Good to go in winter

Why Lycia, why a pawn? Actually, I was going on a hike on the ice of the White Sea. However, either the Russians “sour souls”, or I was unconvincing, but the announcement, which hung on my website for a month, did not attract anyone. For a winter hike, two (my wife and I) are too few. That’s when I decided: why not walk along the standard route “Lycian Way”. Ancient Lycia, like neighboring Lydia, is now located in Turkey. There was little time left before the winter holidays and I decided to join Kirill Yasko (Outdoor Ukraine). He professionally organizes and leads hikes. I remember him quite a long time ago from the Crimean campaign.

There are people who come to vacation in the same boarding house or on the same island with tents from year to year. They are comfortable with immutability and familiarity. They seem to crawl into a cozy shell.

I like to learn something new every time. And not only in terms of location. For example, on one trip we learned how to kayak on the sea, on another we learned how to fly with kayaks on an airplane, etc.

On this trip I set myself the following tasks:

• check our bodies - what it’s like to walk in the mountains with a backpack when you’re already over fifty dollars (it turned out that it’s quite normal);
• look at Turkey as a place of not only cultural, but also wild tourism (a very comfortable country for this);
• explore the Mediterranean Sea for kayaking in winter (it seemed to me that it was quite possible, but we need to check further);
• to touch ancient history with your hands and feet, with your soul, bypassing books, guides and museum souvenir gloss (this turned out to be the most difficult - there are as many historical stones as you want, but it’s not easy to understand, feel, make sense of it).

There are two starting points on the map below. Some of the participants flew from Moscow, others from Kyiv.

- Where is it: Asia Minor. Mediterranean coast

A little more detail:

More detailed route by day - on Kirill’s website . Everything in the photo is true. But the photos and prices may be from spring or taken in different weather.

We walked from 100 to 120 km. And the most amazing thing is that we weren’t tired. The legs did not get clogged, as happens with pawns. They still wrapped themselves in a half lotus and moved easily.

Roads

         There, January 2: Airplane Moscow - Istanbul - Antalya
         Return, January 11: Airplane Antalya - Istanbul - Moscow.

Add here local travel by buses, minibuses, cars and even a motor boat. But there are no problems with transport - everything runs frequently, quickly, and comfortably. Well, they can do this, but we can’t.

Weather

Since we walked through the mountains, sometimes going down to the sea, the temperature depended greatly on the altitude. There was snow about a kilometer and a half above. And sometimes, even at an altitude of 500 meters, the water in the tombs was covered with thick, 15 centimeters, ice. It was almost always quite warm by the sea, although windy. The first two days of the hike I walked in shorts and a T-shirt. But it rained at night. Then there was no more rain, but you could forget about shorts. Trousers, and sometimes double ones, a warm twist, and sometimes gloves. And at the same time it is sunny.

Smart people know that it is most profitable to book air tickets for dates at least a week earlier than the general holiday rush period. Cheaper and no hassle. We met such strategists on the route and in Antalya. They arrived on the twentieth of December. Saved on tickets. But fortune sometimes takes offense at the smart. It may not be by chance that it rained continuously throughout the entire end of December and even in early January, and it snowed in the mountains. Both at night and during the day.

In general, you should be prepared for cold and rainy nights here, as in central Russia at the end of October - beginning of November. And during the day it could be like ours in the fall, or maybe like in early May. As with any hike, the main thing here is not to be lazy and change clothes more often, adjusting to the weather.

I swam in the sea probably five times. My favorite part was swimming in the Butterfly Valley. I think the water was at least 19-20 degrees. I left the water there only out of a sense of duty so as not to delay the others waiting on the shore. The other times the water was not so warm, 15-16 degrees. I jumped out quickly, but the recharging of the body was also more powerful. Inna said that she always wants to wash off the salt after the sea. But the salt didn't bother me at all.

