Into Georgia (Trabzon to Batumi)

Turkey's border with Georgia is only about 200km from Trabzon. Two more days of flat, easy riding along the D010 highway. Our last two days in Turkey marked the first two days of Ramadan. Although we were sad to be leaving the country, our timing was right because cycling during Ramadan isn't that easy. Although many of the restaurants remained open, we rarely saw anyone eating. The tea shops were full of their regular customers, but no one had any tea. We ate our self-catered meals on the side of the highway, trying to stay out of sight.  We miss our daily pides

Shortly past Trabzon, we entered the country's tea-growing area. Tea plants fill the countryside and the hills along the highway. We passed dozens of Çaykur (the state-run tea company) processing plants near where the air would fill with a smell of tea. The highway was littered with tea leaves, fallen from one of the many fully-loaded trucks carrying the plants to be processed.  Çaykur tea processing plant

Crossing the border at Sarp was extremely easy. On the Turkish side we were treated as vehicles, so we lined up with the cars and trucks and rode ourselves to the booth where we were quickly stamped out. In Georgia we weren't vehicles anymore, but we were allowed to wheel our bikes along through the lines and were stamped in equally quickly.

On the Georgian side, the six-lane divided highway with wide, paved shoulder became a two-lane undivided highway with no shoulder. And the driving seemed to be very bad. Not wanting to prejudge the country's drivers we thought that maybe the 20 kilometres of highway to Batumi simply didn't have the capacity to handle the volume of traffic coming from the border. Although the “double overtake”, “triple overtake” if you count us (a car passing a car while it is passing a car while it is passing two cyclists) was really disconcerting. Especially scary is the “double overtake” coming in the opposite direction, towards us. We were forced onto the grass, or gravel shoulder a few times.

Yann's father pulled out this great (and seemingly accurate) description of Georgian driving from the U.S. State Department's travel advisories:

“You should exercise extreme caution when driving in Georgia, as many local drivers do not operate their vehicles in accordance with established traffic laws. Traffic signals and rules of the road are often completely ignored. Motorists drive erratically, often recklessly, at excessive speeds, and many times under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Motorists frequently encounter oncoming high-speed traffic attempting to pass other vehicles at blind turns or over hilltops.” 

 A rare moment of calm on the road to Batumi

 

We were happy to get of the roads and into the safety of the nice centrally-located D'Vine Hostel, recommended by three other cyclists for the garden (great for storing and/or working on bicycles) and the laid-back atmosphere. 

Batumi is a strange city. A resort town with multiple casinos and luxury hotels (and many more being built, including a Trump Tower) and a long pebbly beach front. It is apparently a top destination for domestic tourists, but also many Russians and Turks. We walked around the city centre but as it was rainy, we spent most of our time in the city planning our route to Tbilisi.

 Batumi's pebble beach

Batumi's "Alphabet Tower"

Upon the advice of the hostel owners, we were counselled to scrap our original idea of following the main highway across the country. Alternatively, we could take a mountain road to the south, through the Autonomous Region of Adjara and Samtskhe-Javakheti. The advantage of this alternative route, other than the scenery and mountain weather, was the lack of high-speed traffic. The disadvantage was that it involved about twice as much climbing, on an unpaved and poorly-maintained road. After much hesitation we opted for the climbing (only after finding a blog with cyclists who described the climb as “gradual” and after receiving a report from Amy and Brian who confirming that the road was “very very bad” but that we could do it). We figured that it had to be more pleasant than sharing the highway with Georgian drivers. 

Stats for Trabzon to Batumi:

Days of cycling: 2
Days of rest: 3
Kilometres cycled: 211
Metres climbed: 841
Cycle-tourists crossed on the road: 3

 
Partially sponsored by Mountain Equipment Coop  Expedition Support

Trabzon and the Eastern Black Sea Coast

From Samsun, we would be riding along the flat coastal D010 highway for the rest of our ride through Turkey. We were very relieved to not be climbing for a while but in exchange for the easy riding we were treated to some pretty terrible scenery. The D010 is a busy multilane highway that has basically ruined the Black Sea coastline for all but a few towns where the highway deviates away from the coast. For the most part, the shoulder is wide and the cycling is easy. Crossing some of the larger towns the shoulder disappeared which was a little bit scary, but we just moved through them as quickly as possible and had no problems. Our super cool safety vests seem to be doing the trick!  Emilie along the D010 highway

