Frantic Firtina drags us into its frenzied, adrenaline-fueled dance and refuses to let go… like a battle with waves that roar and carry you straight into the unknown. So I invite you to experience the ultimate wave ride on the FIRTINA River in Ardeshen...
This happened during our trip to the Trabzon region of Turkey, where we settled for a few days on the banks of a mountain river in a wooden bungalow, and our intentions were completely different: to explore this rain-filled and foggy piece of Turkish land, where Turkish tea is born.
The journey Kemer - Rize - Kemer 3000 km - is part of our #TheLongestTrip, exploring the great Turkey
We arrived late at night, and were enchanted by our own sense of the magic of the powerful river, where we were lucky enough to sleep, and be lulled by this beautiful song of the raging mountain stream outside the window... And in the morning we woke up, and in the rain went to the shore, where we saw people starting rafting near our bungalow!
I remembered my old dream: to try rafting in the Carpathians, in Ukraine, one day... But for some reason it didn't work out. The children were small, I didn't have the opportunity, I didn't want to take risks... and now I'm fired up. In fact, the driving force behind this was my 
The owner of our bungalow also organizes rafting. Of course, he promised us a discount. The standard price is 1500 TL per person. For us, 1000 Turkish liras. So instead of 4500 for three people, we paid 3000 TL (about $75). And so we arrived at the office, where we were dressed appropriately: helmets, clothes, rubber shoes, and given oars. We took a bus upstream, passing the famous Timisvat bridge, where we boarded our victorious inflatable boat ⛵😊
The captain of our boat has been rafting since he was 16, for 7 years now. So, he has a good experience in how to deal with this crazy element, and it is truly admirable. Constantly working with oars while rafting has made his figure very strong. The broad shoulders and strong arms of this guy inspired confidence. And we, four girls, politely followed our captain's commands. When he said "Hey!" - we said "Go!" , and rowed our oars together. But it seemed like it was a show for a video. Because only he really directed our boat in the direction he needed, knowing every stone and every whirlpool of this powerful river, with which he seemed to have a contract!
We chose a day for rafting when it was raining very heavily, thinking: we will still be wet, but the impressions will be even stronger! The wet nature around adds a sense of mysticism to the events. Green mountain slopes in the fog that sometimes spreads over the water. We swam under ancient stone bridges, feeling like heroes of an adventure movie!
We stopped opposite this bridge to take some nice photos to remember 😊
We were happily swaying on the waves of this mighty exciting river, actively rowing and shouting our words, full of excitement from this crazy adventure. Our captain approached my daughter 
It's hard to describe in words my state when I saw this joke! At that moment we were not funny. But this self-confident man picked up my daughter with one hand, like a feather, and put her back in the boat. This is rafting without rules. What would your reaction be? We were too excited, full of adrenaline, to sort things out! And happy that everything ended safely, we continued our rafting!
At the last stage of our journey, the feeling of adrenaline intensified!
Firtina translates as "stormy"! The water swirled our boat in crazy eddies, turning it 180 degrees! We screamed wildly at the moment when our boat hit a large stone, but the skilled captain was like the master of this element, and the boat smoothly moved on in harmony with the turbulent flow, which gently and tenderly held us in its embrace. When the waves toss the boat, and the splashes of cold mountain water hit our faces - we felt like a part of the river, its wild power...
Finally, wet and full of impressions, we moored to the shore, where a bus was waiting for us, which took us to the office. There we were treated to tea and Turkish coffee from a branded cup. I was happy that my old dream had come true. And now I was looking at this raging river from the balcony of the cafe, not even believing that I was there and was a part of this natural element a few minutes ago!
At the end, our crazy charismatic captain gave us another gift. Zipline over the FIRTINA River! This was the dream of my Darinka, who loves adrenaline. I was always afraid of this! But you can't refuse a gift 😄 Thus, we flew twice over this crazy river, which gave us so many unforgettable impressions!
Thank you to everyone who has been following the adventures of our #TheLongestTrip. Very soon I will write a report post on the third year, which was so eventful! I hope I was able to convey to you the crazy energy of the Firtina River 🙂
Thank you for your visit 😊 💕