3rd 4th 5th 6th July, Malatya, Mus and Dogubayazit

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Farewell Goreme

Farewell Jane and John

Off to Malatya in morning. A full days driving and all up high in the Anatolyan mountains and hills, all above 1000 m and up to 1900m. Stunning roads and all dual carriage ways with hardly a car on them. One comes across a lot of road works but that has been the case on every road I have been on here. The investment is staggering, then I heard that the Turkish last quarter economic growth rate was 11%, making it the fastest growing economy in the world. I am going to have a chat with Miranda, who looks after my stocks and shares and see if there are some funds worth looking at. With the proposed entry into the euro and uniquely positioned between East and West, a stable  democratic government (albeit polarizing and slightly non secular), property values set to double over the next 3 years, it would not be a stupid punt.

I have been on the look out for a sheepskin to put on the seat. Apparently it will do wonders for posterior comfort. Not that I suffer much, but any additional luxury has to be good. Anyway the point is that in Malatya, where I stayed, there is a market by the hotel with lots of stalls selling wool, but non appeared to be attached to the fleece (that was quite a feat of sign language) I was offered one, but the shop keeper had been sitting on it for the last 20 years by the look of it and it would have been wrong to have torn them apart, yuck. The qwest goes on.
During this market meanderings, a chap came up and said hello. He was in his 30s I guess and said he had lived in the UK for a few years, in Bristol and Reading, but was sent home when his visa ran out. I asked what he missed most. The women he said, they are the most beautiful in the world. I tried to compliment him on the many Turkish beauties I had seen, but he would not even hear a comparison. That is something I miss too, and only gone a month....

Bit by bit, the further east I've gone it has started to get dryer and dryer, and green a more precious colour on the landscape. The people outside the towns are very rustic, with a great many cattle and donkeys wondering along and across the road.  The trucks are slower, and Batty's overtaking skills are getting practiced on an hourly basis now. There have been no Ferraris in Turkey, and only one in Greece.

Stayed in a very suspect Otel in Mus, the loo stank, which is not a nice thing to clean ones' teeth next to. It is the worst so far, but they have been kind and allowed Batty to stay in the office over night.

 

Headed for the frontier town of Dogubayazit (seems to be known as Dogbuscuit by some).

Lovely drive and a lot reminiscent of the Highlands (Scotland), but bigger temperature swings.

 A local herdsman and his boys

 A long shot of his tented village...he offered me a bed for the night...as I understood it, but alas it was mid morning and I wanted to push on.

 

Another local, no regard whatsoever for other road users......

Parked up for a break and photo shoot, when a military patrol stopped and asked me what I was doing. No great issue and a few handshakes and pointing at the map, had them smiling and leaving.

 Just before the law arrived and stopped the next shot...which would have shown a larger brow.

 Nice spot though, worth defending

Most delicious trout for lunch, and prepared at a road side garage restaurant, funny how that can be.

As I head nearer Dogubayazit (MAP) I saw the first sign post for Iran. Although I will not be going there till next week, it is exciting to be this near.

I met Huw in a cafe, where he was supping and advised me the establishment's offerings were good. We got chatting and heard about his 18 month journey around North Africa and around on to Turkey in his Landrover Forward Control 101.

We teamed up in the morning to go and see the Palace of Ishak Pasha near Dogubayazit  that is 4 miles up the hill. Amazing place, with brilliant views, alas hit by Russians and earthquakes I believe and now needs imagination to see it's full glory of yesteryear.

This town is in the shadow of Mount Ararat, Turkey's highest at 5000+ m.

 Noah landed on top of it as well, you may remember.

