Restful days in Kütahya (and Antalya!)

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Bryan Keith

Kütahya was a super rest.  Through couchsurfing I met another American, Taryn, who welcomed me to her spacious downtown apartment.  In a year or so in Turkey I’ve met very few Americans.  I’ve certainly spoken with Taryn more than with any other American in Turkey.  She’s been here about half a year, and it was great to discuss and compare things we like and dislike about Turkey and the US.  Coming from Houston to Kütahya she loves being able to walk everywhere and having shops nearby.  Indeed, disastrous city planning in the US is probably the issue that bothers me the most about returning to live there.  Turkey’s no shining example of livable cities (and Erdoğan’s thoughtless development projects have made things worse in Turkey’s larger cities), but they do a better job than the US.

DSCN6416 by bryandkeith on flickr
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Great camping and lots of climbs through Denizli, Uşak, and Kütahya

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Bryan Keith

I’ve mostly been using village roads to connect the provincial capitals of Antalya, Denizli, Uşak, and Kütahya.  Another week of riding after Pamukkale, and I made it to Kütahya.  By bus from Antalya to Kütahya is 381km.  It took me 15 days of riding, and they certainly didn’t feel as lazy as that might sound.

Pamukkale, in the Menderes River Valley, is low (200m?) so I knew I’d have an effort to get back to the Anatolian Plateau (generally 800-1000m in Uşak).  It was done in one quick push from Güney Şelalesi (waterfall) to Güney İlçe where I happened upon the Pamukkale Winery, Turkey’s 3rd largest, according to my tour guide there.  At the end of the free tour he gave me two bottles of wine!  I’m used to be invited to tea in these villages, but, wine, well, that’s a special treat.  My guide also assured me that each of Turkey’s three largest wineries get all their grapes from Güney.  He called it “Turkey’s Napa” (sorry, France).

DSCN6241 by bryandkeith on flickr
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From one tourist site to another, Antalya to Pamukkale

Posted on June 7, 2013 by Bryan Keith

Reminder: Jack’s slideshow (about our bicycle tour in Mexico) at REI in Boulder is coming up on June 13 at 6:30pm.

With visits to the old cities of Termessos, Olimpos, Sagalassos, Side, and Perge this spring, I feel like I’ve been quite the tourist.  This week I visited Pamukkale/Hierapolis, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and one of Turkey’s big tourist draws.  However, this time I biked.  The schedule was pre-determined — Ferda came by bus to meet me in Pamukkale for the weekend — but the pace was casual.  I took a week to get from Antalya to Pamukkale.  By bus it was only four hours!

This week reminded me not only of why I like bicycle touring but also why I like Turkey.  Antalya and Pamukkale are both huge tourists draws, literally getting millions of visitors from around the world every year.  Of course they’re connected by a fast comfortable highway, but they’re also connected by empty roads through welcoming villages.  Between the crowded tourist bus destinations I visited three deserted tourist sites — Salda Gölü, Kaklık Mağarası, and Laodikeia — each worthy destinations in their own right.

Outside of Turkey’s urban concrete jungles it’s easy to find roads like this:

DSCN5683 by bryandkeith on flickr
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Spring weekdays in Antalya, plus Perge

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Bryan Keith

If you’re in Boulder in June, mark your calendar: Jack is giving a slideshow about our bicycle travels in southern Mexico earlier this year. It’s at REI on June 13 at 6:30pm.

I completed another month of Turkish studies at TÖMER in Antalya.  This was the 5th month of their 12-month program.  This time the class was smaller.  There were only six of us — a couple from Ukraine (Vadim and Jenia), a young woman from Poland (Dorota), and Sofya and Nataly, both Russians married to Turkish men.  Our teacher, Gökhan, was from Eskişehir and also teaches English at TÖMER.  I can now talk about things that I wish had happened.  Oh, how exciting!

Vadim and Jenia by bryandkeith on flickr
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Spring weekend at Kızlar Sivrisi and Side

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Bryan Keith

Well, this might be the last of these “spring weekend” posts.  After all, summer is coming, and I actually might just get on my bike and do a little touring.  Seems like I did this last year as well — spend the wonderful spring weather in Antalya and then ride into the heat.  Whoa, I’m getting way ahead, I haven’t left Antalya yet.

Thanks to Çocuk Bayramı this weekend was extra long.  Tuesday was the holiday, and I ditched school on Monday.  Instead of two one-day excursions, I took two two-day excursions.

The first excursion was another fun snow climb.  Although I’ve climbed a couple mountains in Antalya (Alabelen, Tunç), Kızlar Sivrisi seemed more like a real mountaineering experience complete with a long drive, below-freezing night at camp, a 4am start, a rocky crux section, and a short fantastic summit ridge.  At 3070m it’s the highest summit in western Turkey.

DSCN5230 by bryandkeith on flickr
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