TURKEY
TREKKING ON LYCIAN PATHS

Duration: 8 days

All the year round, arrival on Sunday

Price: € 675,-/person (1st November 2002 until 31st March 2003)
Price: € 735,-/person (1st April until 30th June, 1st-31st October 2003)
Price: € 785,-/person (1st July until 30th September 2003)

View to the coast during the ascent to Mount Tahtali

These daily trekking tours have been put together for all those who want to discover walking the most beautiful areas of the historical Lycian peninsula and to come to know in this very natural way part of Turkey far away from the mass tourism.

Our tours start from the little village at the border of the Beydaglari National Park and lead on partly historical trading paths either along the untouched and wild sea cliffs or along the "yaylas", the Turkish summer mountain pastures, offering a long view to the green and densely forested foothills of the Taurus Mountains or to the Mediterranean Sea shimmering with all turquoise and bright blew colours.

During our walking tours we repeatedly will encounter single houses or small villages that give us an idea of the close-to-nature way of life of the local people who partly are descendants of the "yörüks", the Turkish nomads. Their way of life has been kept alive until today and forms a sharp contrast to the ongoing modernization of Turkey that takes more and more parts of the coast area.

On our "day off" with no trekking in the mountains, we will come to know other historical aspects of Turkish culture, aspects that - which is typical and also characteristic for all Turkey - are thoroughly integrated in our modern life: Join us on a boat trip to Olympos, visiting the ruins of the famous old pirate's town, located directly next to a peculiar holiday place for backpackers worldwide; or come with us to a "hamam" where we can experience the traditional Turkish bath culture in its modernized form and surroundings.

And of course you will have plenty of possibility to also take a look behind the culinary side of Lycian culture: the cook of our hotel prepares the most delicious dishes of the Lycian Cuisine!
Detailed tour program:
Note: Depending on the weather situation, it might be necessary to modify the walking tour program; in this case the modifications will be announced in time before the flight to Turkey or directly in Adrasan at least a day before the tours start.

1st day: Flight to Antalya, transfer to Adrasan.
Adrasan Bay Flight to Antalya and transfer to your hotel in Adrasan. After having left Antalya behind the road leads through the Beydaglari National Park passing the green foothills of the Taurus Mountains. Our destination Adrasan is situated at the border of this beautiful national park with its untouched landscape. Your accommodation is a nice and cosy hotel that is at the same time the starting point of our daily trekking tours. (transfer ca. 2 hours)

2nd day: tour to Sazak Bay.
Our first walking tour goes over tractor track that is easy to walk on and leads almost all way along the wonderful bay of Adrasan. This tour is the "warming up" for the following tours, as the differences in altitude are quite low and there are no climbing sections on our way. Already after quite a short time we have got a marvellous view to the bay; this view accompanies us almost all way long. Two hours later we leave the track aside and descend towards Sazak Bay that, sheltered by the surrounding mountains, is a natural harbour and invites for a swim. After lunch in Sazak Bay we walk back to Adrasan. (ca. 5 hours)

3rd day: tour to Gelidonya Lighthouse.
Our today's trekking tour is characterized by the view to the breath-taking cliffs at the coast and to the Mediterranean Sea in the west of Adrasan glistening in all silver and turquoise shades. The bus will bring us after breakfast to the starting point of the tour where we take the path to the lighthouse. The "Five Islands" and the "Water Island" form the backdrop to our early lunch. Continuing on a small path along the cliffs we can glance again and again through the trees to the glistening sea and the islands. After a short ascent the path winds its way slowly down to Adrasan Bay, leading over a nice yayla with a fresh water spring and ends directly at the beach. From here is it only a short bit to walk until we reach our hotel. (ca. 6 hours) Gelidonya Lighthouse

4th day: tour to Olympos.
The destination of our today's trek is Olympos. Escorting for a while a riverbed with orange and pomegranate plantations at both sides, the path soon leaves the plain, winds through a small canyon and leads to a handful of old deserted stone houses. With the wide valley of Adrasan on hour left we continue our way hillside along the Moses Mountains. After a short time the path climbs steeply up and brings us to a wide yayla. This place, where we are going to have lunch, is situated like an eagle's nest and gives us a marvellous view down to Adrasan and its surroundings at our feet. After lunch we cross the yayla place and start to descend through the wood to Olympos where we come out at the bizarre and strange tree houses that were built up as an alternative accommodation place for tourists and bring a hint of old Wild West atmosphere. Here we will be picked up by our bus and be brought back to our hotel in Adrasan. (ca. 7 hours)

