After my two days in Batum, I crossed the border from Sarp. The taxi drivers on the Turkish side annoyed me before by asking more money they should so this time I made sure about the money I should pay. But this time they tricked me once more by squeezing me in a taxi full of people. There are some places in earth which you should never ever take a taxi and Turksh side of Sarp border is definetely one of them. Choose minibusses in the border or take a bus from Batumi bus terminal which take you to the Turkish [View Full Entry]

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As spring arrived once more I felt an urge to be on the green mountains of the Black Sea. I always feel spring is the best time to be in the nature while everthing is awakening and water is coming out of every hole it finds out. So as we were in the end end of May this was the right time. The begining of my trip would be from Batumi (simply Batum in Turkish) where I would stay for two days then cross back the border and reach the Macahel region of Artvin province which is located just across the [View Full Entry]

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There are some places for everyone which you feel a belonging without knowing really why and Black Sea region of Turkey is somewhere like that for me. Ok my father is from this region and when I seek my ancestory,which ever branch I look for at my fathers side, I always end up somewhere in eastern Black Sea but still I spent a very little time of my life in this region and I was in my end twenties when I first have been to eastern Black Sea. However I always felt a feeling of belonging and longing both to this [View Full Entry]

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This time for a training I headed my way to Dubai. Stayed 6 days totally and the great thing was I spared one day for some things that I could not have chance to do last time. One was doing jeep Safari in the desert and second one swimming in the Basra gulf which is part of the Indian ocean. So among the three oceans in the world only Atlantic would be left where I had not put my feet in yet. During the training we were taken out for a dinner by our hosts to Dubai Creek. The sea made [View Full Entry]

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There were many times I saw Van Lake in my dreams. I don't know why actually, those dreams usually start from Ankara or Istanbul and after a ride with a car I end up in the coast of Van Lake. Maybe why this place so much took a place in my under concience is I always find this great junk of water which is in the middle of the high mountains so far from the sea, interesting. I should have seen a place where occupied so much place in my dreams without being there even once, so I decided to do [View Full Entry]

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It has been over two years I have not been to my fathers home town. As Turkish Airlines started flights between Istanbul and Sinop now there is an alternative for the hectic 12 hours bus journey. Also another good reason I have was to see my fathers boat in the sea, which he has been struggling to build for three years. Sinop is a very old port city of Anatolia whose history dates back to the Hitite times, the first civilization founded in Anatolia. As having a good natural port and located on a peninsula which can easily be protected, it [View Full Entry]

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That is how we hear about Libya for the first time in Turkey, in history lessons with the word "Trablusgarp". The last soil of the Ottoman Empire in Africa would be the first place I would put my feet in Africa. There are also other firsts and lasts in Libyan history. Like the word Asia was first used by Greeks for the land where Turkey is located today, the word Africa was first time used for Libya by Romans. While under Ottoman rule it was the first state which declared war to America and where Americas first overseas military campaign took [View Full Entry]

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At last I saw the city which I wished to see for a long time and I was on my way to Moscow. This time my ticket was for a 4 bed compartment in the train. I was expecting to travel with males but again Russian culture which does not distinguish between genders surprised me. My room mate was Tanya, a lady in her 50's. She was very talkative and nice. She asked me a lot about Turkey and life there. These long train journeys while traveling in Russia are also ideal places to read Russian classics. I finished a Dostoyevsky [View Full Entry]

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When the train started to move from Rostov, I was tired enough for a sleep. The destination was from one big river of Europe to another big one which draws the border between Euorope and Asia. I started from Don and I would end in Volga. The wagon I was traveling in was like a dorm. Beds were located right and left along an aisle, and wagon was full of both men and women. As someone who was born in Middle East, it was a little hard to absorb the fact men and women who were totally strangers sleeping all togather [View Full Entry]

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The journey which I have been dreaming for a long while did not start very well. My friend who wished to join me could not come because of his visa problems, secondly I was very very close to missing my plane from Istanbul to Rostov, and thirdly a corrupt officer sticked me and a few other Turkish citizens to the Rostov airport for a few hours just for his wish for getting some "small presents" like a bottle of whisky and a handful of cigars. At last he got his cigars and we were out of the airport at 4 am [View Full Entry]

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