Hanging Up our Fez Hats

Turkish Babushkas heading home from work

Last roads in Turkey

There are 4 easy steps for paving a road in Turkey:
1. Knock down trees, villages, etc
2) Spread Tar
3) Find the biggest rocks in your regions and drop them on said tar
4) Open road to traffic

As cyclists, we like to be as helpful as the next person, but we're not really into spreading out the loose rocks out for the big rigs that ride next to our heads. First, I don't think that they appreciate our work. Not to mention, we end up feeling like we''re being dragged by horses when we ride over this stuff.

Still our last days riding in Turkey were beautiful. Riding through orchard-covered valley floors... looking up at roman tombs carved into cliff, looking down from steep overlooks into the deep blue water. And ultimately... riding up to a marina, taking apart the bikes, and HOPPING ON A 4 DAY BOAT CRUISE!! We spent an amazing few days with a boatfull of Australian travelers and a Turkish crew. We swam, we baked, we BBQed, we patronized bars tucked illicitly in rocky beaches. We also picked up some fabulous Australian slang.

Bulgaria-Bound

At the last second, we decided to change our plans when
Before shooting out of Turkey to Bulgaria by bus, we had two nice events. One, we met up with friends from school (Joanna, Andy and Stephanie). We shared beers, baklava, and as Joanna says ˝naked friend time˝ when we checked out the Turkish baths. (Joanna and Anne are shown proving that an ivy-league education can't buy class as they model their new free underwear- our parting gifts from the Turkish bathhouse).


And two, we were taken in by a Turkish-Canadian couple (Shevket and Kathy). Both of them were really helpful (they informed us that we'd been ripped off by the Turkish bathhouse, for instance) and so sweet (they shared their apartment, their cats, and their laundry machine with us). Shevket took us halfway across town to get us on the road!

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