5th day: boat trip to Olympos or hamam in Finike.
Olympos Bay / Cirali Bay During summer time, we go with a typical fisher's boat to Olympos. On our trip we pass by the mountain ridges that we climbed over yesterday, today from sea side. Several stops in picturesque small bays invite us for having a swim in the crystal-clear turquoise sea. We have lunch on board before we continue to Olympos. After a visit to the historical town Olympos we have possibility to have a time at the beach, the cleanest one in the whole area, until the boat brings us back to Adrasan. - If the weather is stormy as well as in winter time, we leave after lunch with a bus to Finike, a nicely laid out tiny town, known for its oranges also outside Turkey. In a small typical hamam (mixed) we can relax from the last days' walking tours. After the hamam there is some free time to spend in Finike before the bus brings us back to Adrasan..

6th day: tour from Cirali to Ulupinar.
Today we start after breakfast with the bus to the start of our trekking. We begin our trek at the end of the small village Cirali and walk on to Yanartas, the eternal flames, where according to an old Greek legend the monster Chimera had lived. After a short stop at the flames we continue our way up to the first ridge where we rest for an early lunch, enjoying a beautiful view down to the bay of Cirali. Our path leads then upwards through dense forest, every now and then a small stream crosses our way. Below Ulupinar we come out at a tractor track and continue on this until we reach our destination: the famous trout restaurants of Ulupinar. In the most popular one we take a place at the terrace (if weather is nice) and enjoy the fantastic view to the impressive summit of Mount Tahtali, our destination for tomorrow. We have early dinner in this restaurant (speciality: Turkish starters and baked trout) before we return by bus back to Adrasan. (ca. 5 hours)

7th day: tour to Mount Tahtali.
Our today's trekking is the highlight of the tour, in the literal sense: Mount Tahtali is 2.375 meters high and dominates the whole Beydaglari National Park. For the climb to Mount Tahtali we have to be sharper this morning and must get up a bit earlier. We first go by bus to the tiny mountain village Beycik where we start with the ascent. The path leads first through coniferous forest to a very nice yayla with water sources that provide fresh water almost all the year around. From this place we climb up to the saddle. Here we refresh our energies with lunch before we start to climb to the summit. The ascent takes ca. Mount Tahtali
two hours, takes us over a scree face and rocky landscape, and isn't what you could call easy, but the magnificent view from the summit makes up for the effort: Far down at our feet the national park with the green foothills folds upwards, at the horizon the beach of Adrasan glistens as a small light ribbon, we also see Olympos Bay, the total view is bounded by the high summits far inside the Taurus Mountains at our back, by Finike in the west and by Antalya and sometimes even by Alanya in the east. We slowly start to descend from the summit again, come to our lunch place and walk back again to Beycik where the bus picks us up and brings us back to our hotel in Adrasan. - If the weather circumstances shouldn't permit the climb to the summit, we alternatively trek through to Yaylakuzdere, a small typical mountain village at the back side of Mount Tahtali. In this case our bus would pick us up in Yaylakuzdere. (ca. 8 hours)

8th day: transfer to Antalya, flight back.
Transfer to Antalya Airport.

Our hotel:
Our nice and cosy hotel is situated in a quiet area approximately 100 meters away from the beach, at the north-east edge of Adrasan Bay. Our hotel is surrounded by different mountain ridges and is the ideal start point for trekking tours.
The 15 rooms are on two floors. In each room there is bath/toilet with 24 hours warm water, the rooms in the first floor additionally have a little balcony with view to the nearby mountains or to the river. In some of the rooms there is also an air condition.Our hotel is directly next to a small quiet river and has an own hotel restaurant with a lovely restaurant area that is arranged partly right at the river and partly on bridge-like wooden platforms integrated directly into the river.A garden with lush vegetation and a tiny orchard with orange and mandarin trees invite for a relaxing rest in one of the hammocks.

Conditions for entry to Turkey:
Valid passport or identity card.

Vaccinations:
Not obligatory, however we recommend to fresh up the tetanus vaccination if necessary.