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Go East
  • Herbert E
  • Meike Grothe

Go East

Een 175-daags avontuur van Herbert & Meike Meer informatie
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  • Go East
    View of the white city of Bodrum
    Some other tourist boatsLunch on the boatJumping off a boat is so much fun!!

    Last beach day for a while

    15 september 2020, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    This is the end of our Turkish Aegean adventure for now, the last day at the coast before heading to the center of Turkey. So we wanted to make the most of it and explore the wonderful bays around Bodrum by boat.
    As there were only expensive private boat trips from Güvercinlik, we had to cycle to Bodrum in the morning and get a boat from there. At least we got to see this nice and vibrant harbour town. We were amazed by how much money was lieing in the harbour: some of the yachts were bigger than houses.
    The boat trip was great! We went to some bays and islands to swim in the turquoise water. For lunch, we had chicken with unlimited salad and pasta. Interestingly, we were the only ones taking a second round while everyone else on the boat didn't even finish the first plate 🤔
    We got later than expected as they put us on the longer tour than we paid for. The guys were nice and we didn't complain. But in the end we had to cycle very fast back to our campground as the sun already set. Back in Güvercinlik, we enjoyed some Turkish food and a beer for dinner. Definitely a perfect last day at the coast!    Meer informatie

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  • Go East
    Last breakfast at the sea
    Hilly roads and steep climbsVillage lifeOld Kervansaray and mosque in the background in MilasThe boys cleaning our bicyclesAlp fixing his flat tyre

    Finally we got one...

    16 september 2020, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    The wind is predictable here: In the morning, it comes from the mountains, so basically Northeastern. At about 10am, it changes to West and blows from the sea. As we are going to go inland, this gave us a quiet morning with a last swim in the sea, breakfast with a view and a coffee in the harbour. We finally left at 10am and cycled with tailwinds towards Milas. Of course, we took backroads, so a lot of steep climbing was involved. The contrast between the seaside and the mountains was immense. Only 20km from Bodrum, people led their cows through the villages and horses and chickens ran around. What a difference to those million dollar yachts we saw yesterday.
    We arrived in Milas and here our really lucky day started. After about 20 attempts to buy a local SIM card in different shops and cities, we finally found a shop that seemed to skip some formal processes, sold us a SIM and it even worked after 2 hours. Wohoo, we are not dependent on restaurant wifis anymore 👍
    While waiting in front of a shop for the SIM card to work, the owner of the shop ordered tea for us - just like that. They use some walky-talky system here that is connected to a tea shop. 5 minutes later, a guy walked over with the tea on a tablet. Walking delivery service so to say 😀
    We also bought some bread in the bakery. When he saw our bikes and heard about our trip, he gave us water to fill up our bottles. Again - just like this. We then wanted to clean our chains and went to a car wash. The two young guys straight away agreed to clean our bicycles - and refused to take any money for it. The bikes haven't been this shiny in ages!
    Last but not least, we went to our host Alp. His mum cooked dinner for us and we spent the evening talking a lot about the Turkish society. He is also a bike mechanic, so he and Herbert also exchanged some technical information about the bicycles.    Meer informatie

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  • Go East
    Leaving Milas and Alp's place
    Morning views in the mountainsHerbert playing chess with Ekin while Bahar is watchingÖznur cooking ketchup while the rest of the crew is watching and drinking tea

    Turkish mountains

    17 september 2020, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Turkey has a lot of mountains! We knew we had to climb a lot today, so we started early. Alp got up to say goodbye. The road into the mountains was perfect! A smooth climb, relatively smooth asphalt and amazing views! Probably the nicest road we've had in Turkey so far.
    In all of the area here, we see a lot of mining, mostly marble. Unfortunately, this comes with quite some big trucks on the second part of the road. Luckily, it was quite wide, so there was enough space for us and the trucks.
    Around 3:30pm, we arrived in a small village in the mountains and were warmly welcomed by Cemil, his wife Öznur and their daughters Ekin and Bahar. They have a cute house with a big garden and many chickens. Thus, they get about 70% of their food from their little "farm". Herbert played chess with Ekin while I praticed yoga, headstands and somersaults with Bahar. We enjoyed their yummy homemade sugarfree cookies and a delicious dinner. They also make their own ketchup. As they make it without sugar, it actually tastes really good!!    Meer informatie

