My route continued along a plateau sandwiched between two large mountain ranges. The weather was beautiful and traffic was minimal. Even better, I hadn’t seen a tunnel in days.

The next day was pretty uneventful except for a nice family that pulled alongside me in their van and handed me some pastries to snack on. Between the free food and the frequent public water fountains along the road, I barely had to stop for supplies.

After a long 70 miles, I set up camp in a forest near the road. It was a great spot except for the hundreds of mosquitoes that made quick work of me while I scrambled to rig up my tent.

The next day was a 10% grade slog up 2000 ft before descending for an hour back onto the black sea cost. My prize at the top of the hill was a 2km tunnel 😦

Now I’m in Gerze enjoying the beach and the view before continuing east towards Georgia.

The water in my hotel had a unpleasant brown color so I grabbed some bottled waters from the market as well as some grape leaves for dinner. 

Hotels have gotten pretty cheap with rooms+breakfast averaging only $15/night. The flexibility of camping is nice but I’m definitely appreciating having a bed and WiFi to video chat with Kat. My budget is $30/day and most days I struggle to spend $20 so it’s pretty easy to justify the luxury. 

The next day, I wake up and grab breakfast (typical Turkish breakfast is heavy on the bread, cheese, veggies, and olives) before setting out on what I knew would be a challenging ride.

My route inland would be 65 miles, hilly, with a steep 2000ft elevation gain just before my destination of Devrek. The good news is that I got to avoid some of the hills, the bad news is that it was only because of many tunnels.

For those who don’t cycle much, tunnels are harrowing. Low light, tight/non-existant shoulders, and deafening from the reverberating road noise. In total, I had 10 tunnels on my way to Devrek. I rode through the short ones during pauses in traffic. For the long ones, I walked my bike along thin pedestrian path meant for tunnel personnel. Ultimately, they proved to be do-able but I’m already looking forward to getting back to flatter terrain.

As I started climbing, the temps dropped back into the 70s. Combined with the nice views, the miles went by fast.

I stopped in front of a house for a water break during a particularly steep bit of hill and a puppy came out to greet me. I played with him for a minute before leaving him and pushing my bike onwards. The dog had different plans though and ran up alongside me, refusing to leave. “Will this be my new cycling partner?”, I thought.

Sadly, we parted ways after about 45 minutes so the partner position is still open.

I arrived in Devrek and had an uneventful evening chilling by the river in the middle of town. The next day was 55 miles of rolling hills, rivers, cliffsides and 12 more tunnels 💀

I stopped for lunch at a snazzy new gas station in one of the small towns. Some men at one of the picnic tables outside invited me over for tea (very common now). I obliged and we chatted for a bit with the help of Google Translate. Very quickly though, the conversation turned uncomfortable and they wanted to know what I thought of their president Erdoğan, what I was doing in their country, and why didn’t I know more about their small village. One guy kept saying I was an American spy. Just what I was spying on, he couldn’t say, but a guy riding his bicycle was just too fishy to not be some kind of spy. I didn’t really feel like playing nice with a bunch of Turkish rednecks, so I walked off and got on my way. 

After about 60 miles I rolled into my stop: Karabük. There was a nice (if a little unmaintained) bike path along the river which I happily rode until it abruptly dead ended. Understanding now why no one had bothered to provide upkeep on a path to nowhere, I backtracked two miles and got back on the road and headed to my hotel.

*Bonus Pic* My hotels overly honest motto is “Maybe Not the Best But We’re Better!”

I helped Kat box her bike and took a shuttle to the fancy new Istanbul international airport.

There were literally 50 desk agents free, but none of them could check in Kat’s oversize luggage. After an hour of getting sent back and forth between different desks, we FINALLY got the bike box checked in. Kathleen had to visit “ticket services”, take a number (she was the only one there), and then once they called her number (20 minutes later) a man had to produce a hand-written invoice for her bike. This was the dumbest, convoluted, most archaic way to check in oversize luggage.

Relived to be done with that ordeal, Kat and I said our goodbyes at the security line and I grabbed a bus back to our hotel in the old city. I spent my last day hanging out with the hotel staff who Kathleen and I had made friends with earlier in our stay.

