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To the motherland
  • Vita activa
Sep 2023 – Mar 2024

To the motherland

With a detour across the balkans
And an even longer detour across Turkey. Life happens. Read more
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  • Trip start
    September 17, 2023
    Vita activaTravelerTo the motherland

    Ljubljana

    September 20, 2023 in Slovenia ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    First stop after pushing my bike over some badly chosen paths in the alps…

    The ass mount for a GoPro is pretty useless except for tracking who’s in your wheel; and that only happened on the road out of Linz.Read more

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    Mali Lug

    September 22, 2023 in Croatia ⋅ 🌧 21 °C

    Got very optimistic when the rain let up half an hour in the morning. Worst rain I’ve been in for a long time, but the bags are fully waterproof.

    Made it to the coast where the bad rain was swapped for even worse wind. It’s like a line from snatch, init?Read more

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    1

    Wiiiiind along the coast

    September 24, 2023 in Croatia ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Tim and Melissa — german couple whose tent almost flew away during the night - decided to walk, I was somehow convinced “it will be fiiine”. Well it wasn’t.

    Two days of trying to cycle, getting off and walking, having your tent nearly ripped off the ground (mine is really, really able to withstand a storm), and trying to make any plan that allows coping with the wind somehow.

    If you cannot understand what im saying thats because it was quite windy. Oh yeah, my sunglasses were tossed into the wind at some point, but I found them back! (This willbe a recurring topic, those glasses)

    My diary entry: to go, or not to go, that is the question.    Read more

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    Karlobag

    September 25, 2023 in Croatia ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Well the forecast said the wind would become less. I was hopeful once again.

    It mostly wasn’t, except from some bits where I genuinely thought the wind gods were being nice. Yes, it did weird things with me. For all intents and purposes, they were being nice, but only on some sections. Totally playing games with me. Just like any deity has ever done in history, which also made me again begin to doubt their existence, viz. their benevolence. Just in case, I didnt upload the video where I cursed them when the wind started again.

    Then stumbled after about 50 km — during which I actually tried hitchhiking, since the wind was so impossible — upon this empty, closed off, beach bar. Had this awesome swim and just decided to sleep there.

    So of course — not the first time i can be accused of being naive — someone woke me up at 10-12(?) yelling “camera, camera, police, go!”. Words that will go down in history.

    He then proceeded to actually let me sleep there for one night after all. No persuasion needed. Nice guy.    Read more

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    Escaping the grasp of these windgods

    September 26, 2023 in Croatia ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    So, the forecast was again that the wind would die out, and only be like bft 3 instead of 7-8. Wake up, look on my phone… same wind wind warning, except this time bft scale 6-7. I just wanted to leave this coast, but that required cycling uphill, against the wind, over the mountains.

    So… mostly wind, no gopro footage —not sure if it makes you less aero — and no fun. I hate the Croatian coast. Also, remember those sunglasses? Well I tried to hide it from those wretched windgods, but then they took the nosebridge at some point. I considered going back downhill to face them, but decided against it. Would be a losing battle.

    In the end too tired to look for a place to sleep, so just went for a hotel.

    The town I ended up in, gračac, and everything along the route, is so different than anything along the coast. Little tourism, way more poverty, quite friendly people, and happy that I stayed at their hotel: they have very, very little tourism and few other sources of income.

    Oh yeah. I hated myself over losing that part of my sunglasses to the wind, but was too tired to be angry.    Read more

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    Dobro jutro!

    September 27, 2023 in Croatia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Way fresher legs than the day before, and little wind!

    First person I met was a farmer, herding her flock, and was greeted welcomingly, "dobro jutro!"

    It is shocking that the more you go inland, the more garbage you see next to the roads. No recycling, no separation, frequently a “just dump it anywhere” attitude. Even in national parks. Oh, the few actual recycling bins, were only in bigger towns and cities, and clearly there due to the European union: it’s got its name written all over it.

    Car drivers were also becoming more of an issue here, honking for no reason whatsoever, leaving no space in passing. I think (though hard to distinguish) this is the unfriendly type of honking.

    I know you cannot see landscapes properly with a wide angle lens, but you cannot capture experiences on a camera anyway.

    Tomorrow Im leaving the EU.    Read more

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    Into bosnia

    September 29, 2023 in Bosnia and Herzegovina ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Highlight here? Very very heavy climbs, and the poverty and total “balkan” feeling in bosnia. Dirty polluting cars, waste wherever, dangerous driving. Here the honking was sometimes friendly, sometimes again someone that wants to pass. Or rather, is going to pass, “you better get out of my way cyclist”. There are supposed to be busses here, but I haven’t seen them.

    Two days in one. Ill just only share a nice video of suffering uphill. Climbing, headwind, climbing. I needed pizza afterwards (they serve that with majo and ketchup here).

    Then into mostar.    Read more

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    Mostar

    September 30, 2023 in Bosnia and Herzegovina ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    So, 2 october im still in mostar, feeling pretty shitty or under the weather. The weather is awesome though.

    Yesterday I chatted some american up about turkish coffee (and how this weird cup arrangement that they serve it with is to be understood—turns out there is no unique proper etiquette, they just do it confuse people) and he recommended the museum on the war and genocide. Being in a particular predilection for a good understanding of history, I continued to study the horrors that were being done in this country. (This odd usage of language is just for my own pleasure.)

