We left Istanbul after a week with enjoying a turkish bath, which sent us well relaxed back onto the road. You can call it coincidence or not, but in the shuttle bus on the way back to the hostel we met Bruce from Barhain, who, within the 5 minute ride, offered to help us with the Saudi-Arabian visa if needed. Hopefully he soon will get back to us because to that point of time he didn’t have a business card with him. The visa will decide for our further route: either Saudi-Arabia or Egypt. We hope for the first.
Before we could reach the much warmer Mediterranean Sea we had to go across the mountains again, which brought us up to 1580 m around Ankara. If you drive those almost 1400 km through Turkey it is amazing how much the country changes. From alpine mountainpasses to arid stone landscapes with huge lakes to green and fertile mediterranean areas. Guess how great it was to see the thermometer climb the further we came down towards the coast.
On the way to Ankara through the turkish mountains.
On the way south through Turkey you have to visit Cappadocia. It is a fantastic view when you approach Göreme and see the cave formations in the valley. On 1122m Göreme lays in a valley which has been washed out ages ago and which reminds a little bit of the Grand Canyon. The hotels and restaurants have built their rooms into the caves which gives a really nice atmosphere. Up on the plateau you can do walks with a beautiful view of Göreme and the area, do some offroading and also enjoy the sun on the stones (better in summer). My recommendation for food is the Dibek restaurant which serves delicious turkish Ravioli and Bulgur soup in a nice atmosphere. And to this time of the year, no tourists.
Göreme cave houses.
Our first bushcamp at plus degrees was south of Iskenderun, 20 m from the shore. Iskenderun is an industrial area and a city you better pass quickly. The air is covered with fumes in all kinds of colours. Further south around Arsuz, where we camped, it is fine again and you can enjoy a beautiful coast line with tiny villages on proper dirt roads. For just 100 km we needed around 4 h! It was worth it because the view is great and the road is a lot of fun – escpecially when you enjoy the ride from the top of the car. Or as the snail said when he was riding on the turtles back - "Ouuiiiiihhh!!!"
First bushcamp with plus-degrees.
-"Ouuiiiiihhh!!!"
We were very surprised to arrive in Antakya and to see a german road sign. Who is interested to know the distance to Aalen, which is a very small town close to Stuttgart? On the street we met quite a few people who knew german and after asking we found out that there was supposed to be a mayor who had been living in Germany. To get Euros for the syrian border we managed to change Lira to Euros at a small kiosk. It probably doesn’t happen that often that someone wants to exchange Lira back to Euros in this part of Turkey. But our last Euro bills we spent for the Mechanic in Istanbul.
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