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10 days of cycling!

This is what we will need to reach one of the « must see » of our trip that we looked forward to: Cappadocia.

Let’s tell the story by the begining. We ride back our bike, Saturday, May 4. We leave Istanbul by the boat that takes us to Yalova, this allows us to avoid heavy traffic to get out of the city (it’s good we have already given to enter) and in addition it is forbidden to cross the Bosphorus bridge by bikes.

It’s a little bit hard after 6 days break (and as you could see, a fairly rich gastronomy), so I do not know if it’s because of food but bike is tough! For our first night after Istanbul we aim for the beautiful lake of Iznik:

We found a campsite near the lake, a Turkish campsite, it is the first!

It’s original, there are Turkish people who come to camp with family, but it’s not them who set up their tent .. Well there is a hot shower and clean toilet and that’s all we ask for. Also they are very nice and come to talk with us.

The next day, Sunday, will be the worst day since a long time, we leave the lake on a coast of 5km to 9%, ouch ouch ouch!

And it’s not over, the rest of the day will be a succession of climbs, more or less long and more or less steep. We go so slow all day long, that a little wandering dog, takes the opportunity to join us and he will follow us for a good part of the road. It sometimes create funny situations, when he hides behind our bikes to shelter from the big dogs who try to eat him … we do not have enough doggy problems already ?!

We arrive exhausted in Bilecik after 65 km. Morale takes a hit, we say we are not about to arrive! Fortunately it is also one of the best evening, thanks to our host Hakan who is a very active member of his city. He invites us to the restaurant, makes us meet a girl, Ecrin and her family, then offer us the next day a breakfast of madness at his friend Volkan, and finally invites us to present our project of cycling trip in 3 different classes! I go quickly on this memorable meeting but it’s really amazing what some people can offer in such a short time!

When asked by some students, « what do you eat in your country? » Romain hastens to present one of his favorite dishes: the Welsh. It made Hakan laugh, as he told us it was a bit hard at noon 30 for a first day of Ramadan, oops!

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we continue mainly on a 2×2 lanes, we stop sleeping in Bozüyük, Eskishehir and Sivrisar. Weather is mixed, sometimes beautiful weather, and a storm or two late afternoon. Our lunch breaks are often done in a gas station, convenient because there is everything we need: drink , food, toilets and very often a nice place to sit and eat quietly.

Of these three days, we remember our meeting with Burak and his family, who hosted us one night, very open minded, it was a very interesting evening. Good meals (and yes again), and a wind in the back that allowed us to recover the smile and move forward. Often we are asked what we do with our bikes when we go to the hotel .. we always find a small place, more or less discreet in the hall ;-):

Thursday, May 9, the road changes finally! Finished the big 2×2 lanes, even if it is not very crowded, we leave the region of factories still close to Istanbul and we are delighted to finally go towards the trays of Central Anatolia. By taking the small roads, the landscape changes immediately:

We feel quieter, and also a little lonely in the world:

No more gas stations, where everything was available, it is necessary to start planning a little bit, meetings and shops are more rare:

We find plenty of side fountains in the area and it is no problem that we can recharge our water bottles:

Straight lines can sometimes be terribly long:

We cross villages, more or less populated:

The day of Friday, we fail to be attacked by a cow, this is what is called not being in the right place at the right time! She thought we stung her calf and began to load us .. but the farmer was not far, and restored the situation .. no pictures in support, we preferred to save our buttocks!

It is especially in the evening that a nice surprise awaits us. We pass in the village of Yesilyurt (who knows?) A small village like another in appearance. Passing the café in the center, we meet a certain Mehmet, who speaks French, he worked tens of years in Geneva. He invites us to stop drinking a cay (tea), it is 5pmh we drove well, we accept. A little later he offers us a pide (pizza), a little later his friend invites us to sleep (it is too cold according to them to camp what we were about to do). A very nice Kurdish meeting before the hour. A huge thank you to both of them !!

