Yusufeli, the friendly bull fight and the entry to Kackar

Driving in the direction of Yusufeli after leaving our army adventure behind we passed some amazing scenery. We followed the Tortum river, which was flowing high and rapid with melt water. It passes through Tortum Lake, which was formed by a landslide a few centuries ago. North of the Lake you can visit the spectacular Tortum falls.The Tortum confluences with the Oltu river and the famous Coruh river. The Coruh is rated as one of the world’s top 10 rivers for rafting.It became famous by hosting the 4th World Watersports championship and then the international kayaking championships in 2005 and 2007. It is very consistent and the rapids follow each other in quick succession. One of the most famous rapids is King Kong in the Yusufeli gorge. Consistently grade 3 plus quite a few grade 4 to 5 rapids leave you with a rafting trip not to forget!

The valley of the Coruh river, especially between Ispir and Yusufeli, is bordered by dramatic heavily eroded sandstone rocks. They continue west from Yusufeli for about 30km. Our journey was to continue north of Yusufeli to the village of Altiparmak Barhal and then south west to Yaylalar, which was going to be our base to get in to the Kackar mountains.

We arrived in Yusufeli at night and since we weren’t sure whether there would be possibilities for sleeping higher up in the valley we decided to stop here for the night. We found some great accommodation at the Greenpiece camping where you have the choice between a tree house or rooms…since it was still pretty fresh out there we settled in the rooms.

As we had discovered earlier, there was some sort of festival going on in Town and we decided to go down to check it out. There was tremendous atmosphere out there and as we found out there was a national friendly bull fighting festival the next day just a little bit higher in the valley. The festival is held every year round the 25th-27th April and absolutely a must when you are going to be in the area.

Yusufeli

Yusufeli has got a real good feel to it. It is a village with a heart and there is always a buzz. Unfortunately Yusufeli and some other villages in the Coruh valley are planned to be flooded as part of dam construction for electricity. The inhabitants are going to be relocated in the mountains. This plan has been in the pipeline for about 20 years now and many say it won’t be long before it will be pulled through. In our eyes as visitors we saw it as an incredible sad prospect. The area will loose it’s heart and people. We spoke to quite a few locals and their views are actually really mixed. Some of them are very sad and see it as a destruction of their community. Others told us that since they have been messed around so much now over the last years, they just want to hear a clear decision so that they can plan their lives around it, whether that would mean moving or staying, it doesn’t matter, they just need a decision. Many young people would like to start a business involving tourism but they are afraid that once all set up they will have to leave so nobody is prepared to develop anymore or put money into the area. We hope the decision will mean that the Yusufeli community will stay alive as it is the main hub of the valley!

Different generations in Yusufeli

 

 

 

After a kebab dinner we watched some of the local festivities, music and dance (it was broadcasted on the Telli too!) and went back to our doss for the night.

The next morning half of the team went off to go touring whilst Unai, Patxi and myself went to visit the local bull fight! It was absolutely amazing. We were the only foreigners…There were a lot of people, and I mean a lot!! All of them Turkish from all over! It was a privilege to witness such a gathering of people and such a festivity and feel of community spirit. The viewers had come from allover as early as possible to rig their own shelter and find the best position. Some of the constructions were frightening ( health and safety ain’t quite the same as over here!). But people seemed to be content and not in the least botherd. Young and old seem to be no different from each other if it comes down to bravery and agility to climb up and down the rocks! It was a display of color and culture that I have never really witnessed before.

Yusufeli Bull Wrestling

 

  

 

Since we were the only foreigners, we were an attraction in itself, especially as we were walking around with our cameras trying to capture as much of the spirit of the festival as possible.

We were interviewed by the Turkish news for television. Unfortunately we never got to see it but it was funny as anything. The interviewer and camera man didn’t speak English and we didn’t speak Turkish!

The bull fight was quite different too! Most spectators that were sitting around the arena, were in reality sitting more or less in the arena which added somewhat to he excitement. Now I am not a fan of bull fights but this was not a normal fight. The bulls actually don’t fight. They get left in the arena and the one that makes the first approach wins the fight. Immediately after the approach the owners catch the bulls and take them out of the arena, which possibly is the most exciting part. The owners don’t stimulate the bulls to fight. They just wait and capture. The public that sits around ,or, for that matter in the arena has got indeed a very exciting seat!

The Bulls, the owners, the arena

We spend the morning at the bull fight and then continued our journey to Yaylalar….an adventure in itself!!! It is a very long way along a very interesting ‘road’ especially with our cars!

Scenery

Absolute stunning scenery makes up for the intense drive. On numerous of occasions we were building a drive way to the rivers that crossed our way and the bridges that we crossed didn’t particularly feel any safer. On several occasions we had to stop the car as we hit a rock..and another one… and another one..or we heard strange noises etc. Our way back down from Yaylalar later in our trip proved to be even more exciting!

