Our original plan was that today, on day 36 of our trip, we would have already driven across Turkey, crossed Iraq in two days and would now be in Kuwait. Attentive readers of this blog will have noticed that this did not happen. We had already made the decision almost two weeks ago to take a different route. I just haven’t had the opportunity to write about it here yet. The reason is quite simply that too much always happens and something always comes up, which is also the reason for the (admittedly rather early) change of itinerary.
In the meantime, we have driven further east along the Lycian coast and are just before Fethiye. In the bay of Ekincik we relaxed a bit and prepared some food for the following days (Svenja even managed to bake a cake and a bread!) and went on a little tour on a rowing boat in the bay. Even Apollo was on board and, considering his fear of waves, was surprisingly relaxed.
From there we continued in the direction of Dalyan. To be honest, the village was rather touristy (but no street dogs, what a strange correlation…), but the nearby rock tombs at the ancient city of Kaunos were all the more impressive. The city was built around the 6th century BC by the Anatolian people of the Carians at what was then still a strategically favorable location directly by the sea. However, the tombs carved into the rock from top to bottom were probably only reserved for the wealthier Carians.
After a short detour to Turtle Beach (unfortunately no turtles, because it’s out of hatching season), we spend the night in what is probably the most mosquito-infested place in the nearby mountains. I actually wanted to write this blog entry there, but a family with a burst tire needed our help and then we somehow got stuck enjoying coffee and cookies with them. It’s these unexpected experiences and acquaintances that, on the one hand, mean I’m always hopelessly behind with the blog, but, on the other hand, of course enrich our trip so much!
Change of plans
Around the time we were in Didim, we realized that we would never make it across Turkey before April without stress. That was actually the plan, because it gets too hot on the Arabian Peninsula from around May/June. Before the start of the journey, we had decided against saving the Arabian Peninsula until the end of the year (and thus the trip), because we really wanted to see the region and, given the current developments in the world, we couldn’t be sure that this would still be possible. It should be noted that the Assad regime in Syria was toppled shortly before our departure. Eventhough now the situation in the region remained calm and we could continue to travel through Iraq, our alarm bells were ringing at this point.
Since the start of the trip, however, we always had this deadline on our minds (we had planned to cross the border into Iraq on March 23), which unfortunately also increased our stress levels considerably. At some point, we decided that the need to travel to the Arabian Peninsula did not outweigh our need for a quieter style of travel and, as a result, the opportunity to see more of Turkey at the start of the trip, which we had generally enjoyed up to that point (and continue to enjoy). And now, two weeks later, we are already very happy with this decision, because it has taken a huge weight off our shoulders. In addition, we would never have visited the Reşadiye Peninsula, for example, and would certainly have missed other destinations that still lay ahead of us.
The current plan is therefore to visit a few more destinations up to and including Antalya. There we turn left to the north and drive into the western Anatolian heartland, where we have already set our sights on other destinations such as the ancient city of Sagalassos. From there, we will continue to Konya and then head back south to the coast to take a ferry to Cyprus. After a few weeks in Cyprus, we will then head back to Turkey and through Central Anatolia, always heading north-east towards the Caucasus. If possible, we will try to take the ferry from Azerbaijan across the Caspian Sea and explore Central Asia. In late summer, we should then return to the Caucasus and head south through the far east of Turkey to cross Iraq as planned and make a round-trip of the Arabian Peninsula in the fall or winter. And at the very end, of course, we shouldn’t forget to bring the trip to a fitting close with Istanbul on the return journey to Europe…