Day 274-276 – 29.-31. January 2014

Limassol was only about 70 km from Larnaca. Sarah and Scott wanted to do the distance in one day because they needed to look for a boat to Egypt. I was not in a hurry and there was a strong headwind, so I decided to go only half the way today.

Jakob and his father had to pick up the rental bike and slowly head to Limassol.

So I was on my own again.

The wind was strong but not as bad as I expected and I made good distance during the day.

Half way to Limassol I decided to give a guy I contacted through couchsurfing.org a call. The day before he was not sure if he was able to host me, but as it turned out he was and invited me to stay with him.

Elad is from Israel and lives in Tel Aviv on his boat. Now he is exploring the Mediterranean sea on his boat  for some time.

The boat is not very big (only 29 feet, 8,8m) but still one of the nicest accommodations I had so far.

The next few days we spend doing small repairs on the boat and enjoying the sun.

The evening before we sailed to Paphos, I cycled 10 km to Limassol to meet Sarah and Scott.

In the hotel´s lobby I met Rich again (the American we meet in Girne in the hostel Day 262-264). Also Jakob and his dad were staying in the same hotel.

We all went out for a drink and it was really nice to see all again, maybe the last time for a long while.

Cyprus

Cyprus

Limassol, Cyprus

Day 274: 60,54 km  all: 9136 km

Day 270-273 – 25.-28. January 2014

In the morning we cycled the two km to the border. We crossed to Cyprus through a British base and the next few km we were in a buffer zone between North Cyprus and Cyprus. On both sides of the roads there were army outposts overlooking the other side.

Some time later it started raining and we waited at a parking place for the rain to pass.

After only 40 km we reached Larnaca. It started raining again, so we went to a cafe, had a beer and looked in the internet to find an apartment for 5 people.

Sarah and Scott went out to inspect some of the rooms and found a good place.

The hotel was fairly cheap and had 3 rooms and a kitchen. I met a German man who is staying in the hotel for some time now and he was very interested to hear more about my tour. In the next days we talked and he read all articles on my blog.

Jakob had to go to the airport and pick up his dad, who came from Denmark to join his son for a few weeks cycling.

In the evening we all sat together and enjoyed the dinner Sarah and Scott made.

The next few days we relaxed, went shopping and Jakob and his dad were looking for a rental bike.

Sarah and Scott had contact to a guy from the fixed-gear community in Larnaca. He took us for a bike ride to the nerby lake to see some flamingos.

We only saw some flamingos from a distance but we visited a nice, old mosque.

Day 270: 46,45 km  all: 9075 km

Day 268-269 – 23.-24. January 2014

In the morning we had a light breakfast, packed our things together and went up the hill, back to the last town. After a small break we continued on a beautiful, secluded road to the south-west. It looked a little bit like Ireland. It was very green,  with small hills and at one point it started to rain. Well, after 2 minutes the rain was gone and the rest of the day was sunny and warm.

At 2pm we stopped for a lunch break and met an Italian cyclist. He accompanied us for the rest of the day.

After about 70 km Anna, Matthias and Jakob were ready for camping. Sarah, Scott and I wanted to find a hotel in the vicinity. When they found a camping place close to the beach we split and the plan was to come back the next day to pick up Jakob.

There was no suitable hotel in the area so Sarah and Scott wanted to go on to Famagusta. It was already dark and I was hungry so I decided to join Anna, Matthias and Jakob. After I bought some food I found them at the beach. I ate my döner, put up my tent and afterwards we had some beer on the beach.

Day 269: We saw a wonderful sunrise from our tent and had a good breakfast.

Yesterday evening I did my 9000 km and in the morning I arranged one of my 1000km pictures. This time Anna, Matthias and Jakob helped me and also were part of the picture. Because someone had to hold the tripod for a better angle, Matthias unfortunately is not on the picture.

Thank you guys for the awesome 9000 picture.

Because Anna and Matthias were going to Nicosia we had to say goodbye.

Jakob and I went to Famagusta. 20 km on a nice road with tailwind. We meet Sarah and Scott in the center of the old town and discussed what to do. We decided to stay in the town and went through the historic old town in order to find a hotel. At the end we ended up at the place Sarah and Scott stayed the night before.

We took our bikes to a real supermarket and found food for the dinner. We also cycled to the fenced part of Famagusta. After the Turkish invasion in 1974 the army fenced the area and it’s kept in this state ever since. Nobody is allowed in and the town is like in a time capsule.

The old town itself is filled with historic buildings, churches and the cathedral is now a mosque.

Famagusta, North Cyprus

Day 268: 80,72 km  all: 9006 km

Day 269: 23,17 km  all: 9029 km

Day 265-267 – 20.-22. January 2014

Day 265: After 3 days on the terrace we wanted to go on. We took the coastal road to the north-east. The day was perfect. Nice weather, flat road and after a few km outside from Girne the traffic was getting less and less. We cycled the whole day and after we bought some food we found a magificent camping spot.

