Yesterday and today Katy and I walked two particularly good segments of the Lycian Way. Yesterday, it was Olympos to Adrasan (which is where we’re staying). Here are two representative pictures.
It was a great walk, one of those classic start-at-the-ocean-end-at-the-ocean-climb-a-huge-hill-in-the-middle walks. We climbed a steep hillside after starting in some ruins, had a great vista from the ruins of a fortified camp on a headland, and then descended a steep canyon into a plain full of small farms.
A few words about Adrasan: I mentioned before that where we are staying caters mainly to pensioners. This is true. These are not, however, chatting about early-bird specials while really thinking about the next bingo game in Phoenix-type pensioners. A conversation I overheard today went like this, “so you’ve climbed Kilimanjaro, then?” “Oh yes, of course.” We have also been told (very convincingly; I’m looking into it) that Namibia is absolutely the next place we should go. Here is a picture of Adrasan Bay.
Today, we hiked over the saddle that connects Mt. Olympos with the rest of the mountain range. Here is a picture of Mt. Olympos SHROUDED IN MYSTERY.
As someone who loves forests, I totally geeked out on this. We had to tap a variety of red and green mana, but we saw a few cool things. First, we started at higher elevation than most of these other hikes, a couple thousand feet. The forest here, as below, was pine trees, but big, old ones. We then clilmbed up. As the elevation got higher, the ground got rockier, and we got into the region where clouds (fog, depending on where you’re standing) are there more often than not, a remarkable change occurred. The pines were replaced by old, gnarled cedar trees. MASSIVE old gnarled cedar trees. The were far apart, and the branches stacked in a way that made them look like pagodas. There were 2 types, and I don’t really know what they were. P at the tree line, the trees became exceptionally huge, but were flattened and prehistoric looking. The change was repeated in reverse going down the other side, with the addition of monstrous plane trees, including Yggdrasil, itself. The fat base part was easily more than 10 feet wide. We were met at the end of the hike with cold beer. Now that is walking support. Tomorrow is our last day on the Lycian Way, and we will walk the iconic lighthouse walk before heading off to Capadoccia, which promises to be BANANAS.
Approaching the cloudline on the slopes of Mt. Olympos
Prevalent wildflowers
Katy making an Arnold in a mysterious forest
Cedars running into the treeline
Descending
Yggdrasil, the world tree.
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