Discovering Kayseri: Trip to Ali Mountain

Kayseri is a city completely surrounded by mountains. Luckily for me, a mountain lover! The majestic Mount Erciyes is just 25 km away, and serves as a popular skiing resort in the winter. I am hopefully going to further explore this later on, and write a report on that! Anyway, there are also less demanding, but similarly rewarding mountains which you can choose for a hike.

From whichever direction you arrive to IYACA, you will probably notice the two peaks overlooking the Talas municipality (unless it is very, very foggy). This is the Ali Mountain, or Ali Dağı as they say in Turkish. About 2000 metres high and of volcanic origin. It is a popular place for weekend trips, picnics, barbecue, and also a popular paragliding spot (even World Cup tournaments took place here in 2004 and 2007). I also found on the internet that Ali Dağı is a record site: the longest flight from this take off was 157 km made by Yurdaer Etike in 2008 and also in 2010 a Turkish pilot Durali Karaca made an altitude record of 4900 m there.

There is a road leading to the top, and most visitors therefore go by car, but that would be too easy! Instead, one sunny Sunday morning we decided to climb to the top on foot :) It was freezing cold and there was also snow, so not as easy as it might look! Before we even started our journey, we accidentally ran into a cat commando who decided to eat our entire lunch… actually, they were so cute that we gave up quite easily :) 

If you look carefully, you can see a metal staircase on the right side of the mountain. Anyway, this staircase starts somewhere in the middle of the mountain. To reach it, you have to take the road, or climb the slope directly. Once you reached the stairs, you think you have won, but too early! I counted them one by one, and came to the number of 1250! Not such a piece of cake, is it? Anyway after you reach the top (after several breaks, snacks and many selfies), the beautiful scenery of Mount Erciyes which opens in front of you is definitely worth the effort! Specially on a clear and sunny day such as this one. And if you turn around, you will see the city of Kayseri right at your fingertips! So, if you want to enjoy some fresh air in a beautiful countryside, do something for your body, and see what Kayseri looks like from up above, this trip is definitely recommended! The journey to the top takes about two hours, might be a bit more in the winter.

Radka  Poulová - EVS Volunteer  in Kayseri