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  • Go East
    Saying goodbye to Cemil and his family (their neighbour in the background also came over to meet us quickly)
    Valley view before descending

    Long valley ride

    18 september 2020, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Our day started with a Turkish breakfast Cemil prepared for us. Then, all family members got up to say goodbye to us. It was nice and cool at an elevation above 600m, a perfect temperature for cycling. We had the hardest part of the route in the morning. 2 long and steep climbs with a descent in between in the first 10km. Afterwards, we had an epic downhill ride on a small road into a huge flat. Unfortunately, it was steep, so another 10km later we were back at 50m above sea level.
    From here, we had another 120km ahead of us, all along this pretty flat valley. First on bad but quiet secondary roads, then on the highway. Luckily, we had tailwinds as soon as we reached the highway, so we could roll fast on the smooth asphalt. And the traffic wasn't as bad as expected either. At some stage, we stopped for lunch at a small shop and bought something to drink with our lunch. The owner of the shop was so nice, he brought us 2 chairs and a table to sit and make our breads and also gave us a big bottle of water and some crackers.
    The last 30km were slower again as we took small roads to Pamukkale where we were going to spend the night. We checked into a family run hotel, went for a swim in the pool and took a walk through the town. The town is built because of the white travertine terraces and the ancient ruins. Therefore, there's no real town center and most buildings are either hotels or restaurants. It doesn't even have a supermarket, so it was quite hard to find vegetables for dinner. However, we found some in the end and cooked dinner on our balcony.    Meer informatie

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  • Go East
    Pamukkale travertine terraces and poolsMany lizards on the site - this one climbed on the old tombsMain street in the ancient cities of Hierapolis (top) and Laodikeia (bottom)Amphitheatres in Hierapolis (top) and Laodicea (bottom) in different stages of reconstruction

    Pamukkale

    19 september 2020, Turkije ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Today, we slept in until 5:45am when the muezzin called for the first time. We turned around and woke up again around 7am, as some hot air balloons flew passed our hotel. It's almost worse as the Bavarian churches! So we got up and had breakfast...
    Then we explore the site of Pamukkale with its impressive travertine terraces and pools. You can enter the park directly from the town center and then walk up on the limestone and through the pools. At the top, there were crazy amounts of tourists, mainly Russians. It was a little fun to watch their bikini photo shootings in the pools...
    To avoid the crowds, we took a longer walk away from the pools but along these impressive white formations until we got to the ruins of Hierapolis. We really enjoyed it as we could well imagine how the ancient city looked like some 2000 years ago. We visited the old main Street with the bath buildings, the necropolis and the huge theatre and saw lots of lizards on the way.
    Then we went back to the hotel, had some lunch and packed our bikes to continue our trip. On the way to Denizli, we stopped at Laodikeia, another ancient city. They are in the process of reconstructing it, so there's still lots of lose rocks and single columns lieing or standing around. Here, they had even 2 huge theaters and what must have been very beautiful houses in those years. As Laodikeia is located on a hill, you can even see the white Pamukkale terraces far away.
    The last few kilometers into Denizli were a pain due to heavy traffic, so we were happy when we could have dinner in a small restaurant and meet our host Murat. He actually wanted to go out with us for having a trink and playing fussball, but after a day of seeing lot's of old stones we were too tired and fell asleep.    Meer informatie

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  • Go East
    Breakfast with coffee at a gas station
    The Turkish MaldivesRain break at a restaurantBeer with a view

