This country was our gateway to Europe and it provided us a pleasant transition from Asian to European culture. Everything from food, infrastructure and weather improved, giving us an enjoyable time in Turkey. We also tried hitchhiking for the first time and the result was great!
Turkey
A sneaky peek into this Eurasian nation:
Capital: Ankara
Population: 82 million
Language: Turkish
Currency: Turkish Lira (3.80 = $1 NZ)
Region: Middle East, Eurasia
Province: 81 (24 visited)
Random Fact: Hitchhiking experience here is more than just a ride from A to B
Turkey successful laid a score of ★★★★☆
Important Pointers
People & Culture (PC)
- Turkey is a big country with a mixed group of culture and ethnicity. Nationalism has caused an increase in racism and divide
- Generally everyone is very good to travellers if you look past ethnicity or political views
- Welcoming strangers to their home is very popular, but you’re more successful using CouchSurfing, WarmShowers or CouchRail. The members are very active on the apps and reply quickly
- The Turkish diet is mainly meat, diary and bread. The desserts are full of sugar but luckily for us we could eat without a second thought
- Generally women are much more free and open in Turkey. They have much more rights than other middle eastern countries we’ve visited
- People are extremely giving. We found ourselves at times being invited to lunch or dinner. They can be from people we’ve just met 10 minutes before
- Hitchhiking around Turkey was fun and you meet so many interesting people. We had people treat us dinner, drinks and we went fruit picking once. It’s humbling the generosity from the drivers
Infrastructure, Safety and Politics (ISP)
- Roading is extensive and great
- Can find water fountains at almost every village (or every mosque will have)
- Big cities have the big brand shops for getting cheap and special cycling gears
- Credit card was accepted at most shops so it was unnecessary to carry a lot of cash with us throughout the 3 months
- We felt unsafe at times with the police because of their comments about New Zealand
- Police were hostile towards us in the Kurdish areas, whereas the Kurds were super welcoming
- Discussions on politics are usually at one extreme – either secular or not. The nationalists blame outside of Turkey for their economic crisis
Landscape & Nature (LAN)
- There’s a lot of farming, mostly one type of crop in each area. It caused hayfever for Matt
- Cycling along the sea was beautiful and hot. The landscape lacks trees so it was hard to find shade to cool down
- Plastic pollution is appalling and littering is a tough habit to stop
- Cappadocia had amazing hiking trails, camping spots and historical church caves. An adventurer’s paradise
Value for Money (VM)
- The exchange rate was good for us during the economic crisis
- We were able to save money by not paying for any nights accommodation thanks to the great hospitality of Turkey
- Honeycomb and yoghurt was super cheap. You can buy big 2-5kg bucket of plain yoghurt to make side dishes, dessert or Ayran drink
- Baklava and Lokum (Turkish delights) are famous and expensive so we tried only a few times
Camping & Outdoor Living (COL)
- We camped many times and were never bothered by people. Turkey is possibly the last country in Asia where it’s super easy to camp
- About half of the time we were hosted. With a bit of planning, we could arrange for accommodation almost everywhere
- Anywhere flat we camped at would have been visited by other people before, so there was plenty of rubbish left behind
Return for a Retour?
We couldn’t visit everywhere so it’s definite we will return. Some parts we had to skip due to limited timing and weather, but the Aegean sea coast and eastern Van region is on our list.
Pedalling Continents 