Saturday we leave, we find our fellow travelers:

We will cross on our way a salt lake, supposedly very pretty, topped with a pretty pink color, and in which we can soak the feet and make pretty pictures .. For us the story is a little different. Arrived in front of the lake, big black clouds make their appearance, it is the shower, storm with lightning and so much wind for a moment that we had to shelters in a ditch! Before the storm:

After the storm we have no pictures, we rushed out of the lake area as we were the only things above the ground and did not really want to be a lightning rod ^^ After this last rainy episode, place in good weather and this is how Sunday and Monday we investigate 150 km with 1500 vertical meters in landscapes increasingly beautiful:

One last night in the pampas before arriving:

New heads on the road, it changes donkeys and dogs:

Only a few more km to go, we know it :

the rock formations typical of Cappadocia are visible:

And it is under a heat overwhelming by a beautiful last climb of 10km (not too steep) that we arrive on Monday at 4pm, to Goreme, a beautiful village located among the fairy chimneys:

We offer a luxury hotel for 3 nights to recharge the batteries:

The same evening, we go see around the city:

A nice place to admire the sunset on this magical city … sometimes with a company not necessarily desired:

We go to bed early because Tuesday we will make the effort to get up at 4am (yes yes we did), to go see the balloons make their show in the sky and what a show, no regrets on the hours less sleep!

We finished (well we start we do not know we are lost, we got up too early!) The day by visiting the Open Air Museum of Goreme, which consists of visiting the ruins of churches and monasteries carved in the rocks and sometimes dating back to the 10th century:

It’s a little disneyland in there, very touristy but it’s still worth it to take a look.

Then we make a trip in the Red Valley, one of the many valleys to travel in the region , each with rock formations more or less marked, canyons, or other specificities but all are beautiful. Our legs a little tired push us to make only one 😉 and there, there is nobody, alone again!

Not afraid of ridicule, have to protect yourself :-):

The sun will not be win on us, we will go to the end!

As we are in rest mode and we decided to enjoy it, we also have a good restaurant, it was a long time that we did not talk about good Turkish food 😉

Wednesday last day in the world of Cappadocia, we have yet to visit one of the many underground cities (the region has at least a hundred), for us it will be Kaymakli. The underground cities are at the base from a troglodyte people (the Hittites), then served mainly as dwellings and hiding places for the Byzantine Christians. You can go down to several kilometers of depth, the tall people can feel a slight embarrassment in certain passages, Romain do you confirm ^^? :

But otherwise it’s pretty impressive to visit, although few explanations are given during the visit, so we walk nicely and then go to inquire on the Internet .. otherwise it was also possible to take a guide!

In the evening we find our two favorite Dutch for a little Ayran and tell the latest stories, normally it’s the last time before a moment, they go to Armenia and we to another remarkable place in Turkey: the Nemrut Dagi, but we will tell you that in the next episode 🙂

A très vite, 

To see all pictures, please click here.

From Istanbul to Cappadocia

3 avis sur « From Istanbul to Cappadocia »

  • Ping :D'Istanbul à la Cappadoce, il n'y a qu'un pas ... de géant - On the bike now

  • 26 mars 2023 à 22 h 12 min
    Permalien

    Hi!
    How are you?
    We hope that you are doing fine. We are a couple that are travelling by bike from Barcelona and now we are planning to go from Istanbul to Capadocia.
    We have seen that you did it and we wanted to ask you if you could explain exactly which route you followed or if you have the tracks that you made.
    There are a lot of options and it has been a little difficult for us to choose.
    How was your experience?
    Thank you so much in advance.
    Have a nice day 🙂

    Répondre
    • 28 mars 2023 à 20 h 52 min
      Permalien

      Hello Camila,
      Yes we are fine, thank you for your message. Yes we have exactly what you are looking for. Please check the link below:
      https://advevan.com/adventure/58/istanbul-cappadocia
      You will see the map for Istanbul to Cappadocia. Click the map, you will see the interactive version with all the routes we took. You can also download the gpx tracks.
      Yes we loved Turkey a lot, they have really good food and they are friendly people. Cappadocia was really amazing. The 2 downsides are dogs and roads 🙁 but except that it’s really cool.
      Have fun in your trip! Do you have a way to follow your trip?

      Répondre

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