Turkey part 2: From Cappadocia to the Black Sea

Pedalling around Central Anatolia we notice lots of funny signs, paintings and statues. Only later we learn they show Nasreddin Hodja, a trickster figure in Turkey who possibly lived here about 700 years ago. We found different answers to the question, why he sits on his donkey facing its tail... Doesn't work well on a bicycle!

We were looking forward to visit Cappadocia for a long time. The last day on our way there we only see fog, rain and snowflakes - if the weather stays like that we will not be able to see the fairy tale landscape at all...

 


We start out with a ballon tour - the type for people being afraid of heights. Afterwards we visit one of the Undergound Cities and the Uçhisar castle. Incredible how many rooms and tunnels have been carved out from the rocks - and most of them still remain unexplored.


Sun is shining when we wake up the next morning because of the sound of hundreds of hot-air balloons. It looks exactly as the pictures which made us come here. Probably the only place where masss tourism creates a really stunning view. We stay some days hiking and cycling to explore the landscape with its surreal rock formations, fairy chimneys and valleys. All this was created by volcanic activities some millions years ago and erosion.


It starts raining just as we start cycling on. Mnis rain jacket is gone since a while and we didn't find a good one to replace it yet, moreover with the first strong rain also the trousers start leaking... So we run into the first hotel and try to warm up. Frm now we use every bit of sunshine or at least no rain to pedal- and go from hotel, to Warmshowers-Host, to hotel, to as-dry-as-possible camping sites. After about 2.5 month we finished the first 5000 km of our tour - sun is shining when we capture this moment.


The landscape changes completely when we arrive at the Black Sea: Green gras - cause it rains so much... and we cycle all the way on a very flat street between the sea and the mountains. On the hillson our right tea is grown and we watch some woman harvesting it. Interesting to see where it comes from after drinking so much of it, being invited at least 3 times every day. Bike Point Rize fixes our shifters while we use their rental bikes to go to a photographer and take some biometric pictures for the visa applications.


In Turkey it is not allowed to camp wherever you like, so we look for lonely places in the beginning. As being "caught" usually meant invitions for tea, cookies or breakfast we start feeling very safe and sad we have to leave soon. We have been told many times the georgian people are even more welcoming an - hard to believe....

Many freinds and family members warned us of travelling to Turkey because of the political situation  - we have to admit we thought about skipping it.  Now we are glad we decided to come here...

 


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Kommentare: 1
  • #1

    Rudolf & Jana (Dienstag, 19 Dezember 2017 20:45)

    Es war total schön euch heute in Tiflis kennen zu lernen. Wir freuen uns euch auf eurer weiteren Reise über euren Blog weiter zu begleiten und auf ein Wiedersehen in Leipzig oder wo auch immer auf dieser unglaublich spannenden Welt, die voller Abenteuer steckt.