    Well, having had little knowledge of the geopolitical history of the conflict, I ended up with a chat with an employee of the museum. The yugoslav wars were very complex, but unbelievable brutal.

    Basically, in my understanding, the croats wanted independence from yugoslavia, and then, having nationalistic ideals, croats in bosnia also wanted a self-proclaimed “croat republic of herzeg-bosnia”. Serbs (by far the worst in the conflict in terms of genocide and mass-rape) were ultra-nationalistic, didn’t accept the new state of bosnia, and sought for a greater serbia, including republica srpska. First the croats fought with the bosniaks (who were given a very small piece of land under proposed partitions), against the serbs, also defending mostar. Then after a while, the croats talked with the serbs about a new partition, fell out with the bosniaks, and attacked their former allies and destroyed the bridge here in mostar.

    This is not intended as a full summary, but just serves to remind everyone that these nationalistic tendencies —also of greater hungary, austria, slovakia— will only lead to horrible wars. They are misconceptions, this unity that these people believe in doesn’t exist. Self-proclaimed states or annexations only lead to atrocities, and will not solve any issues in life, it will only end it.

    Yeah this is still a travel blog: nothing said that travel blogs cannot be educational or opinionated.

    Also, watch “quo vadis, aida?”    Read more

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    2

    Back to the coast

    October 3, 2023 in Croatia ⋅ 🌙 20 °C

    Pretty heavy day here after still not waking up super confident that I was fit. But despite my previous quarrels with this coast, I wanted to see it again. I'm all about love/hate relationships, you see.

    The ciro trail is super cool! Mostly quiet, mostly flat, mostly following an old railway line, and with a lot of history behind it. (Paid for by the EU by the way; they do cool stuff, like cycleways in Bosnia!). The austrian emperor built this railway from mostar to Dubrovnik and, even though it is not running anymore, they made it into something of an open-air museum. (According to my dad ^^; I frequently get background info from back home.) But I was a bit too focussed on making it to the coast to do proper sightseeing.

    Oh yeah, this deity thing: I was a bit stressed out at some points, so found myself saying things like "thank god" a couple of times. Its just nice to posit some benevolent force — whatever that means physically — making sure this trip goes smoothly, you know? (But fuck those wind gods of the other day.)

    Oh yeah, no wind today at the coast. And the campsite Im at is closed, so I dont have to pay.    Read more

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    Olive garden camp

    October 5, 2023 in Montenegro ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Yesterday had a chat on the free ferry here in montegro with an italian touring cyclist. Conclusion: yes, drivers here are insane, they dont give you space, and they should stop honking.

    Didnt get too far yesterday (had to swim and chill at the ocean) and went again to a (also again closed) campsite, because along the coast wildcamping isnt really doable. Today again along the coast but body wasnt into it, so only did a third of a day. Then stumbled (well, not really stumbled, it's way up above the city of bar) on an idyllic "olive garden camp". https://olivegardencamp.com/ (super annoying cats here though, wont let you eat because they are hungry, but what do I know about cat food?)

    Oh, yeah, had a flat yesterday because all my sealant dried up.

    Also tried cycling the bike without luggage up this hill; its such a different experience. You can actually get up hills.    Read more

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    1

    Albania 🤟

    October 6, 2023 in Albania ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    What have you heard before about Albania? I have heard it be referred to as „an absolute shithole“ where they burn plastic trash, I had been warned a few days back by greece motorcyclists at the Montenegro border customs to „be weary of albanians“, and I heard it to be poor. But then I also heard that they are super friendly people who are very proud of their country. Basically, I had no idea what to expect: in any case I had planned my route to only go across Albania briefly, and quickly head to Kosovo (fewer meters in elevation: my goal is to get to turkey, and climbing is a bitch with all that luggage).

    So, after having been there, my experiences:
    - warmest welcome in a country ever: “welcome to Albania, stay as long as you want, we hope you like it here!” At the border office.
    - I got greeted by random drivers (who give you plenty of space), kid on a bike (“where are you from? Im from Albania!”) and an old guy transporting a goat up a mountain on a old motorcycle.
    - Big houses when you enter, which I thought were for big the big families they have here or something.
    - absolutely stunning views with absolutely horrible roads. You cannot believe how bad this road was: constantly checking if all my packs are still on there.

    Then again, I was only there for just over 24 hours. This was a shame, but I could not backtrack on my route: I’d have to have ridden that horrible, horrible road back, and that was not to my liking.

    It was only afterwards that I learned about the horrible history the country has had, with being occupied by twenty (+-) different powers, having had a very strict communist dictator (who also did good things for the country allegedly) until recently. Still, a lot of corruption in politics makes it very hard for people to get ahead.

    But these people clearly love their relatively young country.

    I was also approached by an albanian guy when I was cooking some stuff on my stove about where I was from and whether I wanted to buy some weed. Very nice guy; thats what he does.

    Also, in the video I was still confidently bombing down the road (and it got way, way worse later on), that changed once I got less confident about my packs.    Read more

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    1

    Kosovo

    October 7, 2023 in Kosovo ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    So the last three days I did a „one country a day“ type deal; on a bike there are not too many places you can do that. But in this case, it was actually easier.

