(written by Dave) We are in an amazingly scene place but we spent most of the day looking at maps and figuring out our route forward.  We’ve mostly settled on a relatively straight line from here to Istanbul as it will give us a little more time to play within our schedule. The hotel owner … Continue reading Planning and map day in Goreme

(written by Nancy) We had an amazing buffet laid out for breakfast this morning – by far the biggest breakfast we have had yet in Turkey.  We were the only ones in the breakfast room at 7am and we made a decent dent in the buffet table.  Dave tried to set the place on fire … Continue reading Into the land of the fairy chimneys – Nigde to Goreme (89/14,724k, 520m)

(written by Dave) We had a pretty uncomfortable sleep last night in the old Arikan Otel.  Our room was facing the highway and it seemed like the trucks were zooming by all night.  We set the alarm for 5:45 in an effort to get on the road early; meaning brekkie was a big bowl of … Continue reading Conquering the Tarsus Mountains – Pozanti to Nigde (92/14,653ks 1035 meters)

(written by Nancy) Okay, this is going to be a short post as we are both very knackered from today’s ride and we have to get some sleep so we can get up and do it all again tomorrow. We made it out of the wild carpet room at the Selale Hotel after checking and … Continue reading A hard day into the Tarsus Mountains – Tarsus to Pozanti (81/14,543k, 1,750m)

(written by Nancy) We debated a bit last night about whether we would stay another day at Kizkalesi – the weather was nice, we had a good comfortable hotel room and we knew we had potentially some hard days ahead as we leave the coast and head inland.  But after checking the weather reports for … Continue reading Last day on the Med – Kizkalesi to Tarsus (92/14,462k, 280m)

(written by Nancy) A nice quiet night, thank goodness the karaoke next door did not go on too long.  We had a nice breakfast, including a hot fresh omlette, sitting on the terrace looking out towards the Maiden’s castle – hard to beat for a breakfast view. We decided to do the castle exploring this … Continue reading Two castle day in Kizkalesi

(written by Nancy) Both of us agreed this morning that the bed at last night’s hotel (Otel Olba) was the best bed we have had for several weeks.  I suspect it was a brand new mattress, and that coupled with the sound of the waves made for a good night’s sleep.  Breakfast was okay – … Continue reading Short ride to a castle on the beach – Taşucu to Kizkaleski (37/14,370k, 150m)

(written by a very tired Nancy so no guarantees on spelling or grammar!) Very quiet in the Teacher’s House last night so both of us slept relatively well and were awake before the alarm went off.  Dave wandered out about 7:30 to see if he could find someone to ask about breakfast as we weren’t … Continue reading A ride on Children’s Day – Aydincik to Tasuçu (73/14,333k, 1180m)

(written by Dave) We had a short but amazing ride from Anamur to Aydincik.  I know that we are starting to sound like we work for the Turkey tourism bureau but today was another beautiful day riding along the Mediterranean coast.  Oh yeah, we survived the climbs as well.  We managed a 16% grade reading … Continue reading Another Disneyland ride on bikes to Aydincik (55/14,260ks 630m)

(written by Dave) We’ve had a fantastic day here today on the south coast of Turkey.  As noted yesterday, we decided to spend a day relaxing in Anamur.  We are just about as far south as we’ll get on the European leg of our journey.  Anamur is close to the most southern point in Turkey.  … Continue reading Picture perfect day in Anamur