Participants of the hike

Even before the campaign, the relatives were slightly worried - how could you not fight with the Ukrainians there? Propaganda, both for them and for us, still affects those who watch Zomboyashchik. But hiking usually goes to those who watch little TV and live by their own wits. And even more so in the winter, which is unpopular. Slush November and cold winter hikes are especially good in this regard. Natural filter for Homo sapiens. So we felt good with each other. Moreover, all of us already had experience. And this walk was perceived more as a toy, not serious.

Kirill (Kyiv) - instructor and organizer of the trip. Endurance, tempered by many years of organizing hikes. A specific manner of answering evasively to “childish” questions like “how long do we have left?”, “when will we arrive?”

Yulia (Moscow) is a heat-loving tourist with experience. Together with Yura, Inna and Nikolai, I didn’t miss a single ruin.

Yuri (Moscow) - like Yulia, equipped in Saleva and Marmot.

Inna (Moscow) - vast travel experience. Contrary to my own expectations, the hike was easy and fast. She was quietly glad that her colleagues, unaware of her talents for delicious cooking, did not pester her with questions.

Nikolai or Vasilich (Moscow) - dragged the largest backpack of 120 liters, the largest Baikal-4 tent and was happy with the mountains, the sun and the fact that his knees did not give out. He was noticed in love with the sea - he could not pass by without taking a dip.

Evgeniy (Kyiv) - experienced, taciturn, with his own tourist habits. He was constantly drawn to rush forward as soon as Kirill loosened control.

Sergey (Kirovograd) - asked not to comment on how he seemed to me. Oh well.

Mitya (Moscow) is an adherent of minimalism of things. Instead of a tent, I slept under an awning. I made do with a tiny city backpack and a thin sleeping bag. Generator of inexhaustible optimistic laughter.

Igor (Moscow) - in fact, Dima and Igor laughed together, charging everyone around with cheerfulness.

Our paths and roads

Each village has its own mosque. Near the entrance there are neat shelves with slippers. In some way, prayers are heard from the minaret. Alas, the mullah no longer shouts from the minaret. There are speakers on the tower. The mullah is somewhere downstairs at the microphone. And the voice, amplified by electricity, spreads far and wide. Sometimes, being between two villages, you hear them screaming almost simultaneously. Sometimes in turns.
But the higher you go into the mountains, the more remote the mosque, the more soul you put into prayer. The voice intonates more strongly and seems to float with the wind among the gorges, resounding in the crystal purity of the mountain air.

There are many words and names in Turkey that are funny to the Russian ear. Kabak is there. And we are really heading in that direction.

Dense dirt road. It is a pleasure to walk along it. There are no cars. And red is the color of their land. Fertile red soil.

Our camp. It’s unusual for me to have such a large number of tents for only 9 people. In principle, we could get by with 2-3 tents. But people are accustomed to comfort and personal space. The biggest one is our old four-seater. Stands under an olive tree (olive family)

The Lycian Trail is quite passable without any climbing. But there are branches, like bonuses for those who wish. For example, this descent into the dead-end Valley of Butterflies - a narrow bay, a dip, cut off by rocks from the rest of the land.
The descent is quite steep. It is possible, of course, without a rope. But it's risky. Therefore, there are ropes stretched in several areas here.

The fastening is a little frivolous - the rope is tied to the roots. But overall it holds up. Yes, and it is needed more for safety net, and not for climbing on it.

It's good to go in winter. There are completely empty campsites. In spring and autumn, life is in full swing here. Serving crowds of vacationers. Everything is closed now. There is no one. But while passing by, why not make a cozy stop.

And again on the road. Part of the route passed along a deserted highway above the sea. In a society of goats and sheep. We, like true Buddhists, celebrate the year of the sheep or goat surrounded by them.

The descent to the sea is a joy for the eyes and a strain for the legs.

Halt in a wild cove.

Overnight by the sea. And not a single vacationer except us.

And again up into the mountains.

The source is close here. Therefore, the greens are fresh and plentiful.

