Turkey

Temperatures are far more friendly here and the landscape is less rough (in the beginning), so it is easier to make some kilometers. Everybody is just as friendly here as in Lebanon en Syria. The 20 cups of tea are a the daily proof of that. Sometimes a car stops to offer us a sweet treat and sometimes we get a complete meal at a petrol station. If we would stop for every offer, we would still be cycling near the Syrian- Turkish border after two weeks! We travel from Gaziantep -> Sanliurfa -> Siverek -> Diyarbakir -> Tatvan -> Van -> Dogubayazit.

Unofficially we enter Kurdistan when we cross the Eufraat, so we meet a lot of Kurds. Of course they are just as kind as everybody we have met so far. Interesting fact is that during our trip we always get warned for the next country. In Lebanon we get warnings for Syria, in Syria warnıngs for Turkey and the Turks warn us for the Kurds. And of course now we get warnings for Iran. The only conclusion we can draw is that all the people we have met so far are unbelievably kind....

We crossed the Eufraat and the Tigris, see old castles, bridges and Khans (places where the caravans used to spent the night). We see big herds of cattle and really a lot of sheep in the big planes we cross.

We spent our first night in the tent, for the hotel in Silvan did not exist. A beautiful spot at the secured schoolground is organised by the police.

So far we haven`t had any problem with the big wild dogs in Turkey. We are able to spot them in time, than jump of our bikes and wait. Most times somebody helps us with a stone or the dog lost its interest when we stop cycling.

In Tatvan we cross the Van lake (at 1770 mtrs) after a day of waiting for the ferry boat. Unfortunately now we can not say we have cycled every mile to China, but then again: Marco Polo was sitting on a camel half the time!