The route

I started at Kuşadası, on Turkey’s Aegean (western) coast. I then headed east through Konya, dropped southeast to Adana near the Mediterranean Sea, and then headed east again to Şanlıurfa. From Şanlıurfa I walked east-northeast to Diyarbakır and Van..

I walked about 60 miles (100 kilometers) per week. The journey, including downtime, took about 7-1/2 months.

Here’s a map:


View the route in a larger map

If you really want to get granular, look at this spreadsheet, where I’ve broken down the route into increments averaging 7 miles each.

Here is the elevation profile (click the image to enlarge):


I started out walking a river valley for a couple weeks. Then for about 6 weeks I was on a plateau, spending most of that time between 3000 and 4000 feet. From the plateau I dropped to sea level for three weeks or so, then was back onto a lower plateau (about 2000 to 3000 feet) for about two months. From there I climbed to a higher plateau, spending the last three weeks of the walk between 6000 and 7000 feet.

Climate (average highs and lows, precipitation):

Climate profile


Here are some narrative descriptions of the legs of the journey…

  1. Menderes river valley
  2. Climbing onto the plateau — Denizli to Lake Egirdir
  3. On the plateau — Lake Egirdir to Konya
  4. Descending to the Mediterranean — Konya to Silifke
  5. Walking the Mediterranean lowlands – Silifke to Osmaniye
  6. Back in the hills — Osmaniye to the Euphrates
  7. Walking the cradle of civilization — between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers
  8. To a higher plateau — the Tigris river to Lake Van
  9. The last leg — Lake Van to Iran