The Lycian Way – culture shock

Report on the May hike in Turkey Continuation of the Lycian Trail May 2011.

Vague ideas about Turkey from school history textbooks, fiction - the image of a country of warlike, tough warriors; a backward country, huddled on the margins of world culture. The very first trip to this country completely changed these ideas. Let's start with the fact that the Mediterranean Sea, the fabulous Mediterranean Sea, is absolutely transparent and aqua-colored! It turned out that sea green color exists! This is not an invention of artists!

Greece?

Fethiye is the town where the Lycian Way begins. We take a minibus to local attractions. And suddenly we see in the huge rocks - Greece! It turns out that these are rock tombs imitating Greek architecture. The unusual thing about the Lycian tombs is that the sarcophagi were installed on a high rock, and were not hidden in caves.

Exotic scents.

The first day is a 3-hour journey: from the plane through Antalya, Fethiye - to the place of the first overnight stay. The beginning of the route is not very impressive. It seems that the Lycian Way was laid not along the beaten paths of the people, but artificially. Everything is strewn with small sharp gravel. Will it really be like this for 12 days!!! We pass by some unfinished villas - not at all romantic. Part of our team started the route after 3 or 4 sleepless nights. It's hard! Hot! No time for lyrics!

Where are the magical, southern, exotic aromas? After the first dinner, I tried to wash the pan with the usual plucked bunch of grass, but oh, horror! - it turned out to be terribly smelly, I could barely wash my hands!!! Fortunately, the further route only delighted with the aroma of citrus fruits, pine needles, and the pungent smell of the sea!!! After all, the Lycian Way is laid mostly along the high rocky shore of the Mediterranean Sea.

Source of inspiration

Second day of the hike. There is a long trek ahead. The water situation is completely unknown (there are springs and wells on the map, but is there any water in them now???). We fill plastic bottles from a powerful spring. Each person has two or three liters in reserve.

And here comes another shock - there are many deep springs along the way, and they are equipped with the greatest love! Sometimes a small pool is built right there - you can even take a dip.

Wild orange

We came across a wild orange. That is, an orange tree growing on the side of the road, with many overripe fruits falling into the grass!!! And although the oranges were slightly bitter, we ate them with the greatest pleasure!

This was the second day of the journey. It's time for lunch. And then it turned out that our snacks, namely all the delicious smoked sausage and cheese, “gone” with the parallel group. By the way, in the Crimean hikes organized by the Outdoor company, there are always high-quality, varied products for the hike, I think everyone remembers, delicious dried bananas, candied pineapples, etc.!!!!

Well, on this trip, our caring leader Kirill had to buy all sorts of delicious things for lunch in local villages - homemade cheeses, awesome kaymak (very tasty spread on Ukrainian bread), olives, tomatoes and cucumbers - as a result, our lunches turned out to be traditionally Mediterranean!!!

Poppies in wheat

In Turkey, as in many Mediterranean countries, wheat is harvested 2 times a year!!! It's amazing to see a field of ripe wheat ears next to blooming poppies in mid-May!!! (Kirill and Sveta photographed this miracle. I would like to see these photos.)

And there are so many poppies! True, there are enough thorns)))! This beauty is everywhere!!!

Biblical motives

On one of the days of the hike, the Lycian Trail led us to a certain high rocky cliff by the sea. The cliff is very beautiful, but it was possible to spend the night there only in hammocks (it’s a pity we didn’t bring them on the hike ), hung on intricately curved pine trees.

I had to go back a little. Cyril, apparently a very enlightened man, suggested spending the night in an olive grove, remembering the last night of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane before the crucifixion! So we anxiously awaited the appearance of local residents. But the grove was so tempting! How could we even imagine for a minute that we would one day spend the night in an olive grove!!! And again I remember my favorite impressionists:

Deserted beaches.

Deserted sandy beaches! Of course this is Patara - such a haven!!! After the hike, I read an article on the Internet “Ten Best Beaches in Turkey.” Here's a snippet from it:

"...75 km south of Fethiye The best beach in Turkey near the small resort village of Patara (Gelemis). A strip of beach with excellent white sand stretches for 20 km. An excellent place for those who love solitude. The settlement of Patara has existed for more than a thousand years, and once served as the main harbor of ancient Lycia. According to legend, St. Nicholas (who later became Father Frost) was born here. 1.5 km south of The village contains interesting ancient ruins - among other things, it is worth noting the amphitheater liberated from captivity in the sand dunes, the triumphal arch, the necropolis...”

And again from the internet: The English publication guardian.co.uk has prepared a list of the 10 best but little-known Turkish beaches.

Kabak:

"...If you are staying in the village of Faralya, but the descent to the “Valley of Butterflies” seemed too difficult for you, choose an alternative option: 15 minutes on the road - you are on the beautiful small-pebble Kabak beach. Here you will not find any of the usual amenities, only a few campsites in the distance. The beach is surrounded on three sides by a lush pine forest, this is the best place for those who like to relax in the lap of pristine nature...”