After setting up the camp and cooking dinner we sat in my tent and watched our obligatory slideshow from todays pictures.

Day 266: This is a time-laps movie from sunrise at our camping spot: 

We continued north-east and had the road for ourselves. After we climbed a hill we stopped at a very small village for a drink. The owner told us that this year they had almost no rain so far and the crops are very small. He gave us many tasty oranges from his garden.

A few km before the next town we noticed a very skinny puppy at the roadside. We stopped, gave him something to eat and drink and just could not leave him. His brother was lying dead at the side of the road and we were afraid he would suffer the same fate. We put him in one of Scotts front panniers and took him to the next town. We tried to find someone to take him and finally we could leave him at the post office. Hopefully he found a new home.

In the afternoon we got some supplies and wanted to go to the north cap of Cyprus. Because it was getting late and we still had 20 km to go we decided to stay at the rest area at the beach. We even had some benches and tables. It was again a  wonderful camping spot.

Day 267:  In the morning we decided to stay another day at this place and go to the north cap without luggage.

Sarah and Scott left early in the morning. They went to the north cap and came back at around noon. While we waited Anna and Matthias (the Germans we met at the hostel in Girne) passed by. They stayed at the north cap for three days and now they had to leave because they were out of food. We convince them to stay with us another day. They just left their equipment with us and went to get some groceries.

When Sarah and Scott came back from their tour, Jakob and I took off. We only went about 10 km to a very nice beach and spent some time walking around and taking pictures.

After we were back Scott and Sarah already colected firewood and started a fire. We made dinner and after sunset we sat around the fire drinking wine and beer and had a nice time.

North Cyprus

North Cyprus

North Cyprus

Day 265: 71,43 km  all: 8846 km

Day 266: 56,68 km  all: 8902 km

Day 267: 22,54 km  all: 8925 km

Day 262-264 – 17.-19. January 2014

We had a pleasant fairy ride and reached Girne in the morning. After debarking and some immigration formalities we entered a new country. Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (only recognized by Turkey).

We cycled to the nearby old harbor and found a hostel very close buy. We got a good prize for a room for three and an extra mattress. The room was clean and the best feature was the terrace on top of the building where we could sit in the sun and use it for cooking.

The next days we didn’t do much. Only a little bit sightseeing, sitting in the sun and enjoying the nice weather on the terrace.

Arriving at the hostel we noticed two bikes and later we meet the owners. Anna and Matthias from Germany also travel by bike. We spend the evening together and the next morning they took off to go to the north cape of Cyprus.

We met Rich from America, who is traveling around the world and is writing a “beer Travel book”. We invited him for one of Sarah’s outstanding dinners.

Day 262: 4,71 km  all: 8774 km

Day 260-261 – 15.-16. January 2014

Day 260: After another great breakfast at Inge our small group now consists of four cyclist.

We thanked Inge for the great hospitality she gave us and left Gazipasa.

The first hill of the day was only 200m but very steep. Probably between 10-13%. After we made it up, the scenery was fantastic and the weather was perfect.

In the afternoon we had to battle another 300m hill and when we finally made it to the top the sun was already down. At the bottom of the hill we found a beach and could camp in between some high grass.

Everybody cooked his own meal and after a short episode of a tv series we all went to bed.

Day 261: After we crawled out of our tents we had some breakfast and packed our things. It was only 9 am when we left our camp area.

The climbing continued and in addition we had very strong headwind.

After 35 km, just before the last climb we luckily found a small eating place. We all had some gozleme (like a very lage thin pancake filled with potatoes, cheese or other things).

We where now fit for the steep climb. Jakob is a very strong climber and was in front. Sarah and Scott walked up a very steep part and I passed them. A few minutes later I was taking a picture and suddenly they passed me on the back of a truck. The truck diver stopped and Scott helped him to fix a small problem. Afterwords he offered to take them up the hill.

After a fast decent and another 15km we reached Taşucu. We went to the harbor and found out that the fairy to North Cyprus would leave in the night.

We sat down in a restaurant an discussed our plans. We decided to take the fairy and leave Turkey without spending another night.

Because we had a lot time to kill we had a good dinner and afterwards found a place where we could play okey.

We where told that we could board the fairy a 10:30 pm but there was a ship from Libanon with Syrian refugees and it took till 1 am to debark everyone.

Finally at 1:30 am we could go on the fairy. The ship was not very full so we had enough space to sleep.

At 2 am we left the harbor.

I have to come back to this place to continue my world trip. I Had to leave turkey because of visa issues and till I can come back I am in some kind of „holiday“ from my  only rule. ()

Turkey

Turkey

Day 260: 58,43 km  all: 8715 km

Day 261: 54,39 km  all: 8769 km

Day 257-259 – 12.-14. January 2014

Day 257: We left Side to head for Alanya. The rode was flat and we had some tailwind so we where making good progress and reached Alanya at about 2 pm. Becurse it was still early and we were not very interested in the city we decided to go on.

