Before I began this trip, about 10% of the people I told about it asked me how I felt about being a “freeloader,” taking advantage of people poorer than me, crashing on their floors and accepting their offers of food. I simply shrugged my shoulders and...
Last night at Charly’s Pansiyon I was adopted by a group of Poles in the area for a joint EU-Turkey educational project. Man, I haven’t spoken so much English since I saw Darek and Piotr on the second day of the walk. They were Polish too, come to think of...
The Kickstarter campaign is over, but there were a few other testimonials I wanted to put out there… From Turkayfe.org, a group based in Washington, DC, and Ankara, with the ambitious goal of branding Turkey… “As an online community dedicated to...
I’ve been on the road for a month. Happy to be at Lake Egirdir, where I’ll be resting up for the week. This also marks the end of the second of nine legs of the journey. This place is beautiful. Pictures to come starting tomorrow. Now it’s time to...
While I was uploading the melon photo, Mehmet and Murat stopped by to say hello. They were enjoying the nice sunny Sunday with a bike ride to the lake.
A farmer and his wife, coming in from harvesting melons for the day, insisted I take this one. I’m going to have to pay this one forward really fast – I haven’t even carried it a quarter mile and already my arm is tired!
Fiona, a student in Denise Water’s 4th grade class, asks, “What allowed you to be the needle in the haystack?” By the way, Fiona is referring to a phrase I used in answering Alisa’s question. Wow, talk about a brave question! Okay, I’ll...
Ellie, a follow up to your question about culture differences, and my response about kindness to strangers… I am walking out of the city of Isparta this morning. A woman I passed on the street a few minutes ago went to the grocery store, bought some stuff,...
Ellie, a student in Denise Waters’ 4th grade class at Norman Rockwell Elementary, asks, “What are the culture differences?” Ellie this is a broad question. Entire books have been written about this subject, so I will just deal with one small part of...
Tonight I’m staying at the Otel Bolat in Isparta. I’m not a big fan of cities. They bring out my inner Ted Kaczynski. I’m much more comfortable walking up to a remote gas station or a small village’s mosque. By the way, $28 a night, breakfast...
Yesterday I mentioned I’d be having two meals. That didn’t happen — the entry into Isparta was a little sparse, restaurant-wise. So dinner last night was a bag of chips (crisps, for my British readers), some chocolate chip cookies, and some peach...
Isparta is a university town. This is the entrance to Suleyman Demirel University. Suleyman Demirel was Turkey’s Prime Minister in the 60s and 70s, and then its President for most of the 90s. He was from a village near Isparta, so many things around here are...
This cement factory marked the end of my walk yesterday (the gas station I camped at was about a mile up the road). I think that in the entire history of cement factories, never has a cement factory been as beautiful as this cement factory was to me at that...
…on why she backed the project: “A two-week trip to Turkey left me absolutely in love – with the country, food, and of course the people – and already itching to go back again soon. After coming home, I struggled to explain to people just how...
