Archive for October, 2007
Sunday, October 21st, 2007
40km Pirlibey to Geyre
Once again, we’ve been amazed by Turkey’s archaeological wealth. We both learned in school about the Roman empire but neither one of us seemed to remember just how much of it still lives on in Turkey. Today we visited Aphrodisias, a once prosperous city that is now one of the best preserved sites anywhere. We took our places on the seats of the stadium, imagining the chariots racing round the track, then wandered from the top of the theatre onto the stage, around the market square with its central swimming pool and finally out the ornate city gates. Amazing.
Aphrodisias is more or less in the middle of nowhere so it was a pretty nice day’s cycling as well on quiet roads, under mostly blue skies after some early morning rain cleared off. We’ve moved out of yesterday’s flat farmland and are now into mountain foothills. At least five passes await us on our route between here and the sea. (more…)
1 Comment » - Posted in Cycling Trips, Journal Entries, Turkey by andrew
Saturday, October 20th, 2007
64km Baltaköy to Pirlibey
Our expectations of a peaceful sleep last night were shattered late in the evening when we heard several loud bangs nearby. We were both jolted out of our dreams and on high alert. Gun shots? Fireworks? A car backfiring? We weren’t sure. All went quiet for a few minutes and we started to relax again when a tractor rolled up to our tent and put a strong searchlight right on us. What in the world…
Andrew got out to investigate and was greeted by several farmers who yelled “hello” to us from a distance, said something in Turkish and then went away again. No clarification there then. Once again we crawled back into our sleeping bags and we heard a few more bangs but more distant this time. A little unsettling but we eventually slipped back to sleep when the tractor came roaring back with its high power beam.
This was definitely not the quiet farmland camping we’ve come to expect. Most farmers everywhere we’ve been go home at sunset and don’t return until the next morning but in this part of Turkey evening cruising on tractors seemed to be perfectly normal. Aside from our visitors, several other locals seemed to be out and about on their Massey Fergusons and Fiat Turks. A convenient way to get back and forth between the local men’s club and home? (more…)
1 Comment » - Posted in Cycling Trips, Journal Entries, Turkey by andrew
Friday, October 19th, 2007
76km Selçuk to Baltaköy
It’s truly amazing how short a distance you have to cover to be off the beaten tourist trail. Just a few kilometers after leaving Selçuk with its coach tours and touts (we enjoyed the ruins of Efphesus but were starting to be annoyed by the crowds and hassle factor) we felt like we were in another world. We quickly moved into farming territory and it is the time of the cotton harvest so we passed field after field of men and women out picking this year’s crop and nearly every tractor was pulling a trailer stuffed full of fluffy white cotton balls. It was also market day in one town so everyone who wasn’t in the field seemed to be heading to the main square to do the weekly shopping. Melons must be the fruit of the season because they were piled high at the entrance.
We stopped to do some shopping at a store in the same town and while Andrew was waiting outside three kids about 10 years old came to inspect us and the bikes. One spoke a little English and we were able to exchange names, nationalities and the fact that we are cycling towards China. People don’t always understand if we say “around the world” but everyone seems to know China as a country, no matter what their language, and so far it has always elicted a sense of something far away and exotic. Perhaps not for much longer since China is growing ever closer! It still worked on this occasion though and three sets of eyes grew wide. There was a pause, then one boy had to double check. “By bicycle?” he said, making the pedalling motion with his hands to be sure. Our positive reply started a flood of questions but unfortunately our Turkish wasn’t up to the job so we had to move on with a toot of our new bicycle horn and a goodbye wave. (more…)
1 Comment » - Posted in Cycling Trips, Journal Entries, Turkey by andrew
Thursday, October 18th, 2007
Anniversary Celebrations
Today we celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary! Four wonderful years and we hope for many more to come. We started our day by going to the famous site of Ephesus, admiring its stunning ampitheatre, library and many other reconstructed finds. It is truly gigantic (we easily spent two hours looking around) and we were impressed by the variety of things to see from all corners of ancient life, although we preferred Pergamum for its quieter nature. In Efes, you really have to fight for your spot among the bus and cruise ship tours, which flood the site from the moment the gates open.
From Ephesus we jumped on our bikes and headed into the hills to the scenic village of Sirence, where fruit wines are a specialty. Well, of course we had to sample the wares and we enjoyed a bottle of raspberry wine with a lovely meal. If you are in the area, we can recommend the Artemis Winery. It offers great views with your glass of wine and you can eat in the garden where chickens and roosters mull around your feet. The views across the valley are beautiful. 
Tonight we plan to enjoy another meal at a hole-in-the-wall local spot we tracked down yesterday evening and then tomorrow we head away from the touristy coast and inland through cotton fields, past lakes and more archaeological sites. We expect to be in the ‘middle of nowhere’ for a good week at least before finally poking our heads up again in the big city of Anatalya. It should be a nice antidote to the busier tourist hotspots.
2 Comments » - Posted in Random Ramblings, Turkey by friedel
Wednesday, October 17th, 2007
Another day, another bus….
We hopped on the bus once again today, from one touristy town, Bergama, to another also famous for its ruins, Selcuk. Our first time on a bus a few days ago was a bit of a novelty. Enjoying the free drinks. Taking in the whiff of lemon-scented hand oil offered to all passengers. Dancing in our seats to the bus driver’s music. Already though we are a bit tired of buses and we hope to limit them as much as possible from here on in. We weren’t sad about missing the miles of boring and busy motorway around Izmir but we did feel hassled.
We had brochures for two hotels thrust into our hands before we even got halfway to Selcuk and six touts waiting for us as we got off the bus. And we were surprisingly worn out by the time we found a room for the night, despite having only cycled a few kilometers to the bus station. It is a lot of work unloading and loading the bikes, trying to cram them into the bus and then making the necessary conversation with all the people who start out asking where you are from and finish by trying to push their hotel or tour on you.
We miss our peaceful wild camping spots in the middle of nowhere! The ruins of Efphesus are supposed to be amazing though and we will take a day to see them before we head off into the countryside again.
