On the Lycian Way Part 2

Saturday, October 17 to Sunday, October 18, 2020:

The evening at Ramasan's restaurant at the foot of Tahtali is quite cozy. He offers me to stay in a cabin, so I don't need to set up my tent. In the simple cottage, there are mattresses on each side of the wall. I choose the mattress that is in front of the entrance door. There are two rifles in one corner. Ramasan tells me that he sometimes goes hunting. Late in the evening, he says goodbye and drives home to his family. Except for a Russian young family with their two little children, there is no other person up here on the mountain. The fact that my cabin cannot be locked should not worry me. Not yet!

I wake up as a car pulls up. I look at my phone... it is 2:30 in the night. Through the glass of the entrance door, I can only see two men getting out of the car. They have headlamps on their heads. There is a large wooden house across from my cabin. They seem to be carrying something into it. Then suddenly a lamp shines through the door onto my bed. I pretend to sleep... bizarre thoughts circle through my head: Oh my God... please help me... I hope they don't do anything to me 🙉 The man in front of my door disappears after a few seconds, and I watch through the wooden wall of the opposite cabin as the men spread something on the floor. What are they planning? I hear my heart pounding in my throat. That's when I remember the rifles. I take one from the corner and place it next to me in my bed. In case someone comes in, I would quickly hit them over the head with it. It's quite heavy, though. But it reassures me a little bit.

Soon it's dark and I start to breathe again. The two men probably just set up their camp here.

The next morning, there are already a few hikers visiting Ramasan. Two nice Turkish guys about my age, with hiking gear, ask me, "We hope we didn't wake you up last night? We wanted to stay here because we want to start early on Tahtali." Oh my God 🙉🤭 I don't want to tell them how vivid my imagination was tonight. I confess to them that I was a little scared. We laugh and Cem, one of them, invites me... he would show me around the area if I were in Kas.

I spend a relaxed day here. It's not until tomorrow that I will continue on the Lycian Way.

It's Sunday noon when I set off for Beycik, the next town four kilometers away. From there, I continue hiking to Ulupinar. Along the way, I meet the Russian family who also stayed at Ramasan's. It's getting late in the evening, so we start to think about where to stay overnight. We decide to look for a camping spot in Ulupinar. My Russian companions ask in some restaurants if they can set up their tent. I quickly realize that my chances of finding a place with them are close to zero. So I say a friendly goodbye to them and now I am very confident that an opportunity will open up for me. I follow the white-red markings again. There are one restaurant after another here, but no camping site. I walk determinedly towards a restaurant and ask two young men sitting on a bench if I could perhaps set up my tent here. After being passed on to the manager, I get the answer that it's no problem. I can make myself comfortable on the benches in the restaurant for the night. For 50 TL (5 Euros), I enjoy a three-course menu and treat myself to a beer. The young waiter who serves me comes by for a chat from time to time. After all the guests have left, he shows me the whole restaurant. There is a second floor, where I decide to set up my sleeping place. The young man assures me that I don't need to be afraid. All the staff members have been working here for ten years. I'm not scared, but it's terribly loud here. The water is constantly splashing, and I try to sleep, but it's difficult.

The next morning, I pack my things relatively early as the staff members start their work early. And now the deafening noise makes sense to me. They have a fish farm here and let the water flow into the pools from a certain height to give the fish oxygen. Nevertheless, it was an adventure to spend the night in a restaurant.