    Rain in the Maldives

    20 september 2020, Turkije ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    To leave Dinizli, we had to go on the main road to Antalya. Luckily, traffic wasn't as bad as expected. The center of Turkey lies about 1000m above sea level with higher mountains all around. So today, we had to climb to get there. For the first time since the Bulgarian mountains, it was cloudy. So when we stopped for breakfast, we had to put on our jackets. The Shell gas station was a good choice as they sold proper coffee and had a comfy swing to relax.
    We continued our route and it cleared up. However, when we reached Salda Lake - or the "Turkish Maldives" - we already saw a thunderstorm nearby. We quickly visited the colourful beach and went to a restaurant when it started raining cats and dogs. At least we stayed dry and had some savory pancakes.
    When it stopped raining, we rode to another beach where it is allowed to camp and swim. However, swimming is not really what you do. When you enter the water, you sink in in the mud, so you have to be careful and fast. Afterwards, the ground gets harder, but it's only knee-deep. So we basically just had a bath to wash of the sweat.
    We also met Dimi and Alexandra, a Russian couple who have been in Turkey since February as they can't get back to Russia with their car due to border closures. They drove us to the next supermarket, so we could get a beer to enjoy with the lake view.    Meer informatie

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  • Go East
    Sunrise at Lake Salda
    A stop at the bakerySmooth asphalt roads with mountains to each sideThe last hill - only downhill from now on :)Our campground beach1Birthday dinner at the lake

    Bday presents

    21 september 2020, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    The Turkish people are just amazing! We didn't have a spectacular route for Herbert's birthday this year, but some great experiences and lots of little bday presents. First, we stopped at a bakery to buy some bread. When the owner heard us speaking German, he invited us for a tea and he gave us another piece of pastry each for free. He had lived in Germany before coming back to Turkey 9 years ago.
    We continued for some 25km kilometres and stopped at a water spring to eat our breakfast. After some minutes, 2 gentlemen arrived and picked some plums for us from their tree. They got more chairs and sat next to us a the table although we couldn't really communicate (sign language has its limitations...).
    Later along the route, we wanted to buy some green pepper and tomatoes from a roadside stall. The owner was so impressed by our itenary that he packed us a whole bag of green peppers and also added a water melon. And he didn't want any money for it.
    So the last hill was quite exhausting for me as I had to carry all the extra food in my front panniers. However, we made it up the hill and could already see Eğirdir Lake, our destination for the night. We found a campground right at the beach, went for a swim and had dinner at this beautiful spot. Good there's quite some lakes in central Turkey, so we can still swim regularly so far.    Meer informatie

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  • Go East
    Second breakfast with Erol and his familyTea break at the mountain passThe mountaineering club of Akşehir

    Mountain club adventure

    22 september 2020, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    What a wonderful day on the bikes! We headed off the campground and went around Lake Eğirdir for about 35km. The lake is a beauty the road goes directly along the water for most of the time. We also met Erol who is travelling around Turkey with his wife, daughter and granddaughter in a VW van. They invited us to their lake view breakfast although we could communicate in sign language only.
    The next part of the day was relatively flat until we had to climb up the highest pass in Turkey so far. What was not so much of a problem for us was too hard for one of the cars that broke down just before the top. On the way up, there was a nice picnic area with a view and a freshwater spring, so that's where we stopped for lunch. And at the top, we had a tea in a little tentlike building. The owners gave us some grapes with it when they heard about our tour.
    The views on the other side of the pass were spectacular! We descended down a canyon and could see the desert in front of us.
    In Akşehir, we could stay at the mountaineering club. Berkay, the warmshowers host, wasn't in town but talked to his friends who were happy to let us sleep in the building. Berkay had also organized dinner for us: his mum delivered home made food to the club 😉    Meer informatie

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  • Go East
    Water stop at a spring next to a mosque
    Lunch with Mevlüt at the gas stationOur view all of the day...Campspot for the night

    Different world

    23 september 2020, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    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.    Meer informatie

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  • Go East
    Breakfast with Hadji
    Some trees in the middle of nowhere mark the turn to the salt lake11Entrance of the KervansarayInside the Kervansaray

    Salt Lake

    24 september 2020, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    We didn't make it to Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, but Turkey has a huge Salt Lake to offer instead. So that's where we went today. On the way, Hadji stopped us right at the time when we were looking for a breakfast place. He invited us to join him because he saw us on the road and generally enjoys company for his meals. As he used to live in Switzerland 20 years ago, he could speak some German, so communicating wasn't to difficult.
    We met lots of friendly greeting people and had to turn down some offers for a talk or tea as we still had a long and exhausting way to go. In order to get to Tuz Gölü (= Salt Lake), we had to cycle on a long dirt road through a lot of flat nothingness. As it hasn't rained since April, the lake was completely dry and we could walk, cycle and make funny photos on the white salt.
    After some time, we continued to Sultanhanı where we are staying on a small family run campground. Here, we visited the Kervansaray which used to be a safe accommodation for the merchants along the silk road.    Meer informatie

