Dual Horizons

What a surprising country Turkey has been for us so far.

We crossed the border with a lift by an Azerbaijani guy who liked to drive fast (180kmh) and took us all the way to the outskirts of Istanbul. Turkey is still cold in the north now and the jumpers quickly went on. Now we had to navigate the swirling chaos that is Istanbul, when we asked how we can go to the centre we were given the reply 'which centre?' Istanbul is huge!

When we eventually arrived in the Taksim area we were helped by a young guy from Central Africa who couldnt wait to get back to his homeland and was simply here to work. He helped us to use the internet and we sent out a last minute couch surfing request. We were lucky enough to find a great host by the name of Selcuk who graciously gave us a place to sleep in his home for 3 nights.

After hearing many good things about Istanbul and how you must stay for atleast a month to get to know and feel the rythms of this city we quickly decided it was'nt for us. I simply prefer to be around nature these days and I find there is much more for me of interest in small village/towns and rural environments. 

So off we hit the road again, this time southwards after hearing about some projects of interest through the website HelpX and a 500km walk called the Lycian way. It was a very sucessful hitching day and we travelled around 900km all the way down to Antalya with a great guy who sold oil lamps and worked with some ecological architecture projects, he brought us lunch, dinner and left us with a box of delicious Turkish delights!!

The next week saw us volunteering for a british couple in a village called Uzumlu close to Fethiye helping with horses who had problems in the past. Days started at 7am and finished around 10pm with breaks in between. We learnt how to clean the stables, feed the horses, clean the poo of course and did the occasional bit of riding. The company was great and there was another volunteer there called Jasmin from the UK who we got on very well with and hoped to stay there for 6 months.

After this we decided to start a walk called the Lycian way, in hine sight not the best idea after having sore muscles from riding but nethertheless we continued...

We spent 6 days walking through impressive coastal mountain landscapes and friendly villages. We recieved much hospitality and I can say for me this is when we really started to feel the warmth and friendliness of Turkish culture. After the 6th day we arrived in a place called Kinik and just as we were exhausted and not looking forward to finding a place to camp a man named Yusuf and his daughter arrived and offered us their home for the night!!! It happens so often in this way of free and spontaneous travel that things come to you exactly when you need them and it's just beautiful to behold.

We ended up staying with Yusuf and his family for 2 nights and they fed us, gave us a place to sleep and showed us around, we shared beautiful moments with them and I played with the children as the sun went down. The area is famous for growing tomatoes so we even got a chance to go and help out for a little while to pick them with Yusuf.

We are now back to Hitch hiking and are currently couchsurfing in Kas, a beautiful town on the south coast. From here we will most likely head up to a city called Konya, the home town of a Sufi poet called Rumi and from there we head north and east towards Georgia.

Love from the road x