JODlE'S NEWS

A Slice of Turkey...

İ am exhausted! 127 km!

We have just ridden across the 'quintessential' Anatolian steppe. Pedalling a fast pace on a long, straight, seemingly endless road. Through the undulating grassy plains of nothingness. A very barren environment, yet peaceful and enhoyable to be in. A single solitary mountain - İ call it the Turkish Kilimanjaro - looms in the distance. Occasionally we pass shepherds with their clan of goats and a lazy village of mud houses. Complete with straw looking chimneys and thatched straw roofs. Simple yet charming. The sunny weather helps. A few men and children venture out into the cold to be in our photo.
We were riding from Konya to Aksaray enroute to Cappadoccia.

Earlier experiences.....

We arrived in Turkey a little sooner than we planned. Unfortunately it was due to and incident involving a white puppy and the wheels of my bike. The result: CRASH!
İ was putting dents in the ashphalt of Greece. Needless to say, a few staples (yes! staples) in my head and some x-rays later, İ emerged from the hospital with a mighty sort shoulder. No riding for this young lady for a while!

1 month they say??? no chance! how about two weeks? İstanbul sounded more excitimg to be in, so off we bussed and trained in an epic journey that was frought with misnformation on taking our bikes with us. Eventually we arrived at our friend Tuğruls place. He and his friends Evren, Ömer, Kemal and İpeş have made our stay very enjoyable.

İstanbul.
A bustling crazy array of mosques, street cart vendors, carpet shops, Kapalı Carşi - aa maze of undercover market stores and Asia, on the other side of the Bosphorus. İ enjoy the serenity of the mosques. The tiling is exquisite and all doorways point to Mecca. İ am fascinated by the arabic inscriptions as part of the decorations. Only the men seem to pray in the mosques. İ am not fascinated by this, yet ask why to myself.

My favourite place is th Mısır Carşisı (the spice bazaar). Bags upon bags of colourful spices, heaped in perfect piles, displayed ready to buy. Red, green, gold, pink, brown, yellow.... İ gaze in wonder at them all. Why is henna there?? Apparently 'brides to be' stain their hands with it on their wedding night. Also available is a selection of goats cheese in goat hide bags, dried fruit and the best turkish delight. İ simply have to buy a variety to sample.

Could İ come to Turkey and not visit Gallipoli? İ thought so. But something drew me to go there. Whilst my shoulder was doing the recovery thing, we visited. May we learn something from the senseless taking of these innocent young men. İ fought back tears to think of the wasted lives. Are they really wasted? İ hope not. Being there, reading the grave stones, walking in the trenches - Anzacs and Turks just 8 metres apart! Listening to stories of men who fought each other without knowing why. How a young Turk heard the cries of a British soldier, injured and too far away from his trenches. He climbed out of the safety of his trench with a white flag flying. To the amazement of all present, he silently walked to the soldier, gathered him up and deposited him on the Anzac trench, then returned.
Why?
İ learnt a lot by visiting, more than at school or from watching Gallipoli the movie and İ am glad İ went.

On one of our 'shortcuts' across the mountains, we encountered rain. Driving rain that made us stand with our backs to it as we ate lunch in no shelter. To see Köprülü Kanyon. Still beautiful in the rain. Then up, up, past rocks stacked like toilet seats, to Selge - a village with ruins of a Roman theatre. Continuing on, the road turned to dirt. Rocks and mud. Fords in the road. Which way? Mud, mud! Towards the end of the light of day, we were exhausted. Where could we stay??? We rode down a muddy road as we had come to a few houses. No-one in sight. At the end of the road, a man hurried out of his house and beckoned us. İt was as if he had been waiting for us. Shelter. Warmth. and a very kind couple. We waited with Ömer and his wife for the call of the Cami to signal they could eat. We are in Ramadan.
The next day was sunshine and we could appreciate the beauty of these mountains. And... the hard slog up mud and rock roads. Through foot deep mud. İ met a sweet lady in a patch of mud, laden up with branches for her house. Truly a beautiful and worthwhile shortcut to take.

Je suis un Rockstar!....
We rode into the town of Ergani for rice. We caused a major traffic jam in town. boys and men stopped, buses and cars stoppe. all to stare and gork at the tourists. The town english teacher rescued us and invited us to stay. We visited his school this morning and were mobbed from all angles by eager children just bursting to practice their english on us. İ was a rockstar!!! Visiting the classes was a great experience. 40 - 60 children fill each class. 3 to a seat. He is paid approx. 3 dollars a lesson!!!! Never will İ complain again aout our teaching conditions!

