Current Location : Dogubayazit, Turkey (Google map)
Last entry date : 03 May 2008

[english]

Ancient cave dwellings at Uchisar, Cappadocia

The bike’s odometer has clocked up 3500km since the start of the journey. We can’t lie, it does look like a holiday trip so far. Lydia and I have managed to make our way to some touristic places (and having plenty of good meals too). It has been fun. Now that I start to ride alone, do I begin my 350/500 km or 6/7 hrs straight ride each day to try to get to the Chinese border ?? No, not yet. Because every travel guide you read says the Cappadocia region in central Turkey is not to be missed if you’re visiting Turkey. So off I go, planning for a brief one night stop at Ankara to
meet Ozhan (Dr) & Ozge Unverdi, then to the Cappadocia.

It must be the Turkish hospitality. Some weeks earlier Ozhan had generously offered to put me up at his place if needed. We had exchanged a few messages earlier about bike travels on the net. As usual, once arriving inside a big city at night I got lost and Ozhan had to come fetch me at the Carrefour supermarket. Ozhan is a keen biker and is preparing to do a world tour one day (it makes my trip looks rather tame). The stay stretched to 2 days. We had a great time discussing bike and travel issues. They fed me and brought me out to visit Ankara. My friends Ozhan and Ozge.

I found that tea is free flowing in Turkey. Its all you can drink at the hotel. The petrol station boys will propose to offer a cup of tea when they see your tired eyes. Restaurants will offer you a cup of tea at the end of your dinner, etc. At one truckstop on the way to Urgup, Cappadocia, I had the dilemma of not knowing how to order and was looking at the neighbour’s food. Mr Phityar and Mr Habib, the truckers, asked me over to sit with them and offered to share their food. We talked in signs and at the end of that half hour, the restaurant manager refused my food bill as he says Mr Phityar has already taken care of it. Just imagine, I’m the stranger.

The travel brochures are accurate. Cappadocia is a beautiful region with very interesting history. The cave dwellings date to the 9th till 13th centuries. There are also underground cities of a few stories deep ((too bad I did not get to see one – had to stop to eat and by then it was too late to go to the next town). Its definitely worth to make a visit to this region. The Japanese and Korean tourists were there by busloads. Have a look at the photos of Cappadocia – its just amazing. [/english]

[french]

Anciennes habitations dans les caves à Uchisar, Cappadoce

Le compteur de la moto a enregistré 3500km depuis le début du voyage. Sans mentir, jusqu’à maintenant, ça ressemble plutôt à un voyage de vacances. Lydia et moi avons pu faire en sorte de voir des endroits touristiques (avec plein de bonnes choses à manger en plus). C’était super.

Maintenant que je roule seul, est-ce que je commence mes 350/500km ou 6/7h de conduite d’affilée chaque jour pour essayer d’arriver à la frontière chinoise ?

Non, pas tout de suite. Parce que tous les guides touristiques vous le diront, si vous êtes en Turquie il ne faut surtout pas rater la région de la Cappadoce, en Turquie centrale. Donc, j’y vais, planifiant un petit arrêt d’une nuit à Ankara pour rencontrer Ozhan (Dr) et Ozge Unverdi, puis la Cappadoce.

Ce doit être l’hospitalité turque. Quelques semaines plus tôt, Ozhan m’a gentiment offert de dormir chez lui si j’en avais besoin. Par internet on avait échangé quelques messages sur les voyages en moto. Comme à mon habitude, une fois arrivé dans une grande ville la nuit, je me suis perdu, et Ozhan a été obligé de venir me chercher au supermarché Carrefour.

Ozhan est un motard assidu et il se prépare actuellement à faire un jour, un tour du monde (du coup mon voyage parait assez banal). Le séjour chez lui se poursuit sur 2 jours. Nous avons eu de bons moments à discuter motos et voyages.Ils m’ont nourri et m’ont emmené visiter la ville d’Ankara. Mes amis, Ozhan et Ozge.