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  • Go East
    According to rumors it's a Star Wars movie placeIhlara caynonGreek stone houses and rock cathedralFrescos in the rock churchesBiwak spot for the night

    Fascinating canyons

    25 september 2020, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Good we didn't camp at the salt lake as we had originally planned. Because at 4am, we woke up by the sound of a storm. On the salt lake, there would have been no protection at all. On the campground, we were protected by walls, so we only had to cope with a dirty tent in the morning as all the sand came down with the rain.
    Anyways, it 7am, the weather was back to normal and we could start cycling. It was only another 50km on a flat highway (where I got my second flat tyre on our trip) before we finally reached a more interesting region again: We arrived in Kappadokyia which is famous for its spectacular rock formations, fairy chimneys, rock churches, canyons, valleys and underground cities.
    We saw the great rock formations of Selime cathedral, climbed around in the houses carved in the rocks and enjoyed a panoramic view and Ihlara valley. We then continued to Belisirma, a small village in the middle of Ihlara valley where we wanted to camp at one of the restaurants. We visited the old part of the village which is full of old Greek stone houses and then entered Ihlara valley via a back entrance for a hike. The valley is super impressive! A deep canyon with rock churches on both sides. We hiked for a couple of hours and admored the frescos you can see in the churches. Then we returned to the restaurant where we had a big dinner. As it's a tourist place, the price was a bit of a rip off, but it was good at least. At night, we set camp right next to the river. We could sleep in our sleeping bags only, no tent needed :)    Meer informatie

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  • Go East
    View of Mt Hasan
    Fun and scenic dirt roads todaySadegh giving us a tour through his typical Greek stone houseMonastery Valley in GüzelyurtExploring Derinkuyu underground city

    Underground city

    26 september 2020, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Our day started with a steep climb out of the valley again. Back at the top, we could finally see Mt. Hasan, one of the 3 volcanoes in this region that caused those fascinating rock formations with their eruptions. Cycling was like visiting an open air museum, the landscape and the villages were just beautiful! We passed the villages of Ihlara and Ilisu with their old Greek stone houses, we got more great views of Ihlara valley and another canyon near Güzelyurt and found a couple of scenic dirt roads as well.
    In Güzelyurt, Sadegh invited us for some tea, told us more about Güzelyurt and showed us his home: a renovated Greek stone house. It was actually very cosy inside! We also made his Dutch wife who woke up during our tour through the house. In the end, he gave us some cucumbers and tomatoes from his garden to take with us.
    We had our real breakfast in the centre of Güzelyurt before continuing our ride. We passed many small volcanoes and really enjoyed the colours around us given by the volcanic landscape.
    In Derinkuyu, we visited an underground city which was awesome! It has 8 floors and is, according to the signs, the biggest in the world. It was fun walking and climbing around. It's crazy what our ancestors have carved in the rock!
    As Derinkuyu itself wasn't too appealing, we decided to continue all the way to Göreme, the heart of Cappadocia. It's very touristy, however, the landscape here is unreal. But more about this tomorrow.. . So far, we found a small hotel and relaxed in the backyard.    Meer informatie

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  • Go East
    Some sand riding around the fairy chimneys near Göreme
    Column rock church in Zelve valleyA beer in the hotel garden with our new puppy friend

    Exploring Cappadocia

    27 september 2020, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Today was dedicated to exploring Cappadocia . First, we went to the nearby rock formations. Cycling in between those fairy chimneys felt unreal, it was so cool! We also tested our bikes' offroad suitability as we had to cycle on sand. Without all the weight of the luggage and with less air in the tubes, it actually worked well.
    Afterwards, we cycled and hiked to some viewpoints, checked out Paşabağ, Devrent, Zelve and some other valleys and passed by the old Greek town of Ürgüp. All was totally impressive and great fun to explore!
    In the evening, we walked around Göreme town and admired the hotels that are built in the fairy chimneys. We also got ourselves a couple of beers to drink to our birthdays.    Meer informatie

