Turkey
as roads got emptier, we could feel that we come closer to the border. and as we passed the river between kipoi and ipsala on a bridge lined with flags, it was definitively the moment of getting goosebumps: the first “real” border crossing outside of the schengen territory, which let us finally completely realize the dimension of our adventure. pure happiness overcame and accompanied us after a smooth 40 minutes border crossing.
only driving a few kilometers in thrace, we already met an old friend: migros! well, although we had already been driving for many hours in the heat, we have not gone crazy and later we were taught that globalization took already place in the days of mister duttweiler with his expansion efforts to turkey.
by approaching istanbul, we were not only flashed by the huge and extravagant skyscrapers surrounding the bosporus, but also by an orange light as we left the highway. since this light always turned to green when other cars passed this zone, we developed a strong feeling that we did something wrong. but our first attempt was to stay crash-free while we were winding through the narrow and busy streets of istanbul. since this moment on, we have learned quickly that you can only win a street battle with size and speed and that the horn of flora is our best friend.
from the time on when we finally felt asleep at this night, we were sunken into a dream as in a tale of «a thousand and one nights», which we lived in this magical atmosphere of istanbul. ok, our first day in turkey was characterized by e.g. organizing a turkish sim-card and catching up on our homework, since our researches missed out that as a car driver you have to pay a toll fee by buying a barcode sticker, similar to our swiss vignette. this explained also the orange light flashing, which meant buying such a sticker within one week at the next post office. but thereafter, we enjoyed an absolutely outstanding city trip!
while we are always searching for the maximum of it in photography, we could find it in this country, and the country reflected in istanbul: contrasts. istanbul is by far more, where europe and asia join together from a geographical point of view. it is the merging of tradition and modernism, of a rich cultural and historical heritage and the vibrant energy of art and music inventions, it is the open and peaceful coexistence of diverse cultures and religions, it is the alleys’ fused scent of exotic spices, honey, roasted sesame and corn, freshly brewed turkish coffee and shisha smoking conviviality. one gets not only enriched by all the culinary highlights and variety of turkish cuisine, but also by listening to all the interesting and inspiring stories of the locals. coming to the first, we must admit that we are still finding ourselves into intensive discussions about the exact definitions of the different kebab styles (but we do agree that all of them are very delicious!). coming to the latter, we can tell you that although our attempt to learn turkish ended with 10 words at max, we were always so friendly and warmly welcomed!
travelling also means letting go and saying goodbye and thus, after one week in this wonderful and fascinating city, we continued our journey and entered the region of northern anatolia, where we stayed in ballenberg-like safranbolu, a gorgeous town like in ottoman times. while we were cuddling cute cats and kittens everywhere and all the time, we realized that not only istanbul, but entire turkey is a cat country par excellence. this fact relieved our homesickness for our joia a little bit.
while passing the picturesque coastal road at the black sea with its turquoise blue water and lonely bays, we also learned about another contrast: the often harsh life in some rural regions, where the youth has left for work to urban centers and only the elderly remains, which leads to thinning out populations in some villages.
after driving through the dry steppe of central anatolia, we reached the moonscape region of cappadocia. we found ourselves in another world, where erosions of soft volcanic ash created large, cone-like formations over time and past cultures dug dwellings, castles, monasteries and even entire underground cities into them. waking up very early in the morning and experiencing the weightless ascent of colorful balloons in the still fresh dawn and slumbering silence over the valley, immersed in thousands and thousands of fairy chimneys is pure magic! we were very lucky having the opportunity to live our passion by riding through this mystical landscape with two great and very slip-proven arabian horses and to enjoy another stunning sunset.
as we travelled through a diverse scenery and passed multiple mountain passes, we realized that nights were getting colder and we were very grateful for our installed auxiliary heating. once we reached the region of the taurus mountains not far from the euphrate upper reaches, we climbed up to the summit of mount nemrut dagi, where not only a breathtaking panorama revealed to us (literally! the winds were so enormous strong that we had to be careful not to be blown away!) but also some large stone statues assumed to be a royal tomb from the 1st century bc and belonging to the unesco world heritage.
on the way to sea-like van lake, which was our last stop before we went deeper into middle east, we conducted our first oil change of our journey in diyarbakir. a successful one-hour endeavor in the middle of various car parts of a turkish garage and accompanied by a pleasant glass of çay (turkish tea).
