Monthly Archives: August 2012

A small corner of Kurdish Turkey

I’m not sure where everyone started speaking Kurdish.  If it wasn’t Ardahan, it was certainly Kars.  Kurdistan on our route continued through Kars, Iğdır, Ağrı, and onto Karayazı and Tekman İlçes in Erzurum.  Back now in the city of Erzurum, … Continue reading

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The highway to Anı

After our epic crossing of the Kaçkar, Sage and I took some mellower roads to leave the Black Sea.  Like highways.  Certainly the most highway riding I’ve done in Turkey has been the last couple of weeks.  I am reminded … Continue reading

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Erdoğan, kids, and development

It’s time for Erdoğan to go.  Power corrupts.  He’s been Prime Minister over nine years.  Tayyip, as he’s commonly and respectfully referred to on the street, was initially elected with the support of Turkey’s educated middle class by promising not … Continue reading

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Trekking and biking the high Kaçkar

From Yusufeli it was a 3300m climb to Kaçkar Dağı Summit, the highest peak in the Eastern Black Sea Mountains (Doğu Karadeniz Dağları).  From rice paddies to snow and ice.  Sage and I took four days.  We biked up to … Continue reading

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