Where we did not feel safe at all, were the multiple tunnels along the highway between Samsun and Trabzon. The tunnels have no shoulder, are often dark, and are lined with storm drains that are parallel to the road. This meant that every few dozen metres we'd have to swing out into the traffic to avoid getting a tire stuck in the storm drain. The traffic did not slow down at all, in fact it seemed like everyone sped up. Every tunnel was a huge stress. So when we read that there was a 4km long tunnel along the route we decided to avoid it by taking the longer and hillier coastal road. We rode an extra 20km and climbed a few extra hundred metres but the coastal road was scenic and virtually traffic-free. We even stumbled upon a local tourist attraction, the Jason Church, a 150 year-old Greek Orthodox Church that sits isolated on the edge of the Black Sea at Cape Jason.
Following the coast between Bolaman and Perşembe
 Jason Church

Unlike our route through inland Turkey, we had not trouble finding accommodation. We stayed in budget hotels or pansiyons every night. Our unpacking and packing routine is now pretty much perfected and Yann has gotten used to lugging our bikes up and down flights of stairs. Our nicest accommodation was in the small town of Tirebolu , not for the quality of the facilities (pretty sure there was dead mouse stinking up the kitchen) but for its location directly across from a great beach. From the top of a cable car ride in Ordu

The towns where we stayed for the night (Ünye, Ordu and Tirebolu) were fairly unremarkable, but Ordu was bustling and friendly and had a nice new cable car that we rode to get views of the city. Tirebolu was a pleasant stop because the highway follows a 2km tunnel through the mountain right before the town, leaving its beach and downtown relatively unspoiled (as an added bonus we got to avoid another long tunnel). Early morning departure from the luxurious Ordu Palace hotel

Our arrival into Trabzon was a little bit hectic and we got lost navigating back streets, trying to avoid the heavy highway traffic that runs through the busy city. I was pretty anxious, and I was mad (unjustifiably) at Yann for taking us through steep, cobblestone side streets right after Friday afternoon prayers when the streets were packed with pedestrians. We arrived at Atatürk Square (the centre of Trabzon), frazzled and grumpy but were greeted by Mike and Heather, a pair of Australian cyclists who led us directly to the hotel from where they had just checked out. With no work at all we had a great, cheap room and a place to store our bicycles! We opted for 3 whole rest days in Trabzon (our longest rest yet), not because we were particularly tired, but because we thought we could slow down a little bit. Trabzon's star attraction is the 4th century Sumela Monastery, 45km away and 1200m up from the city (no we did not cycle there despite Yann's wishes). We visited on a Saturday, which was kind of silly seeing as we were in Trabzon for three days. It was extremely busy, but that didn't detract too much from it's impressiveness.

Entering Sumela Monastery

Frescoes inside the Rock Chapel of Sumela Monastery

Other than the monastery, Trabzon has it's own Aya Sofya church, which we visited in about an hour, and not much else. So we don't feel too bad about hanging around relaxing and not doing much but enjoy our last few days of Turkish food before heading into Georgia.
Trabzon's Aya Sofya

Stats for Samsun to Trabzon

Days of cycling: 4

Days of rest: 1

Kilometres cycled: 354

Metres climbed: 1492

Cycle-tourists crossed on the road: 2

Partially sponsored by Mountain Equipment Coop  Expedition Support

Halfway through Turkey (Safranbolu to Samsun)

We spent two rest days in Safranbolu, visitable in about two hours but much more enjoyably visited by slowly wandering through its narrow streets, eating saffron Turkish delights, drinking tea and savouring the local cuisine (fresh noodles cooked in butter topped with goat cheese and crumbled walnuts). In an effort to maximize my relaxing I even tried a hamam (Turkish bath) which may or may not have been relaxing (I haven't decided yet). The only problem with taking a double rest day is the difficulty in starting up again especially when your butt and legs have not yet completely recovered. I had nightmares about sitting on my saddle again. Safranbolu

From Safranbolu, we decided to cut across inland Turkey in an attempt to avoid the brutal up and down climbing of the coastal road. Our inland road would still involve lots of climbing but we hoped it would be more gradual and predictable. 