    So kosovo… well the towns I entered already seemed very different from Albania (a lot busier), but not necessarily that mich better off. The towns mostly had a good vibe to them, and some good bakeries and bars in there, too.

    Weirdest thing by far is big, and I mean mansion-size, buildings on the outskirts of towns. What the hell are they doing there? They look like vegas hotels, but its outside a small town, in the middle of nowhere, and cannot ever be profitable. Just so weird.

    Pretty nice about kosovo is that I got approached by random people if I stood somewhere looking on my phone where to go, helping me out, giving advice, and always amazed that Im doing this by bike etc etc. “Dont you get tired?” “Yeah man, like, now. =D” relaxed people.

    However, Kosovo is sometimes really a shithole in places. Random shitloads of trash. (And unfortunately it seems like the serbians want kosovo for some reason. Im beginning to hate serbia — and I met some super friendly serbians along the way =) ).

    The video is still from Albania.    Read more

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    Skopje

    October 8, 2023 in North Macedonia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Day three of the three-countries-in-three-days thing. Well, actually, you know how Arendt said that our inventions (flying, not even mentioning the internet) have made the world smaller? You can now access anything in the world from your home. Well, cycling makes the world bigger. It expands everything; makes everything slower.

    Anyway, the afternoon was bliss with tailwind, downhill, lots of sugars, good weather. Morning was super hard but them the ride to skopje in the afternoon was super chill.

    Unfortunately I encountered some group of youngsters wearing polo shirts, one with his sweater wrapped around him in the douchebag style. Acting like they own the place. Guess what? Dutch fraternity group. I hate these people, they really make me hate the country I come from: the absolute garbage of our society, should be excluded from society and sent to xinjang for vocational re-education.

    Al the pictures of paintings are of awesome artworks, clearly related to the war, in Kosovo. The dogs... I dont know, I felt bad for them, they seemed deserted: I encountered some more stray dogs on the roads.    Read more

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    Macedonia & Greece

    October 11, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    If you don't know, I use komoot for most of my route planning, because it integrates nicely with my wahoo computer. (How much easier it is nowadays, compared to having to constantly stop and look.) Well, sometimes komoot likes to think some paths are roads, tracks are paths, and nothing whatsoever is a track. And it isn't nice when that happens.

    On tuesday I had a nice route planned that would save me from following the highway all the way south — or so I thought. Well at some point the road became a horrible loose gravel road became tractor tracks; and I was too far in to turn around. Managed to push myself through, chilled out in front of an old house in a small town somewhere, had a nice not-talking hanging out with some old guy (well he only spoke macedonian, and my utalk knowledge is pretty much useless), had some coffee, and then tried to push on: then the road stopped and komoot basically fckd me. So back to the old road along the highway.

    However, in the evening I stumbled, having already set up my tent somewhere where it wouldn't bother anyone, on a huge flock of sheep and a turkish sheepherder. Nice and cool unexpected meetings. Then the next day — god was I tired in the morning — I had the roughest gravel road ever again. Am I happy I'm running tubeless, everything held up and I really did not hold back. I was then greeted in the town shortly after by a guy waving at me, who turned out to be from Israel and also to be touring with his family. Super relaxed couple although they aren't able to go back home now, due to the war.

    Oh, short explanation is needed for the picture of the horrible handwriting. I intended to always keep a diary. Well, I frequently have thoughts I want to jot down, but with such (fully coked up from adrenaline) gravel riding that gets kinda hard. So I forced myself to write down those lines, to know what to write here ;).    Read more

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    1

    Past thessaloniki somewhere

    October 15, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Let’s update this again. I arrived in thessaloniki a few days back and finally, FINALLY, managed to fix the insert issue for my ortlieb panniers. I emailed ahead to the only ortlieb dealer in like a 500-km radius, and so now I should not have to worry so much about my front-right back falling off. In addition I got up-sold 100€ a new ortlieb bags to actually have my tent and birckenstocks properly attached to my panniers. I’m sure this will be worth it.

    Thessaloniki is a really nice city! Just relaxed, good food, cafes everywhere, and a nice food market that I went to twice in the two days I was there. (Oh man, the olives, cheese, pommegranates… just a bit too meat-based). Then today by chance tumbled on some hotsprings on the way east, and bathed in some unexpected natural baths. Pretty cool.

    Also met some really cool people along the way.
    -Michael from lebanon who gave me awesome history lessons about turkey and where to visit (he was also very opinionated about food and everything, but that’s alright, so am I)
    -Jacob and Anna who cycled from London to Thessaloniki and had some awesome experiences to share
    -that lovely danish girl who volunteered at the hostel _whose name I cannot remember_ ( artist name kontra — not that it matters, its just annoying, not remembering names)
    -anita & hans who travelled all across turkey and gave me loads of tips what to visit—Ill probably visit turkey a bit longer…

    So the pictures, in random order:
    The Byzantine tower of galatista that was closed when I got there
    Some cool couple that study maths that I met at the hotsprings
    Some walls in kavala
    Me being serious with my main man aristotle.

