The whirling Dervishes and mountain adventures

Our last stop on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey was Antalya, the fifth most populous city in the country and "capital" of the Turkish Riviera.

Founded around 200 BC, the city has changed hands many times. It went from the Romans to the Ottomans and was even occupied be the Italians for a brief period in the aftermath of WW I - to name just a few.

Today, it is the fourth most visited city in the world, if you can believe it, just trailing behind Istanbul, London and Dubai, attracting more than 16,5 million visitors a year (2023).

Its main revenue is obviously generated by tourism, but there is also agricultural production. With around 300 sunny days per year, it comes as no surprise that citrus fruit, olives and bananas grow here like weed.

The old town, Kaleici, is quite charming, centered around the old harbor. You can wander around the cobbled alleys, lined with historic Ottoman era houses, hop from one restaurant and bar to the next, buy the usual tourist trinkets but also some genuine artwork.

      A landmark in Antalya, the old clock tower    Please note the waiter taking a little break

Talking about taking a break

A cat hotel

This one found a better spot to hang out, though

The historic harbor with the ancient town walls in the background

In 1997, Nürnberg became a partner city to Antalya. The city was gifted with a few trolley cars, which serve a line running parallel to the seashore since 1999. 
Next time you visit the Christmas market in Nürnberg, look out for the little stall the city of Antalya occupies there every year, selling traditional products.

Dinner with a view ...

... and a kitten

In the evening, this guy just jumped in and made himself at home. 

90km northeast of Antalya lies another tourist hot spot, the Köprülü Canyon within a national park of the same name. 
The canyon stretches for 14km, with its walls reaching a height of 100 meters.

Established in 1973, it has become the prime rafting area of the country over the past decade.

We arrived here on a long weekend and the river was literally crammed with rubber boats full of screeching people.

After settling right on the rivers edge under some trees, we had a good time watching the boats launch right next to us and getting caught by the currents.

Launch spot for some, one-day-backyard for others

All this was given to us by a bus driver after the rafting customers had left on the boats

Once the last boat had "sailed"...

After a 20km hike the following day, we found ourselves anther nice spot along the river at a small camp owned by a Dutch guy. Here we just hung out for a day, enjoying swims in the 14 degree refreshing water, chilling in hammocks, playing with the dogs.

On the way to a view point

I think this bench could have been placed better...

Maddy (in her usual pose) and her son Tyson (in a very a-typical moment of rest)

The city of Konya is more or less the geographical center of Anatolia, situated on a plateau at 1200m above sea level.

We were hoping that would mean somewhat milder temperatures, but we were disappointed. It was almost as hot as on the coast, with an average of 33, 34 degrees during the day.

The main reason for anyone to come to Konya are the Whirling Dervishes.

Practiced by the Sufi Dervishes of the Mevlevi order, the whirling is a form of active meditation.

It is performed in a strict sequence, involves a lot of bowing to one another, singing, playing of traditional instruments and, of course, whirling.

Within the worship ceremony, the sema, the Dervishes aim to reach a greater connection with Allah by abandoning one`s ego and personal desires, listening to the music and focusing on God while spinning one`s body in repetitive circles. 
The whirling is also seen as a representation of the planets in the solar system orbiting the sun.

As an order, the whirling Dervishes were founded in the 13th Century by the mystic poet Rumi. His "Masnavi", which he composed in Konya, is regarded as one of the greatest poems of the Persian language. 

You can visit his tomb close to the city center in the Mevlana Museum, which started life as a Dervish lodge.

Today you can find not just Rumi`s, but also many other sacophagi of important members of the Mevlana order, as well as explanations about the life of a Whirling Dervish and many original relics.

The tomb of Rumi is situated right underneath this blue tower

Konya itself seems to be a rather pleasant, laid back city, although maybe a bit more conservative than others. The market is bustling but you are being left alone for the most part to just stroll around and have a look here and there. 

A couple of parks invite you to relax on one of the many benches for a while and very noticeably, there are fountains for drinking water all over the place, as are the necessary facilities to get rid of said water some time later. Very practical!

A rather smelly and strong cheese, something like a Roqueforte

This supermarket has a very good selection of German beers

Lacing up the hiking boots again, we were off to Hasan Dagi, an inactive (obviously) volcano and second highest peak of Central Anatolia, 3253m.

You can see the mountain from far away and on coming closer, it looked a formidable challenge. 

We stayed right at the foot of the mountain for the night, trying to discern a path up to the summit, without success.

View from our camp

As you can see, not a single tree calls this mountain its home, so my human considered it a good idea to get going early, meaning 6.30am.

At first, there was a path, but that petered out very quickly and then it was just cross country. With the summit always in plain view, it wasn`t really difficult to find a way. 

The ground underfoot was a different story. About half way up, it turned from rocky grass land into "two steps up and one step down"-terrain.

A sort of summit cross, I guess

Before we could take off after the hike, we were surrounded by about 100 sheep

With one being rather inquisitive

150km southeast, you find the Anti-Taurus mountains, or Aladaglar, an extension of the Taurus mountain range. The area has been protected as a National Park since 1995.

The average elevation within the range is 3500m above sea level!

Unfortunately, as is true for many hiking areas in the country, there is very little reliable information to be found online, let alone physical maps.

Not a bad view from the sleeping room

Aladaglar translates to Crimson Mountains, here you see why

The desired peak to be climbed was Kücük Alaca, with 3350m one of the smaller peaks. But one of the few my human had found a trail for.

So off she went and had a good time for about the first 30min. After that, the discernible trail ended and rather rough terrain took over.

To be perfectly honest, it was quite a struggle to get to the summit. 4 hours, 8 kilometers and 1600 height meters later, she had finally made it and was welcomed by a lovely group of Turkish hikers.

Our camp for the night

So far, so good.

Great scenery

For the way down she chose a different path and at first, that seemed like a good idea. Until she ended up in a ravine, following a trail she couldn´t see but was there, at least according to the app. 

This gully posed a high potential for serious bodily harm, but by the time this became clear, there was no way to go back up.

So down it was and with considerable effort and a couple of close calls, she made it out of there with only a few superficial scratches two hours later.

This obviously didn`t induce much confidence in the trails around the park, so the hike for the coming day was canceled!

Glad to be on the way out with all limbs attached and nothing broken