First days in Turkey

Hi mom, hi dad, we’re still alive! If there is anybody else reading this: also hi to you! We survived our first days, and slowly we are getting into a routine. In the first days it was still a guessing game in which bag the toilet paper was hidden, but now we can actually find stuff. It’s called progress.

We started off in Istanbul with the goal of leaving the city as soon as possible. In non-Covid times we would love to see the sites and sample the food, but that has to wait for better times. After a night in the ISG airport hotel, we packed our stuff, got the bikes in working order and off we were! Very quickly we found ourselves on a highway, including a 1.5km long tunnel, so that was what they call a baptism by fire. Apparently it’s perfectly legal to cycle there, as the several police cars overtaking us didn’t pull us over. Luckily we didn’t get killed in the first hour of our trip and we could take the ferry to Yalova. For only 50 lira and taking only 45 minutes, and we were on the other side of the Sea of Marmara. Here we discovered two things: Turkey is not flat, nor does the sun always shine. Oh well, part of the fun. It just meant that going up we had to push our bikes and going down we would make up for the times lost. And. Not. Letting. Go. Of. The. Brakes! Those 10-13% climbs/descents are pretty though for a Dutchie.

Luckily the Turks are courteous drivers. They leave enough space when overtaking and honk politely to announce they are coming. Then lots of waving (or shaking their heads in disbelief, when we are climbing) and off they are. The roads are great, and while there are no cycling paths, the shoulder provides us with enough distance from the traffic to prevent heart attacks when a truck comes by. The first few days we stayed on the rural roads, but since two days we are cycling along the main roads and it so much faster! Not to mention less steep…

The only thing that will take a bit longer to get use to are the Turkish dogs. They come in two varieties: either they are snoozing by the side of the road or they come after you in a pack, barking and growling. The secret is to stare them down and even get off our bikes, as this will turn even the most vicious monster in a whining puppy. This tip we found after some googling (“how to deal with turkish dogs”). However, it took some time before we had the nerves to actually try it. Lo and behold, it worked!

After a few days getting soaking wet (even snow and freezing temperatures) and cheating by staying in a hotel for 1 night, we finally got some better weather the last few days. We made it to the Aegean coast, and tomorrow we will take a train (S-Bahn for all you German people) from Aliaga to Alsancak in Izmir. Then a loop around the peninsula, before we head South again.