesting to see.

    I have to ask, who are your hiking buddies?
    That was my son (the taller one) and my friend from my hometown; Gary and his son.
    Gary just recently started hiking the longer distance trails although he is an avid hunter.
    It was both his son and my son's first overnight hike.
    They both did great (and adjusted to the cold temps MUCH better than I did!)
    I, on the other hand, noticed that I am now having trouble keeping up.
    The old age is starting to creep in.

  5. #5
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    david44's Avatar
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    I really love Turkey teh food, people .

    Wonderful


    Great slides and music in parts of Turkey I have yet to visit I went to Erzrum /Ararat and Trabzon area


    A few questions if you have time when people lived in Cappadocia what wa sthe agriculture , looked like cherry trees , with sparse grass was it sheep or goats?


    I have also visited Istanbul 3 times what is your pick of the Mediterranean coast, had planned to go this year but I guess the elections and clear up from earthquake will have a huge impact.


    I was thinking of a couple of day in Izmir Princes Islands Bursa or Bodrum, If you could only do one anyone advise? Will probably travel by air and hire taxi or rent a car if needed.

    Is it still possible to cross the land frontier to Batumi in Georgia? I realize may be tricky with hire car so may be bus and walk across like as I did in 1975!
    Quote Originally Posted by Latindancer View Post
    I just want the chance to use a bigger porridge bowl.

  6. #6
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    Cappadociat agriculture looked like cherry trees to me too but it's early spring so hard to tell. Later on in the hike we saw tons of olive and lemon trees. Olives all over the ground and I heard someone shocked that we would buy lemons in a store. They were everywhere. We didn't see any animals on our hike in Cappadocia. a few horses grazing at the very end but they are to give rides I believe. We were very shocked that no one was hiking. They all go there strictly for the balloon rides I guess. Once they canceled that, they all went back to bed. They missed some great trails.

    As for the Mediterrainian sea, the boardwalk at Fethiye was nice and it's a cute town. (but touristy) Kas seemed the same (no boardwalk that we saw, but we were near the marina) but the food was better in Kas. The place where we stuck our feet in the sea was at that restaurant that was our favorite (between Kas and Antalya) but the beach there was rocky.

    I was in Batumi back in Sept of last year after a hike I did in Armenia and then Georgia and the beaches there were all rocks too. Modern city though, very nice. But the beach sucked. Not sure about the land border crossing there but I think it's probably open. It's Armenia that no-one gets along with and closes their borders.
    Armenia is very Christian and they are surrounded by Muslims (except for Georgia) so, I'm not sure if you can cross there.

    Car rentals were easy and only needed to show my Thai drivers license. BUT: they almost all are manual transmissions and they always asked if that was OK. For me it's fine as I grew up driving them but I think that can be a problem for younger people. They were always nice cars. A lot of Fiats and some brand I had never heard of before.

    I don't know anything about those other places you mentioned.
    But I will say that if you enjoy a cold brew after a hard day: Don't go during Ramadan! Booze was hard to find.

    Glad you enjoyed the video. I'll have to post my Armenian hike vid sometime from our hike there last fall. That was a bit longer (the hike, not the video)

  7. #7
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    ^thanks for the vid, fiddler. Always nice to see your adventures. Question: when you go on extended hikes like this, do you prepare/ train for it? Like jogging, lifting weights, etc? Or you go there at yout normal fitness level?

    @david44 - it's possible to cross by land from Turkey to Georgia. I know of a YouTuber who did that recently - probably did it just last week (or 2 weeks ago). He had his own car, though. I don't know the case/ rules for rented vehicles.

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    Great many thanks, yes cherry bossom like teh Algarve, which also right climate for Olives.
    I learned to drive a stick shift so no problem.
    What was the approx baht $ cost of the car and fuel please? Similar to Thailand?