2nd July, Cappadocia, Goreme, Turkey

I joined a herd in the shape of a conducted tour, via my guesthouse. It was an all day thing that was to cover much of the areas highlights.
For this lone traveler it was a bit of a shock being pitched in to a minibus with a whole lot of strangers. Cappadocia is a big area and it seemed a good way to see some of the gems. The last group joining the bus in the town, were about 8 Koreans, all babbling away. I was rather nervous that it could be a mistake. I was wrong, they were very charming and spoke excellent English. Hitomi was staying in my Otel and there were a couple of fun Italian girls as well. One thing is for sure, these trips are a great way of meeting people. I will tell the story of the day in as few pics as possible.
The one thing difficult to show is the under ground town. Build over a 1000 years ago to protect the minority Christian groups. About 20-100 people for many centuries lived all there domestic life in these very deep dug out caves. Over 7 storeys deep and hundreds of feet. Now I can do caves, and have even been pot holing, but this was not a thing anyone should do with the slightest twinge of claustrophobia. There were about 10 of us, and probably 200 other trippers at the site as well, they filed us down and down these tiny interconnecting stairwells, that one had to crouch going down and was a bit of a squeeze.  It was fascinating, but I am afraid I was getting very nervy by the time we got to the bottom. I was practicing my 'fear of flying' anxiety busting techniques, i.e squeezing ones' bum cheeks and deep steady breathing, I even started writing some journal up to get my mind off it. Talking of shitting one self, they apparently used clay pots that were bought up daily.
As we climbed back higher it became easier but the idea of living there was incredible. I am not surprised that it was abandoned when the threat stopped.

 

That evening John and Jane rolled into town and after being introduced to a cool bar by Anna and Claudia from Roma, we all went and supped at the 'Local' restaurant, which served a delicious speciality called a clay pot Kabab. Basically a stew, which they have to break the pottery cooking pot to serve. Grt fun.
The next day was rather relaxed and  we went to a local museum in the morning, had lunch, a potter abound the town, tried to get some sunset shots in the Rose valley then a beer followed by supper again at Local. We all agreed it was the best Turkish food we had had and worth paying a few quid extra.

30th June& 1st July, Konja and Goreme, Turkey

 Had quite a long drive to Konja, but as ever through exciting roads that tend to be in plains and surrounded by amazing mountains.

Stopped for a sort of lunch break at a lovely town called Egridir, which was by a lake of that name.

The only reason why I stopped at Konja, was because it was six inches away from Pamakkule on my map, 6 inches being about a days travel on the map I have. There was not much in the guide book other than it being a transport hub. In fact it is a main city in the carpet manufacturing industry.
Not having a hotel booked, I headed for the centre and asked Garmin for hotels and there were a few just nearby. I have a budget of about 30-40 Turkish Lira, which is about £11-15. I am not too fussy and as long as it looks clean,  I don't fanny about comparing for one night's stay. Otel Cinar  was on the corner and they had a lovely vivid pink single room, with a pink bed down. Perhaps they offer that room to all single chaps?
When I parked Batty in the adjacent carpark there was another bike, albeit with a cover on, but it was clearly an overlander's bike. The 4 or 5 local guys hanging around the attendant's kiosk came over, drawn by Batty's somewhat unique good looks no doubt, one of them spoke quite good English and when they hear it is diesel the questions started streaming; How fast? How far? Where are you from? How much? Etc. it goes in differing orders and all at once.  They told me that the other bike was  English too.
I came back downstairs after washing 8 hours worth of dust off, to try and find a local supper. Bending down next to Batty was John, as it turned out, taking down this website address from the stickers on the panniers. He and Jane were on the final leg of a RTW  trip, that started in the States. Over  supper and coffee the next morning, I enjoyed their very good company. They imparted so much valuable info, beit how to drive in India, where to stay in Nepal, what to look out for in Cambodia, get a bike cover for India, as well as many lovely stories of their year long travels.
They had met so many other overland bikers on the trip and so much info is willingly handed around like a giant 'pass the parcel' party. I am looking forward to more of these meetings as I go.

Off I went from this enjoyable meeting to the much vaunted Cappidosia (Land of the beautiful horse in Persian, and they are), 5 hours east.
This is a place resulting from a volcanic bang millennia ago, and in amongst the high rolling hills/mountains are some weird natural phenomena that man has put to use over the years. I was heading for Goreme, which is the main central town. As you head down the hill one sees what looks like blobs from a culinary creation, but these are big enough to have houses in them, which they do.

Staying in the comfortable Anatolya Cave Pension and will stay for 3 nights.

Airplanes beginning to use veg oil

Jane Burston sent me a link to a BBC article the other day about KLM starting to use veg oil in their planes, and now I see Thomson are doing the same in the Telegraph

Once the production issues are sorted out, and the consumption has no impact on food needs, this could be an important step towards mass transportation with low carbon emission.

Batty takes to the air...better get vegiplane.com quick....