One of our new friends Ahmad was interested in bicycle touring and asked to come along for a couple days. Happy for the company, I agreed and we set out from Istanbul first thing the following morning on a ferry to Kadıköy. From there, we had a fancy new bike path along the Mediterranean Sea. With good weather and a nice tailwind, we made good time and spirits were high.

Following a route I’d found online to dodge some nasty highway bits, we took a second ferry after a further 20 miles to Yalova. Ahmad and I continued East but our nice bike path was now a large highway. Worse, a large storm was brewing so we got a brutal headwind and soaked for about 4 hours. There were deep puddles forming on the highway which we found ourselves fording. Drenched and spirits no longer high, we decided to call it a day and find a cheap hotel. This was one of the worst riding days I’ve had and wasn’t the best intro to bicycle touring for Ahmad….

The next day was much nicer with quiet roads and nice mountain views. Ahmad and I headed to Karasu, a Black Sea town about 70 miles NE. The riding was pleasant and we even found out a small festival in one of the towns we passed through in the afternoon.

Just outside Karasu, we bumped into another cyclist who lived in the area. The three of us grabbed dinner in town and then scouted out a campsite on the beach. Our campsite ended up being pretty lousy as some locals were blasting music and partying right next door until very late. The next morning, we grabbed some breakfast at a local burek bakery before Ahmad headed back to Istanbul. Ahmad told the owners about our trip and they generously brought out fresh veggies and fruit from the garden to eat with our breakfast burek. Super nice folks.

Ahmad gone, I was now on my own for the first time since leaving Paris. I started to bike East along the Black Sea, but I was in a uncomfortable headspace being alone. I’d really gotten used to talking to someone throughout the day and was feeling blue with my newfound solitude. Luckily the views and weather were nice. Unluckily, my ipod ran out of juice, so it was pretty quiet. 

I stopped in a quaint beach town and chilled for the afternoon. I video chatted with Kat and family which helped my mood. I’m still excited to continue and expect my state-of-mind will improve as I figure out my solo routine. Tomorrow I’ll head inland for about a week before reconnecting with the Black Sea in Samsun.

Istanbul marks the entrance to Asia for the route and makes a logical point to end “chapter one” of the trip. As such, here are some stats of our journey from Paris to Istanbul

Total days: 109

Riding days: 72

Rainy days: 24 (1 in 3 days 😩☔️)

Total distance: 2920 miles

Average pace: 41 miles/day

# of flat tires: 0 😎

Gear broken/replaced:

• 1 pairs of cranks
• 3 saddles
• 1 handlebar bag
• 2 chains
• 2 sets of brake pads
• 3 bike bells (don’t ask me how)
• 6 water bottles (we keep forgetting to grab them in the morning)
• 1 wallet (Kyle dropped it somewhere before the Bulgarian border)

Book read: 8

Number of pastries eaten: like, a million

Favorite city: Budapest

Second favorite: Munich

Favorite experience: Hot air ballooning

Favorite quotes to stay motivated:

• “There’s no bad weather, just bad gear”
• “Just keep pedaling”
• “Shut up, legs”

I also have some big, non-number news to share. As some friends and family already know, Kat has decided biking from Paris to Istanbul is already a pretty big deal in itself and will be heading home while I keep going to Hong Kong. While obviously sad, I completely understand and support her in her decision. I’m so fortunate to have a partner as incredible as Kat and can’t express how proud I am of what she’s accomplished to-date on our journey.

Fortunately, Kat will be flying out to visit at some point in the future. In the mean time, I will continue to update the blog as normal. Stay tuned for the return of Kat!

*Bonus Pic* My favorite picture of Kat and unconscious me

Kat and I booked our hot air balloon ride for our first morning in Cappadocia. This entails waking up at 4am to catch a shuttle shared by other sleepy tourists to a field filled with a fleet of trucks and trailers kitted out with ballooning gear.As we waited in the field, we were told the winds were too high and that the flight might be cancelled. Folks were understandably disappointed and the tour operator brokered an offering of ham sandwiches to the group as a consolation. Being 4:30am in the morning, nobody accepted.