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by david44 View Post
    Great many thanks, yes cherry bossom like teh Algarve, which also right climate for Olives.
    I learned to drive a stick shift so no problem.
    What was the approx baht $ cost of the car and fuel please? Similar to Thailand?
    I believe we paid around 3500 baht for a 2 day rental with drop off at a different location.
    When we first rented one at Kyceri, we took it back to the same airport and it was much cheaper: Maybe 1,000 baht (or slightly less (for one day)
    We used rentalcar.com I believe it was the Kyceri rental and just walked around talking to different shops in Kas for the one way rental. THey were all basically the same but some seemed a little shady. One thing we found out about Turkey, especially in Istanbul: If you're not careful, they often try to rip you off. For taxis, it's like thailand and they won't use the meter. If you use the driving apps, they will use the meter but tend to turn it on before they get there. They are often giving you the wrong change (always in their favor). The first few times we said: Well maybe it was an honest mistake. But then we started watching for it and it just happens way too often. Just be aware of this. Like I said, it was more in Istanbul than anywhere else. THe mountain people always seem to be good people almost everywhere I've been. City people: a little different.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by katie23 View Post
    ^thanks for the vid, fiddler. Always nice to see your adventures. Question: when you go on extended hikes like this, do you prepare/ train for it? Like jogging, lifting weights, etc? Or you go there at yout normal fitness level?

    Hi Katie, I live in Phuket and hike here in the steep mountains of Phuket 3-4 days a week. They are only 2-3 hour hikes but they keep me in shape.
    I don't carry heavy loads as I've been doing long distance hiking all my life and have pared my gear down to the lightest equipment.
    My pack, with tent, sleeping pad and bag, raingear, cookit and stove, and WITHOUT food and water, weighs about 7 kgs. So, I guess I consider myself always ready for a hike. I am now over 70 and noticed on this last hike that I am now the slowest one and they sometimes have to wait for me. It does bother me a bit, but I'm still doing it and planning these trips so it's just something they have to put up with. WE still did 160 kms in 7 days. But it was tough! Thanks for asking. I'm going to start another thread and post my Armenian hike that we did about 9 months ago. That was a little more extreme in that there were no towns or resupply at all after the first few days. But beautiful and the nomads we met out there were the highlight of that trip for us.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by fiddler View Post
    I am now over 70 and noticed on this last hike that I am now the slowest one and they sometimes have to wait for me. It does bother me a bit, but I'm still doing it
    well i think you're doing bloody well, how old are the ones in front and ask yourself if you think they'd be up to it at over 70.

  12. #12
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    Really good video of what must have been a great trip. Re the flowering trees, my money is on them being Almond trees. They blossom from late February through to April. I formerly lived in the Valencia region of Spain for 10 years, and the valley I lived in was a carpet of pink from the Almond trees every year. Typically grown along with olive trees, and vinyards where I was. At the other end of the valley, more oranges and lemons were grown. Here's a photo of the valley I've taken from the net:


  13. #13
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    @fiddler - thanks for the reply. In my view, you have high fitness levels since you hike 3-4 times a week, and are able to do multi-day hikes. That's awesome!

    In my latest hike (last month), the most senior hiker among my companions was a 65-year old man. We called him "sir, brother or uncle" out of respect. (similar to Thais calling their elders "khun"). He was thin as a reed and was able to keep with us younger ones. After the hike, I challenged "Sir Ton" (his real name is Antonio) to beat the record of the Japanese hikers in the Philippines. He said he'll have to decrease his alcohol intake if he wants to live until 80! Lol.

    Background: Prior to covid (2019?), there was a group of Japanese hikers who climbed Mt Apo, the highest mountain in PH at almost 3,000 meters elevation. All of them were seniors, two of whom were in their 80s. The most senior guy (81?) and lady (83?) were awarded by the city as the oldest man & woman to reach the summit of Mt Apo at that time. The record of the Jap man has been broken by a Filipino hiker last year (hiker was 83). Maybe I'll still be able to climb Mt Apo when I'm 85!

    I have day hikes from the past months but haven't updated my PH hiking thread.

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