And once again, we had arranged to meet with Wolfgang Dorn and his tour group, this time in the small town Yavu near Kas to visit the ancient city Kyaneai in Lycia.
Near the beautiful Taurus Mountains, covered with wild macchia, about 110 miles to the north of Antalya, you will find the still-dreamy, beautiful village of Kaş, situated on a scenic slope. A place to forget all your cares!
As part of our two day journey, we took off in Korkuteli direction after Termessos to reach our next target; Gömbe near Uyluk Mountain (elv.3024 m.). Many of the Turks residing along the shore relocate to mountain sides known as “uplands” in order to escape from the summer heat.
Perge, today one of the best preserved, most visited ancient sites on Turkey’s sun-soaked Mediterranean shore, in the A.D. first century was a living, booming Roman city, its colonnaded streets thronging with prosperous citizens, its massive theater crammed with spectators for shows and gladiatorial displays, its opulent bathhouses humming with the tittle-tattle of wealthy merchants.
For the non-Austrian, a little introductory explanation: The term “Mühlviertel” is used to describe a landscape in Austria that represents one of the four historical “quarters” of Upper Austria. It is that part of Upper Austria that lies north of the Danube and belongs to the granite and gneiss highlands.
The idea came spontaneously in the morning when research on the internet made us aware that the Romans were also active on the Main during their campaign against the Marcomanni.
The eyes do not deceive, because it actually looks as if the water has divided and the visitor can walk over the water. The biblical saying of Moses became a reality!
A next Harz hiking destination was quickly found with the so-called World Forest, as well as other destinations in the Bad Grund area, so we also had the Albert Tower, the Hübichenstein and the quarry of the limestone mining area in mind.
Once you have arrived in the northern part of Germany, a hearty wadden sea area hike should of course not be missed by Brita and Gerda during the travel program with alaturka.
Once again we were on a hiking tour in the Harz mountains, had already visited the Hübichenstein near Bad Grund and now wanted to go to the Harz hiking pin stamping point 129 to add another stamp to our hiking pass.
After our recent visit to the Bastei Bridge, we also wanted to visit the town of Hohnstein, especially Hohnstein Castle as an attraction and Friends of Nature House and as a starting point for hiking and climbing tours in the Saxon Switzerland National Park.
Once again it was time. Our dear friend and hiking guide Ömer had invited us to another excursion through the coastal Taurus Mountains near Manavgat above the Oymarpinar dam.
Another event was on our schedule this weekend because we wanted to do a paddling tour on the Unstrut, a smaller tributary to the Saale, which we had had on our to-do list for a long time.
A new book has been published on Via Egnatia, the 2000 year old Roman road to Istanbul, former Constantinopel.
After visiting the state school in Pforta and getting to know one of it´s “master students”, Friedrich Gottlieb Kloppstock (we will report after the introduction), we also wanted to hike the circular hiking trail to the Bismarck Tower, which begins at the school and which leads to a spring named with writers name.
Sucullu, a small town of 5.000 people on the St Paul Trail close to Antioch in Pisidia, is having a traditional folk festival. On 17th July, traditionally-dressed villagers with their animals will walk from the mosque in Yalvaç, past the ruins at Antioch, along the aqueduct to Sucullu (about 2-3 hrs walk).
Kate Clow first came to Turkey in 1989 to sell computer systems. In 1992 she moved to Antalya and, out of sheer interest, began researching the ancient roads that connected the cities of Greek and Roman times.
We had often passed the eye-catching dolomite rocks near Scharzfeld on our way through the Harz Mountains, and now there was finally enough time for a short hike up the rocks and on to the legendary "Unicorn Cave".
As already reported in our article on the Harzer hiking needles, we had found increasing interest in the targeted hike to the multi-layered stamping points to the special highlights of the Harz hiking trails and thus also decided to equip ourselves with hiking passes and to supplement them with the various stamps.
Today we have decided to visit the ruins of the Königsburg and the Königshütter waterfall in order, as announced, to fill our hiking pass with more stamps for the Harzer hiking pin.