Another walking tour in Konya where they take our bags from one camp to another and all we have to do is walk. Unlike the first two, this tour was organized by Seydişehir Belediyesi. Turns out the organizers at Konya Büyükşehir Belediyesi and Seydişehir Belediyesi have some sort of unpleasant rivalry/competition going on. I tried to avoid understanding the politics of municipality-sponsored walking tours.
I took a public bus to Seydişehir and got dropped off at a restaurant on the main highway just 2.5km from Kuğulu Park where some of us camped the first night. I set up my tent about 5pm (before the rain) and was surprised there were only about four tents already there. Most people arrived the following morning since they had to work on Wednesday.
Before leaving Seydişehir we poked our heads inside the 14th century (Selçuk?) Seyyid Harun Veli Camii.
That mosque has a wooden interior, but I managed a better interior photo of the 16th century Ottoman Muallimhane Cami.
Morning sunshine suckered me into wearing my tennis shoes instead of boots, and I ended up with wet muddy feet the first day. We passed lots of nice flowers, but my phone was mostly too wet for photos.
We camped above Yenice.
It was pleasant walking, and I got into the social aspect. I ate lunch in Seydişehir with a man who had visited the Altai Mountains, Tuva, Somalia, Tanzania, among other places; I walked uphill with a man who had been up to 8500m on Everest, summited Elbrus, Kan Tengri, Aconcagua, Matterhorn, and visited 86 countries; I chatted with a retired woman who essentially continuously joins walking tours like this one in Turkey; and I walked on the last day with a woman who spent last winter in Thailand (like me!), Cambodia, and Vietnam. Dang, people get around!
Between Yenice and Taraşcı we crossed the road that climbs up Reze Beli. I loved my ride up that road one morning eight years ago.
At Taraşcı Göleti I camped next to Hussein Abi and learned that he’s from Gökçam and of course knows Hacer and her mother. Small world.
It rained every day — five days in a row — but, well, as my friend Jeff pointed out recently, we’re waterproof!
We spent our last night back at Kuğulu Park where it rained so hard that they moved dinner from the park to somewhere covered. Noticing I hadn’t made over it there, İpek very kindly delivered dinner to my tent for me.
Our last day was short and enjoyable.
Fatma had arranged a private minibus for the group from Antalya, and a space opened up so I could squeeze in with them for the ride home. Lucky me (again!). 🙂
