View Larger Map
Tuesday, November 5th - Geyve to Goynuk - 13,615 km
It is a cool morning as we step outside. We have each donned our long cycling tights over our cycling shorts to keep our legs warm. Our inn has given us coffee and biscuits for breakfast. We pause after loading up our bikes to eat fruit we purchased yesterday, to give us energy for the climb we are about to do. Coen is a bit shaky this morning but he insists he can make it to Goynuk. He is coughing a lot, but I expect he will improve as the day goes along.
I feel great today. The sun is energizing and even the rustic look of this town excites me with its unmanicured streets and chipped plaster. It tells me this place hasn't been tarted up for tourists. There are no souvenir shops here, no plastic environments catering to some processed, sterile illusion of happiness, devoid of surprises. 
We start off slowly, heading into the hills to the south. The road rises about the valley with a steady gradient. The valleys are replaced by gorges, the deciduous trees by evergreens. Our small road clings to the rippled mountain sides as it climbs. The air grows cooler but we are sweating from the exertion. There is the temptation to remove our long tights at the pass, after climbing 570 m, but the danger of a serious chill always comes on the downhill. I lend Coen my cotton kafia to keep his neck warm on the descent.
We descend more slowly than we ascended, but the long stretches without needing to pedal are more than welcome. We gradually drop about 270 m (700 ft) as the road bend to the east and arrives in the town of Tarakli. We have entered a new region of Turkey, one with distinctly architecture. This excites me too. The houses are an Anatolian version of Tudor block houses of the Burgundy Renaissance houses, only newer. I haven't seen anything like them. There is a thrill in exploring worlds that I have never researched, where I don't know what I'll find. I call it courting wonder. 
We stop here for lunch and a forty minute rest. Coen looks a bit winded so we stay a bit longer to let him rest. We observe Tarakli as we eat. It is the same size as Geyve, but its streets look more active, probably because this is midday and all the shops open. Coen and Vincent notice that there are women walking around at this time of day, which we haven't seen in other towns outside of Istanbul. They keep to their shopping chores and don't look at us. The men sit idle in restaurants and tea houses or they are working at a relaxed pace, loading carts and trucks. They stare at us as if we are a strange species, and smile broadly when we acknowledge them.
The road from Tarakli to Goynuk climbs steadily, but not as steeply as this morning. Twenty minutes after we leave Tarakli we are caught in a rain shower. It doesn't last long but the rest of the ride into Goynuk is colder and less pleasant because of it. As we near Goynuk the hills grow steep and the valley narrows. The town
itself is set up a steep valley north of the road. It looks like it has been dropped from above, landing all over the hills like a crepe that has fallen on rocks. It looms above us on all sides as we make the steep climb up to it. We are now at 750 m, higher than the pass we crossed earlier today.
The houses are the same Anatolian block house style we saw in Tarakli, set on strong stone foundations and climbing steeply up the sides of the mountain. High above the top houses the minaret of a small mosque stands like a sword reaching into the sky. Our guide book identifies it as the Suleyman Pasa Camii. 
The main business street is along the valley floor. A local grocery tells us where to find the hotel at the top of the street. We book a large room with three beds and store our bikes in their garage. Vincent and I check out the lower town to buy groceries and look for restaurants while Coen is showering. There are two restaurants in town, both simple affairs with bare wooden tables and weathered chairs. We return to the hotel and once we are all cleaned up we have dinner at the nearest one, which specializes in soups and kebabs.
We have only covered 63 km today but it has been a lot of climbing. Clouds are moving in from the west. It doesn't look promising for tomorrow.
PHOTO 1: Alifuatpasa House, Geyve
PHOTO 2: leaving Geyve
PHOTO 3: in the hills south of Geyve
PHOTO 4: the valley beyond the hills
PHOTO 5: local transport
PHOTO 6: Tarakli
PHOTO 7: rain shower beyond Tarakli
PHOTO 8: climbing into Golnuk
PHOTO 9: the sun comes out briefly as we arrive in Golnuk
PHOTO 10: typical houses in Golnuk
No comments:
Post a Comment