Bezirgan and back: a circular walk from Kalkan: page 2

above, 13.19, 14.32, and 14.36: Figs seen as we approached Bezirgan; apples and stooks of drying sesame are common in fields and gardens in the village.

After cay we continued anti-clockwise around Bezirgan, coming to the shaded dusty 'square' near the second mosque and at a junction of two village roads. A very suitable place for refreshment.

right 15.00: Simon and David. And this is why we came - cok soguk bira (very cold beer) in the shade of a tree.

We could have arrived here by taxi or dolmus and still had our beer under the trees. But it tastes better when your dusty boots and sweat-stained shirt prove that you have earned it (something to do with the protestant work-ethic).

We sat here for some time before setting off on the homeward leg.

At the junction we turned left and continued our circuit of the village, past sesame, grapes, apples, pears, figs, hens, and goats. Shortly we arrived at the village store-houses, where the path followed by the LW from Akbel makes its gentle descent from the rim of the hills.

right 15.50: the village store-houses, on the left of the path back to Old Kalkan. The bright scar running along the hillside beyond is the road from Saribelen.

above 16.35: to scratch the unwary in shorts.

above 16.52: the view to be enjoyed on the descent. Once past the outcrop of rock on the right, we can see the Caretta Caretta (pansiyon) out on the west side of Kalkan bay.

left 16.52: Simon and Pete. It's all downhill from here.

Leaving the storehouses about 16.00, and taking our time, we were back at the cistern on the Kalkan-Bezirgan road by 17.30. While walking down the road, we saw above two girls washing a taxi outside a house. Hopefully we hailed them: 'Taxi!' We had not gone much further before the still-wet taxi drew up to save us the trek along the road to Kalkan. The driver told us that as a boy he had walked from Bezirgan to his school in Kalkan by the path we had just taken (and back again in the evening), and that he had done this for five years.

If we are lucky, we will be fit enough to do it again next year. Though that is not a given.