Turkey
Mount Ida
Zeus watched the Trojan War from this mountain — endemic pines and thermal pools survive.
Pine resin fills the air as you climb through forest that Homer described — the mountain where Zeus sat to watch the Trojan War unfold on the plain below. The endemic pines here grow nowhere else on Earth. At the base, thermal pools steam in forest clearings, water that has been hot since Roman bathers first found it.
Mount Ida (Kazdağı) rises to 1,774 metres in Turkey's North Aegean region, approximately 50 kilometres south of the ancient site of Troy. In the Iliad, Zeus watches the Trojan War from its summit. The Kazdağı National Park protects endemic Turkish pine forests found only on these slopes. Natural thermal pools at Güre, at the mountain's base, have been used as baths since antiquity.
Solo
Hike Homer's mountain alone, soak in Roman-era thermal pools, and look north toward Troy from the slopes where Zeus supposedly sat. Mount Ida rewards the literary-minded walker.
Couple
Forest walks through endemic pines, thermal pools at the base, and the mythological backdrop of the Trojan War — Mount Ida pairs physical beauty with stories that have lasted three thousand years.
Friends
The hiking trails through the national park range from gentle forest walks to summit attempts, and the thermal pools at Güre provide the ideal post-hike recovery.
- In the Iliad, Zeus watched the Trojan War from Mount Ida's summit — the battlefield of Troy lies 50km north.
- The Kazdağı National Park protects the endemic Turkish pine (Pinus brutia var. pyramidalis) found only here.
- Natural thermal pools in Güre, at the mountain's base, have been used as baths since Roman times.
- The mountain's eastern slope holds one of Turkey's last populations of the Ida wild orchid.
Wild oregano tea brewed from herbs picked on the mountain slopes.
Village breakfasts of thirty dishes spread across the table — olives, cheeses, jams, eggs, bread.
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