East Black Sea Trip

East Black Sea Trip
Terrifying in the beginning but amazing at the end.
3-13 January 2008

1st day
We took the trip two days after the New Year. One month before the trip, I started to annoy my colleagues about the weather and road condition. I had never been there before, and in January?!!! I couldn’t imagine how terrifying it was gonna be. I bought the best winter clothes and shoes. And I was ready! Was I? –not wanting to be-

We took the road on the 3th of January with Mr. Koksal Kayhan (Graphic artist of the magazine) and Mr. Faruk Akbas (Photographer of the magazine). It was already snowing in Ankara. The road was very bad till Samsun – snowing, windy and shaky!!-. Samsun to Rize was OK. The new Blacksea Highway was very good even though it never stopped snowing. We met Kenan in Trabzon who lives in Borcka and knows this area very well. He will be our guide, driver and life saver during the trip.

We got to Ayder (upland) in midnight (so it took 12 hours to get to Rize from Ankara). It felt very very cold, wherever I looked, was all white and still snowing. It actually felt good… We stayed in Sis (means fog) Otel for 2 days. It was very cold at nights. Our guide Reis Muhammet was waiting for us. After a warm tea by the cookstove, I went to bed.

Next day… I opened the window and the most beautiful sunny day was ahead of us. Ayder and Kackarlar looked beautiful. We started trekking in Kackarlar. Kackar Mountains (Kaçkar Dağları) or simply Kackar are a mountain range rising above along the Black Sea coast in Eastern Turkey. With highest peak Kaçkar Dağı (elevation 3937 meters), and mountain plateaus at about 3000 meters in elevation, it is the highest part of Pontic Mountains. The Kaçkars are glaciated mountains, alpine in character, with steep rocky peaks and numerous mountain lakes. Because of the snow and the danger of avalanche, we couldn’t make it to the other uplands in Kackar Mountains. But 2 hours of walking was even quite enough to see the nature, the mountain and the 40 meter trees covered with snow. The road was actually dangerous. You couldn’t see the path because of heavy snow. It was almost 1 meter high. I could hardly walk sometimes, fell down so often. The waterfalls were frozen. The summer houses in the uplands were empty, because people live here only in summer. Because we had an experienced guide, I wasn’t afraid anymore. We got back to Ayder after the long, hard trekking and went to the only other open hotel. Its owner had guests and they cooked rice with hamsi (a type of fish which is very famous in Blacksea). Especially in this region, people are very friendly. You can just knock someone’s door and share their food and nice chat. So that’s what we exactly did! J The food was delicious. He even gave us the recipe. We were tired and got back to our hotel. And surprise! Kenan had brought Georgian wine. I like Georgian wine cuz it is very tasty and sweet. Having the wine with listening Reis playing Kemence (an instrument), was a great end of the night.

2nd day
After some photo shoot in Ayder, we decided to go to Zilkale. It’s a very old castle in Camlihemsin. But it wasn’t as easy as it seems. I had to call the Koy Hizmetleri (means village services) and Jandarma (soldiers who are responsible of the security) to check if the road was open. Some said it was, some said not. So, what to do? We just went. J The car couldn’t go so far. We got off and took a walk. We walked about 2 km and finally saw the castle. It was amazing. I can’t describe the view; you just gotta see the photo. The day was over with Zilkale’s great view.

3rd day
We hit Borcka the third day. Borcka is a village in Artvin. Mostly Georgian people live there. That’s Kenan’s village. There wasn’t much to see in Borcka cause the team had already seen Macahel (Borcka’s village, fully protected and isolated from the modern life) last year. We just went to Muratli Mosque; the ceiling was very colorful and we shoot some photos there.

4th – 5th days
The trip is getting harder. We are now in Bazgiret (Madenkoy). A very talented photographer Suleyman İnal from Artvin brought us here. He will join to our team from now on. He visits these mountain villages for the last ten years. He will be a great help to us.

Bazgiret is in Savsat (a town of Artvin). It is a village which mostly Georgian people live in. It’s located in a very high and upright place. The house that we were gonna stay was in the top hill of the village. To walk there took about an hour. There is no technology whatsoever except for the TV. The cell phones are not working. Their days are just about taking woods to their home with sleds pulled by cows, taking potatoes from the ground and watching TV by the stove. There are only potatoes and cheese to eat. Even though they live a very hard life, people are very fun and show hospitality. They like the accordion play, they have one player in the village. We had him play in front of a house and people started to dance. So cute! :)

While we walk in the village, everybody invites us to have warm milk. To be honest, I hate milk but here it was very tasty. I couldn’t help but drinking 2-3 cups in a day. It’s a very hard place to live. It has almost nothing that we cannot afford not to have in the city. The restroom is located in the outside, the weather is freezing, cell phones are out of the area etc. But they have one thing that most of us don’t have in the city: HAPPINESS! :)

It was hard to walk in the village because of the snow; it was almost 1 meter high. Every three step, I fell down. I was the only lady in the team during that two days, it was hard to keep up with men. Not to mention the dogs. I cannot be around with dogs and they had two big one in the village. Thanks to people, they tied the dogs for me. We had great photo shoots there: nice portraits, women with colorful ethnic dresses on the white snow…

6th day
Finally the hard days were over; without restroom, real food and cell phone. Right? Not quite. L We are now going to Ardahan and the two days ahead of us is the hardest part of the trip!

