A (pathetic) Gömbe summit attempt

Posted on May 29, 2020 by Bryan Keith

After Aladağlar and Kaçkar, I had some training days planned in Antalya for a little more mountaineering before Nepal.  One of my ideas was to revisit Gömbe between Elmalı and Kaş.  Well, Sars-Cov-2 didn’t only cancel my Nepal trip, but it’s also keeping me from getting out to nearby mountains as well.  As an alternative to actually going to the mountains, I found some photos of my very frustrating attempt to climb Gömbe about five years ago.

DSCN8279 by bryandkeith on flickr
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A craft beer journey in Turkey

Posted on May 19, 2020 by Bryan Keith

Since Sars-Cov-2 canceled my trip to Nepal, I’ve had time to get caught up with important things that I’ve been putting off for some time — such as researching Turkey’s craft beer scene!  Bars, restaurants, and intercity transportation are all shut down so most of the beers I’m able to taste right now are the ones available at Kurt Tekel Wine Shop near Laura AVM in Antalya.  Eylem Kurt, the owner, claims to have the best wine selection in the country, and it’s certainly the best beer selection I’ve seen at any shop in Turkey.

Turkey’s craft beer scene is not exploding or even booming, but new breweries seem to pop up about once a year.  One of the oldest (and one of the best, as it turns out) is Gara Guzu in Muğla (the city).  I’ve never been to Muğla, but I’ll make an effort to stop by the brewery if I end up there.  I’ve tried eight of their beers, and the only ones I didn’t care for are the three rather hoppy ones.  Hop heads, however, will like both the Summer IPA and Tersköşe IPL (India Pale Lager) according to Ferda.  Their Mayhoş (citrus flavor; a saison?), Porter (roasted/burnt malt flavor, sweet), and Karlı Kayın Ormanı Winter Ale (true to style) are all among the five best Turkish craft beers that I’ve tasted.

Mayhoş (saison style), Weiss, Porter, Karlı Kayın Ormanı Winter Ale -- all from Gara Guzu in Muğla by bryandkeith on flickr

Also in Muğla (province) but at the other end of the quality scale is Pablo in Bodrum.  I didn’t bother visiting the brewery when I was in Bodrum a year and a half ago.  Ironically after tasting five of their beers, I thought the IPA (tasty, crisp, clean) was the best!  Their Pale Ale was more hoppy than their IPA, and the Weiss was drinkable if you expect a light crisp pale ale instead.
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Five winter days in Kaçkar with İsmet and the Bulgarians

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Bryan Keith

Training for Nepal, part two.

I wanted to call this post “skiing in Kaçkar”, and, well, the week started with skiing, but it didn’t end with skiing.

I took an overnight bus from Niğde to Erzurum, went straight to the hotel where I always stay in Erzurum, and was able to check into a room in spite of the early hour (7am).  It was a 15-hour trip from Recep’s place in Martı Mahallesi to the (famous?) Kervansaray Hotel in Erzurum.  Zekeriya, the manager, recognized me, but I didn’t recognize him at first — he lost weight, grew a beard, and had on a spiffy pink dress shirt.  Looking good.

As arranged by İsmet, I met Yılrıdım at his shop and picked up some rental AT (aka randonnée) gear — boots, skis, and skins.  Before heading off to the (somewhat remote) Kaçkar Mountains for five days, I took a taxi up to Palandöken to test the equipment at the local ski resort.

I'm about to use AT/randonnée gear for the first time by bryandkeith on flickr

This is what one might look like after spending three hours skinning up 900m to just over 3100m.
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Five winter days in Aladağlar with İsmet and Alper

Posted on April 29, 2020 by Bryan Keith

Training for Nepal, part one.

I wanted to call this post “skiing in Aladağlar”, and, well, the week started with skiing, but it didn’t end with skiing.

I took an overnight bus from Antalya to Niğde and arrived at Recep’s place in Martı Mahallesi (Çukurbağ, Çamardı) a couple hours before İsmet and Alper did.  The Çamardı dolmuş, by the way, stops at the yeni otogar on it’s way to Çamardı so there’s no reason to get the servis into the city to the eski otogar if you’re heading out the Çamardı road.  It was a 14 hour trip from my house to Recep’s comfortable hotel, Aladağlar Camping Bungalow.

Recep's place by bryandkeith on flickr

Recep served us a late breakfast, and we took off in the early afternoon for Emli Vadisi with Salim, our driver for the week.  This is a problem with Aladağlar — you really need daily motorized transport to get to and from the various trailheads.
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A couple winter days in Eskişehir

Posted on April 19, 2020 by Bryan Keith

For my last post, I felt like I couldn’t say enough good things about Konya.  Less than a week later Ferda and I (with her parents too!) were in Eskişehir.  This post will be a little more subdued.  I certainly liked Eskişehir the first time I was here.  Maybe this time was a case of too high expectations.  As I mentioned before, Turks compare Eskişehir to cities in Europe.

Certainly Eskişehir’s street art:

IMG_20191218_151133 by bryandkeith on flickr

could remind one of Bratsilava’s:
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