Geyikbayırı

Geyikbayırı is a mountain neighbourhood of the Konyaaltı district and is regarded as the centre of sport climbing in Turkey. According to Wikipedia it lies 26 kilometres from the centre of Antalya and had a population of 662 in 2022. For city residents it is a half-hour drive; for climbers it is a valley where people stay for months. Village houses scattered among gardens, pomegranate and olive trees are seen together with the rock walls that enclose the valley. The size of the climbing area is clear from a single figure; according to a 2024 article in the Cumhuriyet newspaper there are more than a thousand sport climbing routes in 44 sectors. The routes span different grades and the sectors are within walking distance of one another, so no car is needed to change crag in a day. The West Mediterranean Development Agency lists Geyikbayırı among Antalya's climbing areas together with Olympos and the east face of Sivridağ. A 2014 article by Çetinkaya of Akdeniz University, published in the Eastern Geographical Review, finds that adventure tourism based on rock climbing in Geyikbayırı carries high potential and warns that the absence of any planning on the subject in the area may undermine it. The season is winter, the reverse of the rest of Antalya. According to the same newspaper article the most suitable period is the winter and spring months between November and May; nobody climbs in July and August because of the heat, but in the other months there is almost always someone on the rock. Because the winter sun warms the stone, climbers from Europe use the valley as a winter camp and stay for months. Even for those who do not climb, sitting at the foot of the crag and watching people on the routes is a pleasure. Geyikbayırı is also the end point of the Lycian Way. The trail begins near Fethiye; according to Wikipedia it opened in 1999 at 509 kilometres, had grown to about 760 kilometres by 2023, and was designed by Kate Clow and marked with red and white blazes. The Culture Routes Society's page states that the trail takes an average of 29 days to walk and that its end point, Geyikbayırı, is reached from Antalya by bus. So part of the crowd in the valley consists of walkers who have been on the trail for weeks and set their packs down here. According to the newspaper article the whole trail is walked in one go in 25 to 45 days. It is also possible to walk the trail in reverse, starting from Geyikbayırı, or to try only its final stage. Finding the start of the path in the village is not hard if you follow the red and white blazes. Geyiksivrisi, the peak rising above the valley, is according to the newspaper article the goal of day climbs overlooking the Mediterranean gulf and the Taurus. Walking from the slope to the ancient city of Trebenna is also among the favoured routes. Trebenna was the northeasternmost city of Lycia; it lies east of the village of Çağlarca, about 22 kilometres west of Antalya. Its name first appears on the Stadiasmus Patarensis, an inscription found at Patara and dated to AD 45-46. The city belonged to the Lycian League under Roman rule, received the right to mint coins under Gordian III, and according to an inscription of AD 278-279 was declared a Roman colony. In the Byzantine period it was attached to Pamphylia. The city was identified in 1882 by Karol Lanckoroński, and according to Wikipedia the Lycian-type sarcophagi here show that the settlement belonged to Lycia in the Roman period. The Antalya Governorship lists Trebenna among the archaeological sites attached to the Antalya Museum. The remains are unexcavated and are explored on footpaths. The rules in Geyikbayırı are simple. The crags are the shared asset of the village; take your rubbish back with you, do not cross the gardens and do not block the village roads with vehicles. Climbing requires your own equipment, a route guide and experience; if you are climbing for the first time, go with someone trained. Beyond rock climbing, the valley offers an ordinary walker a full day too, thanks to the final stage of the Lycian Way and the Trebenna path. To get there, follow the road climbing into the mountains from the Konyaaltı side; it takes about half an hour by car from the city centre. Check the Metropolitan Municipality's transport page for the current public bus line to the village and its timetable. Descending the same road back to the Konyaaltı shore shows once more how short the distance between mountain and sea is here.