GEY to SIDYMA to GEY - 13 km
This was a rainy day - never a heavy downpour, but rain off and on all day. It seemed like we spent a lot of time putting rain gear on, taking rain gear off... We left the village of Gey and hiked along mountain trails in drizzle and fog. The fog moved with amazing quickness through the hills and I remember vividly stopping and just soaking in the stillness and quiet of the hills. We then entered what seemed to be a 'never ending river bed' - we walked through a draw between 2 hills down through a slippery river bed that went on and on and on and on... We passed many, many Manzanita trees with the rich, red bark. Finally we arrived in the ancient village of Sidyma where we had made arrangements to have tea with Brea - a Canadian who owns a guesthouse there along with Fatma, a Turkish woman who owns the guesthouse next door. After some trouble finding the house, we were warmly welcomed and appreciated the time to warm up, eat our lunch and drink some lovely hot tea. Brea lives part time in Turkey and part time in the US & Canada. It seems so strange to see such a young, lively Canadian in this small, Turkish village. We had a lovely visit as she told about the local area and history and we discussed a wide variety of topics. Here is the Facebook page for the home stay.
We then stopped to view some Roman ruins in the village and marveled at the engineering of the ancient peoples - how did they move such large stones, how did they cut them to size, how did they construct monuments that have lasted 2000 years???
We then followed the path out of the mountains and on to the road. After some walking on the road, the one car that came by offered us a ride back to Gey and as it was getting late, we gratefully accepted.
We then stopped to view some Roman ruins in the village and marveled at the engineering of the ancient peoples - how did they move such large stones, how did they cut them to size, how did they construct monuments that have lasted 2000 years???
We then followed the path out of the mountains and on to the road. After some walking on the road, the one car that came by offered us a ride back to Gey and as it was getting late, we gratefully accepted.