    The few sentences I write here don't do any of it justice. Let's just say, gotta love greece.    Read more

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    Komotini

    October 17, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Yesterday was one of those totally mixed days. Left the campsite and Hans and Anita, a super nice dutch couple that were touring across turkey for 90(?) days with their caravan who helped me in many ways getting prepared for turkey, got tons of free fruit from a fruitmonger (“you need the energy” and “in the end I’d be helping myself, since we are all one!”) and found this small little town called “paradisos”. Nothing there except paradise.

    Then stumbled on a dull straight road with lots of headwind, nothing om either side (well except for the occasional _turkish_ town in the middle of nowhere in greece) and took a break 10 minutes before heavy rains started. So all good. Afterwards also ran into a couple from the UK who are also blogging their trip, and it turns out I already missed quite a bit of stuff in North Macedonia. Cannot see everything I guess.

    But the thing worth posting about is dogs here. So, mostly, dogs are not kept here except for a purpose: guarding the territory, sheepherding, etc. That’s why here, and in albania, kosovo, North Macedonia, you see a lot of stray dogs. But the guarddogs can be super dangerous and scary, and I had already experienced that in a mild fashion before.

    But now, just before komotini, three dogs came rushing towards me on a very wide (two or three lanes) road, and kept following me; usually they let off. These didn’t, and you will automatically steer away from them to avoid running into them; I ended up on the wrong side of the road, waving at cars to slow down because of these insane dogs. Accidents do happen this way and I have heard many accidents already have happened this way. They just rush into traffic.

    I used to like dogs but these are horrible creatures. Online (there is luckily an online cycling community) people suggest to get off the bike, and go dog-whisperer on them. Yell and be authoritative; in any case it will be less dangerous than to keep cycling.

    Just some experiences to share here.

    Anyway, komotini is a nice little town with a mosque from the ottoman era (around 1400) and some few remains from the old castle.    Read more

  • Vita activaTravelerTo the motherland
    How did this cow get up there?! (There's a cow there hidden)Misty view and I wasn't going to wait for better photo moments

    Didymoteicho and sleeping with the cows

    October 18, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    One of the overarching dilemma's of this travel blog is what to post and how much. I could make it a weird Wikipedia duplication and only give you some facts of history with pictures; but then you would actually be better of not reading this. Or, at the other extreme, share only my personal experiences or thoughts and tell you about the people I meet, conversations I have, food I eat. You guessed it: I will do a bit of both.

    Let's start on the 17th: really tired legs made me only want to cycle so much, and I definitely didn't want to go and do the impending 1000m climb in one go. So I decided to just start the climb and see if I could find a good place to wildcamp. Obviously it's rough mountain terrain, but that's not the issue, the issue is cows: cows everywhere. Just everywhere quickly accessible, shitloads of cow shit, or cows dingling-dangling about. (I tried a farm that I found but noone was home, so I pushed on.) These are some very athletic cows they have here in the greek mountains.

    So having found a spot seemingly quiet enough, and having spoken to some cow-herders who said it was fine, except to be weary of police and "Pakistani" (?!), of course I was woken up at 12am by dingling of cowbells—unnerving at first but surprisingly soothing after a while— and then about an hour later a barking dog: great night.

    (A second farmer the next day said that there are refugees hiding in the mountains and they can be dangerous. That's what the other one meant by "the pakistani". Luckily(?) it was raining all night.)

    Obviously I wasn't terribly fit the next day, and minute village after village, no supermarket to be found. The only village — which also had affordable hotels and appartments — was didymonteicho. I thought of taking a train from there, but apparently these don't run anymore.

    What's cool about this village: it has an ancient castle and fortress above it, which dates back, partially, to before christ. So sometimes you stumble upon sights worth seeing. In the netherlands and austria they would have made a museum out of this by the way; here it's just some walls an towers with maybe a table to give some background info. In any case, this fortress clearly was useful in many ways: you can see miles in every direction.

    To finish off with some wikipedia copy-paste work: The castle is accompanied by several myths, one of the most famous is that of the Forty Arches, and is where Charles XII, King of Sweden, is said to have been imprisoned by the Turks.    Read more

  • Vita activaTravelerTo the motherland
    Good to know, this means forbidden

    Edirne

    Oct 19–21, 2023 in Turkey ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    I made it to Turkey! Merhaba!

    And its another rest day so I have time to drink tea, coffee, and more tea, and update this blog fully caffeinated. And I had baklava, obviously.

    Some cultural background: edirne was the third capital of the ottoman empire and houses one of the masterpieces of one of the greatest ottoman-era architects: Mimar Sinan. And that mosque, Selimiye Mosque, is massive. But they are doing restoration work, which apparently entails checking every single brick of the facade, the carrier structure of the dome, removing coatings,… what do I know, it’s going to take while. Nothing to see inside, sadly. And there are two other big mosques immediately next to it, triangulated.

    The cool thing about this mosque is that it has a huge dome, which is resting on pillars which supposedly do not block the view of the dome. You know what does impede view of the dome? Construction work.

    So I just walk around, try to do like the locals do (drink tea and coffee), and most importantly only touch the bike to check everything.

    And I had to eat liver because that’s what the city is famous for, ciger kafta.    Read more

  • Vita activaTravelerTo the motherland
    2To prove that there are chill dogs1I hate cycling

    Crossing the continental border

    October 24, 2023 in Turkey ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    Last few days were quite eventful. Last things first: I am now officially in Asia (regardless of what this platform says, I am pretty sure Edirne is still Europe). Ironically, Canakkale is more European than the European part of Turkey.