Just outside of Alanya we met some bikers. Sarah and Scott already met them some weeks before and we had a short chat. They where trying to stop a truck to take them to Taşucu. One hour later they really passed us on the back of a truck.

 

After 120 km we made it to Gazipasa and quickly found a hotel.

Day 258: We started early becurse we had a warmshowers.org host in Bozyazi. The town was 95 km away and the terrain started to get very hilly.

We climed two big hills from sea level of over 400m and one smaller to 200m. It was very exhausting but we had some magnificent views from above.

It was getting late and the last km we had to ride in the dark.

In Bozyazi some people helped us to find the place of our host Inge.

She is German and lived in Turkey for manny years. She has a 9 year old daughter and likes to host people. She has some apartments for rent which were not occupied, so we could stay in one of them.

After we moved in to the apartment she invaded us for a tasty dinner.  We met Jakob from Denmark, who also is on a bike trip and stayed with Ingrid for 5 days.

Day 259: We stayed an extra day with Inge and her daughter Danyel. After a excellent breakfast we stays at Inge´s apartment relaxing and using her internet. We could convince Jakob to stay one day longer and ride together with us to Taşucu and Cyprus.

Day 257: 121,37 km  all: 8559 km

Day 258: 97,37 km  all: 8657 km

Day 255-256 – 10.-11. January 2014

Day 255:  In Kemer, a dog followed us for almost 10 km. We were afraid that he would get hit by a car, so we stopped at a fruit seller and asked them to hold him until we were too far away for him to follow.

After 45 km, we reached Antalya and stopped in the center. All off a sudden a guy on a bike showed up and as it turned out he contacted me on facebook several weeks before. Murad helped us to find a place to eat and offered us to stay with him.

Because it was still early we decided to go past Antalya.  After sunset we started to look for some accommodation. We were very picky and could not find the right place. About 20 km after Antalya, we passed many big resorts and hotels. They were out of our price range and we feared not to find any appropriate place. Between all the big resorts we found one little apart hotel with reasonable prices. The room was big enough to store our bikes in.

Day 256: The next morning the big resorts became even fancier.

Back on the main road we had wind from the back and the road was good and flat. We made good speed and reached the next big hotel area in Side in the early afternoon.

The old town of Side was very nice. Even in winter there are many tourists and all the souvenir and other shops are open. I was stopped by some shop owners and they called Ali.

Ali was a cyclist and spoke German. He gave me a few tips where to go and when I asked him where we could find a cheap hotel, he took his bike and came with us. Ali invited us for dinner in a very small but unique restaurant.

Ali showed us a good pension and we probably got a better price through him.

In the evening I went to the harbor and took some pictures of the sunset.

Antalya , Turkey

Turkey

Turkey

Antalya, Turkey

Day 255: 70,89 km all: 8359 km

Day 256: 78,55 km  all: 8438 km

Day 252-254 – 7.-9. January 2014

Day 252:  The first 25 km from Kalkan to Kaş was flat and easy, but then we had a big, steep hill to climb. It took us 3 hours to climb to 600 m. The next 20 km was also demanding, because the terrain was hilly and we had three bigger climbs of 50-200 m. The sun was already down when we finally reached the top of the last hill. Now we had to descend to sea level again. 15 km in 30 min! It was dark and very cold in the descent.

In the next town we asked the police for a cheap hotel and were very happy to have survived a 1500 m climb and one of the hardest days so far.

Day 253: After the long day we decided to take it easy and only go 30 km to Finike. We had time to enjoy the wonderful area and weather.

In Finike we quickly found a nice hotel at the waterfront and we had a tasty dinner on the floor.

Day 254: Shortly after the start we had to climb to 600 m again. This time it was a long steady climb. After we were on top, the next 35 km was mostly downhill.

We reached Kemer at about 4 pm and had time to look for a place to stay. We had so many possibilities because the town consisted mostly of hotels, restaurants, shops and supermarkets. We got a very good deal in an apart hotel with a kitchen. So Sarah cooked a wonderful meal again.

    

Turkey

Turkey

Turkey

Turkey

Day 252: 75,76 km  all: 8187 km

Day 253: 31,90 km  all: 8219 km

Day 254: 69,95 km  all: 8288 km

Day 251 – 6. January 2014

After breakfast with Michelle and Mehmet, we said goodbye and went down the hill to head towards Antalya.

We had to climb a small hill. Afterwards we had a nice and flat ride to the Mediterranean cost. After 80km we reached the historical site Patara. They close the place at 5pm and so we decided it was not worth the entrance fee and went on. We had to climb a 250m hill and when we got to the top it was almost dark. At the bottom we found a cheap pension in the town of Kalkan.

We went out to get something to eat and we met a local guy. He lived in the USA for most of his life and is now building and selling villas in the area. He even took us with his car to a restaurant where we had a good dinner.

Day 251: 93.75 km  all: 8111 km