And our drive continued

We arrived in Yaylalar late afternoon and bumped into the other half of the group who were just coming down the hillside into the top of the village. The village looked like sleepy hollow…no one to be seen and as silent as the night! The guys told us that they had seen some sort of pension but our hopes weren’t that high that it would be open. Yaylalar is incredibly remote and the road leading into it not easy. Many times of the year the village is disconnected from the outside world like many of the villages in the branching valleys.However this adds to it’s beautiful character. It is situated in an absolute stunning place!! The views of the surrounding mountains the high alpine type pastures, the bear that trample through the village, it all gives you a sense of tremendous peace and wilderness.It has become one of my favourite places I have visited during my travels.

Once everyone was reunited we went to find the pension. It is called the Camyuva pension and the best place we stayed during our trip! We were the only ones that stayed there and was not really open when we arrived but there was no hesitation, we were welcomed immediately. The pension is owed by two brothers Ismail and Naim. They are wonderful. The fire was ignited for us, a fabulous extensive dinner was cooked for us and the breakfast was something else! No English was spoken but we didn’t need any specific language to communicate, it is so much fun and such an adventure to communicate with drawings, hand signals etc!

The pension has got super rooms. You can even choose between en suite, a normal room or a small bungalow. If you ever think about going this way, make sure you don’t miss out on this experience. For us it was luxury in remoteness before our 3 day expedition started. Also in Yaylalar there are a few shops. The only one that was open and probably the most extensive, was owed by Naim, one of the owners of the pension. The food is basic but if you want fresh things and you ask for it in advance, you can get fresh bread, vegetables, fruit, etc. Turkey is one of the few countries that lives pretty much of it’s own produce. The variety is enormous and all food really delicious. However in many places you do find yourself eating some form of Kebap and the meat dishes don’t offer a lot of variety. For me no problemo…quite like the kebap!

Yaylalar

   

 

The area round Yaylalar and the Kackar are quite famous now in summer for trekkers, but in the in the winter, despite there being some Heli skiing, you can’t find yourself pretty much alone. Most of the heli skiing is operated by Russian and German groups and they stay in the Camyuva. There is no such thing as mountain rescue here although Ismail and Naim are a contact base and they keep their eyes out for the people that go out in the mountains.

Self sufficiency out there is vital, compass and GPS are a must and the map that is available of the Kackar ( by Zsiga Gyorgy ) is, as far as Turkish mountain maps go, a good companion. Also be prepared for true wilderness as wolves and bear roam freely and in abundance!

More information on routes and trekking you can find in the book ‘The Kackar’ by Kate Clow. This book is really written for summer trekking but provides some excellent information and also gives you GPS points on the routes.

Stay tuned for the next part in the Turkish Delight adventure…. to follow soon: The Kackar expedition and our trip into the Davut Dagi

 

Turkish delight part two

On our 2nd day we left Erzurum to travel in the direction of the Black Sea Mountains. The plan was to do a ski tour on our way up and after continue to Yusufeli, which lies just to the east of Kackar at the entry of the of the Coruh valley. As we drove we were absolutely blown away by the amount of big mountains surrounding us. Because we didn't have a decent map we just looked around for a mountain that appealed to the eye and any good skiing lines. Eventually we saw a mountain in the distance that caught everybody's attention and we tried to find a way to get as close as possible to the foot of it. Well aware that our hire cars weren't 4x4 we resorted to rally driving anyway!!! The track leading to our desired point was a certain mud bath that definitely wasn't designed for our vehicles but after all we came here for the adventure so we might as well have some! The going down didn't prove much of a problem for the cars..as we later found out, the going up did.

The mountain we decided to climb was in our view a mountain without a name. It did have one, but that we only found out after several hours in company of the Turkish Army on the same day....

As we headed out into the unknown we were all enjoying the magnificent views and the good weather. The snow was ok albeit it being somewhat moist. However slowly the weather started changing and by the time we hit the summit slope the weather had completely closed in and the visibility was virtually none. As best as we could we tried to find our way but there is definitely something discomforting about traveling into the unknown without a map. I had brought my GPS but that really only helped us for our way down...which we never took by skis as it turned out.