For a gentle return to cycling, from Safranbolu we rode to Kastamonu, 107 kilometres, 1260 metres of climbing and over 12 hours on the saddle away. Kastamonu is the former capital of the Isfendiyarid Dynasty (13th and 14th centuries) but is now a somewhat nondescript city surrounded by farm land, with a population of about 100,000 (it does have a castle though). We barely had enough energy to drag ourselves from our guesthouse to get food, so we didn't visit.

The next day, we were under the mistaken impression that we would had an easy day of “downhill riding” but it ended up being 120 kilometres (and lots of climbing) to Boyabat, the next town with a hotel. The most difficult part of the riding from Safranbolu was the mid-day heat which slowed our progress to a crawl and drained us of all energy. In the tiny town of Hanönü we stopped for drinks and almost immediately were greeted by the town journalist who wanted to interview us for the local newspaper. Apparently Hanönü has recently been revealed to be a potentially very profitable mining area, so a young English speaking geologist was on hand to help translate for the interview. We had no trouble answering most of the questions (where are you from? how long is your trip? where are you going? where did you start?) the only one that stumped us was “why are you doing this?”. In the 40° C heat, after discovering that there is 45km to your destination (instead of the 20km that you thought)...very good question. The very sweet journalist gave us a short history lesson about the area (of which he seemed to be quite proud) and had us bike in front of the town's historical hamam where caravans used to stop and rest hundreds of years ago. Apparently Hanönü was exactly one day of travel away from Boyabat, so it was a rest-stop on an ancient trade route. We joked that we were travelling at about the same speed as the caravans were. I think the only thing that made me able to continue onwards to Boyabat was the decision we made to take a rest day there. The road between Kastamonu and Boyabat

Posing with the local journalist who interviewed us in Hanönü

Boyabat, like Kastamonu has a castle which this time we made an effort to visit. We were the only ones visiting. We accidentally took the scary, incredibly steep, dark, and bat-filled stairway up to the castle which was completely terrifying. But, we saw it on Boyabat tourism posters later on in the day, so we felt like pretty accomplished tourists. Emilie in the bat-filled death trap leading up to Boyabat Castle

From Boyabat we had two more days of riding to Samsun, our unofficial “half-way through Turkey” point (it looks about half-way on the map), but only one more day of climbing before hitting the flat section of the Black Sea coastal road. It was a pretty tough day of climbing, directly up and over the Pontic Mountains. We also took the wrong road, so we had no idea what to expect, which is mentally extremely taxing. On our planned route we would have begun our descent at the 50km mark, on the road we took we didn't begin the descent until the 85km mark (that's 35km of wondering when the hell the pain is going to stop). The road was virtually free of traffic, which was great, because we needed both lanes to crisscross up the hill when it was particularly steep (which was a lot of the time). Holding back tears

Over the Pontic Mountains

But as a reward for our wrong turn, after hours without crossing a village, we arrived at a country festival up in the mountains. Despite it being fairly late in the afternoon we decided we couldn't pass up the chance to see Turkish wrestling so we wheeled our mountains up the hillside. Passing the food tents lined with sheep carcasses we made our way to the wrestling pitch where we lay our bikes down and sat in the grass to watch the tournament. No more than five minutes later, the wrestling announcer was calling us out onto the field where he introduced us to the crowd (who cheered and clapped for us). We're guessing he said something like “here are two Canadian tourists who have cycled all the way here to see our festival, please welcome them” because when we went back to our seats we were greeted by dozens of people, shaking our hands and saying hos geldiniz (welcome). We were given prime viewing seats (with the women and elderly) before being fed a giant plate of freshly-roasted lamb and continuing on our way.

