Turkey is suddenly seeming very, very big. And hot. 36 degrees nursing fresh white patchy skin through the glaring sun hot.

First few days done and I made it from Cesme to Izmir. Not a long way at all but its a start. Now I’m having a bit of a crisis deciding which way to go. And at the back of my mind: “get a job… get a job…” So far this has lasted breakfast, lunch, one tea, one ayran, and one fanta, and now just no excuses sitting cross-legged next to the side of the road. East the short way, inland, to Ankara and on to the Black Sea at Samsun, as planned. Or South the long way, through Kusadasi, Pamukkale, the lake region around Isparta, Konya,  Cappadoccia and many other places to the Black Sea at Trabzon. I think my character is such that if I ever have a basic plan for a schedule or a route I will always take longer or go the other way…

Turkey is a bit of a paradise. I have slept in the hills, on the beach, and in the forest, just with a sleeping bag or with a silk liner. I have been invited for tea every day. There are stalls alongside the road with fresh ready-to-eat peaches, oranges and watermelons for next to nothing. And an ayran or a tea is mostly more appealing than a beer.
Eid has just begun, which in Izmir I am told means the emptying of the city to summer houses in Cesme or Kusadasi or to relatives houses further afield. Shops are shuttered and occassionally you see small groups walk and skip to the Mosque or to other people houses in their best clothes. It is at least a three day holiday and most people seem to have Friday off too.

Having committed the cardinal sin of making a plan, and the even bigger mistake of blogging about it, leaving the coast and heading inland seems like the first step on an uphill journey to Tajikistan. It is a bit of a wrench in this heat and with this distance to travel, after so long following the Mediterranean. Maybe I should go to India instead…

In sum: nowhere near back into the groove!

Subscribe to Blog via Email