Over the river and through the woods to Bojan and Fu’s

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Bryan Keith

Wintry songs weren’t the only reason it felt like Christmas.  Kurt arrived at the İzmir airport laden with gifts.  Schwalbe tires from my parents, an ipod and chocolate from my sister, a Kindle from Cher, panniers from Krista, a helmet-mounted mirror from Father Christmas himself, a stove, fuel bottles, books.  The list went on and on.

Kurt built his bicycle at the airport, and I put on my new tires and new kickstands for both Snežana and me.  It was dark and pouring rain by the time we left the airport.  We camped that night just a couple hundred meters from the arrivals terminal where it was surprisingly quiet and dry.  Welcome to Turkey, Kurt!

Someone gave us this yufka as we were making lunch (fish) in the park by bryandkeith on flickr
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Hoş Geldiniz!

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Bryan Keith

Hoş bulduk!  Indeed, welcome to Turkey, and I am happy to be here.  Turks are great.  Snežana and I arrived in Çeşme and were welcomed by a friendly immigration officer.  From there we rolled over to Çeşme’s castle and were treated to a private tour by one of the friendly guards who was oh-so-willing to help me learn some words of Turkish.

Çeşme itself is a bit of conundrum.  The old stone castle sits across from the fancy yacht marina.  I saw a young woman in a mini skirt holding hands with her boyfriend as we listened to the call to prayer from the nearby mosque.  Trendy boutiques and boutique hotels surround the small waterfront while southern California-style sprawl extends many kilometers east.

DSCN8292 by bryandkeith on flickr
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The end of the Balkan Odyssey — Chios!

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Bryan Keith

I use the term Balkan Odyssey very much tongue-in-cheek.  Back in Neum, Snežana and I met a couple Dutch guys who had such a tight itinerary for their ride from Utrecht to Istanbul that they knew they’d be spending exactly 19 days in the Balkans, a portion of their trip that they had dubbed A Balkan Odyssey.  After five months in the Balkans, well, what I know is that I want to come back.  Both Macedonia and Bulgaria sound like they offer great bicycle touring, and when it’s not winter I’d love to spend more time cycling in the mountains of Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, and Greece.

berlin_cesme by bryandkeith on flickr
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Posted in Bicycle touring, Greece | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Recharging the batteries in Athens

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Bryan Keith

Even though the riding pace for the last couple months has been quite slow, I kept thinking it would be nice to take a real rest somewhere.  The short days and cold were taking a bit of a toll, but I also needed to get my mental energy and excitement back.  Because of the high prices in Greece,  I was leaning toward Turkey for such a rest.  Athens turned out to be the spot.  It started with Uglješa who offered to host us for a few days via a Serbian cycling forum.

DSCN8016 by bryandkeith on flickr
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Ancient Greece, modern problems

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Bryan Keith

It’s hard to spend much time talking with a Greek without hearing the words “economic crisis”.  Prices here are stunningly high, and I doubt there are high wages to match.  Indeed Greeks take off for the US, Canada, and Australia to improve their job prospects.  But there are some jobs here, and apparently Greeks won’t do them.  In the agricultural area north of Nafplio and east of Argos, Snežana and I met separate groups of Afghanis and Pakistanis coming to improve their job prospects by picking oranges.  The situation in Greece may be bad, but I’m sure it’s worse in Afghanistan.

Pakistanis in Greece to pick oranges by bryandkeith on flickr
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Posted in Bicycle touring, Greece | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments