Wir fahren mit dem Rad von Hamburg ans Schwarze Meer :) Read more
  • Day 146

    Final

    September 28, 2018 in Georgia ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Es ist soweit! Unsere Radreise endet.

    Dauer: 4,5 Monate
    Km per Rad: ~ 7.400
    Länder: 16
    Max km/h: 85,66
    Pannen: 3
    Negative Voruteile bestätigt: KEINE
    Wahnsinnig tolle Menschen getroffen: Unzählige

    Thanks to all hosts and amazing people who have made this journey unforgettable and unique!!!!
    ...
    გმადლობ!
    Teşekür ederim!
    Spacibi!
    Mersi!
    благодаря!
    хвала!
    Hvala!
    Köszenem!
    Ďakujem!
    Doanke!
    Děkuji!
    Dziękuję!
    ...
    Danke an alle Gastgeber und Personen, die diese Reise unvergesslich und einzigartig gemacht haben!!!
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  • Day 143

    Georgien im Kaukasus

    September 25, 2018 in Georgia ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Ein Abstecher in den traumhaften Norden nach Mazeri und Mestia (Svaneti). Der Kaukasus bietet dort ein Wanderparadies. Seit 2010 wird dort stark in den Tourismus investiert. Die Region ist im Kommen. Erreichen kann man die Orte nur über eine Straße in 2,5 Std - 50km Serpentinen.
    Der Ushba mit seinen 4.736m ist der zweit höchste Berg im Kaukasus, jedoch gehört zu den schwierigst zu besteigenden Bergen.
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  • Day 138

    Mtirala National Park near Batumi

    September 20, 2018 in Georgia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    After we arrived in Batumi, Georgia, we decided to disvover the this country (in the 6 days left) by car and go hiking in the northern part 'Svaneti' in the Caucasus mountains.
    Batumi itself is a mixture between Las Vegas, Dubai and Nizza. Old rosty sowjet houses change with modern hotels. Casino licenses are cheap and Turkish people come to bet and gamble. My favorite place in Batumi is the local food bazaar. Old, wrinkled Georgians selling herbes, spices, whole pigs, hens and everything you can imagine. They speak only Georgian or Russian. The Georgian food is very tasty. Especially the eggplants with walnut pastry and of course the homemade wine! (but not all of them :D haha beware).
    We start our journey in Batumi and reach out to the Mtirala national park in the south. It is the wettest part in Georgia. The green color of the plants is intense. We hike to a waterfall and a clear water lake and then walk the long route trough dense forest. Fun fact: Only another German couple walks the long part. All other tourists climb in Flips Flops and evening robe to the waterfall to take the best picture possible. Suddenly, we see footsteps of bears in the mud! Brown bears live in the park but we did not meet them. (Fine for me ;)
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  • Day 136

    GEORGIA

    September 18, 2018 in Georgia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
  • Day 135

    Tea production

    September 17, 2018 in Turkey ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Our warmshower at the Çay house gives us a generous breakfast and we cycle to Hopa, the last larger town before the Georgian border. Along the way, it is full of tea plants everywhere. It is partly raining and the landscape is pretty green. We ask at several tea factories for a visit and at number 6, the women explains us how Lipton is producing the tea. However, entering is not allowed. Almost before dawn, we meet a very friendly security guy at the Çaykur tea factory, number 7, and he shows us the whole production site and explains each of the steps. Tea is made by fermentation. They add only water and heat. And as smaller the result, the better the tea quality.

    In Hopa, we meet a warmshower (a good friend of our host before) who is bringing us to his beach house. We can stay there for the night and listen to the ocean.

    It was our last full day in Turkey. From here, we can already see our final destination! Batumi in Georgia. It feels unbelievable that we have cycled so far. However, can't wait to cross the boarder and enjoy days of resting and holiday.
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  • Day 134

    Okey (Türkisches Rummikup) - Am Limit

    September 16, 2018 in Turkey ⋅ 🌙 20 °C

    Das Bild von den Haselnussbäumen, welche bislang den Großteile der Hänge gesäumt haben, wird nun von Teeplantagen abgelöst.

    In Rize, die Teestadt der Türkei, wird eine Teefabrik mit Cafe und Botanischem Garten besucht, zu der es ziemlich steil bergauf ging. Jo wollte wie immer oben ankommen ohne zu schieben, schaffte dies auch. Doch oben angekommen wurde sein Licht ein wenig gedimmt und die Farbe wich aus dem Gesicht vor Anstrengung. Nach einer kurzen Liege-Pause und etwas Zucker ging es aber schnell besser.

