Lviv to Antalya

01 · A message in a chat

A trail I’d never heard of.

In the spring of 2021 I was living in Lviv. I hadn’t worked for about four months, and nothing really held me in the city any more. The Lycian Way, I learned, is one of the most popular long-distance trails in the world, and I’d never even heard the name.

His plan was simple: a month on the trail, then ten more days of riding around Turkey to see the rest of it. I liked it so much that I copied it, and bought a return ticket for forty days.

02 · Covid spring

Then he tested positive.

These were the covid days. Right before the flight his test came back positive, and he couldn’t fly. I went anyway, which meant walking the Lycian Way on my own.

Around the same time I found another Ukrainian, Yura, who also wanted to walk the whole trail, also alone. We agreed to try it together.

03 · Istanbul, night

A night on the airport floor.

I landed in Istanbul at night. The plan was to hitchhike the rest of the way to Antalya. Standing in the terminal, I realised I’d first have to get out of a city of fifteen million people in the dark, and only then start thumbing a ride.

I gave up on that idea quickly. I bought a ticket for the morning flight to Antalya and spent the night in the airport.

05 · No bus, no taxi

Twenty-five kilometres before the trail.

I couldn’t work out the city buses. They took a local transport card, and I had no idea where to get one. A taxi felt like a luxury: back then I counted every coin.

So I walked, about 25 kilometres from the airport, straight through Antalya, to the far end of the city, where the trail begins.

06 · First night

A host on the edge of town.

On the far side of the city I’d found a host who let me sleep at their place. Yura was already somewhere beyond the city, in his tent. We’d meet in the morning.