Tonight I’m in Sultanhisar, a small town of 5,000-10,000 in the eastern half of the Menderes river valley. Earlier this afternoon I was having a hard time finding a place to camp – the first village I rolled into actually told me to move on (I must be...
Stopped for a lunch of kasarli kofte (cheesy meatballs). Cook knew who I was and how long I’d be on the road. Said he saw me on TV. By the way, I’ve learned to wash my shirts one at each stop, instead of accumulating a bunch of dirty laundry. Local fame is...
By the way, for those not in the know yet, in Turkey a wide shoulder is not a nice place to walk. In Turkey a wide shoulder is an extra lane to drive in.
Been meaning to put one of these on my pack, and then I found one on the side of the road this morning. A nazar boncuk, evil eye bead, a good luck charm that stares back at bad spirits and scares them away.
Rolling into Kosk, where I had planned to end Day 4, but it’s only 10:45am, so I’ll walk a little more. Valley is beginning to narrow a bit, and in about 4 days it’ll end and I’ll begin the week-long climb onto the Central Anatolia...
Every couple of days I suspect I’ll be walking into a restaurant and greedily wolfing down a couple plates of gut food (fasulye ve pilav, izgara kofte, etc). Oh, to eat unconcerned about abusing one’s host’s hospitality and eating him out of house...
Aydin, provincial seat, population 191,000, elevation 64 meters (about 200 feet). I had planned to stay here at end of third day, but I am quickly learning that travelers on foot do better in villages of less than 5,000 people.
Enes was a no-show for breakfast this morning. He stayed out late at a friend’s wedding last night and didn’t make it home. He did, however, find me on the side of the road later. We had breakfast with a friend of his and then they dropped me off where...
Had a great time last night hanging out with the imam and his buddies, drinking tea and talking about girls and vacations. We’ll have breakfast in about half an hour, then I’ll take off for day three of the walk.
I didn’t want to walk all the way to the next town, Incirliova, so I am staying in a village partway. The mosque garden was completely tiled over, so they didn’t want me staying there. Instead, the imam invited me to stay at his house, so I am spending the...
I was only in the mosque garden for about 60 seconds before I was invited to a feast for a sunnet (circumcision ceremony). My belly is now full of lamb chops, rice, and coban salatasi (tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and peppers). I didn’t want to steal any thunder...
Nasuh Corbacioglu ("son of the soup guy") waved me in to sit in the shade and eat figs (fresh and dried) and watermelon. Thanks Nasuh bey, elinize saglik ("health to your hands").
