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Day 166-177: The two days of rest in Beysehir were badly needed, at least I feel a little bit better today, well enough to cycle halfway to Konya. It is still 4 days of cycling to reach Göreme, Kappadokia. But as often, plans change..
This time the plan changed to something extraordinary. Coming from Beysehir, I came through a tiny village named Tepecik. On a concrete square in front of a school, old and young people played volleyball. When they saw me, they waved and gave me signs to join the match.
I still feel a bit sick, is it really a good idea to do this? One of the things I learned is that great things can happen by saying YES. Saying yes to this opportunity gave me the chance to dive deeper in turkish culture. But for now it was just playing volleyball with strangers. It seemed that one team were old men and the other team the younger generation, some of them in my age. Wow, they are playing good! After a while an old man with crutch came, his name is Ahmet. “The coach“, my teammates let me known. Luckily the coach could speak german, since he used to work in germany at Daimler in Bremen for 25 years.
Ahmet, the coach sitting next to me
In his new function as translator he had trouble to translate questions coming from all sides. After a while he asked me if I would like to stay in the guesthouse for tonight. What a great chance to get to know the people more, I thought.
So I find myself in a small guesthouse that looks like a shed from the outside, but is quite comfortable from the inside. The floor is covered with rugs, cushion and pillows on the side. At least 5 people try to bring the electricity back to life. My attempt to convince them that I don’t need electricity remains unheard. What nice people they are! By the young volleyball team i get invited for dinner.
Our conversation is mainly running via translator on the smartphone. “Do you have a girlfriend? Are you muslim? Do you like turkey?” Are some of the common questions. They made food in a big pan, that is placed in the middle so everyone can reach it. With a piece of bread the food is picked, served with raw onions. At least it is supposed to be eaten like that, I drop a lot of food on my pants. “Eat my friend!” I hear Tolga saying. While we eat they joke about making me muslim, making a scissors motion. This seems to be a common joke towards non muslim people. Tolga, Suayip, Yasar and their friends grew up together in the village. There are only a few young people that stay here. Most of them study in Isparta. They want to move to a bigger, more vivid city.
I am thinking back in awe by the way I was welcomed by those strangers, treating me like a friend. I could learn a lot and got insights into peoples live and into Islam. Tolga, who is going to be an Imam, showed me for the friday prayer, how to wash the face, ears, head and feet before we went to the mosque together. It has been a great experience to watch the prayer. I learned how to say “Elhamdulillah“, what means something like “praise god” and can be said instead of thank you.
That this attention towards me can also be a burden is what I realized when Murat, the elder Imam knocked on the door of the guesthouse at half past 6. This was a short night. I don’t want to be rude and accept his invitation to have breakfast at his house. Murat teaches me the turkish words: Bread, cheese, jam, tomatoes, cucumber, eggs should not miss in a turkish breakfast. And of course cay, turkish black tea. It is simple but delicious.
Coming back to the guesthouse I see Ahmet waiting for me on the staircase. He brought breakfast for me too! Being polite can strain the stomach sometimes. I eat a little bit and let the rest of the food pack up to take away. That is what I call turkish hospitality.
On the way to Kappadokia I get given apples and cay as a gift regularly. From construction workers, farmers, shop owner. One one day I counted almost 15 cay that I drank. Caffeine makes the body dehydrate, I remember. No wonder that I got sick again. I was struggling with a fever, so I decided to take the bus from Sultanhani to Kayseri to skip 110 kilometers of cycling. Obviously the climate change overstrained my body to much. On October 16 I reach Göreme, Kappadokia. As I roll down to the valley I get goosebumps, this time not from the cold weather but from the amazing scenery! What a bizarre place!
October 30, 2018
– Lewin
part 1: End of summer – Cycling to Kappadokia (1/2)
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