Anamur



Anamur is a town in Turkey. It's located on the southernmost point of Anatolian landmass.

Unless you plan to hitch the winding (and likely, little-trafficed) mountain road north to the village of Ermenek over the Taurus Mountains (which goes further on to Karaman and Konya on the Central Anatolian plateau), there is only one way out of Anamur: the highway D400, which traverses the town and connects it with destinations west (Alanya, Manavgat, Antalya) and east (Taşucu, Silifke, Mersin). However, Anamur is one of the blackspots for hitchhikers along the Turkish Mediterranean coast: while there is a constant traffic to both directions (although not as much as the rest of the major highways in the country), drivers choose to largely ignore the hitchhikers — expect to wait up to two hours there no matter the direction, season, or the time of the day. And should you have any chance to plan your trip, try to coincide your thumbing in Anamur to either early morning or late afternoon/evening, especially in summer, as it's extremely hot and sticky during the wicked hours of the noon due to the location (about the same latitude with Morocco!) and none of the convenient hitching spots offer even a dim shade.

Located in the centre of a region with extensive greenhouse operations which supply northern Turkey with fresh vegetables in any season other than summer, there is a constant traffic of trucks loaded with vegetables in the late evenings (starting from around 20:00-21:00) through the night originating from the town. These trucks are locally called roket — a fitting name as they rush their way to Istanbul (more or less 1000 km north) via Antalya and inland western Turkey (Afyon, Adapazarı) overnight, lest the vegetables spoil. The roket drivers tend to have a more favourable view of hitchers according to locals.

When hitching eastbound, the crossroads with traffic lights at the eastern edge of the town, where roads into town centre and towards the coastal neighbourhood branch off the main highway, is the most convenient spot. When hitching westbound, walk about 1 km west of the said crossroad, past another smaller junction again with traffic lights. If you want to try your luck with directly asking roket drivers, go to the main grocery warehouse (Sebze Hâli, or simply Hâl, pronounced like between hæl and the English "hull"), where they originate, located just south of the main crossroad on the eastern edge of the town, about 1 km down the road towards the coast.

As the highway D400 to both directions is essentially a very winding road through a very mountainous topography, expect your rides to take more than what they may appear on a map — Alanya is a mere 120 km to west, but reports of 5 hours to cover that distance is not unheard of. Keep in mind that bigger the vehicle, more it will take to get to the next town — this is true for anywhere else, but not as much as thumbing in Anamur.

Hitching from the ancient site of Anemurion (signed also as Anamurium and Anamuryum, depending on the signpost; about 8 km southwest of modern Anamur near the village of Ören, close to the highway to Antalya, and this is the actual site of the southernmost cape) to town centre is not very hard and you won't wait long for a lift but first you'll need to walk the 3-km connecting road to the main highway as there is virtually no traffic from/to the ruins from the main road.

isin: Turkey Anamur

Anamur