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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Another fantastic week on the Frig Yolu

Posted on July 23, 2019 by Bryan Keith

My first bicycle tour on the Frig Yolu was six years ago with Banu, Deniz, Cengiz, and Dinçer.  On that trip Banu was the only woman in a group of five.  This year I was the only man in a group of five.  Ferda arranged this trip for a number of girlfriends who had never been on a bicycle tour before.  Those three cyclists were Tuğçe, Ebru, and Hacer.  I knew Tuğçe was a strong rider.  I had never ridden with Ebru before, but she’s a very competent rider who chooses to walk (very quickly) when the terrain gets steep.  I think Ebru and I were the only ones who didn’t crash during the six-day trip.  Hacer only learned to ride a bicycle this year, and she did great as well.  Everyone wants to go on another tour, and the idea was that now they’d be experienced enough to head out on their own.

Here they are.  Tuğçe, Ebru, Hacer, and Ferda in Bayatçık on the first day of the trip:

IMG_20190629_124357 by bryandkeith on flickr

I tried to let the four woman do most of the planning, but since I was the only one who had been to the Frig Valleys before, I did get involved with the general route selection.  The main thing I wanted was to do the loop clockwise since I had traveled counter-clockwise through the heart of the Frig Yolu previously.

The route we took this year is in red while the blue route is what I cycled six years earlier.

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Wrapping up Portugal: Porto and Lisbon

Posted on July 13, 2019 by Bryan Keith

Bicycling through Alentejo and Beira it didn’t seem like there were many tourists in Portugal.  I remember being quite surprised how few tourists there were even in the historic center of Évora.  Well, we found them.  In addition to Sintra everyone seems to go to Porto and Lisbon.  Lisbon, ok, I get it.  There are some fantastic museums, and Jerónimos really is one of Portugal’s great attractions (especially if you haven’t been to Tomar, Batalha, and Alcobaça…).

Porto, on the other hand, well, I didn’t quite get it.  Locals claimed Porto gets more tourists than almost anywhere else in the world, something I haven’t been able to collaborate with my internet research.  But I can hardly blame the locals for thinking so.  The streets were indeed crowded with tourists, and there’s not really that much to see in the city.

One of the draws to the city is actually the azulejos (oh my gosh, haven’t we seen enough already??!!).  Indeed if you arrive to Porto by train like we did (we left our bicycles in Lisbon), then the very first thing you’ll see are the azulejos at the São Bento Railway Station.

Welcome to Porto by bryandkeith on flickr

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Northern Portugal walk: Vale de Côa, Serra da Estrela, Buçaco

Posted on July 3, 2019 by Bryan Keith

Continuing from my last post… we left Pinhão and the Alto Douro by bus on a slow and very curvy road through (again) endless hills covered with vineyards and schist walls.  Our destination was a UNESCO World Heritage Site (again), this time the “Prehistoric Rock Art Sites in the Côa Valley and Siega Verde”.  Prehistoric rock art is not something that I go out of my way to see and, accordingly, there was a lot (for me) to learn.

Along a 30km stretch of the Côa River (which I guess also includes the Siega Verde area in Spain?), archaeologists have found about 96 rock art sites.  For me the most amazing thing was that these sites were only discovered quite recently (about 30 years ago) when work was going on to build a dam in the area.  Portugal actually stopped construction of the dam and turned the area into an outdoor museum that’s now a (somewhat popular?) tourist site.  Wow, how many countries would abandon dam plans to preserve 20,000 year old lines etched into the stone?  Very impressive.

Of course, stopping a dam didn’t happen without public pressure and some scandal, the dam advocates keeping the rock art sites secret from the public and the scientific community, then claiming the sites weren’t really as old as the archaeologists claimed.  The Côa Valley Wikipedia page describes the case in a little detail.  It’s always a fight.

There’s no point visiting the art without a guide.  Most of the pictures are of animals, but they’re superimposed one on top of another and vary in size.  Our guide had sketches of the art with different colors for each animal, and then he’d trace the entire line on the rock with his pointer.  Even then it was sometimes hard to see what he was talking about.

IMG_20190515_145326 by bryandkeith on flickr

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North Portugal walk: Peneda-Gerês National Park, Guimarães, Alto Douro

Posted on June 23, 2019 by Bryan Keith

For years my Mom has gushed about Peter and Ben, Ana and Esperanza, the core group of Duende Travel.  Duende Travel specializes in walking tours of Western Europe, emphasizing beautiful locations, historical context, excellent local food and wine.  When my parents asked Ferda and me if we’d like to join them for a Duende walking tour of northern Portugal, well, we didn’t hesitate to say yes.  This tour was the reason that we ended up cycling in Portugal.  Our original plans had been to cycle in Morocco and Andalucia.

Portugal’s equivalent of Spain’s paradores are pousadas, essentially luxury hotels in historic buildings.  We spent the first two nights of our walking tour at Pousada Mosteiro de Amares, an old monastery in Santa Maria do Bouro near the Spanish border and the Peneda-Gerês National Park where we walked the first day of the tour.

After sleeping in the tent for most of the days of our bicycle tour, Ferda and I felt spoiled at the end of our tour in Lisbon to have a private room with a shared kitchen, bathroom, and washing machine.  Haha, here’s the Pousada Mosteiro de Amares:

IMG_20190510_072603 by bryandkeith on flickr

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