28/29th Pamukkale & Heirapolis

Breakfasted on a delicious mountain of assorted pastries, filo based and filled with feta, mince and spinage, grt start to any day and too much for even my appetite.
Motored through large plains, surrounded by high hill ranges  It is harvest time and the fields are very busy with combines, tractors and balers. Takes me back to muscle building and pocket money earning days of haymaking on Dartmoor in my teens. They are still making bales that one can lift rather than the huge round ones that seem to have taken over in the UK, by and large. The top heavy, massively overloaded trailers are reminiscent too, although the flaggen of local cider being swigged by the guys on the top of the trailer is a missing ingredient. Perhaps they had some local apricot liquor to lighten the bales?
Arrived in Pamukkala after lunch and was pointed to a low key but delightful guesthouse, Allgau Hotel. Took the afternoon off and enjoyed the pool and sun lounger. I am still looking far too English skinned and if nothing else this trip should give me a chance to get some vitamin D into the pores.
Dined there very deliciously and met a lovely Australian couple, Daniel and Jessica. They were spending a couple of weeks in Turkey before going to Spain for 5 weeks language learning. They have introduced me to a hostel website along the same lines that Paddy had, which will be a great help.
We use to represent a great artist called Zafar Baran, who was from Turkey and I vividly remember him telling me about a place where mineral waters spring and there are incredible marble white pools that cascade down the hill side. He also said that there was 1% more oxygen in the air than normal. Well I think I am there. The best way I can describe this extraordinary natural spectacle, is to imagine being the size of an ant and being in one of those large opened up quartz. This quartz would would happen to have a stream running through it with dozens of infinity pools interconnecting. It is a huge area over several hundred acres and so white, one could be at a ski resort.

 

 

I had a hour long dip in the mineral pools at the top in amongst the submerged colonnades and ruins of the old Roman Baths. Perfect bath temperature water that never got cool (my bath pet frustration). 

Then up the hill a bit to the Roman theater ruins which are not really that ruined, and what with the restoration taking place it takes very little to imagine how it was 2000+ years ago.

This was a large and much visited place throughout history for it's climate and restorative waters.

I have loved if here and finished the visit with a fine  dinner with Daniel and Jessica at the hotel. They are very well traveled  and talked a lot about South America as well as South East Asia, which has whetted the appetite all the more. They have just got married and combine their medical careers with travel and his art.
Ironically both their fathers left Australia as young men and found their respective wives in Germany and Brazil before bringing them back to Perth, as opposed to Daniel and Jessica who were brought up 2 streets apart.

 

Daniel and Jessica (L & R) with our charming hosts

27th Bandirma, Turkey

Stayed in a very comfortable hotel called Eken in Bandirma, a quite modern town that has a ferry to Istanbul, and has quite a lot of through traffic to and from mainland Turkey. I was there as I needed a new back tyre and had seen various recommendations for Bora Eris's establishment on Horizons Unlimited. We had been in contact and he was able to find the right tyre. I was surprised that the size was not very common in these parts, so it was a bit of a struggle. The old tyre had done a bit under 6000 miles, so it was a bit of a disappointment, thinking I would get to India on the set I had. In retrospect, I should have upgraded when commissioning Batty. Bora was most helpful and arranged for the tyre to be fitted and his colleague set about cleaning Batty, without any prompting and did a great job. I had said I wanted to clean her up a bit, for no other reason than to monitor a seeming oil leak from the rocker box cover. The nuts were a bit loose, and I hoped that was all it was, and it was.  It was a great and enjoyable service.
Left at about lunchtime to make for Pamukkale further south.

I knew something was amiss with the centre stand on the bike for sometime, as it had stopped supporting the bike and was dropping down. I got fed up with it and took it off, a very oily roadside job and having had pretty clean hands for a number of days, I was back to blackened finger nails. Alas Swarfega and nail brushes are not easily found items here.
I have noticed a brilliant concept in Shanghai, as well as in Cambodia, of this simple count down of seconds on the traffic light before they change, and I noticed it here as well. Such a simple way, of keeping everyone calm, and then getting everyone prepared to move off etc. It is such a benefit to drivers, I wish they would start introducing it it back in the UK. 
Staying in a lesser establishment in Akhisar, although perfectly functional and clean-ish, it is tired to say the least, but it is half the price of last nights at £10, and fine for my light needs. It is very central and have felt very close to the gentle hustle and bustle of the place. Trying to explain the need for a nailbrush to shop keepers has been an amusing challenge and impossible so far.