J’ai remarqué que le thé était servi gratuitement en Turquie. C’est le service à volonté à l’hôtel. Les serveurs des stations essence te proposeront une tasse de thé s’ils te voient les yeux fatigués. Les restaurants t’offriront une tasse de thé à la fin du repas, etc.

A un arrêt pour camionneurs en chemin vers Urgup, Cappadoce, j’ai eu un problème, ne sachant pas comment commander et je regardais la nourriture des voisins. Mr Phityar et Mr Habib m’ont alors demandé de venir m’asseoir avec eux et m’ont proposé de partager leur repas. Nous avons parlé avec les mains et au bout d’une demie heure le propriétaire du restaurant n’a pas voulu me donner la note me disant que Mr Phityar l’avait déjà réglée. Imaginez, c’était moi l’étranger.

Les brochures de voyages disent vrai. La Cappadoce est une très belle région avec une histoire intéressante.

Les habitations dans les caves datent du 9ème au 13ème siècle. Il y a aussi des villes souterraines de plusieurs étages (dommage, je n’ai pas pu en voir, j’ai dû m’arrêter pour manger et après il était trop tard pour aller à la prochaine ville). Ca vaut vraiment la peine de visiter cette région. Les touristes japonais et coréens viennent ici par bus entiers. Jetez un coup d’oeil aux photos de la Cappadoce, c’est tout simplement stupéfiant.[/french]

Current location : Urgup, Cappadocia region (Google map) Last entry date : 30 April 2008 [english]Istanbul man fishing by the pier We had planned to be in Istanbul before sunset. What we had not expected was the 1-1/2 hour wait of getting through the border into Turkey and the strong westerly wind blowing that day. […]

Read...

Current Location : Istanbul, Turkey (Google map) Last entry date : 26 April 2008 [english]On the hills between Veliko Turnovo and Nova Zagora Glasses off, helmets off and the Roumanians customs waved us into Bulgaria. They even joked that we’re disguised as Sarkozy and Carla Bruni on a private visit to Bulgaria. No problem at […]

Read...

Current Location : Istanbul, Turkey (Google map) Last entry date : 23 April 2008 [english]Wet day near Carpathian mountain range One of the good thing about not having a travel plan is that you can make up a “plan” just by looking at the map the night before or right before the day’s ride. We […]

Read...

Current Location : Budapest, Hungary (Google map) Last entry date : 18 April 2008 [english]Mustard plant in flower as far as the eye can see When we left Slovenska Bistrica, Slovenia late that morning, the plan of the day was to make an easy cruise of 100 km via the national road to Lenti on […]

Read...

Current location : Slovenska Bistrica, Slovenia (Google map) Last entry date : 14 April 2008 [english]Here we come, Slovenia Once more we headed off towards Slovenia late in the morning. We had for company trucks upon trucks heading to the port of Trieste, Italy. Everyone was in hurry, of course. This is the 1st time […]

Read...

Current location : Venice, Italy (Google map) Last entry date : 14 April 2008 [english]Bridge link into Venice Island Today, the plan was to make a morning visit of Cremona. Its starting to sound like a vacation. A brief visit is still a visit and an occasion to get a glimpse of the city’s culture […]

Read...

Current location : Cremona, Italy (Google map) Last entry date : 14 April 2008 [english]1st pit stop of the journey And the weatherman was right. Saturday was looking like a great day to start a long journey. The morning’s weather was cool and no dark clouds in sight. What we did not want was to […]

Read...

Current location : Gattières (Google Map) Last entry date : 11 April 2008 [english] Thanks to your visits to this site and thumbs up to your many comments and loud cheers Just when its almost time to go …… the non surprise is we’re not quite ready to go. The rain clouds came in and […]

Read...

[english] Current location: Gattières (Google Map) Last entry date: 04 April 2008 Happy fruit seller at Castellane street market, Marseille

Read...