Ahmetler Canyon descent with Evren and Bekir

Posted on November 8, 2016 by Bryan Keith

This was my second descent of Ahmetler Canyon.  It’s a super fun day, something worth doing a few times.  On my first trip through the canyon, I was cold almost the whole time.  This time I had a full (as opposed to shorty) 3mm wetsuit.  That was enough for the water temperature in September.  I happily wasn’t cold at all.  The other thing I wanted to improve upon from the first trip was finishing in the light.  We dilly-dallied too much the first time and ended up finishing in the dark, unable to see what’s arguably the most beautiful part of the canyon.  I saw it this time.  However, by the time we got there, I was too tired to take any photos.  🙁  Guess I’ll just have to go back.

DSCN0185 by bryandkeith on flickr
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Four-day auto-tour east of Antalya with Gertjan, Jacqui, and Mateo

Posted on October 28, 2016 by Bryan Keith

Well, this blog post was a long time coming.  When we did this trip last September, I was still fairly good about keeping the blog going, and this entry was the next one I was going to write.  Somehow I never got around to it, and the blog lapsed for months.  So, finally here it is — Uçansu Waterfall, Manavgat Waterfall, Altınbeşık Cave, the famous “button” houses of İbradı, yet another Uçansu Waterfall (!), and the tourist trap of Side.  It was a fun full four days.

Jacqui and Gertjan managed to take long leaves from their jobs in Vancouver last year and spent quite a bit of time visiting France, Wales, the Netherlands, Germany, Turkey, and who knows where else.  Ferda and I had the chance to visit Gertjan and his mother in Groenekan, and while we were there, Gertjan took us to the tallest pyramid in the Netherlands.  Wow, how exciting.  Challenged to top such a spectacular site, Ferda and I invited Gertjan, Jacqui, and Mateo to Antalya and put together this short driving tour.

We started by visiting one of two waterfalls in Antalya with the same name, Uçansu (Flying Water).  To add to the confusion the first Uçansu we went to (near Gebiz) actually has two waterfalls (does that make three Uçansu?).  They’re both spectacular, with great swimming holes, like something out of a movie set.  The dirt road to get back to this area was longer than I expected so it was nice that we got permission to camp at the lower waterfall.  It was less nice when, after the employee who gave permission left for the evening, the overnight guard decided to enforce the no camping rules.  With some smiles and a promise to take down the tents early, everyone was happy again.

DSCN9835 by bryandkeith on flickr
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A one day ride up to Saklıkent and Kar Çukuru Yaylası

Posted on October 18, 2016 by Bryan Keith

There are a number of one-day big elevation rides possible from Antalya.  A couple years ago in November I rode up to the summit of Sarı Çınar at 1800m.  That’s the summit visible from Antalya with the huge radio antenna at the top.  What I remember most from that day is how cold it was on the descent.  Even with wool socks and wool gloves, my hands and feet felt pretty frozen.  An even higher summit would be to ride to the observatory above Saklıkent.  I think that summit is above 2500m so, wow, that’d be a big one day ride.

I also know of three passes (not summits) above 2000m just above Antalya.  One is between Saklıkent and Söğütcuması.  Another is between Saklıkent and Kar Çukuru Yaylası, the yayla at the base of Tunç Dağı, the highest mountain visible from Antalya (and even higher than the ski resort).  The road between Saklıkent and İmecik climbs even higher than those two, but any loop over that pass seems too long to do as a day trip from Antalya (at least for me).

DSC05055 by bryandkeith on flickr
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A sea kayaking day from Olimpos to Adrasan

Posted on October 8, 2016 by Bryan Keith

If you compare the photos of my first sea kayaking tour in Turkey (three years ago) with the photos from the second tour (last weekend), the first thing you’ll notice is that this time we had red sea kayaks instead of yellow ones.  Wow; big, colorful plastic toys with the vegetation, rocks, and blue water makes for some nice photos.

Ahmet and Erhan by bryandkeith on flickr
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Köprülü Kanyon rafting and yet another Roman ruin

Posted on September 28, 2016 by Bryan Keith

Antalya’s ridiculously hot in the summer.  Anyone with any sense tries to escape this place in July and August, and yet that’s hardly true at all since summer is the high tourist season in Antalya.  Headaches, dehydration, and sunburn must be better than whatever the visitors are fleeing in Russia, Germany, and the UK.

Well, anyway, I try to escape Antalya’s summers.  Last year Ferda and I flew to Switzerland.  Just a couple days ago I bicycled from the heat at sea level up past the local ski area topping out at over 2000m where I found a cool breeze as I sat in the shade.  Those solutions are a bit extreme, I guess.  Most people just go to the beach.  Also many people from Antalya go rafting in Köprülü Kanyon.

DSCN9590 by bryandkeith on flickr

Ferda’s friend, Bilge, now lives and works in Germany and, like many others (!), chooses to come for his annual vacation in Antalya at the hottest time of the year.  When he visited, we escaped to Köprülü Canyon and camped for a couple nights.  The elevation isn’t so high there, but it’s surprisingly cool near the streams.  Actually the water in the side stream next to where we camped was so cold I could hardly stand to be in it for more than a couple minutes.  Wow, how refreshing coming from Antalya’s furnace.
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