A Picnic in the Woods

(Justin) If you live in Çankaya and don't have a car you can easily visit lots of neat parks, but it seems like actual wild nature is discouragingly out-of-reach. But luckily we live on the edge of town where a steep valley with walking trails, a woods with a couple of springs, and a great view of the valley and lake below is just a short walk from our apartment. One of the entrances is just outside Elias' Turkish preschool so I explored it a bit before today, but then decided to bring the whole family on a picnic to the woods. It's nice because even though the city is just a couple hundred yards away you can't hear it and you can breathe plenty of fresh air and the smell of pine trees.

View from up on the road. The tall trees in the middle are where our picnic was.

The city has made it a picnic/camping area by piping up some of the springs

Elias splashing in the spring water.

Elias thinks peanut butter & jelly sandwiches are great no matter where we are.

There are lots of quartz rocks to find, and plenty of turtles on the roads.

The roads have been dug and grated for cars, but it's not clear where there's any entrance or exit for them. Some of the roads are just dead ends on the side of the cliff. This is a view of the lake below. On the other side of the valley you can see shepherds tending sheep. It's quite steep.

Unfortunately, some of the nicer spots are littered with trash, part of life here. But there are plenty of green trees, fresh air, and wild flowers.

Not terribly far by taxi there is another larger woods and lake that's more touristy that we hope to explore next week when Joni's parents come for a visit.