A 22-year-old recent college grad recounts her hike through Turkey with her 62-year-old father.

5.08.2007

Photo Guide: Read in a fort (note the sheer joy), the best friends I've got in Holland...never mind the only.

Oof, I'm exhausted. I didn't get my 5 hour evening nap and it sure is catching up to me...but our afternoon more than made up for it. After arriving in Antalya dad and I careened with our taxi through impossibly narrow streets to our quirky little hotel...which just so happens to be built into the side of the ancient stone fort that hangs over the Old Bay. Needless to say, the dad comments about the old stones and sheer size of the old walls abounded.

I was dying for a swim so we threw down our bags and a hailed a cab for the beach down the way...just as the torrential downpour started up. So after a twenty minute cab tour down to the beach and back we paid the good man and he sped off just in time for the rain to let up. Lovely.

So instead of the big beach we trekked down to a secluded little cove just as the last sprinkles cleared the way. At first we had the place all to ourselves and I swam about as dad watched the gear. I had a mighty good time; jumping off little rocks and poking at sponges before giving dad a turn. Just then two very nice Dutch men showed up who happened to have recently come off a five day trek...on the St. Paul's Way Trail.

What luck! A few hours, a few beers and some gear advice/swapping later, we were were feeling quite excited about the weeks ahead. Sounds like we have a rural, rugged trail ahead of us with few other hikers if not fewer amenities along the way.

We actually got a bit of a summary of the hike on our flight over the area this afternoon. What took us ten minutes of flying time will take our legs about three weeks to travel. The northern sections looked sparse and dry with expanses of snow; the middle appears craggy and mountainous but then drops into deep forest greenery that rolls out a smattering of farms. My dad commented that the farm landscape looked almost like our hometown of Vista...that is if you don't count the minarets rising up from the neighborhood mosques.

So between a chance encounter with some really lovely gentlemen and a bird's eye view of the terrain; looks like we're off to a good start without really having even started!