Turkey
Lake Tortum
A turquoise lake behind a landslide dam, whose 48-metre waterfall thunders as the spring melt spills.
In late spring the waterfall announces itself long before it comes into view, a roar building through the trees until the trail opens onto 48 metres of white water crashing into its pool. Lake Tortum stretches behind you through a narrow valley, turquoise and still, dammed by a landslide that fell from Kemerli Dağ and never moved again.
Lake Tortum, in Turkey's far northeast, formed when a massive landslide dammed the Tortum River and flooded the valley behind it; geologists still argue whether the rock fell in deep prehistory or only a few centuries ago. The lake runs 8 kilometres through a narrow corridor, its turquoise deepening with the snowmelt. Tortum Waterfall at its head drops 48 metres and runs fullest in May and June, when the lake pours its surplus over the fault; later in the year the lake itself is the show. The surrounding Çoruh valleys keep some of Turkey's best-preserved 10th-century Georgian churches, and Erzurum, the nearest city, adds cağ kebab to the itinerary.
Solo
The remoteness is the draw. Tortum rewards the traveller willing to drive deep into the northeast for geological drama and absolute solitude.
Couple
The turquoise lake, the waterfall and the Georgian churches in the surrounding valleys: a day of natural drama paired with medieval stone, far from any crowd.
Friends
Base in Erzurum, drive to the waterfall and lake, then hunt the Georgian churches scattered through the valleys. The remoteness bonds any group.
- A massive landslide dammed the Tortum River and created the lake; its age is still argued over.
- Tortum Waterfall drops 48 metres and runs fullest in May and June, when the lake spills its surplus.
- The surrounding Çoruh valleys hold some of Turkey's best-preserved 10th-century Georgian churches.
- The lake runs 8 kilometres through a narrow corridor, its turquoise intensifying in the spring melt.
Erzurum cağ kebabı, lamb turned on horizontal skewers before charcoal and cut to order.
Kadayıf dolması, shredded pastry wrapped round walnuts, egg-dipped, fried and steeped in cold syrup.
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