   

By the time we hit the summit rim we were all quite spaced out and I could only see Unai. As I was heading up I thought I saw one of the other guys standing on the summit rim and I was happily waving my hand and shouting hey Andoni.. But it wasn't Andoni!!! As reached closer I saw that the guy I had been waving at was a man in a army suit with a big gun and not a pair of skis in his hands!! The guy was distressed and was shouting at me and Unai. It was hands up for us and the only words that could come out of our mouths was friends and peace. He wasn't the only guy with a big gun! As I got to the summit plateau proper I could see something like a round weather balloon and a small tower. Our friends were already on their way to the tower. When we arrived we got pointed to leave our skis outside and enter the tower. It was like an old war film!! In the tower was only space for one person, below my feet was a latch and on the wall a telephone. The soldier phoned and exchanged a few words in Turkish. I was hopeful that the other guys would turn up but instead he opened the latch and pointed down with his gun for me to enter. It was the creepiest thing, believe me, I was truly scared!! I looked at Unai and as we tried to smile friendly at the soldier and trying to explain we would rather take our skies and go down, the guy just got a more serious and stressed look and we thought we better follow his orders. There we went into a tunnel...a very, very long, narrow concrete tunnel with a lot of doors going of in different directions with big skulls drawn on them. I was having visions of never leaving the underground world again and to vanish of the face of the earth. Eventually we reached a door where we were handed over to another soldier who took us further into the tunnel system.

Our new 'guide' took us into a room that looked like the head quarters where we were reunited with our friends who probably looked as dumbfounded as we did. In the room were several soldiers and one guy that looked like the main man. He was making several phone calls and asked us for passports and mentioned the GPS. I don't know what must have gone through their heads but initially they maybe thought we were spies or something similar. It must have been the weirdest thing seeing 5 chicos y una rubia on skis turn up on their secret base. The word America fell several times but since that was the only thing we understood I have know idea what else they talked about. Several soldiers were taking photos with their mobile phones and as time went on the atmosphere seemed to relax a little. We pointed at our food and our mouths to indicate that we would like to eat something. Hours had gone by and we were starving. We also pointed at the soldiers to indicate they would be welcome to share. They shook their heads but instead they asked us if we would like some Chai. This was the turning point. When they invite you for Chai it must be ok we thought! We drank our Chai and chatted amongst us speculating what would happen. Then the general or whatever his title would have been handed us back our passports and he indicated that we would be leaving. Hurray we thought, this is good and we tried to act out that we needed our skis and that we would ski down. There was no way they would let us ski down. The guy made another phone call and the word Gendarme fell. Nobody quite knew what was going on. We tried some English and the general actually responded in some broken words. I tried to ask him where we were and why there wasn't access to any maps for the mountains. I knew there were some as I found a web site belonging to the Turkish army that mentioned them but they weren't allowed to the public. He wrote down the name of the mountain, Kog Dagi (2980m) in the Kargapazari Daglari, and tried to explain me that this was a secret base and therefore maps were not accessible but he also told me for as far as I could understand that he thought that this was stupid and he he didn't mind disclosing the name because the Americans could follow everyone anytime anywhere anyway with Google Earth, so secrecy was obviously not that important!!

We were ushered outside into the mist under the watchful eyes and many mobile phones. In front of us was a small snow cat with our skis already in it. We were signed to enter. We were so disappointed that we weren't allowed to ski but once we were on our way down into the mist in the small vehicle sliding steeply down the slopes our disappointment soon made place for a big sense of adventure! The descent down was definitely more exhilarating in the snow cat than that it would have been on the skis!! We just pretty much went straight down the mountain and at times we were virtually on our side or the vehicle started sliding before the driver gained control again. Some of us had to brace firmly against the seats on the opposite side to prevent us from head butting the guys on the other side. It was actually brilliant. When we reached the snow line we thought they would let us out and walk the rest but we had to stay in place under guard of two soldiers. Since they had taken photos of us with their mobile phones and the atmosphere had eased we pointed at our camera to see whether it would be ok to take a picture. The soldiers laughed and were more than keen to get their snaps taken.

 

 

After about 10 minutes a police vehicle 4x4 turned up with 4 men in it. One came out and definitely looked like someone important who you didn't want to mess with!! At that point we were allowed to leave the snow cat catch our skis and put them in the back of the 4x4. We had to enter as well. The soldiers turned round and disappeared back into the thick mist. We were now left with some very unfriendly and distressed looking men. We couldn't crack  smile instead just got irritated witch us trying to be friendly to them. From where the snow cat has dropped us off it was only 10 min walk to the cars...the police dropped us off after 5 minutes in next to the vehicles and then drove off in hurry without any words or a smile. It was the weirdest thing, we stood there looking the 4x4 carting off wondering what just had happened. We could only suggest that we were on such dangerous terrain that we weren't allowed to descend on our own until we would be completely off the mountain. It was the most surreal thing, we felt like as we just stepped off the set of a movie... As sudden as it had started it finished! Startled we stood there, our minds racing about what just had happened to us! Relieved we were, that for sure...and the movie of Turkish delight had only just started at that point!!

Turkish delight part 3,Yusufeli, the friendly Bull fighting festival and the drive up to Yaylalar, will soon follow, stay tuned!

Cheerio,

Christel