Journey Reports

Turkey   July 18th 2016, Türkeli, Turkey
About hospitality

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Jakob & Ernest:

The odometer indicates a speed of 3-4 km/h. It’s between 12 and 2 PM. The sun beats with 35 degrees on us, and the underlying asphalt reflects the heat. The wheels stick to the melting asphalt, and the view through the sunglasses is clouded by the sweat drops falling from the forehead down to the glasses.

It is the fifth or sixth climb on that day, and the 5 liter water tank should already have slide down our throats. After half an hour we reach once again the dome of a mountain from which offers a remunerating view of this wonderful Black Sea coast. We resort to the bottles and suck the warm water into us. Then we can have a talk and break for a few minutes before it goes down again the hill and serpentine at 50 km/h. So we are doing now since nearly a week, which was one of the hardest so far.

In the first week we proceeded only slowly due to this incredibly lovely Turkish hospitality. Everywhere one is being invited for a Cay (tea) or to dinner. Once, after riding just 10 kilometers and having a break in a small restaurant, a few curious Turks joined us, and we tried to communicate with hands and feet. Suddenly, another Turk appeared who spoke perfectly German. We started talking and it turned out that he was just visiting his parents in this village. As a boy, he came as a great many other Turks to Germany and stayed there. We were not allowed to pay for our food, and we were invited by him to be his guests the rest of the day and for the night.

Once there, we were welcomed with open arms by his mother, and before we could really look around, our dirty linen was already inside the washing machine, and the next batch of tea came floating in. Over tea and biscuits Tahin told us about his gold mining past in Turkey, and we hung to his lips like little boys and were little more to keep, as his sister came with a gold detector and spoke of gold and treasure occurrences in this village. Without further ado, we four were out with shovel, hoe and gold detector in a hazelnut grove. After 5 minutes, the device showed a non-metallic object in more than 20 cm deep ... The fever now broke out completely! After four, five cuts with the spade an aluminum can of Coke came to light, and anticipation changed abruptly in disillusionment :-). Despite bad luck in the treasure hunt there were incredibly good times with this nice family.

In the country we really felt welcome everywhere and very safe. Once we arrived in a town, we had to watch out exactly how much we had to pay for something. Because, as in every country, there are people who would like to enrich themselves by unsuspecting (rich) tourists.

So we had to repeatedly make the painful experience to have bought an ice cream or even water for double or triple the price. But now we have sharpened our senses and know the normal prices for staple foods.

However, there’s one thing the Turks need to improve: the handling of waste. With a purchase of two bananas, bread and biscuits, three bags are issued. The average service life of a bag is less than 5 minutes. In the coastal tourist regions we saw some completely littered coastlines. It requires enormous patience and good discussion assets to convince a seller that you do not need two plastic bags for two bottles of water. We are happy when we have to pay for plastic bags again.

There are still 700 km of Turkey lying ahead of us, and we look forward to more experiences in this great country, and with these impressive people.

{Translation from German: Webmaster}

View back to the Bosporus^ View back to the Bosporus ^
First glance onto the Black Sea^ First glance onto the Black Sea ^
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Comments to this report:

Peter writes:

July 19th 2016, 07:57

Und von den politischen Ereignissen der letzten Tage habt ihr nichts mitbekommen? Oder wollt ihr dazu einfach nicht schreiben?

pedalforhumanity writes:

July 21st 2016, 21:02

Hey Peter,
Momentan ist es vernünftiger besser nichts über die politische Lage in der Türkei zu schreiben!
Viele Grüße aus Samsun

Christoph Reuter writes:

July 23rd 2016, 13:34

Hallo ihr zwei.
Die Bilder eurer Reise sind einfach nur toll. Ich hätte mich überhaupt nicht gewundert wenn ihr ein Nugget gefunden hättet. Macht weiter so. Ich hoffe ihr kommt gut voran. Christopherus passt ja auf euch auf. Grüße an Enni.

Burkhard writes:

July 23rd 2016, 20:18

zwei (eure und meine)Reisen mit dem Rad, zwei gleiche Erfahrungen mit der Gastfreundschaft in der Türkei. Es spricht für sich bzw. für die türkische Landbevölkerung, wenn die Gastfreundschaft nicht unter den politischen Ereignisse leidet. Und nun der Tipp des Monats: Es gibt gegen den Durst Wassertabletten! Auf eine Tablette einen Liter Wasser und im Nu hat man eine Literflasche voll des besten Wassers! Weiterhin euch viel Glück und gute Fahrt

Elisabeth P. writes:

July 24th 2016, 20:57

das ist ja klasse, dass Ihr diese Tour tatsächlich umsetzt...kann mich errinnern, mit Jakob nach dem Untericht mal darübergesprochen zu haben. Auch das Motto, ich bin begeistert, in der Tat auch ich hatte aus der Türkei andere Kommentare erwartet,...freue mich auf weitere Bilder und Berichte!!!

Joan Roig writes:

July 26th 2016, 09:15

Hola nois!! em sembla genial l'aportació de Burkhard en referència a la pastilla "miraculosa"!! el tema es si la podreu trobar!!
M'alegra les experiències viscudes amb la gent del país, us enriqueix i els enriquiu!! les fotografies son fantàstiques!!
Sabeu que estem amb vosaltres!! una forta abraçada!!

Martin Heilscher writes:

August 17th 2016, 22:49

Man was für Bilder, was für Eindrücke, welche Erlebnisse. Wie wir uns für euch freuen, dass ihr in dieser, nicht immer guten Welt auf so viel Offenheit und Herzenswärme bei all den Menschen trefft, denen ihr begegnet. Wir sehnen uns schon nach Neuem, woran ihr uns teilhaben lasst. Wir wünschen euch, dass Allerbeste für die weiteren Begegnungen. Weiter so!!!




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