We lelf the warm bed of our hotel in Alexandroupoli when the weather outside was -8C. Brrrrrhhh
Approaching the border, we had to take the highway for the third time, just because there was no other way..... As usual, greek highway is empty, we crossed at most 20 cars :-)
We were excited because not only we arrived to a new country but also it was our first reel border crossing when we got the passport stamped!!!! Moreover, we left Europe for a new continent, please!!!! We got almost frozen while waiting on line. At some point, Alessio just shouted over my shoulders "heeey guys!!!!" : on the other side, were leaving Turkey and entering Greece 2 Asian cyclists: a Korean and a Japanese guy. Sooo funny!!! We had a little chat, exchanged our maps and wished one another a safe trip :-)
The fırst night in Turkey, we followed the advices of Esen from Warm Showers and camped in the park of Kesan. İt was damned cold but we experienced the first turkish kindness: the night guard invited us to his lodge to get warm, offered us tea and shared his dinner with us....
The cold weather stayed for almost all the time we are in Turkey so far, but the generosity, the kindness of Tuırkish people warmed us up. Everywhere we went, they were simply amazing, always eager to help, to offer. We had free "çay" (tea) more than what we drank during the last 15 years :-) :-)
Once, we arrived in an empty village (it was early in the cold morning when one has better things to do ie stay at home, by the fire... than running around in the cold).We stopped to play wıth some dogs when two old men came out from nowhere and invited us çay. We followed them in the "salonu" - from outside one could never suspect that 10 men were sitting inside, reading newspapers, watching TV and drinking çay. Our conversation was very limited as usual but we were glad to see a bit a part of the turkish culture that normal tourısts could not see and feel.
Sometimes, people stopped us on the road to offer us çay, food and are happy to have a little chat with us. We thought that this Shepard would post the pictures taken with us on his facebook :-)
Or those two men, selling potatoes by the road
And turkısh food is an another surprise for us. We got the chance to stay with Melike's family in İstanbul and her mom cooks like a goddess!!!! We happily gained some weight after a week trying everday some new dishes :-) :-)
After more then 4 months, Alessio finally had his first hair cut :-)
We camped sometimes at gas station, but also in the wild. Who could ever resist to such beautiful places even in cold nights??? :-)
And of course, beside cycling, we also had time to play tourists and give ourselves some breaks
See you soon!!!!
