Culture Routes in Turkey

The new guidebook describing this new route is now available. The Evliya Çelebi Way is an almost 600km route following the hoofprints of an Ottoman gentleman adventurer who travelled on horseback in the Empire and beyond for over 40 years. The new route runs from the Sea of Marmara (Hersek) to İznik, Bursa, Kütahya, Afyonkarahısar and Uşak. The project was initiated and implemented by Ottoman historian Caroline Finkel and team. You can buy the book and map online.

The Evliya Çelebi Way, covering the first part of his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1671, goes on old cobbled roads, tracks, streambeds and paths through forests, visiting the villages and towns where Evliya himself stopped. This route is for walkers and bikers, but especially horse-riders. Great expertise is not required, but you need to be confident enough to ride cross-country on calm, well-mannered horses.  You can join international groups, organised by the Akhal Teke stables, which ride the route on the sure-footed Anatolian-arabian horsestraditionally used in Anatolia. Guides, horses, tack and equipment, vehicle support, accommodation in a variety of hotels, pensions and camps, are all organised and provided for you. En route you may stop to visit horseback rahvan (pacing) races and cirit (javelin) matches.

This is the first long-distance horseback route in Turkey – we hope it will be followed by others.