Turkish Delight

I was nervous and excited at the same time. What would Turkey be like? What am I nervous about?

Nervous about the unknown, but that’s not a reason to not go. So hey ho, let’s go to Turkey. The border crossing went less smooth than the other ones, but still smooth enough. I had to answer some tough questions ‘what are you doing, where are you going, where do you come from, what is your profession’, welcome to Turkey!

I crossed the border close to Edirne, and I knew a Turkish city would be hectic, so this time it didn’t caught me by surprise. I enjoyed the traffic, full of cars, trucks, scooters, horses, pedastrians, people carrying watermelons, chaos, but manageable. Just one bike traveler isn’t misplaced here.

The first little road off the main road was mine. Sunflower feelds everywhere, is this France?! Slightly hilly, and very friendly people waving at me. In the villages people looked at me like I a man alien.

I told myself, the first time someone offeres me a tea, it’s something I read on the internet it happens quite often in Turkey, I would accept generously. After 70km I passed a café and three old guys waved at me ‘come here, come over’. With gestures I made clear what I’m doing, it was cute and funny.

I felt worse and worse that day, my tummy wasn’t feeling funny, the water I drunk landed like rocks. I lost my love for food and I lost the power in my legs. So I slowed down and rested in a park. I met three local Turkish guys of around 20 years old. Long story short, they provided me with food, a couch to sleep on and a nice little breakfast made by a grandmother. Extremely cute. Turkey is surprising me very pleasantly.