Here is my long awaited post on travels! I've visited many places in Turkey and still have so many more. My first excursion was Afyon. You can see the "Poppy Castle" post. And then...nothing. Well, here's the somethings that went down:
1. We had an extended Bayram holiday. *Cultural Lesson* It is a holiday to celebrate Abraham and Isaac. This is known as the "Sacrifice" holiday or the sheep killing holiday in the Western world, but it's much more than that, obviously. Yes, sheep are sacrificed, but it is a time of family. Everyone goes to their hometowns and spends family time. There's more to it, but there it is in a nutshell. It lasts for 8 days or so, so it was a nice holiday for me :)
We decided to go to the sunny beaches of Anatalya (on the southern coast), and hike a supposedly beautiful, beach-strewn woodsy path. The first day was spent at the beach. I hadn't tasted salt water in years, and man was it wonderful!
We then hiked....for 10 hours!! 8 or so of us set out on this great expedition. Well, it wasn't supposed to be so great, but it turned out to be MASSIVE!! It all began with a beautiful day and smiling Fulbrighters...
We hiked through the woods, packs full, and bodies itching to get into the cool sea. Little did we know what was coming ahead....
It was such a nice trail. The hike though the woods was fairly easy. We'd hike and then come to a beach, where we could swim or just put our feet in. Then, we were supposed to come to another beach...but it never showed up....
We were following these red and white stripped tapes hanging from the trees. Incidentally, this was incorrect. I repeat, INCORRECT! So, we ended up climbing the side of a mountain instead of a beach...and we hiked into the night.
Along our way we picked up a friendly couple from one of the Carolinas who were also lost. When they heard we were Fulbrighters, they decided to tag along....bad choice. Although the husband did comment that they were safe due to us being the "America's best and brightest," woops! Look where that got them! Lost! And ironically, he was a forester....
As the night drew on, we began to climb the mountain by moonlight. My spirits were high. Nothing could be as difficult as the Bursa hike. (I'll fill you in on this later) So, I was chipper and ready to move forward! Others, however, were having a tough time as we rounded on our 8th solid hour of hiking.
We just kept going up and up! Pretty soon we saw a light in the distance, and my first thought (I have no idea why) was ah! someone's going to mug us! Or something of the sort. Now my wits must have been dwindling as well!! It turns out, she was a young woman from Malaysia in Turkey for a walking holiday and she was also lost. So we weren't the only idiots!
She had been on the phone with her tour guide, and he told us to wait and he would come. We all pooled our water and food-stuffs. And we were set when the Carolina couple pulled out a water bottle full of mixed Raki. (A strong Turkish liquor that tastes of Anise) We were set to wait it out.
After a couple rounds of the Raki, the woman's tour guide told us to walk up the mountain until we found a road. Eventually we came to the road, and we were tight and safe in hostels but at least 12. 10 hour hike, check!
Look back for travel stories Part 2, and I have a feeling Part 3 and 4....etc!
