Yesterday we left our camping spot for a tea and some breakfast. As a matter of fact, we were not long alone and not allowed to pay for our tea and coffee as our new Turkish friend from Osnabrück took care of this?.
The first 60 km were easy stuff because of a strong tail wind and perfect roads. The rest of the day was hard working with a strong head wind and sometimes a track which doesn’t deserve the name road. We enjoyed every meter anyhow due to the astonishing rituals along the street. We saw a huge amount of cows, bulls and sheep, being slaughtered in the open air, spectated by a crowd of people in every village on every unexpected spot (on the square, the lawn, in the middle of the forrest, on a cemetery and in the garden of farmers). We learned that this was connected to the “Kurban bayrami“, the Islamic Sacrifice Feast, which started the 12th of September this year. Friends and families are sharing parts of the meat and give certain amounts to the poor people. (the wild street dogs had a good day as well because of the left overs, served on a silver plate). We were impressed and also a little bit confused with this cultural event.
Towards the end of the day we biked through a national park which had lots of pick-nick areas. Sounds great but we were gutted by the way these places were left behind… The trash was everywhere… Greenpeace would certainly not concur with the way the Turkish clean up!!
We eventually reached our destination in Kumköy, where we found the first real camping in Turkey so far. After a quick shower we treated ourself for a fresh grilled fish from the Black Sea?
This morning we got woken up by the local Imam very early, so we left the camping already at 7.15h. We tried to find the exit to the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, the recently opened 3rd bridge over the Bosporus, but unfortunately bikes are not allowed to cross this bridge.
Then we decided to take a ferry from Rumelikavagy to Anadolu Kavagy with a brilliant view at the Yavuz Sultan Selim bridge of course! During this short ferry trip, we finally left Europe and entered Asia…
I was already wondering that you guys were on the road already that early. As I check on you early every morning, keeping in mind that Turkey is one hour ahead in time, I thought wow, that really is early! ?
But your track alongside the Black Sea must be astonishing, I really feel a bit jealous of what you must see, and I don’t…?
Take care, and please let us join in your trip as much as possible!