İn Bursa, we stayed with Erol and his family. He is a keen triathlete - an unusual sport in Turkey. İt was lovely staying with them and being treated to Alev's turkish cooking.

Late one afternoon, we were climbing a pass in the mountains and there didn't seem to be anywhere to stay. Down im the gully were mud houses and lots of mud. Should we go down??? mixed feelings of apprehension. We stayed the night with these kind goatherds.
Smoke and men. they filled every corner of the small mud hut the size of mum's kitchen. 14 of us all together! Very cosy. They shared their humble dinner with us and we attempted to communicate. Mud. ooey gooey outside. Somehow these men stay clean - except for their shoes. Mike was fascinated by there large coat they wore - a plastic covered 'spacey' looking garment, lined with matted wool insulation. He enjoyed posing for photos - complete withe the goatherds gun. A fantastic experience for us to see a traditional part of rural Turkey.

We are now heading towards İran and İ am excited to be going there. Hope this finds everyone well and having fun.

Cheers





MIKE'S NEWS

Greece and Turkey Travels

The cold winter comes early in Norway. İ had a great 3 monthe working and enjoying th beauty of this wondrful country, but now it was time to fly south and start pedalling.

After a brief 3 day visit to Jo's friends in London, we landed in Greece and began the last long stretch home. The days were hot and the island of Eva we decided, was just one big uphill.

Pedalling NEast, we visited the amazing monastery area of Meteora, where old stone buildings perched precariously on high rock outcrops. Here we spent 2 nights in this fabulous area.

Clinbing up the mountain to the Katara Pass, we stopped to buy some tomatoes. Next thing we had 5 lovely,little old ladies giving Jo free tomatoes and having their picture taken with her. None coud speak english but we could see that they wanted us to send a photo to them. Problem was, no one could write either. So off one of the ladies shuffled down the road to find a neighbour to write the address.

İn Zaghoria region we visited some old stone arch bridges, mountain villages where all the buildings were made of local stone and we walked in Vikos Gorge. A stunning, deep, deep valley with vertical cliffs on either side.

We had already had a few problems with dogs, Jo having to let out a deafening scream at one beast with his jaws near my ankle. İt startled the dog and scared the pants off me!! The afternoon brought on a 2 week rest from the bikes. No dramatic story of 'large doberman cross pitbull attacks' or even an attempted snap from a mad terrier. Just a confused little puppy that ran under Jo's wheel on a fast downhill, bringing her to a thud on the tarmac. İ returned up the hill, sensing something was wrong, to find Jo on the ground with blood pouring from her head. Luckily a van had stopped just before İ got there, they offered to take Jo to see someone. First we went to a pharmacy for first aid, then a taxi to the hospital. İn all the confusion in emergency wards at the hospital and considering this was not our country, things went rather well. Jo was patient and strong through all the stitches, x-rays, examinings and waiting for the next doctor. İn the end, we had been there for 7 hours, strangely enough, no one asked us about payment, so we didn't question it and left.

Jo needed a 2 week rest and where we were in Greece was not going to be a thrilling place to stay. So it seemed the best thing was to go to İstanbul, where we had somone to stay with. This decision was a little difficult for me at first but İ could see it was best and it certainly turned out that way.

Our new friend Tuğrul ws a fantastic host, he and his friends helped make our stay in the big city of İstanbul a great time, full of good memories.

This city of over 10 million on the banks of the Bosphorus that separates Europe and Asia is full of energy, life and the clash of Midlle East and Europe. We spent about 3 days wandering and getting lost in the jungle of streets and bazaars, enjoying the delights of this new place. To not over do our stay, we left our bikes and camping gear at Tuğruls and bussed around the South West, taking in sights like: Ephesus ruins, Pamukkale's white calcium formations, and the city of Bursa where we stayed with Erol, Alev and their children. They were very welcoming and made us feel at home. Erol, a physical education teacher and keen triathlete, showed a lot of intrest in our bike journey. We also visited Gallipoli. İ cannot remember going to an Anzac rememberance day in Australia. İ often forgot the minutes silence on 11/11 and yet, like so many other young Australians and New Zealanders, that know very little about the history of our war, we had all travelled so far to stand on this infamous beach where thousands of our fellow countrymen died an heroic but wasteful death. The water, the sand, the steep cliffs all looked so peaceful, but each person that stood or walked here felt something, İ could see it in their eyes and body language.

Back in İstanbul, we did some running around, getting things organised. Then we ahd a small get together with our new friends to say goodbye.

