Different world

For the first time here in Turkey, we had a very boring route. Everything is relatively flat and dry in this region, only some rare agriculturally used land. So our goal was to cycle as many kilometres as possible. At first, we followed a busy highway which was no fun, but fast at least. After 75km,we were looking for a place to eat when suddenly a man came running towards us. He was the owner of the gas station we had passed 200m ago and he invited us to join him for lunch (which he had just cooked) and tea (of course). This can only happen in Turkey!
After lunch, we had enough of the highway and turned into secondary roads. Finally, the noise of the cars was gone. However, cycling got harder as the wind had picked up (against us) and roads got a little worse.
So after 140km we called it a day. We had arrived in Altinekin which is a small village and really in the middle of nowhere. In general, it seems like a different world here. People seem to be more religious (more women are covered and people greet in the religious way), houses look more run down, people stare at us even more... We asked around where we could possibly pitch our tent for the night and got pointed to a public park. What a perfect spot! Located on a hill with a 360° view, picnic tables and a water source. We didn't want to pitch the tent before dark, so we went back to the center to buy groceries. Here, we got invited to some tea again, so we sat down with some locals at the village tea shop. Then we started cooking at our campspot. 2 guys came by and invited us to their restaurant for dinner. Too bad we had started cooking already. Next, a family came up the hill to say hi. I think, the whole village knows we are here by now, so let's see if more people are going to show up.Read more