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43km to Izmır and another 20km on the Thursday Night Tour with the Izmır bıcyle communıty.
The day was raıny almost ın ıts entirety. We opted for a hılly rıde on small roads rather than a flat rıde on a small really busy road. It was a good decısıon. We met an ıncredıble famıly on the way that at our lowest poınt of the day brought us ınto theır small restaurant/Home and fed us and gave us a rıdıculous amount of tea. They really touched our hearts, even more so when they refused our money. We made our way towards Izmir, a cıty of fıve mıllıon not ıncludıng the suburbs, wıthout a map but with a plan to meet Mehmet, a friend Tobias had told us to contact. Thıs experıence ranks among the hıghest of crazy thıngs we have done on thıs trıp. No map and an endless stretch of busy roads and suddenly spıt out ınto the calm of the seasıde and 1tl glasses of pomegranate juıce and twenty or so new frıends.
Camp ın another Olıve grove
The famıly that warmed our hearts and fed our bellıes
The mosque ın the Konak center of Izmir
Gettıng ready to get back on the bıkes after a dınner of Köfte wıth the Izmir bicycle commuity
122km
One hundred twenty-two, one hundred twenty-two, One hundred twenty-two. Our last shower was one week ago. It was raining when we woke. We wanted to get to Turkey.
One hundred twenty two kilometers to Thessalonikki. It started as a joke around noon, still 80km away, “hey, wouldn’t it be wild if we could get to thessaloniki today?” The wind was in our favor and we got excited when our pace began to hold at 25km/h. The joke started to look appear less and less like a joke. Then we crossed some arbitrary line where we were too close not to make it, too close to pay for accommodation anywhere else than Thessaloniki. Then our pace slowed to 20km/h then dipped under 20km/h and the sun began to set and the dogs seemed to get more vicious and the rode that was supposed to get smaller with less traffic got bigger and bigger and the shoulder got smaller and smaller, and we all the more miserable.
We crossed the city line and everything began to get a little bit better. We got to the center to find a hostel to find the city, a large city mind you, has none. Then we ate a gryo; happy again, then we saw an elderlycouple get hit by a speeding car in a crosswalk; not happy; then we found a cheap hotel; reserved, but happy again. We went for late night gyros and beer; stomach really unhappy.
At this point, we were looking forward to boarding the ferry to Island Chios and then another to Cesme, Turkey, as quickly as possible!
Fresh with the excitement of the previous nights affirmed commitment to adventure into the unknown together, we could not be intimidated by the sounds of the strong downpour pummeling our tent fly. We quickly, and excitedly accepted that we would not be moving anywhere far today. No, it was a rainy day, and what better to do than spend a rainy day in bed.
Chad prepared the camp for a day of rain. The tarp, that many people thought was an excessive addition to our packing list, made its value as strong as gold as the vestibule to our tent grew from its normal state of eight square feet to nearly eighty, complete with a campfire and a view of the rising river.
Home
40km
After a good nights sleep in the haystacks, we woke to a rainy morning. This would be our first day of ridingin the rain, and it was quite pleasant. We arrived in Ljubljana and found a very nice hostel with a shared room that had a double bed in it. This is very rare and excellent. Our room also came equipped with a German Cyclist on his way to Damascus. We have really enjoyed our time thus far with Tobias. We lookde forward to sharing our ride with him for as long as he can stand our snails pace. We went out for pizza and to the arts district that is more like a graffitti covered, anything, goes kind of area. It is a very special section of the city. We saw a bizzarre feminist performance at a small performance space there and are still haunted by some of the raunchy songs sung in Slovene.
