West Turkey - the end of an Asian Odyssey

When I crossed the border from Georgia into Turkey, I had been intending to ride as fast as I could along the Black Sea Coast, then dash across Europe to Scotland, to complete my rtw cycle by August in time to start my new job, but the pull of going a more interesting route and seeing the most iconic Ancient and Historic sites in the world, in SW Turkey was too much for me, so I decided to add a big diversion South.

The onward route from the ancient Hittite city of Hatusha (where I left you at the end of my last blog), took me through a "thermal resort" town, so I had one evening staying in an all-inclusive hot spring hotel - hot baths, hammam, sauna, buffet dinner and breakfast all included. The town was not particularly touristic(at least not Western tourists) and was not so expensive, so as a long-distance cyclist burning calories like there's no tomorrow, I definitely managed to eat my moneys worth in dinner alone!

Cappadocia:

 

And so it was on to Cappadocia, one of the jewels in Turkeys impressive tourist crown. It was to be a TOTALLY different Turkey from the one I had experienced up until now. I had barely met any non-Turkish people whilst cycling through small-town Turkey. Cappadocia is a mini globe. Everyone is an international tourist, and they come from all over to be here.

It's not without good reason though, and rather than be snobby about how touristic the place is, I got on with seeing the amazing rock formations, the homes hewn out of the local soft rock, and the underground cities created to protect the Christian population in times of persecution.

The Christian heritage in this area is outstanding. Cappadocia's Christian roots are so ancient, that is even mentioned in the accounts of the early church in the bible. The whole country is full of biblical places - I had just ridden through the area once known as Galatia (whose Christian inhabitants were the recipients of Paul's letter to the Galatians from the bible), and ahead lay a whole host of biblical places. But again I find myself pausing to reflect on some of the savagery directed at Christians through the ages, and am saddened that Turkey is still far from open for Christians, and if anything is currently getting worse under a fairly dictatorial leader.

Having said that I had received warm welcomes and friendliness almost everywhere I went in Turkey, I have learned that Muslim culture is one we Christians should try and learn from when it comes to welcoming visitors, it's one of the take home lessons for me from this trip - when you see someone in your city looking lost - offer to help; give up just a few minutes of your precious time just to be friendly to strangers to your town; smile and make people feel good about visiting your home country - it's not that hard to do!

However, I was about to have my most negative experience in the country. Riding out of Cappadocia I felt for a little bit like I was back on the mainstream cycle tourists trail (something I left when I turned off the Black Sea coast) and met several other cycle tourists, but I soon got off the beaten track again.

I passed through a few towns with caravanserai, reminding me that I'm still on the Ancient Silk Route, and I was now at a small town in the middle of nowhere. I had booked a hotel online and upon arriving the old guy at reception gave me quite a hard stare. I explained in Turkish that I was very sorry for not speaking Turkish, and asked if he spoke English (this is one of the few phrases I learn for everywhere I visit). The answer was a blunt no, so I whipped out my phone and began to talk to him via Google Translate. He point blank refused to talk into the device so that I could get a translation in English. Instead he shouted at me, getting annoyed that I didn't understand him, and repeatedly accused me of being a Syrian refugee, and for this reason didn't want to let me stay at his hotel.

I had already paid online, but this made no difference to him! Thankfully, after not long a younger guy came along who spoke a little English and kind of sorted things out. From the old guy there was no apology, no sheepish looks, nothing, still cold contempt. He took me up to my room, and as I laid my bags on the bed he shouted at me again and pointed to my bags and then to the not particularly clean floor indicating that my bags should not be on the bed.

I tell this story aware that people might think this is typical, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Apart from one slightly awkward encounter with a guy who thought he could convert me to Islam, and told me I should change out of my cycle shorts quickly, because "there are women and children around" (and to be fair I think he was being conservative rather than hostile), this was the ONLY really negative guy I met in my whole ride through Turkey. And in relation to his negative attitude towards refugees, I repeatedly saw people giving money and food to Syrian beggars, and generally giving sympathetic words about their plight - this is in a country whose refugee population absolutely dwarfs any of those in Europe that have pushed so many European right-wingers into xenophobic rage.

The next few days were a harder effort through the Anatolian Highlands up and down several hilly passes, and then I hit one of the great Ancient World hotspots - the Aegean.

Ephesus and surrounds:

 


Around the Turkish Aegean are dozens of Greek and Roman sites, Ephesus, Pamukkale and Pergamon arguably being the highlights, but also with many more mid-to-small sites in the area, which on their own would be major sites in most other parts of the world.

Pamukkale:

I took some time off the bike to visit these 3 amazing ancient cities and a few of the mid-sized ones too.

Pergamon:

There is something really thought provoking wandering around a place that was built and peopled not just tens or hundreds, but thousands of years ago, and some of these places were key locations in the bible too - Ephesus (Paul's letter to the Ephesians, and residence of Mary and John in their later years), Pergamon and Smyrna (two of the 7 churches of Revelations).

Back on the bike, and I decided to ride via the remaining sites of the 7 cities of the churches that Paul addresses the book of Revelations to.

The 7 churches of Revelations:

After all this, I was nearing the Sea of Marmara - I was planning to hop across by ferry, everyone I had talked to about Turkey gave the same advice - don't try to cycle through Istanbul or the surrounding suburbs, just don't! The ferry journey was straight-forward, and by chance I met a Turkish cycling champ who was heading to one of the islands in the middle of the Sea of Marmara for a holiday. I had not met any Turkish cyclists, only foreign touring cyclists, so it was good to talk a bit about cycling with a local.

I was now back in Europe and a days ride from the border with the EU. My plan was to leave the bike in a hotel close to the border and catch a bus to and from Istanbul to visit this iconic city, and then cycle onwards to Bulgaria. On my way to the town of Edirne, I met my second Turkish cyclist - Ahmet, a professional goal keeper trialling at one of the big Istanbul clubs this season, who was out for a training ride. He kindly helped me find a hotel bed and rode with me all the way to the hotel. I had been struggling to find a bed for the night - all the hostels were full, and the few hotel beds available online were 3 or 4 times my budget.

At my very busy hotel, I soon found out the reason - The Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling Festival, the oldest sports fixture in the world, was taking place this weekend. For hundreds and hundreds of years, wrestlers have been smothered in olive oil and wrestled for the title - it's a HUGE event in the Turkish sports calendar. Sadly I arrived too late for that days fixtures, and I had accommodation and a bus to Istanbul already booked and paid for the next morning, but had a good talk with some travelling fans staying in my hotel about the whole thing.

Although I missed out on the oil wrestling in Edirne, I had a great time in Istanbul - seeing the sites, eating the food, and I met Eliza from Kyrgyzstan, who I had first met in Tbilisi, Georgia and was by chance also in Turkey that weekend. I also made it to my only church service during my time in Turkey - one of the very few small international churches in Turkey, that meets in the city, though not without restrictions and problems.

Back in Edirne (known in ancient times as Adrianople) I got on my bike and pedalled the short distance to the border. Turkey had been a most memorable leg of my journey. Ahead lay Bulgaria, one of the newer members of the EU. I have had no real home while on the road, wherever my bicycle and my pannier bags are is my home, so on crossing the border my home was once again the EU, nearly 8 years after leaving, but more of that in my next post.