Erdoğan (again); some protests and some biking

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Bryan Keith

Erdoğan, out, git, istifa.  Power corrupts.  It’s time to go.  If it sounds familiar, it’s because I wrote the same thing about a year ago.  Or maybe it’s because you’ve been paying attention to the thousands in the streets of Turkey’s cities in what’s being called the Gezi Park protests (Gezi Park eylemleri).

DSCN6845 by bryandkeith on flickr
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A fantastic week on the Frig Yolu

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Bryan Keith

Oh my gosh, every time I travel in Turkey, I come across something amazing.  From Kütahya instead of heading straight to Eskişehir (NE), I decided to head SE and follow the Frig Yolu for a bit.  In English the Frig people are called Phrygians I think, but since no one’s ever heard of them, I’ll stick to the more easily pronounceable Frig.

DSCN6522 by bryandkeith on flickr
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Restful days in Kütahya (and Antalya!)

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Bryan Keith

Kütahya was a super rest.  Through couchsurfing I met another American, Taryn, who welcomed me to her spacious downtown apartment.  In a year or so in Turkey I’ve met very few Americans.  I’ve certainly spoken with Taryn more than with any other American in Turkey.  She’s been here about half a year, and it was great to discuss and compare things we like and dislike about Turkey and the US.  Coming from Houston to Kütahya she loves being able to walk everywhere and having shops nearby.  Indeed, disastrous city planning in the US is probably the issue that bothers me the most about returning to live there.  Turkey’s no shining example of livable cities (and Erdoğan’s thoughtless development projects have made things worse in Turkey’s larger cities), but they do a better job than the US.

DSCN6416 by bryandkeith on flickr
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Great camping and lots of climbs through Denizli, Uşak, and Kütahya

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Bryan Keith

I’ve mostly been using village roads to connect the provincial capitals of Antalya, Denizli, Uşak, and Kütahya.  Another week of riding after Pamukkale, and I made it to Kütahya.  By bus from Antalya to Kütahya is 381km.  It took me 15 days of riding, and they certainly didn’t feel as lazy as that might sound.

Pamukkale, in the Menderes River Valley, is low (200m?) so I knew I’d have an effort to get back to the Anatolian Plateau (generally 800-1000m in Uşak).  It was done in one quick push from Güney Şelalesi (waterfall) to Güney İlçe where I happened upon the Pamukkale Winery, Turkey’s 3rd largest, according to my tour guide there.  At the end of the free tour he gave me two bottles of wine!  I’m used to be invited to tea in these villages, but, wine, well, that’s a special treat.  My guide also assured me that each of Turkey’s three largest wineries get all their grapes from Güney.  He called it “Turkey’s Napa” (sorry, France).

DSCN6241 by bryandkeith on flickr
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From one tourist site to another, Antalya to Pamukkale

Posted on June 7, 2013 by Bryan Keith

Reminder: Jack’s slideshow (about our bicycle tour in Mexico) at REI in Boulder is coming up on June 13 at 6:30pm.

With visits to the old cities of Termessos, Olimpos, Sagalassos, Side, and Perge this spring, I feel like I’ve been quite the tourist.  This week I visited Pamukkale/Hierapolis, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and one of Turkey’s big tourist draws.  However, this time I biked.  The schedule was pre-determined — Ferda came by bus to meet me in Pamukkale for the weekend — but the pace was casual.  I took a week to get from Antalya to Pamukkale.  By bus it was only four hours!

This week reminded me not only of why I like bicycle touring but also why I like Turkey.  Antalya and Pamukkale are both huge tourists draws, literally getting millions of visitors from around the world every year.  Of course they’re connected by a fast comfortable highway, but they’re also connected by empty roads through welcoming villages.  Between the crowded tourist bus destinations I visited three deserted tourist sites — Salda Gölü, Kaklık Mağarası, and Laodikeia — each worthy destinations in their own right.

Outside of Turkey’s urban concrete jungles it’s easy to find roads like this:

DSCN5683 by bryandkeith on flickr
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