Bullet
Points
-From
Erzurum in Eastern Turkey we caught a train for 14 hours westward to Kayseri on
the edge of the Cappadocia region.
-We
spent a few days with friends enjoying Cappadocia and since then have cycled 1000km
south to Mersin and west along the Mediterranean coast to Antalya.
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Arriving
in Cappadocia I really had no idea what to expect. I’ve never really been one
for pottering slowly around museums, art galleries or historic sites reading
information boards and wowing over cultural phenomena that is supposed to
impress and engage me. Often I associate these places with the guilt I feel for
becoming quickly bored and tired! With it’s famous ‘open air museums’ and big
reputation would Cappadocia really be any different? It was.
I
was energized as we scampered around the cliffside remains of the Cavusin
acient city and my imagination was excited as we wound our way around the
‘fairy chimney’ cone-shaped limestone houses of Zelve and Goreme. I was far from bored climbing the
tunnel-ridden rock towers of Ortahisar and camping amongst the limestone
littered hillsides near Urgup, waking to a sky filled with all colours and sizes
of hot air balloon.
Our
final foray in Cappadocia was a visit to the Kaymakli underground city, an
incredible labyrinth of eight levels with tunnels leading to wineries, living
areas, sleeping quarters, stables, communal kitchens, food storage spaces and
churches. Kaymakli was just one of many underground cities in the area, between
the 5th and 10th centuries and was home to several
thousand early Christians who would move underground when there was threat of
attack. Scurrying about in a space now
well lit by electric lighting it was easy to romanticize the experience. The
huge circular stones sitting ready to block any entrance ways served as a sobering
reminder that this was not an enchanted fairytale experience but must have been
literally dark and desperate times lived out of necessity in order to simply
survive.
Yet
amongst all the ‘normal’ wonders of Cappadocia a great highlight for me was
slowing down and spending some very special time with wonderful friends. We
were delighted to catch up once again with our friends Michael and Lulu and
along with other cycle tourists Rafael (Spanish) and Heike (German) we had a
very cruisy few days and fun 32nd birthday party for Michael. We’ve
now met up with Michael and Lulu in Kyrgystan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and
Turkey!
New
Zealand may have a dramatic climate and fast changing weather systems but never
before have I experienced the temperature changes of the last ten days. Over
three days in Cappadocia temperatures dropped from a high of 30 degrees to a
high of just four degrees. As we cycled through the Taurus Mountains we
encountered flurries of snow, yet soon after were back to shorts, t’s and
jandals on the beaches and banana growing regions lining the Mediterranean
coastline.
Turkey
is a land riddled with grand remains of a rich history. There is so so much
that one can be overwhelmed by what to prioritise and we must be ok with not
doing everything. Fortunately for us along our way, without having to deviate off
our route we’ve sampled the beauties of the island castle at Kizkalesi, the
inspiring castle remains at Anamur, and the peaceful sprawl of Anamurym, an
ancient coastal city from the 3-4th century.
Along
our way the Turkish kindness has consistently prevailed. Somehow within cycle
tourist folklore an expectation has arisen that in Turkey you will be welcome
to camp at petrol stations. Not really knowing how true this was and how this
expectation had come to be we thought we’d give it a shot anyway and have not
been disappointed. Our petrol station camps have come with free wifi, chai,
Fanta, showers, toilets, chilled water and even lentil soup on occasion! With
the feel of a modern day Caravanserai we’ve been consistently warmly welcomed
and cared for and have felt very safe, even in busy areas, camped under
security surveillance cameras and with an attendant being on duty 24hours a
day!
As
it turns out October 15th is a very significant national holiday and Muslim
celebration, Korban Bayram, we’re told similar to the significance of the
Christmas holiday for Westerners. In our naivety we asked some locals if we
could camp in the back yard of their restaurant, imagine doing that in NZ on
Christmas day! Soon enough we were witnessing the traditional killing of their
goat and not long later sitting down to enjoy the annual feast.
Navigating
through Turkey on a map that covers the whole country means it’s often
difficult to really know what’s coming up and certainly what the terrain may be
like. Fortunately the roads with special scenic interest are marked with a
green line and so we’ve based our route loosely around that. The beauty of the
coast of the Eastern Med has exceeded any hopes we had and the size and number
of hill climbs we’ve had to ride has similarly exceeded our expectations . To
reach the flat lands of the Antalya coastline has been both a relief for the
legs and an enormous change. Our quiet roads and small villages have been
suddenly replaced by multi-lane highways and high-rise hotels. The friendly
Turkish village roadside stall has given way to beaches filled with overweight
foreigners sunning themselves to a crisp and riding camels with sun hats! Needless
to say we’ve found Turkey to be a land of incredible diversity.
Where
to from here? The roads are insanely busy, possibly added to by the national
public holiday, roads labelled as back-roads on our map have recently been widened
to four or six lane main highways. We hope to ride to Izmir, leave the bikes
there and bus to Istanbul for a while before returning to Izmir and catching a
ferry to Greece. With every day surprises arise so we will just wait and see
what’s around the corner!
Ollie
Ollie