The weather is harsh in here. It’s worse than Artvin. In Artvin, we didn’t get cold very much thanks to our clothes and shoes. But now, we are on the road to Ardahan and in Camlibel Gecidi (crossing), it’s getting scary. The crossing is 2640 meters high. Can you imagine that we are 2640 meters high and in January it’s snowing like crazy and wind doesn’t let you open your eyes. Now I am scared! We have 2 more days to spend in Ardahan. And we have to make the stories for the magazine. We hardly passed Camlibel (thanks to Kenan) and now we are in Cildir (Çıldır). We are here to make stories about fishing and sledding on the frozen lake. It is 125 km and second big lake in Turkey. In winter the lake freezes in December and doesn’t melt till April. When the lake freezes, people crack the ice and do fishing. They throw their net, wait for a week and take the net out with full of fish. Also there are sleds pulled by horses, goes on the lake rather than the road. We thought it is fantastic and now we are here!

It seems like the town is sleeping. It’s so quite and nothing is moving. This silence doesn’t feel like peace, it is kind of bothering. We hit the Lake Cildir (Çıldır Gölü). It’s all white and nothing is around except some little villages you could hardly notice and a restaurant.

The owner of the restaurant Atalay said we were late for the fishing. How come we are late? It’s only 2 pm and the weather is open. He said it is too cold for the fishing and told us to come back next day around 11 am. So the all day was gone. There is nothing to do but to go to where we stay.

While days go by, I feel more tired and want to go to bed early. But before going to bed, I had to take a shower cause in the mountain village, there was no bathroom. Funny destiny, there is a bathroom here but without hot water. I turned on the tap and it run for 40 minutes but didn’t even get heater a bit. It means 2 more days without taking a bath. I feel tired, sleepy, dirty and homesick :( I miss my home and my husband. At least the phones are working here. So I can talk to him, and everybody is worried about me cause they couldn’t reach me for the last 2 days. There is nothing to do but to go to bed.

7th day
We got up, called the sled driver, waiting for him while watching the view. I am wondering why the winter tourism hasn’t developed here. It has got the most fantastic view, the lake is frozen for 4 months and people can make money to live. But there weren’t the only one who is having problems. We had a terrible surprise. Our gas was frozen, the car wouldn’t start. We had to call people from the district and have them bring us anti-freezer. After Kenan spent 2 hours with the car, it actually worked! He decided to empty the tank for the night so we wouldn’t have the same problem again. Did we? Well, wait and see L

The sled driver is now seen on the frozen lake like a little spot. Tuncay Aydemir is the champion of the last 5 year racings. I got in the sled and he started driving on the white frozen lake. While interviewing with him, he was riding the horses for the photo shoot. It felt like I was in a minimalist fantastic movie. The horses were sweating; the heat and the cold were meeting on them. There is no word to describe that experience. He took me to the Atalay’s Restaurant (Atalay’ın Yeri) for fishing. I got off, thanked him for the ride and left for the fishing. Mr Atalay already prepared the nets, digging and shovel. We are going to experience another fantastic moment. They cracked the ice with digging and shovel, reached the water, pulled up the net that they already left last week. And the fish are jumping alive from the net onto the frozen lake. They had almost 10 fish. This isn’t as easy at it seems. Once they crack the ice, it freezes minutes later. It is that cold! We saw -20 C during the day; they say it’s -45 C at nights. We didn’t live the fish alone of course, Atalay cooked them for us and it was the tastiest and most fresh fish I had ever eaten.

8th day
Remember how I said we had a problem with the gas getting frozen. Here comes the same problem happening again! Nothing is working, anti-freezer, keeping the gas warm, nothing! The car starts but stops right after. Kenan pulled some gas down to the floor, under the gas tank and set it on fire. I thought we were gonna explode! He did it to melt the gas. It worked but only for two minutes. He worked with the car for hours and finally we got back to the road. Now we are going to Damal for the last story. Women are dressing dolls with their ethnic dresses. The dolls won a competition in Japan. It is a way to make money for women here. After having the story here, we are done! But it wasn’t going to be too easy. After driving for 20 km, the car stopped again. The weather was so cold that it froze the gas while driving! We got off, it was freezing. Mr Faruk and I decided to leave the team, hitchhike, and get to Damal. A truck stopped and took us; we drove with him the half of our way. I called the municipality of Damal and told them to send us a car. Once we got there, Mr Faruk got so excited of what he has seen. He had two old lady dressed with their ethnic dresses and took their photos in their own home while I am having interviews with them.

In the mean time, I was worried about the team that we left behind. I called them, they still couldn’t stop the car. And it was getting late. If we spend too much time here, we couldn’t pass the Camlibel Gecidi and had to stay here for one more day. I told them to leave without us, we would find a way to get to Artvin and meet them there. Did I believe myself? Not really…

I called everywhere; the municipality, the district, even offered a cab to give more money so he could take us to Artvin. No one wants to pass the Camlibel Gecidi that late. We will never gonna get out of Ardahan! We are so stuck in here! Everything is so nice and fantastic but I wanna get back to my home and normal life! I was calling everywhere, but no help. So we asked for a ride to central of Ardahan and we were gonna try to find a bus to Artvin. And we did. It was a dangerous trip; we saw car crashes on the way. But we made it to Artvin. That’s what counts. When we get back to Artvin there was no snow, no wind and I felt warm after 4 days.

They say, the journey is not where you reach at the end, it is what you live to reach the end. I believe it’s true. I will never forget the experience I lived in Artvin and Ardahan. Because it is hard, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. You should try, so you will have unforgettable journey stories like I have.

Photos: Koksal Kayhan, Faruk Akbas

Necesarry Phones:

Cildir Municipality
+90 478-311-2151

Cildir – Gençlik ve Spor İl Müdürlüğü Facility (for accommodation)
Zafer +90 537 921 1897

Damal District – Nursen
+90 478-651-4293

Reis Muhammet (Kaçkarlar guide)
+90 535-873-6479

Sis Hotel (Ayder)
+90 464-657-2030

Madenköy Village Headman İsmail Tanıyan
+90 466-581-2201