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  • Go East
    Göreme in the dark
    12Bridge across River Kızılırmak in AvanosLate afternoon view of the rock formations

    Balloon watching

    28 september 2020, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Wake up time: 5am. As we are in Cappadocia, we really wanted to watch the hot air balloons. And as they start before sunrise, we had to hike up to the viewpoint early as well. So we climbed up to a cliff right next to the town center. The village was still lieing in the dark, but we could watch the minibuses driving around picking up customers and transporting the baskets for the balloons.
    And suddenly, we heard the sound of the air getting blown into the balloons. It got brighter and all around us, we started seeing more and more balloons standing up. And one after the other left the ground. In the end, we counted about 70 colourful hot air balloons around us - what a fantastic view!
    After this start, we had a quiet day. We cycled to Avanos in order to get new chains for the bikes. The first bikeshop only had very cheap ones that are not suitable for our type of touring, so we tried to find another one with the help of some locals. The second shop had one good quality chain - and an Afghani mechanic who spoke some very basic English and was called to translate. As they had never worked on a Rohloff setup before, they were totally confused and didn't know how to change the chain. So Herbert had to show them. In the end, it worked out and everyone was happy.
    We checked out the town center, which was actually quite nice, and had some lunch. Interesting to see that prices are about 20-30% of the Göreme prices only because it's not touristy. Back at the hostel, we went for a swim in the pool and Herbert did some bike maintenance. Then we went for a walk around town again and hiked to the cliff again, this time to get a sunset view of the rock formations here.    Meer informatie

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  • Go East
    Blow up process
    1Kayseri castle and a German dinner

    Balloon ride

    29 september 2020, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Yesterday, we only watched the balloons, today we flew in one of them. So again, a very early wakeup call. We got picked up at 5:15am and were driven to the starting point. The balloon was huge, carrying a basket with 24 people plus 2 pilots. However, the flight was incredible! Our pilot alternated between navigating close by the fairy chimneys and flying high above the ground for the panoramic views and the sunrise.
    After the flight, we had breakfast at the hostel and left for Kayseri. We followed the highway, so cycling wasn't too interesting. But we got some nice views of Mt. Erciyes, a volcano with an altitude of over 3900m, which is located right next to the city.
    Kayseri is huge, it has almost 1.4 million inhabitants. There's a nice castle in the center and a busy market. But other than that, cycling in cities is no fun, so we headed straight to Türker, our warmshowers host for the night. For dinner, we cooked German "Bratkartoffeln" for him and his flatmates, went to an icecream shop and had some really nice discussions with the guys.    Meer informatie

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  • Go East
    Breakfast at the small roadside shop
    View of Mt. Erciyes, now with the top in cloudsApproaching Tuzla Gölü, the small salt lake2Dinner with a view

    Away from the tourists

    30 september 2020, Turkije ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    We are heading further East, a region away from the normal tourist route. To get out of Kayseri, we took the main road. Lots of traffic, but fast. We caught some nice views of Mt. Erciyes again. It had rained in the city last night. But above 3500m it must have snowed, as top of the volcano was covered in a thin layer of snow.
    After 30km, we stopped at a small roadside shop to buy some bread for breakfast. And here we encountered Turkish hospitality again. After having bought 1 bread for just over 10 Euro Cents, the shop owner asked his son to get us some green peppers and tomatoes out of his garden, gave us a bottle of water each and put a table and a couple of chairs, so we could have a proper breakfast. We then bought two more breads and he got us more tomatoes and peppers...
    After breakfast, we continued on a secondary road. We enjoyed the silence without all the cars, the colours of the landscape and the views. We passed Tuzla Gölü, a small salt lake. This time, we caught a panoramic view from above as it's located in between some mountains. But we couldn't cycle on it as the first few meters were too muddy to get on the salty part.
    Shortly after the lake, a car stopped. The driver spoke German and was up for a chat. He was currently on holidays in Turkey, but had been living in Munich for the last 30 years. He asked if he could help with anything, but we were all good then.
    With the help of the wind, we cycled quickly to Şarkışla, where we wanted to stay for the night. We went to a restaurant next to a public park to have dinner and ask if it's safe to sleep in the park. The owner directly offered us to find a place on the restaurant area. And as it had nice wooden platforms with a roof, we decided to just set up camp on one of them.    Meer informatie