Listen carefully for our names as we are introduced at the wrestling tournament

We didn't arrive in the the coastal town of Alaçam until shortly before 8pm and being Saturday night on a festival weekend, the two local hotels were full. With some assistance from an English speaker staying at the only waterfront hotel, we were escorted to a beach-side trailer park where we hoped to set up our tent. After being greeted by some pretty shady looking characters we ended up being offered someone's cabin for the night, at a fairly exorbitant price. It was the first time in Turkey when we felt that we were being taken advantage of. We couldn't open the cabin windows, but at least it had a lock. Despite being completely exhausted, we spent the night struggling to sleep through the heat, the sounds of loud music and the drunken yelling. Chips and soft drinks for dinner at our cabin in Alaçam

The next day, our “flat day” to Samsun started out beautifully (faster than 20km/hr!). But within an hour we were battling a head wind that slowed us down to 10km/hr and had us peddling while going downhill. The only thing that distracted us from the frustration of the wind was the scary traffic for the 20 kilometres entering the city (it's amazing the energy that you discover when your adrenaline is pumping). Samsun has a population of over 500,000 inhabitants and is was our first “big city” cycling experience. Emilie battling headwind to Samsun

So we've made it half-way through the country! Another week of tough cycling helped along greatly by the warm and friendly encounters we've had with the incredibly hospitable people of Turkey. At Öz Bisiklet, a shop outside Samsun, where we were warmly welcomed

Enjoying one of many invitations for tea 

Stats for Safranbolu to Samsun

Days of cycling: 4

Days of rest: 3

Kilometres cycled: 419

Metres climbed: 4261

Cycle-tourists crossed on the road: 1

Partially sponsored by Mountain Equipment Coop  Expedition Support

Turkish Black Sea Coast: Our Very First Week of Riding

To avoid what we thought would be a very stressful first day of riding we decided to take a ferry up the Bosphorus Strait past the suburbs of Istanbul. Leaving on a Saturday, we had few options on the public ferry system so we purchased a one-way ticket on the tourist ferry and headed out to Anadolu Kavağı, the last stop.

We had a 500m ride from our hotel in Sultanahmet to the ferry terminal and yet we woke up 3 hours before departure time and sat nervously through breakfast with me wondering if I would even be able to get my fully loaded bicycle up the first steep hill outside our hotel. Too worked up about Istanbul traffic we didn't even pose together for a departure photo as we rode past the Blue Mosque a few meters from our hotel.

Leaving the Agora Hostel in Sultanahmet, Istanbul on day one
 

A very anxious Emilie posing for the day one photo in front of the Blue Mosque

An uneventful two-hour ferry ride later we were in Anadolu Kavağı cycling up an extremely steep hill, which would be the theme of our first week of cycling. Within an hour Yann was carrying my front saddle bags.

Two hours into our ride we were overtaken by a group of four cyclists, two husband-and-wife teams, Brian and Amy (howilearnedtostopworrying.com) from the US and Andy and Rosy (2on2r.ch) from Switzerland. Brian and Amy had been riding from Morocco and Andy and Rosy from their front door. Both couples had over 4 months of cycling under their belts so needless to say they were stronger and faster than we were. But they were nice enough to let us ride with them and we set off as a veritable convoy along the Turkish country roads. Day one, meeting four cyclists on the road! (note Yann's bike loaded with Emilie's front paniers)

Meeting cyclists on the road was a total pick-me-up and gave us confidence despite our slow progress on the hills. Knowing that we weren't the only ones finding it difficult, although we were probably the ones finding it the most difficult, was a huge relief. All four of our companions were positive and encouraging and we followed along having to make few decisions regarding our route or our night's sleeping arrangements.

Yann and I had planned on staying in guesthouses for the first week of cycling, but it became evident on our first night that our route wouldn't necessarily be affording us that possibility every night. In a group of six, it is fairly easy to set up camp anywhere, which is what we did on our first night at a lovely isolated spot along the Black Sea coast.

Our first night's campsite, along the Black Sea
  Morning at our first night's campsite along the Black Sea

On our third day of cycling, Yann and I set off with Amy and Brian as Rosy had been very sick the previous night and needed a day of rest to recover. The terrain along the coast of the Black Sea remained extremely hilly and difficult with steep climbs and steep descents (giving no chance to glide up the next hill). But we stopped frequently, refilling our water bottles at the dozens of public water fountains lining the Turkish roads and giving ourselves the time to rest.

