Turkish Mountain Villages

18

Thursday 19 September, 2013 by Uncle Spike

How many posts do you see about Turkey? And how many feature just Istanbul, Ephesus, Pamukkale, Cappadocia or a trip around the Turkish Riviera (Kaş, Kalkan, Fethiye etc)?

Naturally, most folk will travel to these primary sites as part of a coordinated 5-10 day visit, perhaps en route to other countries. Anyway, I thought it might be interesting to post a collection of photographs from some of the less populated and certainly less visited inland mountainous regions of the west, so here goes…

Within the provinces of Muğla (pronounced Moo-la) and Denizli (Den-izz-li), there is a long stretch of the West Taurus mountains, part of the Taurus Mountain complex that divides the Mediterranean coastal region of southern Turkey from the central Anatolian Plateau. With peaks of up to 3500 metres (11,500 ft), and many hectares of pine forested foothills, the whole area is rarely seen through the eye of tourist cameras; not that it is inaccessible, just off the main tourist trail.

Mostly the area is commercially forested by the government and local workers, with other livelihoods being made from farming, trout farms, small leather factories, and bee-keeping. Having travelled here for getting on 18 years and lived here since 2006, I have seen a fair bit off the beaten track – it’s a far cry from Istanbul, I can tell you. Hope you enjoy these shots.

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