24th/25th June. Greece/Turkey.

Stuck to the motorway to the border. It was about 250 miles and very light traffic. I wanted to push on and get into Asia.
I had not particularly thought about Greece in terms of expectation of experience, it was a country to cross on the way to Eastern promise. Funnily enough I have enjoyed the country and it's people a great deal. Nothing but friendliness and generosity. The roads are a dream, mixing exciting scenery, very little traffic and generally good repair. That said I did have one hairy moment on the first day, when the road suddenly narrowed because of a landslip. The right hand side of the road was an unguarded precipice of hundreds of feet and the on coming car only gave me inches to squeeze between it and the said cliff face. Both Batty and I did a cartoon type breathing in act to make it.
This was my first border crossing of any consequence. Of course I completely forgot all the stuff I had been reading up on and made a bit of a meal of it. After about an hour of to-ing and fro-ing, being sent from one kiosk to another, accompanied by insanely loud piped Turkish music, I was in the land with the red flag with stars and a young moon.
Staying in Gallipoli in a somewhat suspect hotel, but with a great proprietor who has helped get road maps and a fine diner.
25th June
It is difficult when in a place that nearly a hundred years ago were the fields of huge loss of life, of extraordinary suffering and bravery, to know as where or what to see. I decided to just drive around the peninsular that saw much of the fighting and stopped at the most southern point, where there is a huge commonwealth memorial.

There are so many memorials every few miles that it gives some scale of the fight. Whatever the rights or wrongs, and who did what, it is the Turkish massive loss that I found extraordinary, something like 3 to 1. The French were the second biggest losers, followed by the Brits and Commonwealth countries. The Turks were defending their land, and in spite of their loss, this is the translation of a Kemal Ataturk's words that gives a little bit of the hint of graciousness and generosity of spirit that has been my experience over the last 48 hrs (apart from some drivers...):

I ferried across the Dardanelles to Asia, and you can see why it was so strategic. This stretch of water that took about 10 mins to cross, connects 2 economic and political worlds. Had Churchill and his fellow planners succeeded in beating the Turks it would have changed the shape of the war enormously.

 

Batty on the ferry across the Dardanelles,  her 3rd time on water, she has quite got her sea wheels.

In the later afternoon I went to Troy. Although ruins, it again was positioned very strategically as a trading post/ harbour for ships that could then only sail with the wind. As the prevailing wind is from the north, ships had to wait a long time at Troy for the southerly wind. This caused trouble as the Greeks and then the Romans wanted to lay their hands on it.. I had a good look around for Helen, but alas not even a glimmer.

 Horror of horror, I suppose they have to for the kids?

 

Some fellow bikers, every friendly and spoke great English (please say hello here if you read this blog, I am afraid I did not catch your names). Thank you and hello again Erdem and Cihan, it was great to meet you and good luck in India and your studies.

I think I have started to get careless, I managed to leave my laptop on top of the bike and in clear view of everyone for over an hour, whilst I went around the War Memorial. And I have also lost a credit card. I am sure it is not stolen, as I keep it with others, but it must have been left in the ATM machine....that will be a headache. Sharpen up Harry

Neptune's Revenge. 22/23 June, Paralia, Greece.

What was meant to be a 2 day, 3 night r&r has been extended by an extra day. Yesterday I either ate a funny squid, took on some seawater, or had too much sun. The result was a somewhat sleepless night ( best endured alone) and a considerable weight loss. Enough said.
The extra day has been useful as I have been able to send all my camping kit to Sarah, my colleague in Australia. Now that I am at the end of Europe, and guest houses are the price of camping sites till I get to Auz, it makes sense . It amounted to 10 kilos, or a stone and a half. What with this, some other rationing of kit and my own lightening, Batty will have an easier job by probably 15KGs or 2 stone. It will also make her less top heavy, which has to be a good thing.
Am going for Turkey tomorrow, and will cross the boarder if I get there in time, or first thing on Sat.
BTW. The riddle of the furs has been explained, there are lots of Russians holidaying here and they are the market. I guess Greek fur is cheaper than Russian, or better. Who knows, but there are a hell of a lot of furs for sale, so I guess it is good business.