    But let’s go through this chronologically. Like 15 km outside of Edirne, I got held up by the military, which was pretty cool. Nice guys: apparently I was somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be. Photos weren’t allowed though. After a while the gravel turned rough, the roads went up, and the wind started kicking in. And I can tell you, in this part of Turkey there is no cover from the wind.

    So, looking for a supermarket and shelter in this part of Turkey wasn’t that easy, but on the first slightly bigger town (or just “town” in any other country) I first had 10 turkish men around me, wanting to show me the way to the supermarket and wanting to know where I was from, all conversing through some translation app. At the supermarket I was invited to tea, all kids wanted to know where I was from, second tea; you really feel you’re being rude on leaving. I got a short entourage out of town by kids running along—immediately after though, on a busy car road, full headwind exposure with steep climbs immediately makes you forget all that. A double-faced country.

    Camped at a lake where in a town nearby they were playing folk music (its not all islamic), and the next day, after a hilly tiring start, I got again invited for tea. “Stay overnight!” “Have you eaten?” (For context, this was a very small farmer’s town.) I got introduced to this guys’ family, introduced to everybody, got a big big meal, more tea, more google-translating: Just an amazing experience. I left after about an hour, getting tired quickly around groups of people and still having a long road ahead, and immediately the winds and hills made me regret that decision. After maybe 35 exhausting kilometers (which might have taken 3 hours) I again entered something-which-isn’t-a-town-but-has-a-name, and a turkish guy who lived in Austria approached me and immediately arranged that I could pitch my tent at the restaurant. Dude, these people are friendly.

    Now, short intermezzo: at the lake I was awoken by a load “gulp” noise in the middle of the night. I had all my food packed away closed and unreachable by not-too-agile animals, but outside I had bags with electronics and toiletries. So what was this gulp?! Well, in the morning I think I established the source to be a (big-ass) frog. (S)he didn’t take anything… At the restaurant, I was also waken, but by a small kitty, being very curious and actually having found and taken my bread. The second didn’t worry me at night, but was more annoying. There’s no point Im making here, but both the frog and kitty deserves mention. Or maybe the point is that it’s nicer to be woke up by kitties, regardless of the consequences.

    Next day I actually avoided stopping at villages because I was tired, too tired for conversations and translating, etc. (Well, I did accept the compulsory tea at the restaurant, with someone who lived in Linz for a while!) After my first nail and tubeless plug, and many many hills, I got to some very small village and, being exhausted (12% fully loaded means pushing) I decided to push my luck to ask some woman where I could camp: maybe this person would let me camp on her beautiful garden… I got told, somewhat aggressively, to “ yürü, yürü!” Obviously I dont know what that meant, but the piece of onion she threw at my leg said enough. (It seems to mean “to walk”, so I think she told me to fuck off… Am I not supposed to ask women things in islamic countries maybe?)

    Well, whatever, I found some trees near the next village which were occluding enough.

    Then, the next day, and last day of this post, about 15-20 km in, I got followed not by children but by very ferocious and scary dogs, four of them. Teeth exposed, you get the picture. And they wouldn’t stop following, all shouting was futile—it was scary. The owner was there but clearly didn’t care, or was just totally unsuitable for keeping a dog (let alone 4). Luckily a car followed me shortly, giving me some extra space so I could outsprint these horrible, absolutely horrible, animals. One followed me for 500m to maybe a kilometer: I hate these dogs. I get why people generalize, I distrust all dogs here now also.

    Ok, so I made it to Eceabat, and I thought… this place is a shithole. Just small shoppy looking markets, nothing there, no restaurants... Took the ferry to the other side — that being cinakkale —and it’s a totally different continent, literally and figuratively speaking. Except Canakkale is modern, alive, European, and has a lot going for it. Continents got swapped here somewhere along the way.

    Last point to make: I get told 5 times a day here that allahu akbar through loud speakers, so it must be true.    Read more

  • Vita activaTravelerTo the motherland
    From the sea straight up the hills
    The sphinxThe anzacs and turks both made trenchesView of baby 700The trenches were literally separated by this roadAfter a while, they startes digging tunnels with minesThis dog was too cute... Followed me for half an hour, just good companyTroyReligious placeSo you dont think I only take pics of dogs...Entrance of 4000 years old — and I didn't sleep wellLayers of different erasAlexandria troasFigleaves!Troy

    Gallipolli and troy

    October 26, 2023 in Turkey ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    It doesn't nearly do justice to either of the mentioned sights to talk about them in one "footprint". But I don't want to overload you—and myself, in a different way— with posts, so let me try to cover these two sights here...

    I had not heard about the Gallipoli fights of ww1 until recently, nor of the dardanelle straits to be honest, and heard about it, I think, while travelling from the cool Lebanese guy I met in Thessaloniki (if you're reading this ;) ). I did then research quite a bit before visiting, but cannot cover all aspects.

