Merhaba
Since almost 3 weeks I'm now in Turkey. I chilled out for 6 days in Istanbul, applied for visas, met lots of turkish people and had some adventure on the way to Ankara and Antalya where I was rock climbing for a good week at the cliffs in Geyýkbayiri.I had a pleasant start in Turkey in the town of Edirne. It's not so touristy but big enough to have some sights and I was able to wander through a typical turkish city in full swing with market, the food, mosques, the call for prayer and so on. I also got a haircut, which was quite an experience and learned my first turkish words.
But when I returned to my campsite (admittedly pretty late) I found an angry manager and the police did already search me. I must be thankful though, because they were just worried I got into an accident or something. I guess my behaviour was a little too unpredictable. On my way to Istanbul I thought I would be stopped, but the police never found me...Knowing I had to wait for my Azerbaidshan visa for a while, I got myself situated in a nice cheap hostel (Mavi), staying in a dorm on the rooftop. Check out the view from my bed as the Muezin call wakes me up at 4.30 in the morning:
Aya Sofia
After pretty much constant moving for the last 3 weeks I was happy to relax and take it easy for a while. Istanbul is a really pleasant city for that, partly it has small town feel, some streets are really bustling but without being too hectic. For nighlife there's the Taksim area where you have party folks on the street in an amount I havn't seen before. No wonder in a city with 20 Mio people though!
Paradoxically, I was out with a bunch of german Soz-Päds (social science students), accompanied by the turkish manager and workers from the hostel. We danced Salsa on the roof of a club - there was beer, smoke and girls enjoying even my unskilled lead. Andi's grin lasted well into the next day :)
Night out in Taksim
After 5 days I finally got some sightseeing done. I went to the overwhelming Aya Sofia, once the biggest church on earth, then a mosque and nowadays a museum. Standing in front of the world famous mosaic of the 'last judgement day',
Last Judgement Day, Aya Sofia Istanbul
I could hear a deep and powerful voice asking "HAVE YOU DONE ENOUGH TRAVELLING?". Since I couldn't honestly answer with YES, I would probably go to hell if this were the end right now. So instead of waiting in Istanbul any longer, I made up a new plan, which was to head to Ankara the next day and apply for the Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan visas there. While waiting for them I would do a loop down south to Antalya where I expected to find some good climbing. and beaches of course.
I crossed the Bosphorus (it's Asia now!!!) and after a long, long search to find the right way out of Istanbul (driving in this city is like a racing game, only problem is if you hit something --> Game Over!) I was finally heading towards the black sea. This is not the direct way, but who cares. The road got very windy, trees all around, rarely a view of the hilly landscape possible. Thus the riding took some (very enjoyable) time and it was already late afternoon when I pulled up on the shore of the black sea near Karasu. This was one of the memorable moments that before I had in Siebenbürgen and in Istanbul standing at the Topkapi Palace looking at the Golden Horn.
Whoooohoooooooow! I'm on the black sea! Cant believe it...
And then a little adventure began: As I'm standing there a few fishermen get interested, start asking questions about who I'm, where from, what, with a MZ? The faces showing an expression like 'are you nuts??'.
Before I knew, I was on their boat with an incredible loud diesel engine heading for their nets to pull in todays catch.
Abdullah and Semir on the black sea
Of course I shortly thought about the fact that my bike on land was unprotected now and it needed just a little kick to get rid of me, but before I went I looked into the guys eyes, remembered all the good things I heard about the turkish and generally had an ok-feeling. I decided that if I'm afraid and say NO now, I will never be able to live up to what travelling offers to me.
So there I went and everything was ok as long as we were moving. But I didn't drink enough water that day, the sun was quite hot and the cigarettes the turks constantly offer are pretty strong. So when we stopped at the nets I felt weak in my knees, started sweating, feeling awful. I didn't get it until Abdullah made a gesture like puking ... of course I was seasick!
Pulling the nets in seemed to take an endless time and in case you wonder, Yes I finally did feed the fish ..
When we were back I was invited for cay (tea), later to stay the night. From about 5pm to almost midnight I sat "with the boys" on the central place of their little village, chatting, and getting to know everybody who has been in Germany or whos uncles wife has a cousin that was once there... I was very entertained though as well as I was entertaining them - little boys following every move I make, chuckling about the awkward way I crack the Hazelnuts (a local specialty) with my teeth. But I really wonder what they talk about all the other days, when no german on a motorcycle comes by. Seven hours to kill, every evening...
