Day 10; Saribelen
Yesterday I foolishly promised to describe Lycia's history, though this is largely in response to requests so you only have yourselves to blame. Lycia was a state or nationality from around 1500 BCE to 546 BCE and had it's own language and sophisticated culture as attested to by the tombs and other monuments. This means the tombs you have seen are over 2,500 years old. The Lycian people were then brought into the Achaemenid Empire; an ancient Persian Empire. There then followed various changes including time under Macedonia (think Alexander the Great and Hellenistic Greece). With the influx of Persians then Greeks the use of the Lycian language was weakened.
As an example of specfic changes, in 188 BCE, the Roman Republic gave Lycia to Rhodes for 20 years then took it back in 168 BCE when Lycia had freedom again as a Roman protectorate. These freedoms ended in 43 CE when Lycia was incorporated into the Roman Empire as a province. I am of course missing out details but hopefully providing enough dates and names we may have picked up from school, the BBC or Netflix.
It has good water supply with posh taps everywhere.
Not obvious from this photo but this is a raised platform around a tree used for socialising in the shade. As I walk past a house someone holds out a ripe green fig and you know it will be the best fig ever.
Lycia then came under the Byzantine Empire until the fall of that Empire in the 15th century when the Ottoman Empire took over. When the First World War and other events - notably the Turkish War of Independence - saw the end of the Ottoman Empire, Lycia was brought into the newly formed Republic of Turkey following the War of Independence led by the man who would become their first president Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. You will still see statues and portraits of Atatürk everywhere in Turkey. This extract from a museum in Antalya is Atatürk saying he cannot fix everything but he can create an environment where individuals can improve their lives through there own efforts.
Atatürk also initiated work to create a new single Turkish language to help bring people together drawing on existing languages and dialects in use where possible. It is rare that languages are designed and brought into existence in this way. Then, in 1999 the Lycian Way was born and may well be the death of me as the heat, backpack weight and terrain are all quite draining.
After a visit to the harbour at Kalkan, today sees me climb up from sea level to 925m which is a little lower than Scafell Pike in England which is 964m. There is little shade and after yesterday when I ran out of water I see there are reliable water sources on the route today and usefully my app let's me bookmark them.
Walking up and out of Kalkan I see two other walkers ahead and I foolishly follow them. First they harmlessly take the wrong road, then they miss the turn onto the path. When I catch up to them it is because they have stopped 5 metres from the actual path because of the brush. They decide to go off on a tangent in the hope of finding a way through. This time I don't follow but push on up the steep hill and finally get back to the marked path feeling slightly guilty for not encouraging them to join me.
I am weak from the heat, dripping with sweat, the sweat running down my glasses providing blurred images. So when I see one of the many rocks ambling along I am not too surprised. In earlier posts I have talked about Turkey's wild animals and here were two examples.
Prickly pear and close up it does look prickly. As inviting as they look there is a reason this cactus has held on to its fruit.
It's not a bad climb and a group of 4 British walkers pass me as they descend. I make a point of capturing the view though it is a hazy day.
I need water but can't bare the thought of the extra effort though can and string are provided.
I go through the summer yayla of Bezirgan which comprises flat pasture up at around 900m and it still has the huts (ambars) for storing grain.
It has good water supply with posh taps everywhere.
Not obvious from this photo but this is a raised platform around a tree used for socialising in the shade. As I walk past a house someone holds out a ripe green fig and you know it will be the best fig ever.
At my destination I stop for a fanta at a café and they kindly point me next door for a bed for the night. It is a simple hermits cell, very clean, and an excellent evening meal is provided with six other walkers and our hosts. It won't make tomorrow any easier but it felt good to get reassurance that everyone else is finding it a hard walk.
In conclusion this is day 10 meaning I am a third of the way in.
