From Kars to the Black Seafour climates in four days

The route began in Kars. Looking down on the city from Kars Castle, you can see history stacked here in layers. From the Seljuks to the Ottomans to the stone buildings of the Russian era, different periods sit side by side on the same street.

Walking through the churches, what stayed with me was how a city keeps its memory in its buildings. In the evening, as the castle lit up, we walked along the Kars River, and dinner was at a restaurant named after Pushkin, who passed through Kars in 1829. The first day was a warm-up. The real route started the next morning, outside the city.

On the second day the real walking began. The 45-minute trail to Şeytan Castle shows it first from a distance, then from right on the canyon’s edge. The castle is built on a rock overlooking the deep valley below. Clouds race past and the light changes by the minute.

Lunch at Lake Çıldır was the region’s famous yellow fish. In the afternoon, as the road descended towards Şavşat, the landscape changed completely. The steppe gave way to pine forests and green valleys. We spent the night in Yavuzköy; as the sun slipped behind the pasture, the village lights came on one by one.

In the morning, looking out from the bungalow, snowy peaks rose above the mist. After breakfast we went on to Şavşat Karagöl. On the forest road to the lake, light filters through the trees and the road turns into a corridor.

When we reached Karagöl, morning mist still hung over the surface and the water mirrored the surrounding forest exactly. In the afternoon came the Deriner and Borçka dams, then Borçka Karagöl. In the evening we reached Maçahel. In this valley, Türkiye’s first UNESCO biosphere reserve, we spent the night at the 150-year-old İremit Guesthouse.

On the last day, an hour’s walk through Maçahel to Maral Waterfall. The trail follows the stream, crossing over stones here and there. The waterfall suddenly appears through the trees.

Then we descended to Arhavi and Hopa: stone arch bridges, foaming streams, houses clinging to the slopes. The last stop of the day and of the route was Mençuna Waterfall, reached by a 45-minute walk. We flew home from Rize-Artvin Airport.