Istanbul: Day 2 (10/25/19)
I’m moving to a different AirBnB that’s nearby tonight so I checked out of my current locale around 8am before making my way a few blocks over to where Alan and I are meeting up for our day hike! (Alan is the guy from Denmark that I met in Greece and we made plans to meet up in Istanbul.) The deal was I make all the plans and Alan rents the car since he won’t get a young driver charge like I will, which worked out great!
We drove about two hours east of Istanbul to the tiny town of Tavsanli and then into Ballikayalar, the nature reserve I picked out for our destination. We talked the whole drive in a rambling conversation about anything and everything while bantering back and forth, in other words I don’t remember what we talked about but we got along great. Arriving at Tavsanli we stopped to get some nuts and snacks before parking at Ballikayalar and hiking in.
No trail to speak of but some semi-navigable footpaths seemed to lead up the riverbed or up the bluff to our left. But screw trails, we had DOGGOS!!! 6 wonderful doggies left their campsites near the park entrance and followed us the whole day. We opted to try climbing the left bluff since it seemed traversable and watched our four-legged friends while we walked which inspired us with some names: Simba, Ginger, Boris, Maxwell, Latte, and Mufasa.
The path-not-a-path up the ridge wasn’t marked or anything and we got a little (lot) off trail a few times but eventually ended up at a fairly large cave on top of the ridge that looked like it went quite deep, but on account that we would have been belly crawling through mud and spider we didn’t go in. There was also a lone couple giving us the stink eye while laying out a picnic blanket without any food to speak of, so we felt a little intrusive/unwelcome…
We tried climbing higher and couldn’t find any trail at all so after half an hour of pushing through brambles we decided to retrace our steps down and just walk along the river. Gorgeous scenery down in the valley and perfect weather for hiking too! Once again there weren’t any trail markings or sign of a path so we walked, climbed, jumped, and shimmied wherever we felt like for four hours. We saw some great views along the way, climbed a waterfall, (about halfway through which we realized was a waaayyyy more dangerous climb than we initially thought, but worst case was a 30 foot fall into a swimming pool and maybe a nasty cut so we pushed through it - no injuries but more than a few slips and close calls), and finally ended up on top of the ridge a little over 2 km from our starting point. Dogs got stuck sometimes, especially when we had to jump over cracks or shimmy across a slope on our hands and knees, but always found a way and followed us the whole was. Truly good puppers!
We could have gone another hour before needing to turn back but instead we decided to save the time and drive 80 km south to the town of lakeside town of Iznik to see some of the Turkish countryside. The hike back was mostly downhill so it went faster than our trip upriver with the exception of the waterfall which was really sketchy if I’m being honest. In hindsight, climbing up it in the first place was a little too spicy.
Our drive south was a good time, lots of hills, flower farms, and one spectacular view of decending plateaus spilling into Lake Iznik. The town was starting to shut down as we arrived but we found a lakeside diner, ordered some mediocre food that I’m pretty sure came out of a box, and watched the sunset across the lake.
The drive back was quieter as we were both exhausted, but we navigated the nighttime highway and inner-city Istanbul traffic ok. Alan dropped me off near my new AirBnB and we said goodbye. I checked in at my new place (more on that tomorrow) and passed the heck out. A really good day!