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  • Go East
    Waking up with the sunrise
    Breakfast timeAmazing colours of the landscape around usOld center in SivasA storm just passed by the lake

    Countryside backroads

    1 oktober 2020, Turkije ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    When you open your eyes in the morning and you can see the sunrise, you know you had found the right place to sleep :)
    We left the restaurant at about 7am, bought some bread in the city centre and turned on the highway to get some kilometres in before breakfast. After around 35km, we could turn onto a backroad and had our breakfast on a bridge. Then we continued to Sivas. We really enjoyed the ride as we basically had the road to ourselves and views were fascinating. The colours of the mountains are so beautiful in this region!
    In Sivas, we stopped for lunch. The city seems to be nice. It has an old center with impressive buildings and busy markets. After s short break, we continued to Havik where we cooked dinner at a picnic area at a lake and set up camp.    Meer informatie

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  • Go East
    Lale Tödürge
    3rd highest point on our tripSome trees - and some of them already turned to autumn colours...View from our hotel

    Dead bear canyon

    2 oktober 2020, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Winter is coming slowly, even in Turkey. The temperature at night drops below 10°C and we have to deal with the occasional rain from now on. Last night, we were happy we could sit out the rain under those picnic table roofs. This morning, we could wait it out in the tent. But it also means that our days get shorter as we don't have that much dry cycle time in daylight anymore.
    However, luckily, the day has been wonderful again. At first, we passed some small lakes with super clear water. Unfortunately, they are all very flat and the ground is muddy, so they are not suitable for swimming.
    After we passed the town of Zara, the road led through a canyon and we had to climb above an elevation of 2000m. The first time we passed this mark in Turkey and the 3rd highest point on our Go East trip so far. Interestingly, there's some trees here the further up you go.
    On the way down, we also follwed a canyon. Unfortunately, we saw a dead baby bear next to the road. We were totally surprised there's bears in this area as it's still pretty dry and the forest is not really big. And it was sad to see that this little bear was obviously hit by a car.
    As we were looking forward to a proper shower, we decided to stay in a hotel tonight. Not particularly nice, but at least we had a scenic view from the 8th floor.    Meer informatie

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  • Go East
    Second breakfast at a picnic spot at a spring
    Our main "host" EmirhanCampspot with a view

    10.000 km and more canyons

    3 oktober 2020, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Cycling in Turkey is a real pleasure! Today was a great example of why we like it so much. No. 1: The landscape is just breathtaking. Today, we cycled on canyon roads again. There was almost no traffic, so we could really enjoy our surroundings! No. 2: Logistics are relatively easy. There's many fresh water springs along the road, so we can regularly fill up our water bottles without buying plastic bottles or having to worry about how many extra litres of water we have to carry. Often, there's also a picnic area with tables and benches, sometimes even toilets. Wild camping is also legal and safe, so we usually find a good and quiet spot. Like today, where we are camping with a lake and mountain view. No. 3: The Turkish hospitality. Again, we met some really nice people. After we missed a lunch invitation due to communication problems, we met 2 teenagers at a gas station in Şiran. They invited us to some tea (of course), then took us to a restaurant, so we could eat something. Next stop was a tea shop again where they also filled up our water bottles and got us some local dessert called pestil köme (nuts in a sweet creme). Many people came by, we walked around the main street a couple of times, and after 2 hours I think we've "talked" (thanks to Google Translate again...) to everyone in the village. They wanted us to stay for longer, but it was getting late and we wanted to get to a nice camp spot. So we said goodbye and continued a few kilometres until we found our campspot.
    And as a side note: We passed the 10.000km since we left for this Panamerica Substitute Trip.    Meer informatie

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  • Go East
    1Morning view (3°C) at our campspot
    Our new friends "Forest" and "Gumpy"View at the passView from the Torul platformHaving tea with our host Hamdi

