I don’t really have any travel stories. Instead I have some small world stories.
I’ve spent a bunch of time wandering around Antalya looking for a place to stay for a month or so. One day I met Charley, a British cyclist, who’s been on the road 2-3 years now. We got on the topic of slow cycle tourists, and he couldn’t help but mention Laurens who “spent nine months cycling through Turkey.” Hmmm, what am I supposed to think about that? I spent nine months in Turkey last year, and now I’m planning a little four-month tour for later this year…
Charley had spent some time with Laurens in Iran, and I was excited to hear some news about Laurens who I met in Antalya last year. To make the small world story even better, the next day I was catching up on Will’s blog, a cyclist who I met in Erzurum last summer. He’s met up with Laurens, and they’re part of a small group that will be cycling the Pamirs together shortly. It’s a small, small world!
On my second Friday night in Antalya I went to an expats trivia night at the Shaker Pub in Kaleiçi. It was my first time at one of these expat functions even though I first heard of them over a year ago. There are heaps of expats living in Antalya, but this is an English-language group so it’s perhaps not surprising that I met more people from the US that night than I did in four months in Antalya last year. A majority were English teachers.
Of course I sought out the cyclists as well. One was Rose who cycled from Britain to Antalya with her partner, Jim. Later I checked out their website and was surprised to see that they had cycled with Rhiannon, another cyclist who I met in Antalya last year. A little more blog research, and I learned:
- Rhiannon and Jim are siblings.
- They liked Montenegro’s Bokokotorski zaliv (Bay of Kotor), something I described as “one of the most spectacular flat bicycle rides I’ve ever done”.
- In The Hague they stayed with Dick and Els, two Dutch cyclists who I hosted at my house in Boulder many years ago.
What a small world (again), and then I remembered that Rhiannon had asked me about cycle route advice through the Balkans. I found that e-mail and read that the strongest piece of advice I had was not to miss Bay of Kotor. Maybe they listened?!
Continue reading
