Eastern Pontic Mountains

A journey is best experienced on the way, so we didn't go west as originally planned, but headed to the northeast of Turkey instead! The reports about the Black Sea coast with its tea plantations and tropical climate, as well as the hiking areas in the Kackar Mountains, convinced us! However, Turkey is quite large, so we have planned three days of driving to get from Cappadocia to Yusufeli, in the Kackar Mountains. Our first destination was Sivas, where we found a good campsite right by the river. The next morning we continued on passes at 2100 meters deep into the mountains. Thanks to the wide and well-built roads, it was no problem for us or Knut. Only the locals were sometimes surprised to see us, so they happily recorded the rare event on video while overtaking.

After another night in Erzincan, the destination of the day was already Yusufeli. On the drive, we stopped at a mountain lake and a large waterfall, which was a good cooling off at a temperature of 37 °C! We couldn't swim there directly, because we were practically bathed near the waterfall. At the end of the day, the roads became narrower and the mountain walls steeply rose on the right and left. The road signs "Beware of falling rocks" can be taken seriously here!

In Yusufeli, we unfortunately didn't find the campsite before dark, even though we asked with hands and drawings. But near the rushing mountain stream, we found a spot.

The next day we went to the tourist information, where we didn't get very far with English. But once again, everyone was very friendly and helpful, so in the end we had a hiking map and a good starting point for hiking. That would be Yaylalar, 60 kilometers further down the valley and at an altitude of 1900 meters. We drove the first part of the 60 kilometers with Knut on narrow mountain roads deeper into the mountains. After a night at a trout farm right by the river, we switched to the dolmus (Turkish shared taxi or minibus) with our backpacks. When we arrived in Yaylalar, we were able to set up our tent in the middle of the village by the roaring mountain stream. We couldn't have a conversation in a normal volume inside the tent anymore, but we slept quite well.

The next morning, we followed the village stream into one of the many valleys in the Kackar Mountains. Spring was in full swing here and we went from one meadow covered with flowers to the next. Sometimes completely blue, then again purple or yellow. In between, the trail was more or less present due to the fresh meltwater. Most of the streams could be crossed at one spot with a few skillful steps on the stones without taking off our shoes. Only in one place we couldn't find such a spot even after a long search, so we had to walk through it barefoot. In the scorching heat in the valley in Yusufeli, we didn't even dare to dream of snow, but up there at over 3000 m there was still so much of it that we had to shorten our planned route.

Back in Yaylalar, we treated ourselves to a room in a small guesthouse and the next day we took the dolmus back to Knut in the early morning and then headed further to the Black Sea coast to Hopa, at least that was our plan. When we arrived in Hopa, the beach was not quite as we had imagined it, if you can claim that there is even one. So we drove a few more kilometers north and were already in Georgia! After abstaining from beer in Turkey because of the prices that were too high for us, we were even more pleased to have a beer for 80 cents while watching the sunset on the beach!!

You will find out about beautiful Georgia and our further travel plans next time :)