Just after the last exams of my third semester in March 2014, I went off hiking again - this time to southern Turkey in hopes of enjoying some sunshine there.

My destination was the quite newly marked Carian Trail, following old caravan roads and passing by lots of antique ruins and excavations. With a length of about 800 km, I clearly wasn't able to finish even half of it in the three weeks I had planned to stay in the area, so I selected some different parts offering a variety of different landscapes - I completed only the red-marked parts on the maps.

My overall experience was very positive - even though the weather was unusually cold and wet for the area, everything was blooming in different colors, the bees were buzzing and the Sun was warm on my skin from time to time. Most important, cheap and really tasty oranges were widely available :)

March is still kind of "early season" for hiking in Turkey, so I didn't encounter a single hiker; maybe also due to the fact that the path was not that widely known yet. This also means that the local population is not yet used to hikers coming through, so I got to experience real Turkish hospitality, unspoiled by the influence of tourism.

The landscape is really stunning for most of the time, ranging from awesome rock formations in the northern hinterland section to magical pinewood forests and fantastic views over the sea. Also, hiking on century-old roads through the wild mountain areas is a unique experience I can recommend to every hiker.

I apologize for the bad image quality once again. A digital camera still didn't have a very high priority back then, other equipment was simply more necessary. Got one with acceptable weight and reasonably good battery lifetime in 2015, so everything after that looks way better ;)

For German speakers: the probably best description of the Carian Way in the web can be found on Peter Lill's website, along with descriptions of the Lycian Way and other good tours. Link: http://www.peterlill.de/trekking/cariantrail/cariantrail.htm