The night I stayed with Semir and family,
Semir and Family
a very humble and religious man. He showed me the mosque, made his wife cook dinner, she even washed my clothes. I felt strange, especcially since I got the best chair/place while his wife had to eat on the floor. But these are the customs I guess and she didnt seem unhappy or anything. In fact, I'm sure Semir works a lot to provide a good life for his family.
Later I asked him about the meaning of the little necklas, many men are constantly fiddling with. Apparently a muslim should after each prayer, praise Allah another 99 times with 3 different formulas. Semir gave me his 'Tasbih', so I'm now travelling with signs of three different religions (a cross and a budda are the others) - I like to believe that this increases the chances of god helping me three times more also. (Yes, I'm still an engineer :)
After saying goodbye early morning I was headed for Ankara, got the visa applications going and left the same day to Konya on the way to Antalya. On the way I met frienly people everywhere, all happy, chatty and curious, inviting me for cay or even food. Travelling in this country feels really good.
Lunch with Truckers
On the way to Konya, the religious center of Turkey and birthplace of the Dervish cult (the ones that turn themselves like crazy in order to gain unity with god), the countryside opened and allowed wide, wide views. To the left I could see a white line on the horizon for the next 50km, a glance in the map reveals this must be a huge (salt?) lake. Above it loomed a black sky, but to my right there was sunshine. I felt like riding (not walking, hear Johnny Cash?) the line between good an bad. I was deeply touched by this situation - a sensation of freedom and greatness overcame me.
At some point I stopped to take fotographs of some old buildings that were brightly lit by the almost setting sun in stark contrast to the still almost black background. Just when I finished the storm suddenly started. It brought no rain, but everything loose blew sideways over the street. Dust, pieces of plants and rubbish came flying. I slowed down to 70-80 being afraid the wind would take me off road. The left side of my tires now have slightly more wear than the right :).
Dust Storm approaches near Konya
In Konya I got hopelessly lost in the market in search of a Pension. When I saw a MZ, I pulled up and waited. It didn't take long and the owner appeared, walking around my bike, shaking his head in disbelief. When I asked him for the way he made me follow him through the tiniest lanes of the currently closing market. It was a wild ride through One way streets (of course the wrong way), on the sidewalk, whatever it took to avoid cars, bicycles or people blocking the streets.
Helpful MZ rider
On the next day I unexpectedly found the beard of the prophet in a museum. Or rather the box it's suppossed to be in. I found this strange, because in the Topcap, Palace in Istanbul they also said they have the beard. Well, maybe the prohet shaved from time to time and there are multiple beards preserved nowadays. Who knows...
Beard of the Prophet
In the afternoon I set off to cover the next threehundredsomething kilometers to Antalya. The countryroad was a bit boring, so I took a little road (sometimes dirt) through the mountains even though this meant nightfall before I would arrive. I didnt regret though, because what followed was one of the best roads I've been on in my life. Up and down, corner after corner, with views over big valleys, rocky hills, mountains, deep gorges ... it was a 160km motorcycle riding orgasm. I cheered in my helmet and still was hiper when I arrived at the JoSiTo Climbers camp about 10 at night.
A bunch of goats want to be fotographed
Fantastic Riding in the Taurus
I stayed for one week to climb the fanstastic rocks in Geyikbayiri (extra blog about that follows soon). Then ventured further south to the old site of Olympos, nowadays a backpackers paradise, getting even more climbing in.
In a rush I went back to Ankara (450km until 10.30am) to collect my visas, but unfortunately I still have to wait till Monday for the Turkmen visa to be finished.
The first night in Ankara I stayed in the common room of motorcycle couriers that I met the first time I was here. All fun guys, but really nobody speaks English or German so it's very hard to communicate. Yesterday afternoon I went to Ulus, the only area in town with cheap accomodation. It's, ahem, about 500m away from the place where 3 days ago a suicide bomber blew himself up.
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2573341.ece
There's not much to show what happened anymore. The windows of the builings are repaired, only one shop is closed, other than that it's business as usual. The only things noticable are the many turkish flags around and people frequently looking at the site.
So tomorrow, Monday, I'm outa here, heading towards Cappadocia. Later trying to climb the Erziyes Dagi (39xx m) and still later meeting up with turkish climbers in the Ala Daglar Mountains to do some alpine climbing and, if I understood right, maybe get involved in a first ascend. As you see things stay thrilling...