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Turkey is big, known and too well documented to really write much more about it. During the preparation for our trip, we had read and heard lots of stories from other travelers, took many as good advice and noticed that they concentrated in many cases around the same topics. As the other travellers opinions have helped us, we want to write down our experiences and opinions on some of them after we have crossed the whole country.

About the dogs

The dogs are many indeed, and they come in different kinds. The victims of the road, the dead ones, are the ones most easily to handle, but those we don't count. From the living ones, the puppies – of course – are our favorite. The often come in large bunches, sometimes 6 or 7 unexpectedly come crawling out behind a bush somewhere. The only thing we are always suspiciously wondering is what kind of dogs they will become once they grow up. Hopefully one of the second best, the lazy ones. We haven't known before, that dogs can sleep so deeply and undisturbed, not hearing anything, not even lifting one ear when we cruise by. Others look at us and turn away, they find us obviously boring.

Then there are the cowardy ones. Howling loud once we are in sight, but as we approach looking for cover, the tail between their legs. These are also ok. Worse are the less scared ones, the ones that actually chase and charge if we come close. In this category, we can live with the small ones. Their jaws are too small to reach around our calves, they are annoying, but not really dangerous. Worse are the ones of the size of German shepherds or bigger. But even those are not as bad as many say. The statement “dogs that bark won't bite” remained always valid. The most scary are the monster-like howling ones that even charge on buses. They don't mind running from a farm some hundred meters away from the road in full speed after us (the opposite of the lazy ones), luckily we have only met these in downhills, so we won.

For our defense, we carry a stick on our handle bar or pick up a stone when in need. We also used pepper-spray, but a dog has to be very close for a proper hit. For adrenaline junkies thats the first bet, however, a bit expensive. The stick or stones are actually better, the dogs know the movement of the swinging arms and take cover already when lifting either of them. Best is not to accelerate in panic, but rather to slow down and stop. Things are more easily controllable, and the dogs are impressed if someone doesn't run but stays.

About stone-throwing kids

we heard many things of them and were very happy that we didn't meet any at all- until the last 300km before leaving the country again. For a to us unknown reason, kids east of Erzurum are more aggressive than others: they appear out of nowhere, wait for the cyclist and start to scream “moneymoneymoneymoney...” well ahead. If no money is given (we haven't tried the opposite), they pick up stones in all sizes and throw them with full power after one. A few of them have also found it great fun to spit instead of throwing stones. Others have asked for food instead of money, or for the bottle. A possible remedy to this very unpleasant and somehow dangerous experience is maybe to have some chewing gums at hand and throw them at the kids. Hope is that they will be happy or at least distracted for a while. Another possibility is to get rid of your left-over coins from Bulgaria or other countries, just pray that you are gone by the time the kinds find out about the trick...

About the tea

On a good day, a cyclist can enjoy several dozens small cups of tea without paying a cent. Like nowhere else, there is always a pot with a freshly brew at hand, anywhere, anytime. In gas stations, bakeries, Internet cafes, workshops, barber shops, homes, vegetable stalls and of course in the tea houses the question after a tea comes right after – if not before – the “Merhaba/Hello”!

About the roads and the traffic

With the exception of Istanbul, traffic in Turkey seemed to be safe and respectful to us. Only far out east things can get a bit tougher, but for all the rest we did not have any problems whatsoever. Cars and even trucks let room for us, on curvy roads they slow down and wait with the passing until it's safe. In steep uphills, trucks are often so slow that the lazy but brave cyclist can try to grab a handle or edge and catch a lift, the drivers in our experience won't mind! Traffic away from cities is mostly light, even on main transit roads. If a route is heavily used, the road is normally build so wide and with an extra emergency lane that cycling is a pleasure. Also the condition of the roads is usually good to perfect, holes, cracks or glass splinters are seldomly seen. After all the horror we have heard of before the trip, we were very positively surprised.

About the hospitality

The hospitality we have experienced in Turkey is among the very best things on the whole trip. For details, see link to turkish delight

About the food

The food can be everything, from cold and old to fresh and delicious. For some reason, turks don't seem to like to wait for food to be cooked freshly, as a consequence many restaurants prepare dozens of plates of one kind in the morning and let them sit on the buffet the whole day. Upon serving, the stuff has room temperature and a pale taste. On the other hand, freshly cut Döner Kebabs, oven-fresh bread, Pide or Lahmacun are phenomenal, topped maybe only by home cooked food which is best tasted after a spontaneous invitations (see also about the hospitality') by strangers. Dairy products are fantastic, cheese, yogurt or desserts especially. Also there is plenty of salads and fruits, especially the latter sold everywhere and at any time. The portions are in restaurants, to our surprise, mostly quite modest in size, and thus not really suited for hungry cyclists.

About the PKK and Kurdistan

A very delicate topic, we try hard not to offend anyone!

As soon as one enters Turkey in the far west and tells about the plan of crossing the country towards Iran, a slight panic flickers in the eyes of many turks: these daredevils will end up in terrorists hands! Many, many have recommended strongly or even insisted on us taking a bus from Erzurum if not already way before to get through the east as safely and quickly as possible. No one was really able to tell us what it was that could happen, but they were all quite sure it would. Hm, what to do? We cycled through the north of Turkey as planned and felt just as safe as anywhere else in the country, in any case we avoided to camp out in the wilderness. However, for the sake of completeness, we have to add that the presence of the military and the Jandarma is very high from Erzurum on, military checkpoints and sometimes even patrolling tanks show that there is a certain tension in the air.