    So I'll have to just link you to Wikipedia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallipoli_campaign and this documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZopDQ-nf3lE. Basically, the allies sent so many anzacs (aussies and kiwis) with bad intelligence, bad orders, bad organization, to die at Gallipoli. And Atatürk —mustafa kemal — managed to defeat the allies, with way fewer men (and many, many, many losses). But the conditions were horrendous.

    All I can say about visiting is, after having watches the documentary and read about the anzac advances, is that the terrain is so challenging; that it's impossible to imagine what they went through. But still, being there, with all the cementeries and monuments, you cannot help but imagine it, and respect the war, knowing it happened there. (Especially "the nek": watch the documentary.)

    So, then, next day, troy. The city of Homer's tales; and we don't know whether the tales are true and where. Well, a guy at the reception of the hotel said " there wasn't much to see*. How blind he was or must be. They have excavated the remains of the city dating back, partially, to the bronze age 3000bc— and tell you which part of the city belonged to what time. It was incredibly interesting, because they built and rebuilt the city up until 4th AD (if I understood correctly). Every time rebuilding it upon the (destroyed) remains of the old troy.

    For reference, troy one was only 100m *100 m approximately, up to 30 hectares for the troy of homers tales.

    Now it has been blown up a bit because of these tales—it might not have been because of love but because of the wealth that it was attacked—but it is a fascinating story and city.

    Lastly, I visited Alexandria Troas. A city about 2000 years old: huge remaining baths are very impressive to see.

    Sorry for the brevity but I cannot be too detailed here. Now in a nice art camping which I stumbled on, which didn't seem to be on either google or openstreetmaps. I added it to the latter. And I wrote this in a hangmat.

    I will upload other pictures at a later point.    Read more

  • Vita activaTravelerTo the motherland
    Dunno found this rock formation interesting
    1This one is for you zuzaCoochiecoochiecoochiecooA road thats SO CLOSE to the sea, its awesomeSpecialty beer in turkey!!Thats not a mosque, comeonGravel through an olive orchardSuch a beautiful hard road

    Greeks in turkey

    October 28, 2023 in Turkey ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    I stumbled upon this old town which I have to tell you about; and I stumbled upon this (presumably) 2000 year old turtle which I have to show you.

    So, after Troy, these greeks being such vehement builders, I went to Assos, which isn’t too far away from the campsite I stayed at. Assos was a major city, founded 1000 to 900 bc, and Aristotle also lived there after moving from Athens. The remains aren’t as big as ephesus (apparently, I will see) but many things have been recovered. What’s amazing about it, is that you start all the way at the top of the city, and go down towards the sea where the entire city used to be laid out. I can tell you, that’s really quite steep, and big, but also quite a feat: they cut out parts of the mountain to build certain buildings, like the market.

    The town itself nowadays is really dependent on tourism, but it’s nice enough to walk to the archeological site.

    A bit further up down the road, towards the sea, you come upon very small towns with lots of mini markets that don’t sell anything — there is so much produce here, olives, pomegranates, fruit, but nothing is sold in the useless shops — thousands of shady uninviting restaurants, “glamping” sites, and bungalow campings. Just only tourism there, and where there was nothing to being with, tourism cannot bring anything. It’s a dull street devoid of any identity, and all campings are now closed or asked way too much to sleep in the tent — one didn’t even understand I wanted to sleep in my tent. In the end, I just slept on a seemingly abandoned plot of land with olive trees. There was a guy in a car who went fishing there, though — who spoke perfect english (how nice that change was)— who said that there were a lot of Pakistani etc immigrants that tried to come ashore in the middle of the night there.

    Oh, it turned out it wasn’t that abandoned, as just as I was packing, a group of 20 people came to work on the place. I wanted to disappear.

    No worries though, I either did or they couldn’t care less, and 80 km further I sort of stumbled upon this small city Ayvalık: this city is not Turkish, it is a greek city inside Turkey. Small cobbled streets, lots of restaurants and bars (with alcohol, which you don’t see that often), and Synagogues that were converted to mosques. Really bizarre. The reason? https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/turkey-a… The population exchange after the fight for Turkish independence and the establishment of Turkey. It was all religious, and it has very weird consequences.

    Im in a hotel again btw. I like the balance between no comfort, and comfort 😅    Read more

  • Vita activaTravelerTo the motherland
    This is steeep!They couldn't come up with a nicer name?Pisi!What the fuck is this? Who things of building here?!?!St John's churchTerrace housesChurch of maryWaar een gopro wel niet goed voor is

    Tourist things

    November 2, 2023 in Turkey ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    I seem to have taken the right order of greek ancient towns to visit: troy, alexandria troas, sophos, and now bergama and, as a banger, ephesus.

    Bergama also has its own awesome cheese by the way, named after the city. But the cheese here is very varied in Turkey everywhere, and they also do interesting stuff like peppers or carrots with some kind of yoghurt or fresh cheese (lor or çökelek). And, ehm, I have just been taught how to do a good breakfast. Food here is quite good if you know where to look and what to get; I dont care for köfte and Lahmacun and pide so much.