A common theme of our first week was the friendliness and helpfulness of the Turkish people. At every village we were given assistance almost immediately. People gave us directions, invited us for tea, blew kisses...

On our fourth evening we pulled into the town of Kandira looking for a place to stay the night. We were escorted through the town, first to the teacher's dormitory (full) then to the town's only hotel (also full) then back to the dormitory where somehow they agreed to make room for us. After securing us a room, the local man assisting us ended by giving us the advice to not even bother staying in Kandira, to cycle onwards to the town of Kerpe (on neither Yann nor Brian's GPS) where we would find a much better place to stay. He drew us a map and stuffed it in Yann's pocket. We were grateful to have trusted him because we ended up in a brand new resort town on the Black Sea with lovely inexpensive hotels and a great beach. This is where we had our first rest day. Arriving in Kandira with no place to stay, this concerned local man drew us a map to Kerpe, the seaside resort nearby

Leaving Kerpe we planned for our first 100km+ day to Akçakoca. This was a slightly ambitious plan and when we arrived in the town (12 hours and 105km later) we were exhausted and it was too late to set up camp and make dinner. As we were stopped on the side of the road trying to figure out where we would stay the night, Gazi, a local math teacher pulled up and offered to take us in for the night (“there are four of us you know?” “yes we have room, no problem”). We readily accepted his offer and he drove through the town with his four-ways on, escorting the four of us to his apartment where he cooked us dinner and set up comfortable beds for us and woke up early to make us breakfast before our departure.

Leaving our host Gazi's apartmet in Akçakoca

The next day Yann and I parted ways with Amy and Brian. We didn't feel too strong after our previous long day of riding, so after 30km we checked into a hotel and basically slept until the next morning.

We rode solo now for the first time since the first few hours of our trip. For one more day we followed the Black Sea coast (to Zonguldak) along the fairly busy D010 highway before turning away from the coast in an attempt to minimize the climbs. The main disadvantage with this plan is that we left the cooler coastal weather behind and so we began our routine of early morning departures (with a 4:30am wake-up) in order to avoid cycling through the intense midday heat.

Eight days after leaving Istanbul we rolled into Safranbolu, a historical  Ottoman-era town where we decided to spend what we felt were two well-deserved rest days. All things considered, a pretty successful start to our year of cycling thanks to the great local people and equally great travel companions. Yann with an adorable crew of local boys in Ibricak, a small town just outside of Yenice (they even washed and filled our water bottles)

  This adorable teashop owner and his son insisted we pull over for free tea (in Karabük a few kilometers from Safranbolu)

  Our week one companions: Amy and Brian (USA) and Andy and Rosy (Switzerland)

Stats for Istanbul to Safranbolu

Days of cycling: 6.5

Days of rest: 1.5

Kilometres cycled: 483

Metres climbed: 4783

Cycle-tourists crossed on the road: 8

The above map was compiled using GPS readings. Since we only took readings every hour it is not entirely accurate but it gives an idea of what we did. 


Partially sponsored by Mountain Equipment Coop  Expedition Support

Impressions of Istanbul (and #occupygezi)

Before we start cycling we gave ourselves four days in Istanbul to wind down from the last few weeks of pre-departure panic. Here is a summary of some of the things we did and saw in this super fun city:

Aya Sofya (537) 

This 1500-year-old monumental Byzantine church (the world's largest church for almost a thousand years) is impressive and obviously worth the visit. It is now officially a museum after serving as both a church (for ~ 1000 years) and a mosque (for ~ 500 years). It is in a constant state of repair (a large part of the interior covered in scaffolding) which surprisingly didn't detract from the visit. Particularly interesting is the juxtaposition of Christian and Muslim decorative elements like the Jesus mosaic in the main dome directly above the mihrab (prayer niche indicating the direction of Mecca).

