Between Two Worlds: Cruising the Turquoise Coast

"Rigorous. Able to walk five miles a day. Overnight on a small ship."

Those are the requirements for my planned trip to Turkey. I've done that much walking last year in the Baltics and am excited about the plans to cruise along the Turquoise Coast. Yet there is something about the description that bothers me. Why are some of those walks called "hikes?"

Facade of the Library of Celsus, Ephesus, Turkey

I know that at age 77 I will be one of the older participants. But I can walk well, climb steps, and have good endurance. I choose the trip, pay my fee, have my Turkish Visa and am ready to join my group in Istanbul to begin my adventure.

It is raining in Istanbul on the first day of the tour. No matter, as we will be inside a mosque. Our tour guide sets a quick pace during our visit to the Hagia Sophia mosque, and though I trot along as fast as I can, I fall behind the group. As we exit, I peer through the crowds trying to find the guide who has disappeared in a sea of umbrellas. For a few tense minutes I am alone and lost. Finally our unhappy tour guide finds me and cautions us all not to ever get lost as we will slow up the entire group. What a great beginning to my tour!

I know that my travel mates are younger than I, but when did my walking pace become slower than those 60 year olds who regularly out distance me ? At home I often have to call out "passing on your left" when I walk the hallways of my apartment building. I trot briskly with my little dog and out walk many residents. I follow a nature trail along a creek, climb the steps on the hilly property, go to tap and Jazzercise dance classes and swim twice a week. My world is an active one.

We arrive in Ephesus, the Greco-Roman town on the Aegean coast, and our energetic guide says "It's not a hike, just a walk-through." The approach to the upper town is a gentle hill and I walk along comfortably. On our descent to the lower town to see the partially renovated library are some rocks and marble-like stones. Anxious to see this remarkable site I depend on my well-fitting shoes to grip the slippery surface. But with my head down, I feel I am missing the views. So I stop occasionally to look up ... and see my group disappear in the distance. And now I have to negotiate those steps that look innocent but have a drop deeper than my knees can tolerate. I pray (to the local gods) that I don't fall too far behind.

I breathe a sigh of relief when I think of the upcoming *gulet boat cruise that should give me a break. The wooden yacht-like vessel has a sail and our small group speaks of swimming in the turquoise waters. But after cruising awhile in calm waters, we approach a shoreline. Our guide informs us that we will hike up the steep hill in front of us to see the five ancient churches along the trail as it climbs up to the light house. I sigh and unpack my trekking poles that I have resisted doing until now. The dingy takes us to the base of the trail. And as fast as I can clamber over the edge, I look up at the others disappearing from view.

I have to make a decision. Should I buy into the new world of hiking straight up hill on broken stones and rock? Or should I rescue my relaxed world by taking a photograph of those churches with a zoom lens and then settling down with a cappuccino in a local cafe to wait for the group to return?

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Between Two Worlds: Cruising the Turquoise Coast

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