Wet stone, wooden eaves, and tea picked by hand
Tea terraces and cloud to the roofline: reserve five nights in the Pontic valleys above Rize
Five nights from $1,420 per person, two sharing a double room. This is the first segment of the line that runs from Rize to the Ani plateau, and it can be taken by itself. Late May to September is the season, because the high pastures are only occupied then. It rains here more than anywhere else in the country, in every month, and that is the point of the landscape.
Reserve this with the officeNothing is charged here. The form stays open at any hour and a person writes back inside one working day.
Tea, cloud and the high pastures
Rize sits on a very wet coast and the country behind it climbs fast. Tea covers every slope that faces the right way, planted from the 1940s and still cut by hand three times between May and October, because the ground is too steep for anything with wheels. Above the tea the forest is beech and spruce, and above that, under the Kackar range, are the summer pastures: wooden hamlets on rough stone bases, shuttered all winter and occupied from June when families move up with their animals. Rivers the colour of jade run between them, crossed by narrow humpbacked stone bridges built for mules. None of it is arranged for looking at. The hamlets are working places, several are reached only on foot, and the road stops short of the last of them.
Days that start wet and clear late
Two evenings fall in a valley village with nothing to do after dark, and that is worth knowing before you come.
Up from the coast in half a day
Getting up here takes a half day, which the office marks as a two. From the coastal city the road turns inland and climbs for three to four hours, the last hour on single track with passing places and the river alongside. It is not a dangerous road and it is not a quick one, and in rain the final stretch slows to walking pace in places. Reaching the coast in the first place is your own arrangement: this office holds a contract with no carrier and arranges no travel by air or by sea. If you continue along the line, the move out of here is far heavier, a night in transit over the passes to the high plateau.
Counting what the figure covers
From $1,420 per person, two sharing a double room, for five nights. The figure holds four nights in valley guest houses and one night in a pasture hamlet where the room is a mattress and a stove, breakfast every day, dinner on four of the five nights, the road transfers described above with a driver who knows the track, and a local walking guide on two days. It does not hold your travel into the country, lunches, drinks, tea bought to take home, or insurance of any sort, which this office neither sells nor advises on. The operating company invoices you directly, in its own name, and is paid by you. This office receives a commission from that company afterwards and never touches your money or your card details.
| Nights | 5 |
|---|---|
| From | $1,420 per person, two sharing |
| Move into it | half a day |
| Part of | Pontic valleys to Kars |
| Taken alone | Yes. Nothing obliges you to take the rest of the line. |
| Inside the figure | Rooms, the ground arrangements named on this page, and the local operating company's own charges. |
| Outside the figure | Getting to the country, meals not named above, anything personal, and anything you add later. |
Asked before people commit
Will I see the valleys or just cloud?
Both, and the cloud is not a fault in the week. It sits below the ridges most mornings and usually lifts by early afternoon, but some days it does not lift at all and you walk inside it. Nobody controls that and this office will not pretend otherwise. On a shut in day the walking still happens, the pastures are still occupied, and the tea houses are warm.
Can you arrange my flight into the country?
No. This office keeps clear of aircraft and shipping altogether, and holds a contract with no carrier, so getting to the coast is entirely your own booking. Tell us the day you intend to arrive and we will tell you honestly whether the transfer works from it, which is a different thing from selling you the journey. We also give no advice on visas or entry rules.
Is the night in the pasture hamlet compulsory?
It is inside the figure, but it is not compulsory. The room is basic, at altitude, with a wood stove and a shared washroom, and some people would rather come back down the same evening. If you say so in advance, the operating company will swap it for another night in the valley house, at a different figure that they state before your dates are held.
Segment 1 of 2 on Pontic valleys to Kars
You can take this segment on its own and leave the rest of the line alone. Nothing here obliges you to walk the whole thing, and the figure for one piece is the figure for one piece.
Reserve one segment, or a whole line
This form is open at any hour, and whatever reaches it is read by a person who answers inside one working day. Nothing you send commits you, and no figure is charged at this end at any point.