Christian mosaic above Islamic prayer niche

Topkapi Palace (1453)

This is a huge sprawling palace complex which served as the primary residence of the Ottoman Sultans. Along with multiple halls and rooms it houses a large collection of precious items. Lots of emeralds (literally a bucket of them), rubies and even the world's fifth largest diamond. It is pretty overwhelming and we sometimes felt like we were seeing the same tile-adorned room over and over again. The impressiveness of the sight seems to be in its size even if a visit can seem a little monotonous. Inside a Topkapi Palace pavilion

For an additional fee you can enter the palace's harem, former living quarters of the Sultans and their families (including concubines). The decorative features are more ornate than those of the rest of the palace and it is less crowded making for a more enjoyable pleasant visit featuring a lot of Iznik tilework, mother-of-pearl inlay and some amusing descriptive signs about the importance of concubines.

Basilica Cistern (532)

An underground cistern supported by massive columns (apparently constructed from nearby ruins). Two of the columns are resting on giant Medusa heads (which were surrounded by mobs of tourists, including us). Other than the Medusas, we could comfortably visit the cistern on its elevated walkways.

Medusa head supporting a column of the Underground Cistern

  
Mosques

We visited five of the city's famous mosques, but not nearly all of its notable ones. The key difference between each mosque, from our very limited perspective, was the number of tourists in each of them (we've listed them from most tourists to least) had we spent more time visiting them or if we had any knowledge whatsoever of architecture we might have been able to highlight some of their respective key features. Instead here are some photos:

Sultan Ahmed (Blue) Mosque (1616)

View of the Blue Mosque from Aya Sofya

Afternoon in the busy inner courtyard of the Blue Mosque

Süleymaniye Mosque (1558)

Inner courtyard of the Süleymaniye Mosque

Rüstem Paşa Mosque (1563)

Ceiling of the Rüstem Paşa Mosque

Yeni (New) Mosque (1665)

The busy square outside the New Mosque

Şehzade Mehmet Mosque (1548)

The quiet Şehzade Mehmet Mosque 

The Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar

With no desire to purchase anything, we explored the bazaars as tourist attractions, which is what they are. The only locals in either bazaar are the sellers. Both were still fun to explore but the Spice Bazaar's displays were a little bit more novel and colourful. The fact that the markets are centuries old adds a little bit of mystique to the rows of trinket and carpet stalls. Turkish delight on sale at the Spice Bazaar

Touring the Grand Bazaar

Istanbul is extremely touristy. We had heard this repeatedly before arriving, but somehow pictured it differently. There are hundreds of tour buses, huge crowds at major attractions, wall-to-wall souvenir stalls and restaurants with inflated tourist prices. This is not to say that we didn't like it, that it isn't justifiably well-visited nor that it isn't easy to get off the tourist trail. On the contrary, we enjoyed our stay very much and found the touts to be far less annoying than other places we'd visited. We were never ripped off and within a few blocks from the main tourist streets found very well-priced delicious food. The setting of the city, at the confluence of the Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus Straight and the Golden Horn is amazing with views of the water from almost every rooftop. In four days of sight-seeing we checked off items from our list of “must-sees” and “must-dos” leaving us little time to discover the city, but we did our best and we will surely return.

Occupy Gezi

The real highlight of our visit was Taksim Square the heart of the recent Turkish uprising which began with a protest to save Gezi Park, a small green space in the heart of a city with very few such spaces and quickly grew into a movement encompassing hundreds of thousands of Turks in dozens of cities across the country. In the face of an increasingly conservative and autocratic government people took to the streets with a broad range of concerns (police brutality, freedom of assembly, decrease in secularism, war in Syria...).

In a country that in 2013 ranked 154^th out of 179 on the Press Freedom Index published by Reporters without Borders , people have turned to social media and alternative news sources to share their stories of what is happening in Turkey. For a comprehensive description of the movement check out the Wikipedia link 2013 Protests in Turkey or twitter #OccupyGezi

We visited in the afternoon on the day that the police began "clearing" the square (June 11th 2013). After overcoming the initial unease at the sight of water cannons, flying tear gas canisters and flaming barricades we visited Gezi Park where hundreds of protestors were still peacefully camped out. Our only disappointment was not being able to speak Turkish so that we could tell everyone there how inspired we were.