    Anyway, Bergama: a really beautifully situated acropolis —which is the „highest edge of the city“—and served as the richest part of ancient greek cities. Picture just a beautiful citadel on a mountain, with marketplaces literally carved out of the hill, big gymnasiums, and a huge palace at the top. And some snakes — I rather see them here than in Africa — and some nice picture opportunities. I even asked someone to take a picture of me, which I only do if it is really a special spot: a statue of some soldier with no head, for example. (Noone else wanted a picture here?!?! What's wrong with people.) (Also met some georgian people who wanted me to take pictures of them on three occasions: very nice people 😆).

    So then, on to efes. The most famous and best-kept ancient greek site, at least in turkey, and also the last I will visit. But first: I got again got chatted up with some Turkish people who lived in Germany or Austria, and are always super friendly, buy me tea, coke, and just try to talk in the, usually, broken German they do speak. (Way, way better than my Turkish, and I am in their country.) I don’t know why we view Turkish people in western countries negatively, because these people really take care of you. (Of course, there are shitty people everywhere.) And on the way there I found this beautiful swing. Perfect coffee spot.

    Anyway, Efes. Really overrun, and I don’t know what to say about it. Yes, it’s beautiful, it’s huge, but it’s overrun, and this isn’t even main season. I was psyched when I found a small street, or what was left of it, where I was just alone. The reason, obviously, was that there were no famous buildings in this part.

    Nicest thing for me was the “terrace houses”, because it was quieter here, and they had preserved and restored the old Roman houses. They did a really great job there.

    Ok, pictures tell a better story.

    Next up: Pamukkale and konya. Much climbing ahead!


    Ps. During heavy cycling and climbing you really appreciate the smaller things. I found myself saying out loud “I love water!” On more than one occasion.

    Pps. I just got reminded by the awesome guy I’m staying at, who picked me up off the street when the camping was closed, to also mention him. Well, here it is: and will also be featured in the next post.    Read more

  • Vita activaTravelerTo the motherland
    Should have used for the "I am a greek statue picture". But alas
    41Thats calcium, not snowProof I was there

    Denizli and pamukkale

    November 3, 2023 in Turkey

    I took the bus!?! from some city to Denizli, and Im not entirely sure why to mention this, but it is the first time other than cycling and ferries, and first-times are always worth mentioning. The road friday was boooring and busy —flat, straight, and sooo many cars — and I was tired because the guy I slept at made some fire at night and also burned weird shit that should not be burned (plastic…?) which woke me up due to the weird smell. That dude does not have his shit together. Nice guy, and I won’t post pictures of the mess of his place, but… damn. Made me feel like shit the next day.

    That next day, I first visited the archeological museum of Ephesus, which was very impressive: small coins from many different periods being recovered and on display, medicinal tools from the ancient city on display, and so many cool statues. (And I was alone.) Enjoyed it more than the site itself.

    Bought some cheese at a cheese shop, had a big breakfast, and went to start with the climb ahead… and was told to “stop! Stop! Stop!” by some —presumably—police car. Turns out it was a huge convoy of trucks transporting huge pipes. Please respond if you know what these are ;)

    At the top of the climb and then some, I just felt tired of the boring road and the many cars, and decided to take a train to Denizli. Was offered tea by some guys at the train station who said it wasn’t a problem with the bike (I guess that’s what they said), so I booked an airbnb at Denizli. The train arrives and, you guessed it, bike is not allowed to go onboard. A young guy tried to help me (who spoke german very well) but they insisted it was not possible. Next option was to take the bus from the next big town, Aydin, 20km away. (Not that the train personal said that, they really couldn’t give a shit, it was the young guy who helped me out.) Probably due to the Adrenaline, tea, and anger, I did the 20 km in one go quite fast, and at the bus station they said, not in so many words, it “might be an issue”, that the wheels would probably have to go out, whether it is not a folding bike (does this bike look like it folds somehow?), but let me buy a ticket anyway. 30 minutes or so later, there are 5 other people on the bus and the bike just goes in without any adjustments. Also cost me only 6 euros for 2 hours, 150 km, so its cheaper than cycling even —I eat a lot. Pretty good deal.

    I just read in a guidebook that there were really nice canyons and stuff way south of the road I was taking, but yeah, mr hindsight. There should be lots of nice nature on the way to Konya.

    Denizli is known for the beautiful chalk-mountains of pamukkale, which I visited, but didn’t enter. They charge a price of 23 euros — which includes the old city of hierapolis, but Ive seen enough ancient cities for now — and that’s too much for me to see a natural phenomenon. So, I didnt see the chalk-waterfall-terraces. But did have this picture taken by some Turkish people on ebikes.

    Sorry for the delay: I was out cycling. Everything after denizli that has already happened will be shared later =).    Read more

  • Vita activaTravelerTo the motherland
    Different kind of white from pamukkale but still whiteLake used to be waay higher4Elma elma!This cycling lane XD stopped after 500 meters in both directions

    En route to Konya

    November 9, 2023 in Turkey ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Konya was both a destination I wasn’t sure I was going to reach, and just something on the way to “better things”. While writing this I am already in Konya; but those experiences come separately.

    I had hardly left Pamukkale, did I come upon a small town (Kocadere) with some sort of festivity going on, from what it looked like. I turned around to just go around, but from all sides people people — men and women — waved at me to come join them and to eat and have chai. I wanted to decline, but no chance: I was put on a long table and given food and chai, along with other men who were eating silently. Kids also wanted to know (without speaking English of course) where I was from, someone who spoke English-but-not-really-English was brought in, etc. Turns out, someone’s father had died, I believe, and in that village they them do such a thing in his honour, if I understood it correctly. They weren’t celebrating, but it wasn’t a funeral setting either.

