The Grounded Podcast

I’m 33 years old and since I left my parents house, 10 years ago. I moved out a dozen of time. I ‘ve been living in different places abroad also. So, it wouldn’t be exaggerated to say that I have difficulties to settle down. I think that for some people it’s easy to know where to want to live. But for other ones, like me I guess, it’s an existential question. In this episode, I will visit my friends Darya and Hira, in a Çavuşlu, a small village close to Bayramiç, in the Western part of Turkey. They used to live in big cities but made this choice to move to the country side. I used to call myself a city person but the more I travel the less I like to be in the cities. But does that mean that I would like the village life? I’m wandering: What does it involve to live in a small village? How could I earn money? Is the country side always a green paradise. I came to my friends with all those questions. And in this podcast I offer to listen to two different stories.

The first time I went to Turkey I was eleven. With my mum, my dad and my brother, we spent a week near the city of Izmir, next to a big rocky beach facing the Blue sea on the Mediterranean coast. It took me another 20 years to decide to visit Turkey again. So, instead of going to the coast, I spent a few days hiking in the Kaçkar mountains, in the North-east of Turkey. I definitely realised that Turkey is like a heaven for hikers. There I met Kerem. He’s a mountain guide. And since then, Kerem became one of my best friends and he offered to take me for a trip on the Lycian way.  I thought it would be great to make a podcast to highlight some of the places of this route. I wanted as well to tell how the Lycian way was created and what’s the impact for the land and the people living around. This podcast was also for me the opportunity to meet Kate Clow. She is the one who literally made the Lycian way. And She walked a lot around Turkey. She explained to me how she’s still walking, building new routes and how she keeps fighting to preserve historical heritage today. Musics: "Earth" from Anna RF, "Peace" from Hicham Chahidi.