June 22, 2015
to Elazig: and our first warmshowers host in Turkey
Today was about meeting people. The Turkish people are friendly, helpful and curious. Many speak German and French but if not, they still try to communicate.
We are up early because today will be a long day and we want to avoid the heat. The reception guys are very curious about our bikes and help us get loaded and wave us away. First stop is around the corner at the public water spigots to fill our water bottles. We were told that locals don't buy water but get their water here.
There's a gentle climb out of the city. We had seen this part of the road when on the tour to Nemrut Dagi...not sure if it's good or bad to see the road before cycling. We know that at 50 kms we will start the 18km climb from 750 meters to 1250 meters.
Halfway up we stop at a shop for a cold drink. We try to be respectful to those fasting by asking if it's ok to sit and drink. A local sits with us who can speak a little German. He is not muslim, so we share our drink with him. We continue on taking breaks along the side of the road whenever there was a little bit of shade. Patrick says, "we are about to have our first encounter with kids". Two kids on one bike ride up to us, we've heard about kids throwing rocks at cyclists in Eastern Turkey, but these kids are just shy when Patrick tries to take their picture.
Just as we reach the summit a car pulls over and waits for us. The man jumps out to talk with us. He's a sociologist that works for BP oil company. We descend to ride along the lake yet we know we have one more bump ahead to get over. We take a break sitting hidden behind our bikes in the culvert. We eat a whole loaf of fresh bread and nutella.
Along this stretch we still see lots of apricot stands. We stop at one with an elderly man in traditional dress, he shakes our hand and allows Patrick to take his picture. Then he grabs a handful of apricots and gives them to us.
After the highpoint the landscape begins to look very much like Idaho! We reach Elazig and find a gas station to call our warmshowers host. The attendant makes the call for us, and soon Yusuf arrives in his van to take us to his appartment....we would have had difficulty finding it AND it was up the side of the hill a couple kms away from city center. Very nice ending to a great day.
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Today's ride: 95 km (59 miles)
Total: 4,065 km (2,524 miles)
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