    Walk the dogs

    4 oktober 2020, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    This morning, we had some super nice dog company. "Forest" and "Gumpy", how we called them, saw us when we turned back onto the road after leaving our camp. And then they followed us as long as they could. The first 20km, we had to cycle up a pass - again we passed an elevation of 2000m. As we went slowly, the two dogs could easily run next to the bicycles. On the short downhills, they ran as fast as they could and didn't give up until they caught us again. We were really surprised! They even defended us against a couple of other dogs that came running and barking towards us.
    At the top of the pass, we stopped for a second breakfast and the stunning views and dried our tent. Of course, we shared our food and water with our faithful new friends.
    However, the rest of our cycling day was downhill, so we had to say goodbye to the two dogs. They couldn't follow us going down with 65km/h. But we are sure, they'll have a good life and get by well.
    On the way down, we stopped at a little shop in a mosque to have a cold drink. The owner saw us eating our bread. However, in Turkey it seems you don't eat just bread, so he brought us some olives and tomatoes to eat with it. How nice!
    When we got to Torul, we were going to meet our warmshowers host Hamdi. While we were waiting, gentleman invited us to some tea. We spent the rest of the day with Hamdi who took care of us very well. First, we walked up to a viewing platform where we had a panoramic view over Torul and the valley and some coffee. Then, we went to a local restaurant in the centre of the village before finishing the night with some tea and melon in his apartment over very interesting conversations.    Meer informatie

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  • Go East
    Goodbye dry side (= good weather)
    Entering the rabbit hole1Sümela MonasteryFrescos in the church of the monastery complex

    Mountain Monastery

    5 oktober 2020, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    In the morning, we said goodbye to Hamdi after a huge Turkish breakfast. Our plan for today was to see Sümela Monastery, an impressive site built high up right at a cliff some 1600 years ago.
    In order to get there, we had to climb up to an elevation of 1800m again (from 900m) and enter a tunnel. The tunnel was like the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderful - we came out in the Alps, at least that's what is felt like. Everything was greener, we could see grass - similar to the valleys in the Alps. After the tunnel, we had a long and kind of scary downhill through tunnels and passing a lot of construction work.
    Then we arrived in Maçka, at an elevation of about 400m. Here, we found a campsite at a restaurant, so we could leave our bags there. Then, we climbed again up to 1300m to get to the monastery. The last bit was steep and gravel which made it extra tough.
    The monastery itself is quite impressive. No idea how they could actually built this so long ago. Unfortunately, at least half of it was under reconstruction, so we couldn't visit all of it.
    Going back to the camp was quick. We cooked dinner and Herbert tried the Sütlaç for desert which is famous for this region.    Meer informatie

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  • Go East
    Breakfast in Trabzon
    Black Sea coastMain square in Rize1Traditional Rize dress and popular photo pointTea with Nihal, Esma and their friends in an ancient houseTea with Murat and his family in a park café in Rize

    Pitstop at the Black Sea

    6 oktober 2020, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Cycling wasn't too much fun today. First, we had to descend some 400m further on the crazy highway with its countless tunnels and construction sites. At least we avoided the headwinds coming from the sea by leaving early. We had breakfast at the Atatürk Square in Trabzon. The city itself seemed to be dirty and full of traffic, so we continued quickly. But we had reached the Black Sea which was our goal :) Unfortunately, there's only a highway along the coast and it's quite busy. It's frustrating to see the sea but not being able to reach it because the guardrails stop you from crossing to the other side. We wanted to stop for a swim, but most of the coastline was artificially constructed with huge boulders. And at the only beach we spotted, there was no intersection to cross to the seaside anywhere near.
    So we continued to Rize where we met with the two sisters Nihal and Esma who hosted us in the clubhouse of the local rafting and mountaineering association.
    We had a very eventful and fun evening with them. First, we went to Nihal's workplace. Her manager wanted to get to know us, so we had a coffee with him. Next, we had Cigköfte at a small restaurant. The dish is similar to a vegetarian Lamahcun, spicy and very yummy. Afterwards, we went to a café in an ancient Turkish house, kind of a museum. We had tea and some of Nihal's friends joined us. Nihal had fun reading our fortunes in the patterns of the coffee dregs and all of us laughed a lot. Then, we went to a dance school where we got a private performance of some Latin dances. Some more friends joined and we had tea and biscuits together after having tried a local Turkish dance.
    Esma had to translate all night as no one else spoke English.
    Last but not least, we met Murat and his family in the city center. Murat hosted us in Denizli and was on a road trip in the Northeast of Turkey. He had contacted us a few days ago as he knew we were going there. Good to meet people on the road a second time :)
    Thus, a long and social day came to an end late. It also marked the turn-around point of our tour as we won't continue further East on this trip. The coming borders are complicated for various reasons, so we are just going to explore more of beautiful Turkey.    Meer informatie