Picturesque gorge. I like such wild places much more than any comfortable glamorous coasts.

A well-deserved dinner. Our wonderful Taganok completed another trip.

Lycian tombs

The most noticeable legacy of the Lycian civilization is the tombs. There are a lot of them in those parts, even after 2-3 thousand years (as the reference books say)

There is not a single one that has not been opened. Smart fellow countrymen and greedy occupiers apparently knew something about what they buried in a stone box along with the deceased. So they broke through the wall and climbed inside.

During the period when Lycia was under Roman rule, the tombs became simpler - smaller in size, less decoration, semicircular lid shape and a ridge on the top. Smaller doesn't mean easier. It is not possible to lift or move the cover without using lifting mechanisms.

These sarcophagi were most often installed in high, open places. Allegedly so that the souls of the deceased, turning into winged creatures, like sirens, could more easily fly into the sky. Or maybe so that everyone can see the power of the ancestors who erected such monuments...
Sometimes they were erected in groups, forming a pantheon. Sometimes they fit into city buildings or fortresses

In modern cities and towns they coexist peacefully with housing. Although, I am sure, until recently, they were often disposed of, turning them into masonry walls or foundations

And even now shepherds use them as watering troughs for livestock. Here the water froze and turned into thick ice

They tried to elevate the most noble ones even after death, raising sarcophagi on orgome monuments or columns

Some sarcophagi were broken by people, some by earthquakes. Many have deliberately knocked down bas-reliefs. Perhaps this was the work of the orthodoxies of religions that condemn the depiction of people and animals. There are faces preserved on this cover on the reverse side.

Here they are in close-up

And this is a different style of tombs. They were cut down directly into the rock, outwardly repeating the shape of the dwelling. This is especially noticeable on the stylized roof, where a wooden roof is reproduced in stone

The inside of such a tomb. Two-tier niche-beds. It seems to me that travelers then used the opened tombs as hotels or lodging houses. Especially in winter rain or summer heat.
Someone will say that it is creepy to spend the night in a “grave”. What if the spirits get offended? But spirits only offend those who believe in them.

Separately located tomb, like a separate house

Combined memorial. Tombs carved into the rock and a stele built on top.

The product is like an anthill or like a town on a mountain. Complexes of family crypts. Pantheon rising up the cliff. It can be seen that in some places, in addition to the usual crypts, triangular elements of temple structures and the like of columns were added.

On the rocks near the crypts there are bas-reliefs of people, scenes from life

The sea, through the eyes of a hiker

You can feel the enormity of the sea better by looking at the spots - the shadows of the clouds

Between two azures. The feeling of flying, soaring.

...

The coast is rugged. This is a plus for a kayaking trip.

Please your feet

And in the summer it’s probably not crowded here

Evening cold surf

Most of the islands belong to Greece. How to get here by boat? What will the border guards think?

Pink sunset

Sunrises are like this

...or like this

Beach

Old town bay

Sea, we will come back to you

Amphitheaters

AMPHITHEATRE - an ancient structure for spectacles: an oval arena, around which seats for spectators were located on ledges

Theater No. 1. Small, intimate. In one overgrown ancient city.

Theater No. 2. Quite large even by modern standards

Approaches to it

Theatergoers once passed here, and later, under the Romans, fans of bloody games in the arena

How easy it is to read the names carved in those years when there was not only Russian writing, but also Rus' itself, as well as Turkey

Theater No. 3. Some kind of super theater for several thousand spectators.

Grand staircases

Tall arches

How many theatergoers gathered here? What passions raged.

There, behind Inna, there was a tall structure of the stage and backstage. Floors, columns. They say that the earthquake destroyed many things. And then came another - a darker religion.

The upper rows of the gallery smoothly transition into a steep mountain slope

Remains of stage structures

It’s strange that why the Europeans lost the letter “f”, but we kept it unchanged, although we got the alphabet later

Passions, emotions. Theater.