    Zum Übernachten ging es zum Warmshower Mustafa in sein Cay Cafe. Mustafa ist begeisterter Radfahrer und hat schon einige Rennen gewonnen. Uns wurde das Spiel Okey beigebracht.
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  • Day 133

    Breathtaking mountains

    September 15, 2018 in Turkey ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    This day has changed my view of Turkey. Here is why. We organized us a rental car in no time and went to the famous Sümela monastery first. It hangs in the rocks. The Greece Orthodox monastery was founded in the 4th century, it was abandoned in 1923 after the creation of the Turkish Republic and the ‘exchange of populations'. It is now a tourist magnet and recently under construction.

    We follow the road up the hill to a village. We feel like we moved to Mongolia and enjoy Köfte, salad and tea facing this view. We move further up and up the serpentines and need so stop every minute to take a picture. It looks so impressive! The mountains are 3.040 metres here and the pass is small. It is 11° only. We plan to go down on the other side and hit a real street there again.

    We take an old men with us who is hitchhiking :) He wanted to go to the next village to drink çay with his friends. So, we join for one tea and they show us the Orthodox church in their village where the cross can still be seen in the stone but it a mosque tower was added.

    It takes forever to drive down. When it is already dark, we take a girl and a woman hitchhiking with us. They want to buy eftek (bread) at the next bakery. It feels as Turkey must be really safe when women hitchhike in the dark somewhere in the mountain villages.

    I wished to have a drone to catch more of these breathtaking views. Turkish mountains are definitely a must! And they are worth the trip in itself. So, my view of Turkey has adjusted even more to the positive than before!
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  • Day 132

    Trabzon

    September 14, 2018 in Turkey ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Gestern Abend haben wir Yasars Restaurant mit Verwandten kennengelernt. Wir waren morgens zum Frühstück da. Es gab Suppe und Reis. Anschließend wurden wir noch mit den besten Haselnüssen und schwarzem Tee beschenkt. Die Strecke nach Trabzon war nicht besonders, aber mit Rückenwind.

    Unnützes Wissen:
    Der öffentliche Nahverkehr funktioniert hauptsächlich mit Minibussen. Es wird sich brav in der 100m langen Schlange angestellt und gesittet aus- und eingestiegen. Eine Fahrt kostet dann ca. 0,25€ und es darf überall ausgestiegen werden, auch wenn dort keine Bushaltestelle ist.
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  • Day 131

    Nothing special and a bit of history

    September 13, 2018 in Turkey ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Cycling today was good and fast. After an early start we are eager to make some metres and cycle 90km at once. Then, we enjoy swimming in a small stony bay in Tirebolu. Found a cheap pension and had an amazing sundowner on the beach. In the evening we ate with a view and got to know a guy whose parents have been living in Germany, told us a bit about the region and invited us for desert. Delicious. Again. The name of the city: Tirebolu developed from Tripolis (meaning: three cities)

    Interesting historical fact:
    This part of Turkey was inhabited by 1.400.000 Greece people. In 1923, the Turkish and Greece governments made a deal: They forced an exchange of the ethnic minorities. The Orthodox Greece population needed to leave Turkey and got exchanged by the Muslim population in Greece (400.000). It was an 'ethnic cleansing'. Consequences today: Empty and unused Orthodox churches along the coastline in Turkey and abandoned mosques in Greece.
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  • Day 130

    Psycho Stress im Tunnel

    September 12, 2018 in Turkey ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Der Weg an der vierspurigen Küstenstraße ist mittlerweile weitestgehend flach und verfügt über einen Standstreifen. Heute ging es jedoch noch einmal durch ein hügeliges Gebiet, mit einem 3,6km langem Tunnel (etwas länger als der Elbtunnel aber schlechter beleuchtet) ohne "sicheren" Standstreifen, bestückt mit einem kleinen blinkenden Rücklicht als Schutz.
    Im Tunnel hört man nur das ohrenbetäubende Heran-Donnern der LKWs. Die Angst sitzt einem im Nacken übersehen zu werden. Es ging aber alles gut.

    In Altinurdo ging es mit einer Gondel auf den Berg der Stadt mit einer schönen Aussicht. Es gab sogar eine Startbahn für Paragleiten.
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