Adventures on Mt. Belukha, Siberia’s highest peak

Posted on September 12, 2019 by Bryan Keith

With the lure of escaping Antalya’s oppressive August heat, Özgür didn’t have much trouble to convince me to come with him backpacking in Siberia.  We flew via Moscow to Gorno Altaysk where we picked up our pre-arranged permit to visit the border region of Russia’s Altai Republic.  We provisioned ourselves with about 18kg of food and 2.6l of fuel and started to wonder how we’d possibly carry everything.  From Gorno Altaysk an eight-hour small bus/large van ride took us to Tyungur, the start of our adventure into the wilds of Siberia.

IMG_20190808_053416 by bryandkeith on flickr
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The ancient city of Lyrbe (aka Seleucia)

Posted on September 2, 2019 by Bryan Keith

Seleucia (also spelt Seleukeia), according to the Freytag and Berndt map that I have, is one of the top 10 attractions in (the province of) Antalya.  I’ve been wanting to visit for years and, well, had kind of high expectations.  On our drive back from Kapadokya to Antalya with my family, we spent the night in Seydişehir which gave us plenty of time to look around Seleucia the following day.

There’s actually so little known about Seleucia that only recently did archaeologists conclude that the site the maps call Seleucia isn’t actually Seleucia at all.  According to the sign on site “the site was wrongly identified as Seleukeia in old publications.”  It goes on to say that Seleukeia had a harbor and is probably west of Side, putting it a fair bit SW (15km?) of what’s now known as Lyrbe.  Lyrbe is in a pine forest in the hills north of Manavgat.  There definitely could not have been a harbor here.  The main reason to visit Lyrbe is to see “the best preserved example of Agora in Pamphylia”.

IMG_20190604_130249 by bryandkeith on flickr

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The ancient city of Rhodiapolis

Posted on August 22, 2019 by Bryan Keith

At the end of my last blog we were admiring the Roman theater at Limyra.  Well, the funding for that theater came from the millionaire philanthropist Opramoas from nearby Rhodiapolis.  The ancient city of Rhodiapolis is situated on a hill above the modern agricultural town of Kumluca.  You can see both the modern city and the sea of greenhouses surrounding it in these photos:

IMG_20190529_141313 by bryandkeith on flickr

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The ancient city of Limyra

Posted on August 12, 2019 by Bryan Keith

While my family was visiting Antalya, I couldn’t help dragging them to a few ruined cities.  On previous trips I had already taken my parents to Termessos and Aspendos, Arıkanda and Myra.  Of course it was easy to find any number of sites that they hadn’t seen already — and some that I hadn’t visited either.   The first one was Limyra near Kumluca.  We were staying in Çıralı for a few days so it wasn’t a long drive.

As is common in this region Limyra’s known history starts with the Lykians and their rock cut tombs.

IMG_20190529_120055 by bryandkeith on flickr

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Another four days in Kapadokya

Posted on August 2, 2019 by Bryan Keith

Every time my Dad has visited Turkey, he’s asked when we’ll visit Kapadokya (Cappadocia).  We finally made it this year on his fourth trip to Turkey.  For my brother and his family, well, they didn’t have to wait so long.  For the four of them it was their first time in Turkey.  And me?  It was my 4th trip to Kapadokya, and just like the others this visit was also short.

In just four days we managed to see some of Kapadokya’s highlights like the Göreme Open Air Museum, a “castle” or two, an underground city, and Ihlara Vadisi.  A couple of our favorites were places I hadn’t explored before: Çavuşin Kalesi and Bağlıdere Vadisi.

We rented a 10-passenger van in Antalya and stayed for three nights in Göreme.  Arriving from hot Antalya in the evening we first came to the base of Üçhisar Kalesi, got out to look around, and were surprised by just how cold it was.

IMG_20190531_192923 by bryandkeith on flickr

Jasper was so excited to see the “castle” (closed for the day) and couldn’t wait to come back and explore it some more.  A “castle” (kale) in Kapadokya is a lot like the castles in the Frig valleys: a tall rock, easily defended, with rooms carved into it.

Here’s a sunrise photo I took of Üçhisar Kalesi five years ago: Continue reading →

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