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  • Go East
    Swimming in the Black Sea
    Little India valleyCrazy tunnel constructions everywhereFreezing at dinner

    Little India

    7 oktober 2020, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    There was no rush this morning, as time is on our side going back. So we slept in til 7am, got ready and went back the same highway we came yesterday. However, today it was a lot better as we were on the coastside of the road. So we could easily stop for breakfast at one of the picnic places with seaview and stop at a closed beach for a swim when we saw one. So finally, we also got to swim in the Black Sea which is a lot warmer than the Aegean Sea.
    Then we turned South into the mountains again and started climbing. Here, we felt a bit like in India. The valley was green and steep and full of tea plantations. It really reminded us of the Munnar region in the South of India.
    The ride was very enjoyable as the valley was just stunning! The only downside was the ongoing construction. The road was perfectly ok, 1 lane in each direction and not much traffic. However, for some reason, the government thinks it is necessary to turn it into a big highway with 2 lanes in each direction. And as there is no space in between the mountains and the river, they just drill tunnels everywhere. What a waste of money and destruction of the environment!
    At around 4pm, we reached a picnic area with camping option and decided to stay. The sun was already behind the mountains, so it got cold very quickly at an elevation of 1350m. We hurried up to cook dinner and get ready for bed. So at 6:30pm, we were huddled up in our warm sleeping bags.    Meer informatie

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  • Go East
    Breakfast at the camp with one of the camp dogs
    Scenic view of the North side of the pass4Dry South side with very basic mountain houses1Our campspot for the night

    Ovit pass

    8 oktober 2020, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Today was definitely one of the most scenic stages of our tour. We had breakfast at our campsite and had to go back into climbing mode straight away. After only 18km, we had climbed over 1300m to reach the highest point of the pass and our Europe trip so far. We could have cycled through a 14km-long tunnel and save 450m, but of course we chose the scenic road over the pass. It was tough, but totally worth it!
    Going down was cold, but great fun! Most of it was a smooth 4-lane road which we had almost to ourselves. The scenery was very different on this side of the pass. It had changed from green to brown again and at the top, there was no vegetation at all. Unbelievable how people can live there permanently in those wooden sheds or tentlike buildings.
    After the descend, we had to climb again. We made another 450m of elevation gain and then pitched our tent a bit away from the road. We had great sunset views here, but it's also VERY windy. We hope it will calm down once the temperature decreases as well.    Meer informatie

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  • Go East
    3 passes todaySpace tunnel in Turkey

    Fighting the autumn wind

    9 oktober 2020, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    I think we chose a pretty good season to visit this part of Turkey. The colours are just incredible! Most of the mountains here are dry, but when there are trees, they are shining bright in yellow and red.
    Our profile was tough though, we had to climb 3 passes of about 2300m elevation. But the worst were the headwinds! All day we had to fight against the wind which was really tiring. In the end, we decided to stay at a hotel to finish the day with a much needed hot shower. The first hotel we saw was right next to a highway, so we continued. The next hotel Google indicated didn't exist and the only other one in that town was full. So we had to cycle another 15km against strong headwinds to reach Erzurum. 5km before town, Herbert had a flat tyre. We were exhausted and it was getting close to sunset, so we only pumped it up and took the first hotel we could find. It was pretty crap, but we couldn't bother to search any longer and at least it was close to restaurants and shops. The shower was semi-cold unfortunately, but hey - we'll survive...    Meer informatie

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