2014 Biking Turkey Weekly Update

Did you know that St Nicholas (Father Christmas) was born in Turkey? Did you know that the Tigris and Euphrates rivers of Upper Mesopotamia originate in Turkey? Did you know that the Lydians collected alluvial gold on fleece sieves and minted the first pure gold and silver coins in Turkey? Did you know that Noah’s ark is said to have come to rest on Mount Ararat in Turkey? Did you know that at Göbekli Tepe in Turkey is the oldest man-made place of worship yet discovered, constructed 12,000 years ago by nomadic hunter-gatherers and pre-dating Stonehenge by 7,000 years? Did you know that cherries originate from Turkey? Did you know that Çatalhöyϋk outside Konya is one of the oldest known sedentary or built settlements? Did you know the warrior women Amazons were thought to have lived on the Black Sea coast? Did you know that heroes and villains, their names made familiar to us through history books, legends and myths, once lived and loved, built and destroyed, fought and died here? Agamemnon and Achilles pursued Helen to Troy; Midas bathed in the river from which Croesus obtained his gold; St Paul lectured to the Ephesians; Alexander the Great cut the Gordion knot...

Highlights from southern and eastern Turkey

11 June, Antalya
Today had a real holiday feel to it ... nothing much planned and all day to do it in. A city was founded here in the 2^nd century BC and came under Roman rule in 133BC. Below Antalya’s historic old city, known as Kaleiçi, is a Roman-era harbour, a protected indent between cliffs. Long sections of the city’s original walls remain, with houses built into them and sections of the new city built on top of them. The Ottoman era houses of the old city have largely been restored and converted into boutique hotels, restaurants and shops. The new city is modern with beautiful gardens and parks, nationalistic statues, brand name shops and innovative street art. We strolled the old city streets and the new city boulevard, enjoying particularly the scents of spices and perfumes and suede; and the sample of Turkish delight snipped with a large pair of scissors from a long roll and offered to us to taste. In the late afternoon we took the old tram to the terminal opposite the museum and walked down to the public beach for a swim in the Med. The beach is pebbled, with a short sharp drop into the sea, making for a challenging entrance and exit, but the water both warm and refreshing...

19 June, Konya
Along with Jericho, Çatalhöyϋk outside Konya is one of the oldest known sedentary or built settlements. Eight thousand people lived here over 9,000 years ago. They lived in contiguous mud brick homes, which were entered via the roof; access to other homes was over the rooftops. They painted hunting scenes on their walls and buried their dead under their floors. Charl and I took a local bus to the excavation site this afternoon, and marvelled at how sophisticated the pottery and knives were so very long ago. On the bus we met a young university research assistant who pointed out several “mounds” to us in the flat Konya plain. These were used for communication, the beacons lit on them being visible over long distances. He also asked if we were following the World Cup and said that after the 2010 South African World Cup, the word “vuvuzela” had entered the Turkish vocabulary and is applied to a wife who talks too much! During our bus ride back to the city an incredible wind storm ripped several trees out of the ground.

24 June, Göreme, 10km
There can be few towns with as dramatic an approach as that offered on the short stretch of road that connects Uçhisar to Göreme. The road drops for 5km to Göreme, the gateway to Cappadocia, a geologically unique area formed in antiquity when Mount Erciyes erupted. What the eruption and erosion have left behind is nothing short of spectacular; cream and rose and brown rock formations beyond my ability to describe. It was already late afternoon when we cycled this stretch of road yesterday, grateful for our ability to stop and stare whenever we chose so to do, or to take a tea break, not because we needed tea, but because the view was to-die-for-doll. Today mainly we rested, but we did take a short ride to nearby Paşabaği to wander among the phallic “fairy chimneys” there, oohing and aahing with other enamoured tourists. We have dined more expensively, but well, in this small honey-coloured town, which knows how to please a palate.

16 July, Şanliurfa
Harran, south of Şanliurfa, is one of the oldest continuously-inhabited places on earth, is mentioned in Genesis as the 1900BC home of Abraham, and is the site of the first Islamic university. But it was to see the beehive houses we took the local bus this morning. The design of these homes may date to the third century BC, but the current examples were built around 200 years ago using bricks from ancient Harran ruins. The village is poor and dusty, the inhabitants predominantly Arab (as opposed to Turk), the pace slow. We were particularly taken with the family beds built of metal around 1.5m above the ground and accessed by a ladder for outdoor summer sleeping. This evening we visited Göbekli Tepe, a series of concentric stone circles constructed 12,000 years ago by nomadic hunter-gatherers. Still being excavated, Göbekli Tepe predates Stonehenge by 6-7000 years and is the oldest man-made place of worship yet discovered. The stones weigh 10 to 50 tonnes each, vary in height from 3 to 6 metres, are carved with animal and human images, and stand upright on specially flattened bed-rock. Quite something to see.

24 July, Hasankeyf
Today I swam in the Tigris. “Swam” is perhaps misleading. I got into the water, rolled onto my belly, wrapped my arms around a handy rock and allowed my feet to float downstream with the current. And there I lay in the shadow of the cliff, in water lukewarm, thinking now and then of the thousands of years of history recorded along this waterway, but mainly chatting to Charl sitting on the bank and a young American woman we met in Antalya and bumped into again here at our motel. And there I lay in the shadow of the cliff, body cool despite the heat of the day, all tensions floating away with the current... Charl and I have cycled 2,878km since arriving in Turkey, making this our longest trip to date. Our previous record was 2,537km in South Africa in 2001. We cycled from Beitbridge to Cape Point raising some money for the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund in the process. My parents were our excellent support team (thank you mom and dad), so we did not have the added weight and worry of the panniers we are carrying now, and we were both younger and both weighed considerably less!

6 August, Çaldiran to Doğubayazit, 66km
A fantastic day filled with drama. Dramatic scenery, a black thunderous storm and scary dogs. We were on the road by 06:30, on a cool, cloudy morning. We zoomed for around 15km along a flat road through a broad flat valley, then climbed for almost 20km to the top of the Tendϋrek pass, gaining 600m in elevation to an altitude of 2644m. To the left of the pass lies the extinct Tendϋrek volcano, petrified lava flowing down its slopes into the valleys below. To the right of the pass lies Iran, pillboxes visible on the ridge that forms the border. Soon after we began our climb, we heard thunder rumbling ahead of us and as we climbed we watched a black storm blow across the volcanic scene and on into Iran, only the icy wind moving it across the stark and lovely terrain catching us. Doğubayazit sits at a height of 1625m so having conquered the pass we were treated to almost 30km of downhill into an unattractive town just south of Mount Ararat, at 5137m Turkey’s highest mountain and the legendary resting place of Noah’s Ark. Both Charl and I had dog “incidents”: Two dogs ran at Charl, forcing him from his bike and dividing his attention between them. A truck driver seeing his dilemma, drove at one of the dogs, chasing it off, the other following suit. Passing through a small, poor village, a dog ran at me, crouched and intent. I screamed, which brought the owner immediately to the rescue, the dog cowering in response to his shouts. Overall a stunning day.

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