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Go East

mai - november 2020
Et 175-dagers eventyr av Herbert & Meike Les mer
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  • Go East
    1

    Mountain Monastery

    5. oktober 2020, Tyrkia ⋅ ☀️ 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.    Les mer

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  • Go East
    1

    Pitstop at the Black Sea

    6. oktober 2020, Tyrkia ⋅ ☀️ 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.    Les mer

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  • Go East

    Little India

    7. oktober 2020, Tyrkia ⋅ ☀️ 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.    Les mer

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  • Go East
    41

    Ovit pass

    8. oktober 2020, Tyrkia ⋅ ☀️ 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.    Les mer

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  • Go East

    Fighting the autumn wind

    9. oktober 2020, Tyrkia ⋅ ☀️ 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...    Les mer

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  • Go East

    Entering Kurdistan

    10. oktober 2020, Tyrkia ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Our hostel offered a buffet for breakfast. Pretty uncommon in Corona times, but we didn't complain as we could eat enough to get going. But we saw straight away that Herbert's tyre was flat again. So we had to stop at the next gas station and fix it again. Luckily, this time it seemed to be ok.
    Today's route profile was similar as yesterday's. But today, we had no headwinds! What a huge difference as we could actually enjoy our surroundings a lot more. For a couple of kilometres, one of the truck drivers even gave us a "ride". He passed us and drove so slowly that we could hold tied to some handlebars at the back of his truck. We took the invite but let go once the road was a little flatter again.
    In this part here, we are at an altitude between 1800 and 2300m all the time. It's mountaineous, but with almost no vegetation. People live of farming, mainly cows, sheep and goats. So we see many shepherds with their herds around here.
    We stopped in a village to get some lunch. There's only very few women on the road. And the ones you see, are completely covered. I feel most men stared at me, but they are all friendly and ask us where we are from.
    After almost 100km, we stopped at a spring to fill up water. A man invited us for a tea, he even spoke some German and told us that we are in Kurdistan right now. The inhabitants of most of the cities and villages here are half Turkish, half Kurdish.
    As it was time to find a campspot anyways, we decided to stay here and camp at the river behind the man's restaurant. It's good to have running water at the camp as it makes washing much easier. We love camping here as you can see so many stars and the milkyway as soon as you are away from the cities.    Les mer

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  • Go East
    11

    Cold and hot

    11. oktober 2020, Tyrkia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    The first time on this Europe trip, it was below 0°C during the night and our tent was frozen when we got up. It was hard to get out of the warm sleeping bag, but we hurried up to start cycling.
    After about 20km, we reached Karliova where we bought some bread for breakfast. People greeted us in a language that didn't sound like Turkish, so we assumed it was Kurdish. At the exit of the village, we saw a gas station with a bench, so we stopped here to eat our breakfast. The guys at the gas station were so friendly. When they heard our story, they brought us tea to warm up and some cake.They even got more bread from the bakery for us. One of them used to live in Hamburg, so he could translate. He told us that the majority of the people in Karliova are Kurds and speak Kurdish. When we finally left, they gave us a bottle of water each.
    The next 45km were rolling, up and down all the time, but with nice tailwinds from the North. Then, the wind changed to South unfortunately, so the rest of the day was harder. There's also much more police and military presence in this area. Unlike anywhere else in Turkey, we got stopped twice today for a passport control.
    We stopped in Genc for lunch before conquering the hardest part of the day: 3 steep climbs (around 10%) of about 200m each. And by now, the afternoon sun was burning, so we sweat a lot. Shortly after the top of the last pass, we found a spring to fill up water. And as we like camping up in the mountains, we decided to pitch the tent nearby, have dinner and watch the sunset. At least, it's already a lot warmer than last night.    Les mer

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  • Go East

    Checkpoint adventures

    12. oktober 2020, Tyrkia ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Today, we had to cross 5 military checkpoints on our way. At the first one, they looked serious and checked our passports. At the second one, they just waved and asked us where we were going, at the third, where we were from. And at the forth, they invited us for cold Fanta and buiscuits. They were even happy to take a photo with us (where they put on their mask 😉). At the fifth checkpoint, all of them stopped all other activities and came for a chat. But when they only had Turkish, Russian and Arabic to offer which didn't match with German, English, French nor Spanish, we all laughed and they wished us a good day.
    We also left the mountaineous area and came into a rather flat and dry region. It was really hot again. What a difference to those freezing temperatures just a day ago! At one of the gas stations, we were invited to tea and buiscuits again. However, we were happy when we arrived in Diyarbakır where we relax in the shade in a park to wait for Atakan. Atakan is a German teacher at a private school and member of the Diyarbakır bicycle club. Firat, our host from Güzelyani at the coast, had organized this contact. And we experienced Turkish hospitality at it's best: First, he took us to his apartment to have a shower and do laundry. Then we went back to the bicycle club, where we could stay. The manager of the club had already ordered food for delivery for us. Then, one by one, more members of the club joined our round. They knew from their WhatsApp group that we were in town and wanted to get to know us. We had tea and fruits and many nice talks. Some spoke a little bit of English and Atakan was busy translating.    Les mer

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  • Go East

    Big wall

    13. oktober 2020, Tyrkia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    This morning, we had a very special tour through Diyarbakır or Amed, how the Kurds call the city. Fırat grew up in the impressive old town and showed us the most interesting places, cafés and viewpoints. The old town is surrounded by a huge wall. It's the second biggest one in the world after the Great Wall of China and dates back some 2000 years. It's massive, when you stand in front of it.
    First, we visited the castle with some typical Diyarbakır style houses and had coffee with a view over River Tigris. Fırat gave us some background information about the history of Amed and Mesopotamia. Next, we saw the markets, some blacksmiths, mosques, a minaret on 4 "feet" and a Kervansaray. We had tea at a couple of places, talked to Fırat's friends who gave us some delicious spiced bread and ended up in another tea shop at the South gate of the city centre. We overlooked Hevsel Gardens that are - as the city itself - UNESCO world heritage site. Here, agriculture has been practices for some 8000 years.
    In the afternoon, we relaxed at the bike club before meeting again in a Kervansaray for a glass of wine and some cheese. Fırat had invited some friends as well as Atakan and his dance partner. The atmosphere in the bar was great - lots of young people, almost everyone drinking wine and laughing. Could have been in a wine bar in Germany (in summer though...) 😉    Les mer

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  • Go East

    Batman sweets

    14. oktober 2020, Tyrkia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Our destination today was the city named "Batman". We passed by the "10-Eyes-Bridge", an ancient stone bridge across River Tigris where we had our breakfast. The rest of the route led through a relatively flat and dry landscape. Again, we received quite some invitations for tea. We turned down most of them, as we didn't want to cycle too long in the afternoon heat. One car stopped and insisted we take one of their watermelons. They are definitely no cyclists because watermelons are very heavy and way too big to pack. We still took one and ate it a little later.
    We passed many cotton fields and sheep and cow herds. There's also many turkeys and gooses running around. The people are rather poor and kids usually take care of the animals rather than being at school.
    We arrived in Batman early afternoon where our host Mustafa welcomed us. He's one of Fırat's friends and treats us like some special guests even though we can only communicate via Google Translate. He made sure we got enough to eat and took us to a kebab place first. Afterwards, we went to a spice shop where we drank coffee and tried almost all of their sweets and dried fruit before buying some dried apricots in the end. Although we were already full, he also took us to an icecream place. At the end of the night, we had tea and chips at his apartment and watched football: Turkey against Serbia.    Les mer

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