And we were here! True, in bad weather. Our sweet, gentle Marina swam on this beach! The rest at this time, shivering from the cold, wrapped themselves in capes in the pouring rain!!!

Cultural monuments.

Again from the internet:

There are probably no such number of architectural monuments anywhere else. It’s even impossible to list them - you’re bound to forget something. And to see it, you will have to spend more than one month in Turkey. However, you won't regret it.

And the most surprising thing is that almost all of them are different. Different styles, different traditions, different cultures - the result is amazing and delightful.”

Yes, even on our short route there were many monuments! And this is an indescribable miracle - to place your palm on a sun-warmed, rough stone with inscriptions engraved on it, a stone that is thousands of years old!!!

Well, a separate poem needs to be dedicated to the unique monuments of the Byzantine era - the underground architecture of Cappadocia (Nevsehir and Goreme National Park).

Burada population - Burada yok!

On my first, “civilized” visit to Turkey, I was pleasantly surprised by the friendliness and courtesy of the Turks. But it could be attributed to the service required for hotel employees. But even on our route, far from resort areas, any meetings with the inhabitants of this country, who did not expect any direct benefit from us, were always distinguished by their special sincerity.

Take, for example, the case when there was no water at our last stop and the courageous Kirill, having filled his backpack with all available containers, went in search of it, already in complete darkness (although we suggested limiting ourselves to the one and a half liters of water that we still had):

A couple of local residents passed by us (they were returning from sea fishing). We tried with gestures and some Turkish words, like: “Lutphen, is the water ready?” find out where the water is. And they, as if apologizing, repeated in response: “Burada yok!”, “Burada yok!”, “Burada yok!” and it was clear that they were terribly sorry that they could not help us.

Oddly enough, our Russian-Turkish phrasebook did not contain the word “water”. There were the words “juice”, “tea”, “coffee” - there was no “water”! And we decided that “burada” is “water”. Only later did we find out that they were trying to explain to us that there was no water: “There’s no water here!”, “Not here!”, “Not here!”

From the book LEWIS R. "OTTOMAN Türkiye. LIFE, RELIGION, CULTURE":

"A characteristic feature of the Turks is politeness and courtesy; they are happy to help strangers. Like all eastern peoples, the Turks are leisurely, not pedantic; for any conversation, including business, introductory expressions are required. Turks are respectful of people who are aware of their traditions, especially those who know several Turkish sentences. For such a person, a Turk will provide all kinds of help."

"...The local population is reluctant to take photographs due to the prohibition of Islam, but if you ask in a friendly manner, you can get permission to take photographs. It is not recommended to take photographs without permission - this can greatly anger them..."

We just asked for permission, and here are the pictures:

Epilogue.

And also eat your delicious soups for dinner, when the taboo is completely forgotten - “not eating after 18.00!!!” The photo shows the kitchen of the campsite, the only civilized overnight stop on our wonderful route.

P.S. Kirill, remember, on the bus to Antalya we started talking about the terms: “Turks”, “Ottomans”?

Here's from the Internet:

"... It is necessary to understand the meaning of the words "Turks" and "Ottomans". In this book (Rafaela Lewis Ottoman Turkey. Life, religion, culture) the word "Turkish" is used as is customary in the West, where no distinction is made between Istanbul and the rest of the country, but Turkey stands out from the empire, although in reality such a geographical entity as Turkey did not exist on the map of the Ottoman Empire. Of course, there were territories with a population that spoke predominantly Turkish, roughly corresponding to the original Ottoman seizures of lands in Anatolia and Rumelia, but they were divided into administrative units under the central government in Istanbul, along the same lines as the other domains of the Sultan.

The concept of Turkism in the national sense simply does not exist, just as there was no such thing as the “Turkish Empire”. In this sense, even the concept of “sultan” came from the West. The sovereign in this territory was styled padishah - translated from Persian as “emperor”. The word "Turk" was used to designate a peasant, and even a hillbilly. This was the name given to the inhabitants of Anatolia who spoke Turkish. The ruling class, primarily the sovereign and government officials, considered themselves Ottomans and Muslims, and although there was religious solidarity, the educated urban members of the ruling class considered the people called Turks to be provincial louts and members of the “mean” class.

Every ethnic Turk, with the exception of those who were members of the clergy or a few prominent military and government officials who received education and achieved high positions in power, was tightly tied to their place in a rigid social hierarchy. In his mind, however, it was a secure, respected place protected by the system.

The Ottomans inherited a kind of hybrid of the Turkish language. It contained a large amount of borrowings from Persian and Arabic. It was spoken by the rich and noble. The speech of ordinary Turks was considered “rude” by them. The Ottoman language was used in government institutions, Arabic in the field of religion, Persian in the field of culture and literature, especially poetry. Only at home, away from prying eyes and perhaps from servants, the Ottomans spoke Turkish, the language of the inhabitants of Anatolia...”

Natalya Kachan, Smolensk region