Turkey: The Lycian Way

The Lycian Way begins near the Turkish coastal town of Fethiye (approx. 200 km as the crow flies west of Antalya) and leads in 26-29 stages in an easterly direction to just before Antalya. We tackled the first 2015 stages of this wonderful hiking trail in April 15 and were thrilled: on the one hand, of course, with the spectacular panoramic views and the hiking with a view of the islands and the sea. On the other hand, however, especially of the warmth and hospitality that we were shown along the hiking trail, especially in the remote and rural areas.

In keeping with the principle of "gentle tourism", the Lycian Way now enables many families to earn a living from a restaurant, a small kiosk or a guesthouse. These accommodations are far from luxury. On the contrary: the entrepreneurial art of improvisation can often be seen in the rooms and bathrooms. Despite all the simplicity, great importance is attached to cleanliness; the guest rooms are often the pride of the family. For example, a very simple accommodation in the hinterland had its own WiFi for a few weeks during our vacation in April 2015. The pride of the owners could hardly be overlooked: In each room, the WiFi code was printed out several times in large format on the wall :-) In another accommodation our mattress was directly on the floor, but the fitted sheet was a bit too small for the double mattress and became simply fixed with safety pins. The room was spotless and the landlord proudly announced that he would get real beds next year if this season went well.

At the moment, the political situation in Turkey is unfortunately such that a vacation there is out of the question for many. We can only hope that there will still be enough hikers to take on the adventure of the Lycian Way! It would be a shame if the very slowly growing infrastructure were damaged and newly founded family businesses had to give up due to a lack of sales. Where beds have just been bought due to the tourist boom :-)