GROUP JOURNAL FOR

MELITOUR EASTERN TURKEY TOUR

JULY 29,2001 TO AUG 12 , 2001

Day 04   Thursday, Aug 02

trenish@yahoo.com 

CLIMB UP TO THE MOUNTAINS

Last night, we watched the native dancers.  The festivities ended late, so most of us were a little less than bright-eyed and made good use of that strong Turkish coffee.  Breakfast was served at eight a.m. on the patio of the Otel Saray.  “Saray” means palace in Turkish, and the accommodations exceeded our expectations – kind of! While the hotel may have been a bit rustic, the view of the mountains right outside was absolutely magnificent. As we munched on a traditional breakfast of boiled eggs, fantastically fresh bread, olives and cheese, we watched the clouds hide and then reveal the distant waterfall on the mountainside. After breakfast, we made good use of the shared toilets (one a squatter, the other a sitter) down the hall. At nine a.m., we said “Güle Güle” to Metin and squeezed into two dolmuşes.  So began our trek from our beloved hotel in Ayder to the town’s yayla, Kavrun. Right behind us came a truck – with men sitting on top of it! Our drivers zoomed along as we watched the road change from paved and wide to dirt and quite narrow. We reached the halfway point when the second mini-minivan had some mechanical problems; the shock absorber went union.  Being the hearty travelers that we are, we said “no problem!”: a few of us walked the rest of the way to the yayla, while the rest squeeeezed into the remaining van.  The driver slowed several times to allow cows to cross the road. As we neared the yayla, we knew we were in for an exciting experience.  Cowbells clinked happily, giving the perfect background music to this serene scape.  Chimney smoke rose from the wooden, “dollhouse” dwellings that dotted the hillsides.  We crossed a small bridge over a little stream to reach the village coffeehouse and climbed out of the dolmuş.  Meli led us to a house where an elderly couple offered us fresh ayran.  They allowed us to enter and tour their home; we were all surprised how much room there was inside of that efficient house.  If you took pictures of that couple, you may mail them to:

Next door to the elderly couple sat a woman preparing cabbage leaves to boil.  She told Meli that she preferred not to have her picture taken, as she thought we would “show people how poor she was”.  If you did take her picture, you can mail it to:

After touring a couple more houses, we returned to the coffeehouse, where a sizeable crowd had gathered. The village historian talked in depth of the history of the yayla and explained the difficulties of preserving its way of life.  For instance, no one who is not a descendent of those that already live here can buy or build a house in the yayla. The residents may only rebuild leveled houses; they cannot create where there was nothing. The historian explained that they are determined not to allow tourism to take over their village. We were to see a more emotional version of that sentiment after lunch.Inside the coffeehouse, some of us played cards and backgammon with the locals.  Pictures can be mailed to:

There was also an old man who wore big prescription glasses and an “old guy” hat. He spoke German.  His address is:

We left the yayla and started downhill (in two dolmuşes!), on the road back to Ayder.  Halfway back to the town, we stopped at a roadside tent to have lunch.  We feasted on hot, fresh bread, lamb with onion and tomato, and hot cornmeal with butter and cheese. At 2:30, we rejoined Metin in Ayder and took our places in the bus.  We rode to Çamlıhemşin and walked through that town. We descended the mountains and rejoined the sea. The heat and humidity were strong. Asnur Hotel in Rize was our home for the night.  Meli said she chose that hotel because the brochure claimed it had air-conditioning.  She (and the rest of us) was disappointed to learn that the Asnur did have air, but just in the restaurant on the top floor.  Again, relying on our resilient adventuresome nature, we found ways to beat the heat. After the buffet-style dinner, some members of the group stayed in the restaurant to work on their journals and keep cool until  another group, this one with a musician, arrived and celebrated well into the night.

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