Turkey

July 19 - August 1 2019

This trip had been planned for quite a while. My mom and dad visited the valley of Çamlıhemşin not long before I was born back in the 90’s, and my mom had this (crazy) idea to return and try to find some of the people she met back then. Having a few days in Istanbul and Trabzon, I got to experience some quite different sides of Turkey - from big city life to seasonal living in the mountains close to nature.

It all worked out great! Having spent not one day in Çamlıhemşin, we traced down some of my moms old acquaintances and because of this we got to witness the Pontic Mountains (also known as the Small Alps) from a very personal and local point of view. Never have I come across such hospitality and kindness from people I couldn’t even communicate properly with because of the language barrier - definitely not my last time in these mountains.