    So then I had to climb, slowly, to around 800 meter. And up there the clouds were very dark: I kept checking my phone, which said it wasn’t going to rain, but got very nervous over the dark clouds. And then 10 minutes later I was pretty much in them: sandclouds. You couldn’t see the mountains because it was so thick—amazing view though. 10 km on that was accompanied by white soil near a lake, and I had just come from Pamukkale: this here was white due to sodium (which they were also digging out). I then also camped in where one of the lakes was supposed to be, and where some guys were also hunting for something until it got dark. One of the nicest spots.

    Next day, 10 km in, wanted to refill my water at one of the many taps they have here, and was stopped by a farmer who wanted to know more (which I obviously couldn’t easily tell him) and above all wanted to offer me çay. Well, and food. Actually food first, lots of it, and then tea. Super simple house but such a nice guy. After that one of the climbs that komoot said was “tarmac” was a horrible steep gravel climb, so I was alternating pushing and trying to cycle up for a long time. Very exhausting day.

    Slept near (15 km and one climb before) eğirdir, and there I ran into two dutch cyclists who just come from Konya. Chatted a bit—they had been on the road a lot longer than I — and for only the second time since leaving I cycled together with others for about a minute; they went the other way though, and just came from Konya by bus. So after some (too many, I can never stop buying stuff) groceries, I went along my way to the other side of the lake: beautiful view and great fruit. And lots, lots, lots of apples.

    I wanted to sleep near the lake so didn’t go too far, chilled on a beach for a while, and then took the last exit from when the road turned inwards to just look for a spot to camp. Went and asked some older turkish lady whether I could, and it turned out the place I was asking to stay was from a french couple. They were ok with it, and when they arrived home, I was offered food, ponsec, raki, and so much hospitality. Even though I asked whether I could just sleep on their land. By the way, I was the second Dutch person who asked that: the first was a few months back, when they were in france. Also, the thing with greeting women and not being greeted back… its a thing, and its hard and complicated. Lets just leave it at that.

    Oh, and the lake was about 30 meters smaller than it used to be just where I was, because everyone in the neighbourhood pumps the water out to grow apples. Thats how many apples are grown there.

    So that is meal three in three days. Day four I first had breakfast with them, had lots of climbing to do; but that went fine and even the gravel climb was totally ok! … So, had a break, made coffee, and… flat tire, probably glass somewhere. Tried to put the new tire I bought in Selçuk on: the valve is to fat to fit in the wheel. Hooray. Suddenly my optimism was gone —I still had one extra tire with me which I fitted on, but couldn’t have any situations that would have me needing to change the tube anymore, or I would be f*ckd. (Of course this always happens with touring, but it sucks when it happens. Have to get some new tubes and stuff soon, I just want to be prepared.)

    After that everything went fine, either because or in spite of my optimism that it would be fine, and I managed to reach Beysehir lake; absolutely beautiful natural park also on the way. The reason for taking the bus — this is a cycling trip after all? The road looked boring, I want to go to decathlon in Konya, and I wanted to get to Cappadocia quicker, because the weather might turn bad, and because even after turkish coffee and a total baklava overload I still didn’t feel like cycling. Looks like I might make Cappadocia, which I would never have guessed. Weather gods have been favourable so far.

    So now one day Konya, and then on eastward to see what everyone says is the most beautiful thing in Turkey. (I will probably disagree.)    Read more

  • Vita activaTravelerTo the motherland
    Muy Antigua
    Baroque style mosque21

    Konya 2 days after

    Nov 9–11, 2023 in Turkey ⋅ 🌙 15 °C

    So I first didnt know what Konya was about. It seems to be modern and traditional, young and old, and somehow hard to get a grasp of for me. Well, the market is best on Saturday's, young people play board- or dicegames while drinking tea, and it's a mix of modern and tradition. Including women — I always thought they were seen to be less in some way due to islamic beliefs, but this is false. This is much more emancipated than in small villages which is cool to see. Its like a modern traditional turkish city.

    I also will not make a comparison with other cities, and just leave Konya as that: a busy and very lively market, and the city of the whirling dervishes (sufi islam). I also got to see them after having missed the building yesterday: the music is amazing. The spinning... Yeah, if it brings you closer to God, go for it.

    On friday I went to a mall in town with a decathlon and five football stores next to each other, and after looking for a long time I found a bikeshop with a lot of knowledge and modern stuff. They even had sealant and schwalbe tires! (Felt like a big deal to me in turkey) The city actually does a lot for cyclists, except the bikes that people ride look like they would fall apart with any curb or reasonably sized pothole.

    Two or mosques were especially interesting: one because it has baroque elements; and one because it is from 13th century I believe. But I don't know much about architecture.

    I had a haircut at 9pm, and they also give you a full facial wash. Pretty nice. Maybe I should start caring about my hygiene like turkish people do. (Well, a bath in ankara is not out of the question.)

    Birkenstocks also got a three euro repair, so tomorrow Im off to the caravanseray, volcano lake, and fairy chimneys.    Read more

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