After about 30 minutes of anxious waiting, we were told the winds died down and balloons could now take off! 

We jumped in our own balloon and within minutes joined the hundreds already in flight. I’m not lying when I say it was one of the coolest things we’ve ever done. Cappadocia lives up to the hype.

We puttered around for an hour taking in the views before setting down in a random orchard of oranges (fun fact: the balloons don’t have a ton of control over where they land, one balloon landed on the nearby road blocking traffic lol). Our pilot poured us drinks and we groggily hopped backed in the shuttle to grab breakfast at the hotel before catching our second tour in Cappadocia.

The later tour drove us to the local valleys filled with the numerous “fairy chimneys” made from hard magma columns that eroded more slowly than the surrounding rock.

After that, we checked out the cave cities. Due to numerous, warring groups, the locals dug out large underground cities to hide and defend themselves. There were huge stone discs that acted as doors, allowing them to seal of entrances. There was also a pretty savvy ventilation system to keep the air fresh.

Finally we checked out some of the original “towers” used by the residents to spot distant armies. The inside of the stone towers are hollowed out with tunnels and rooms like the underground cities.

Overall, the tour was okay but we suspect they got some kickbacks from the trinket shops oriented to tourists as all of our destinations were chock-full of people trying to peddle us knick-knacks. If we went again, we’d go to the cave city museum on our own and skip the rest.

The ceramics in the tree are “evil eyes”. They supposedly ward of evil things and bring good luck. They are super common in the many souvenir shops we’d seen so far in Turkey.

After a crazy long day we headed to bed and spent our last morning in Cappadocia relaxing in the town center before our flight back to Istanbul.

*Bonus pic* A shop offering natural alternatives to Big Pharma

We left the beautiful city of Edirne and made our way to Istanbul. It’s amazing how drastically the landscape has changed since leaving Bulgaria and losing some elevation. With its craggy hillsides and shrubby trees, it reminded us a lot of the Texas hill country, though no cacti to be seen.

Kyle and I got a kick out of these traffic cop cut outs. They occasionally even had flashing lights.

While momma horse was tied up, her foal wasn’t. Unfortunately we didn’t get a picture of the foal munching on the flowers in the highway divider 😳.

At one of our many gas station water stops, there was a little puppy named cotton, with his mom carefully watching us as we gave him some scratches.

The hot and hilly day ended with a great stay at a very sweet couple’s air b&b. They had a gorgeous little house surrounded by a huge vegetable garden and fruit trees, as well as some chickens and bee hives. They gave us a tour of the yard and had us try all the fresh produce. His son and his family later joined, and we all enjoyed their great homemade wine and chatted about all the travelers who had stayed with them.

A fresh Turkish breakfast with veggies from the garden.

Our last stay before entering Istanbul was at a hotel located in a small national park. The place had a hidden treasure in the woods next to it! It appeared to be once a little park/entertainment area, apparently about 100 years old. We definitely were feeling some The Shining vibes when Kyle got behind the old bar. “You’ve always been the caretaker…”

Getting into Istanbul was not the most relaxing ride. We rode in on a busy 6-lane highway for about 20 miles, but luckily the huge shoulder made it alright. The real challenge was getting to our place through the narrow and crowded streets of the old city. At one point we had to roll the bikes through a packed bazaar and being asked if we were interested in some denim…or perhaps some knock off gucci flip flops?

But all the sites made that struggle worth it!

We made a trip through the grand bazaar, the oldest still active bazaar in the world. Indoors and taking up several blocks, we enjoyed getting lost in the maze. One shop owner approached us and tried to interest us in taking home a large rug. He did not have a rehearsed reply to our excuse that we came here and are leaving by bike 😂

I had heard Istanbul is called the “City of Cats” and they weren’t exaggerating. Kitties are everywhere, and you’ll often see food, water, and even little cat houses left out for them. I definitely wasn’t complaining about getting to see kittens everyday, but was curious why there were so many cats here. Doing some research, it seems like cats are very popular in most predominantly Muslim countries. They’re seen as ritually clean animals and there are several stories of the prophet Mohammad’s fondness of them. Including him cutting off the sleeve of his robe as to not wake a cat sleeping on it, and even blessing cats with the ability to land on their feet after one saved him from a serpent 🐈

We of course visited the famous Blue Mosque, the sister of the one we visited in Edirne. While beautiful, unfortunately much of it was under renovation.

