Biking Around Again

Wow, what a difference from the start of this tour. Compared to the ride from Çarşamba to Niksar, my days spent in Tokat Province (il) were practically flat. Not completely flat, of course — there was a 1000m climb leaving Pazar, e.g. — but it sure felt flat after the Black Sea mountains. Another difference was that I saw quite a few cem evi, Alevi worship places (as opposed to mosques). That means, of course, that I went through quite a few Alevi villages. I also visited two historic complexes that were called zaviye, a word that seemed unfamiliar to me. What’s a zaviye, you’re wondering? It’s a Sufi (dervish/Bektaşi/Alevi) religious/cultural complex. Sunnis would use the word külliye.

It’s interesting that here we are in Turkey’s heartland, in the relatively small part of Turkey devoid of foreign influence under the Treaty of Sèvres. And yet, it’s full of Alevis, another of Turkey’s (at times persecuted: remember Sivas) minority groups.

There’s a fast narrow highway connecting Niksar to Tokat. Luckily I was mostly able to avoid it, usually without much more climbing than the highway.