Over the last few years, I have been watching from the beach in Tekirova the construction that was going on at Tahtalı.

When I visited there in June 2007, I found that the construction had been completed a while back but the opening of the cable car had been delayed due to licensing issues until a few days prior to arrival. I was excited. The temperature in Tekirova hit 46 degrees celsius. Going up to 7760 ft was definitely appealing.

You get to the base station by taking an exit and driving up to about 2350 ft above see level. Round trip tickets were 40 YTL at the time. I am sure we could have gotten a discount (given that my mother and I were the only two people going up) but I decided the experience was worth it.

[ Tahtalı Cable Car Station ]Once you arrive at the mountain-top station, you can go up to the terrace for breathtaking views. I would recommend going there before noon because otherwise the haze from the water kind of ruins your shots of the coast line (as you can see in the video here). On the other hand, I was simply fascinated by the isosceles triangle shadow cast at sunset by the mountain on the Tekirova shore down below. Next time I am in the area, I'll go up early in the morning and maybe look into coming down unaided by technology ;-).

[ Delicious Food ] There is a restaurant at the top. The menu consists of standard Turkish fare (mostly meat dishes with salad, rice and fries on the side). The prices are about double what you would get in towns along the beach but the scenery is priceless. We spent about 100 YTL on food plus some beer. There were a lot of bugs flying around (including the largest concentration of lady bugs I have seen in my life) which made keeping the beer clear of floaters a little challenging to say the least.

After lunch, I decided to leave the facility to go for a hike along the mountain ridge. One of the things I like about Turkey is that you can still do things like that. There is a sign that basically asks you not to break your neck (and disclaims all liability in case you do hurt yourself, as it should). Within five minutes, I was running, yes, running along the ridge of the mountain feeling the wind on my face and body. I don't like getting all sentimental about these things but this is a feeling that must be experienced. And, no, I would likely never have had a chance to experience it if some entrepreneur had not decided to build this cable car. I hope he makes a boatload of money.

[Mountain Goat] [Mountain top cable car station] [ The Mountain Casts a Shadow on Tekirova Bay ] [ Sinan and Füsun on the arrival platform

If you have enjoyed this video, you might also want to check out my friend Serhan Güngör's photo album.