Autumn hikes--October

October began with a beautiful hike to the cave city of Tepe Kermen. Here is Lilya looking out into the valley below.

Tepe Kermen, as do most of the cave cities, dates to approximately the 6th century. Tepe Kermen has more than 400 caves carved out of the limestone cliffs.

Many of the caves are multi-storied, some even with stairs leading to upper levels.

Cheryl and I pose on the stairs.

Along the way we met a young woman from Finland who had come down to Crimea for a few days. She was out exploring on her own, so joined up with us on the trail back to Bakchiseray.

Our next adventure in October was to the ruins of the Surenskaya Fortress. Here are Lilya and I in a window of the ruins. Unfortunately, many of the old ruins are scarred by grafiti.

Surenskaya Fortress

A distant view of the location of the Fortress and a familiar sight in the land around Bakchiseray where the cave cities and other ancient ruins are located. Only an hour or so bus ride from my city.

One of the cliff faces in which the natural erosion appears as intricate designs and hieroglyphics.

We were fortunate to run into Alie and her husband Genghis at the bus station who were off on a hiking adventure of their own. They decided to join us when I told Alie that we were going to Surenskaya because she had told me it was her favorite place. They were great guides--the best part was making Turkish coffee for us over a fire. Here they are filling their water bottles at a spring.

Our last hike in October (or at least the last one we took pictures of!) was to Bolshoi Canyon (Grand Canyon) of Crimea. I had been there before with the family, and this time Grace, who was here for the weekend, joined us. It was a beautiful fall day.

Lenura equipped with one of my hiking poles and hiking shoes from my pal Cindy. Last time we went she had slippery soled old leather shoes.

Serdar and Safie.

Here we all are, laughing as I scrambled to make into the picture.