A New Season

Hey all, Austin back with another update from our crazy, wild, unpredictable journey across the globe. In a year and a half, since we showed up jet lagged at UK immigration and almost got sent back to America, we have managed to cover a measly couple thousand miles from Western Europe to Turkey to Georgia. Wow, we move slow for a world trip! But that's changing, as tomorrow morning we embark on a new season and fly to Nepal!

From west to east, from the known to the unknown, we head into a new, special time of our travels. Honestly, we have grown a bit tired of the nomadic life, constantly picking up from one temporary home and moving on to the next. But at the same time we strongly feel that God has one great last adventure left for us, and his speaking of something special in Nepal has ben clear since the Lycian Way. Our plans and timeline for Nepal and beyond is uncertain, but to visit a country where Buddhism was founded and where eight of the ten world's biggest mountains call home sounds pretty cool!

So follow along in the next few weeks and see what the East has for us! :)

Also, check out pictures from our time in Georgia:

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Enter Georgia

"Where the hell is our bus?" I (Austin) look around the Georgian -Turkey border, a weight starting to form in my stomach. Surrounding us are taxis, a public bus, the storm cloud stained Black Sea coast...but not our bus. Just moments earlier Kindra and I were bright eyed and bushy tailed, with fresh Georgian stamps in our passports and our lives crammed into Deuter backpacks, and a readiness to take on anything in this approaching adventure. But not a missing bus, our ride to Batumi, a city less than thirty kilometers away. Alas, it was true. Somehow, some way, our boisterous Turkish driver had ditched us in a country where we knew ZERO language and had zero local currency. Thus starts our introduction to Georgia.

Flash forward one public bus ride and a few divine miracles later, and we found ourselves lounging in a four star hotel in Batumi, eating Georgian style chicken wraps and watching the World Cup. I won't go into detail, but let's just say some Georgian hospitality got us into town alive and with a ridiculous cut rate price on that hotel.

Batumi, a paradoxical mix of ghetto and boardwalk, was fun for swimming and orientation. We learned (kinda) the goofy Georgian alphabet, ate our way through massive cheese Viking boats, and laughed like children while hopping across inflatable slides set up in the ocean. Finally, it was time to move on, so we booked our cheap four hour bus to mountain resort town Borjomi and thought it would be an easy ride. We were dead wrong.

Driving in Georgia makes Italian driving look like a safety course. In short, all Georgian drivers have a death wish, and we found that out in brutal fashion on our ride to Borjomi. Our minibus driver passed big rigs with the enthusiasm of a Formula One racer, leaving us white haired and nauseous. If that wasn't enough, we saw the remnants if THREE major accidents along the way, confirming that the Georgian driving death wish often gets carried out. Needless to say, taking the train is our new travel method!

Borjomi, a mild, beautiful fresh town, revived our spirits with its abundant streams and natural beauty, not to mention dumplings! We ate, rested, and backpacked in the local national park, meeting kind travellers and fending off rainstorms in the process. I would love to elaborate, but we are hungry for dinner, and tomorrow our 7 am train awaits for the capital, Tblisi. Until next time, enjoy your Starbucks and thank your lucky stars that the freeway you drive every day isn't in Georgia. :)

Video Compilation of the Lycian Way

Enjoy this special "McRob-umentary" of our trek through southern Turkey!

A camera's view of the Lycian Way

We started at 3pm after an insane period of moving out of our Turkish apartment then hitchhiking for 2 days to the start point. Starting a 500K already tired and ready for a relaxing period isn't something I'd recommend.

Austin on top of an Ottoman cistern; our trail was the path to the right.

The ancient Lycian language in one of its most complete forms. Scholars refer to this stone in Xanthos as the 'Lycian Rosetta Stone' because the opposing sides of the stone was written in Greek,  one of the only surviving things in the world comparing Lycian and Greek.

Xanthos at sunset, one of the 7 major cities of the Lycian League, which was an independent republic for a short time before being taken by Rome again.

Incredible generosity is famous of Turkish people, and we encountered it a lot on the trail. Here some villagers of Gey were making us house yogurt and honey on top of this homemade bread, called yufka, and from this point on it was a staple food for us  throughout the hike.

A Roman aqueduct, that would pump water up the hill to reach the residents of the Lycian League capital, Patara.

Patara

Patara

A sweeping view of the first valley/mountains we crossed. Gey was up and over the mountains in the distance on the far left side, Xanthos was at the base of the mountains further to the right and Patara is the patch of tan/white shown just beyond the hill on the left. Cairns marked much of the trail where standard trail markers had faded or never been placed.

How a majority of the Lycian Way was formed-goats. As Austin said about halfway through, "The Lycian Way: made by mountain goats, for mountain goats."

A mountain village tucked in a a beautiful valley.

One of our countless campsites, here among storage building for villagers things when it becomes largely abandoned in winter and the people and animals move to warmer weather. A solitary man remains behind and guards these huts, until someone comes to relieve him.

Back when we would organize firewood, before we discovered the 'pile it on and burn!' technique.

Kash, an area famous for its paragliding off of these mountains and its Greek island in the center, where we stayed for a few days rest.

Walking through the ruins of Simena submerged in water. Not clear or interesting enough ruins to pay for a kayak or boat tour, as we were encouraged to do by locals, but incredible to walk through!

Simena was one of the 7 important cities of the Lycian League, and was a military base guarding the cove. This is from the top of the hill, where the castle/defense building stands.

Overlooking tiny Liman Agazi, where we went after Kash for a few days more rest.

Myra, with mainly tombs carved into the mountain side.

From the top of our first multi day mountain section with no additional food supplies available-it was an amazing experience!

In Finike we stayed in a pansyion with this wonderful woman, Sahdet. We had breakfast with her every morning for a few days and talked about everything under the sun-all in Turkish. It was excellent practice for our language!

The infamous lighthouse of the region, at the point of Lycia where the south and east coasts meet.

Our first steps of the east coast, leaving the lighthouse.

In Adrasan, just next door to its more famous relative Cirali, has largely similar beach landscapes with dramatic green cliffs surrounding both sides, and this feature not found in Cirali: incredible restaurants just above a gorgeous river that leads into the ocean! We stayed here at least 2 hours.

At the point where we would begin our ascent of Mt Olympos the following morning at 3am, turning left and very UP!

The long beach of Cirali, from the top of the ruins of Olympos.

In Adrasan we met this wonderful Turkish couple who took us into their arms and gave us a fantastic fish dinner, beer, and a night filled with laughter and bonfires. We also met a couple from Maldovia that night walking the Lycian Way in the opposite direction as us, and shared lots of information and fun stories.

Our campsite 2 hrs walk from the summit of Mt Olympos.

At the summit of Mt Olympos! The restaurant there opened at 9am, and as we got there at 5:30 for the sunrise we had the whole place to ourselves!

We saw more turtles than we have seen in our combined lives on the trail of all sizes and ages, but this little guy was one of the cutest!

Our campsite the night after our Mt Olympos summit. We continued to have spectacutlar views of the mountain for a few days before and after we summited, although you can't see it here.

A typical lunch, minus the chips. Those were more of a special comfort food treat for Kindra!

Some of our final steps of the hike, as we descended into Hisarcandir.  

We did it!! After 40 days (ok, 39) of being in the wilderness, and taking about 1 week total for rest, and only skipping 2 sections that were basically mandatory, we finished the whole trail! It was an incredible sense of accomplishment, despite the semi-anti climactic ending with a run down sign and no cheerleaders or champagne. It was a trek of a lifetime for us, and a truly unforgettable experience!