A gorgeous little park we found on our way to the archeological museum.

Along with the archeological museum, we visited Topkapi palace and walked through the lavish harem.

Kyle and I decided to visit a Hamam, a traditional Turkish bath house. While normally separated by sex, we went to a couples Hamam so we could experience it together. After changing into our towels (and my cloth bikini top) we were told to wait about 45 minutes in the hot room before our massages would begin. It was 107 degrees and so humid I felt like I was going to drown! I actually had to leave several times to cool down. Finally, we were taken into the corners of the hot room and scrubbed down with a kind of loofah. We were told a disturbing amount of dead skin would come off, and they weren’t wrong 😫 we then were put on marble slabs and massaged with very hot soapy water before being rinsed with bowls of cold water. While we did leave smoother than we came, we think that will be our one and only Hamam experience 😂

Some great views and a very friendly cat.

On our friend Ahmad’s recommendation, we took a ferry over to the Asian side of Istanbul to grab some dinner. It seemed much less touristy, and the views on the boat were gorgeous.

We met Ahmad on our first day in the city as we were rolling our bikes through the streets. He stopped us to ask about our trip, as he’s planning to do a bike trip to China in the future. Ahmad’s been a great friend, giving us advice and showing us around the best parts of Istanbul. We owe him a huge thanks!

This morning, we left our bikes and hopped on a plane to Cappadocia. We’ll be staying here two nights and getting up tomorrow at 4:30 am for a hot air balloon ride!

Kat and I are officially in Turkey! 🦃

The border crossing from Bulgaria had a long line of cars which meant we’d be sitting in the heat for a while. Fortunately, some kind drivers ushered us forward and let us cut to the front, saving us from baking in some truly awful temps

We still had to bike in it though. Kat captured the mood

About 500ft after the border, we stopped at a pop-up booth from one of the Turkish cell carriers to buy a SIM card. The guys working the stand were super nice and gave us some water bottles. One of the guys happened to be a warmshowers host and offered us some dinner and a place to stay for the night!

We made it to the city of Edirne which was our stop for the day. The city is beautiful; its mosques and bazaars were a change up from the European cities and made it feel like we’d finally entered a new part of the world. The city was bustling with live bands and regular calls to prayer echoing from the spires across the town. Edrine’s main attraction is the Selimiye Mosque – the sister mosque to the famous Blue Mosque in Istanbul.

After our visit to the mosque, I hit up a local barber. If you’d like a fun challenge the next time you go to your local salon, try pantomiming your desired haircut.

Despite the language barrier, it was the best haircut of my life, and cost a total of $6. We celebrated my fresh fade with some baklava.

Cleaned up and fed, we called it a night in Edirne. Tomorrow we head East with three more days of riding until Istanbul!

Kat and I had about 100 miles between Sofia and Plovdiv to cover. The weather forecast was pleasant enough and the views didn’t hurt either. We were bicycling over the foothills of the Rhodopi mountain range to our South.

Even better, we met another pair of cycle tourists. They’re essentially doing our route in reverse and we stopped to chat and trade tips for one another.

We stopped for dinner in Samokov. The town is a hub for skiers in the winter but during the off-season was pretty deserted. We had the restaurant to ourselves and enjoyed some grape leaves and grilled veggies. Since entering Bulgaria, the food has become decidedly more Turkish which is A-okay with us. We continued on to Plovdiv where the terrain would begin to flatten.

Plovdiv is Bulgaria’s second largest city and (claimed to be) the oldest existing city in Europe. It won “Cultural Capital of 2019” for the continent and we think it’s well-deserved. We took a walking tour and the town is full of relics from the many empires that the city belonged to at some point or another. The architecture was a cool mix of Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman, Soviet, and Modern.

In two days time we’ll be crossing into Turkey (with a high temp of 104F 😵 ). We’ll be leaving earlier in the mornings and taking shorter days until things cool off.