Cycling Turkey

 

After brainstorming the idea of cycling in Turkey in the middle of global pandemic I couldn’t find enough reasons for NOT TO GO and I selfishly book the flights from Berlin to Istanbul and back from Antalya to Zurich.

Knowing very few things about this vast country I politely asked on a bicycle touring forum for few tips and routes recommendations that will help me avoid problems and experience as much as possible during two weeks venture.

First feedback I received was stating that “Turkey should be a NO GO country for tourism, because of its politics, human rights matters, dictatorship etc.”. Being aware of well-known issues Turkey is facing I still didn’t expect such a statement from a member of bicycle touring group which I always associated with extremely open, non-judgemental community.

I have never been a fan of bringing up politics of a country as a major factor of choosing travel destination.

Leaving this behind me I packed my gear, equipped myself with highly-recommended book MERHEBA by Witold Szablowski and took off for the journey.

My Turkish adventure in a nutshell consisted of:

- 1050 kms of cycling between Istanbul and Antalya, sweating up the hills, trying to survive dual carriage ways, horrifying traffic and ... asking myself WHY AM I DOING THIS.

- admiring coastal landscapes, omnipresent olive trees and attending concerts of cicadas,

- observing agriculture works, manual labour during peak of the harvest season,

- visiting ancient ruins and diving deep in the history,

- watching hundreds of ships passing through straits: Bosphorus and Dardanelles . It was really a highlight for me, couldn’t get enough of it,

- having a Turkish CAY in combination with observing a traffic and contemplating life, usually on main spot of villages, next to mosque in male-only tea-shops,

- balancing between trying to lose some weight and trying the delights of Turkish cuisine – cant go wrong with baklava or Iskender kebap.


Teşekkür ederim Türkiye