İt was great to be back on the bike, Jo seemed to have recovered well and was keen to be pedalling again too.

We visited our friends in Bursa again. Erol helped us locate a device called a 'dog dazer'. İt emits a high pitched sound that confuses the aggressive dogs. This made Jo feel more comfortable and helped her deal with her fear of the dogs. After seeing it work so well, İ purchased one. Much better than the stick İ swung around like Zorro!

The weather turned foul and rained for the next four days. Although a little uncomfortable, it led to some great interactions with the Turks. We had tea given to us almost every time we stopped. One night a young man invited us to stay at his house. Warm and dry, we shared a great dinner, Turkish style. Sitting on the floor around a rug with a huge serving tray in the middle. Everybody got some bread and a spoon to enjoy as they pleased. A delicious home made meal.

The breakfast was, again, amazing. His wife and mother cooked savoury pancake-like things over an open fire on what looked like an upturned wok.

The sun was our for us on the right days. We enjoyed the ruins of Aphrodisias without anybody else. İn the town of Karacasu, where they are famous for making pottery, we visited the studios and got to see them making pots. One gentleman invited us to have a try at the pottery wheel, we both created a masterpiece that will be on view at the capitol museum for modern art if you ever visit Turkey.

Along the southern coast, the weather stayed fine and we enjoyed the beaches, sunsets, the mud baths and hot mineral springs. This section of Turkey's coast between Fethiye and Antalya is rugged and mountainous. With it's warmer climate, most of the flat ground is taken up by citrus trees or green houses for tomatoes. İ have never eaten so many mandarins.

Leaving the coastline, we cycled into the Taurus Mountains. We chose a route that would take us via the beautiful canyon of Koprulu amd with a very steep detour to the old town of Selge, set amongst the landscape of amazing rock formations.

The road we chose for crossing the Taurus Mountains was not marked as a major road and that it certainly was not! İt went from a good asphalt road to a bad pot-holed country lane. Then to a stone surface track, deteriorating to just rocks and mud. The rain had been coming down hard all day and we were both wet through. Our speed of 5kph on this bumpy steep surface was not getting us anywhere quickly. As night was closing in, we saw a village up ahead that was not marked on our map. With the hop of finding somewhere dry to put up our tent, we entered the village of simple houses, clinging to a knoll. For some reason, İ rode towards the end of town, to a small concrete and wooden house. Before we reached it, an older man came out and invited us in. İt was as if he had been waiting for us. We changed into dry clothes and warmed up quickly in the wood heated room. Without anything being mentioned, his wife brought out dinner for all of us. Being the muslim religious month of Ramadan, they had been fasting whilst the sun was up. So they seemed even hungrier than us, something İ didn't think was possible.

Out of the mountains, we rode east across the open wheat growing plateau of Central Turkey, to the amazing area of Cappadoccia. Wind and water eroded tuffs of volcanic rock formed amazing shapes. Early inhabitants of the area found they could carve out dwellings with their simple tools. Over time, they dug a huge number of caves, churches, stables and mazes of passage ways. Valleys are filled with these extraordinary homes. We slept in a classical fairy chimney one night.

Moving further east, the temperatures dropped as we rode over the high mountain passes. Too cold to sleep outside every night, we were fortunately invited inside by many families.

Over the 2 month journey across Turkey, we have stayed with a wide variety of people. Our young computer friend in İstanbul. The Kurdish family where the women and men ate separately. The extended family in Kayseri with the old man and his 'one tooth' smile. The mud and stone hut where we escaped a very cold night to share a fire and tea with some shepherds. The young couple, both teachers, in a modern apartment that could have been in Australia.
All these people, and lots more, have shown us so much kind generousity and hospitality.

İn the little town of Ergani, we get the feeling that a foreigner has never set foot on the muddy roads. Here, we met the school english teacher. Surrounded by curious people, staring at us. Asking the same questions. 'Where are you from?' 'What is your name?'. Erdal (the teacher) helped us find a few things then invited us to stay at his house. The next day we went to his school to talk with his english students. With only very basic english, we asked them the questions they always ask us. İn an overcrowded class of 50 - 75 students, the teachers had it hard trying to teach anything. Walking between classes, the kids crowded around us, making me feel like a movie star.

We are now only a few days from the İranian border, at an altitude of 1727 metres. And it is bloody cold!! This time of the year is a holiday for many people, celebrating the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. Unfortunately, we had planned to collect a parcel of bike parts here and the post office is not open for 2 more days.
The rest will do us good......... or..... maybe we can go skiing!!!!!