A goodbye, a welcome and one decision

"In your faces I see your hearts." With this sentence, many people in Turkey touched us. With their hospitality, they also quickly won our hearts.

Two months ago we wrote to you about our life on Emma's olive farm on Rhodes in Greece. At the end of March we left by ship for Fethiye in Turkey. We are happy to share with you what we have experienced since then.

We had always dreamed of a cottage with a view of the sea. Emma and her family fulfilled our wish. We were allowed to spend three months on Rhodes. The family and the animals grew very close to our hearts. Every morning we took care of 5 donkeys, 2 sheep and 45 chickens. We developed a very close relationship with them. Especially the donkeys opened up to us - each animal with its own sensitive character.

Before we left, Katharina's mother and her brother visited us. A few days later Anna's godmother Regula came from Basel with her son Jeremias. Anna was very happy. We are grateful that we could give the four of them a glimpse into our lives. “You three are so wonderfully at home with yourselves. I experience Anna so free and independent", Regula told us.

We got into the habit of always leaving when we liked it best. At the end of March it was time to say goodbye to our island paradise. With tears in our eyes we petted every animal, built a doghouse for Anna's favorite dog Maja and hugged Emma. The people in our village as well as at Anna’s school said goodbye with heartwarming words. Then we went on the ferry to Fethiye in Turkey. As soon as we were on board, we met four other around the world cyclists. Immediately the pain of parting was forgotten. Anticipation and curiosity spread.

Turkey won our hearts in no time. Already at arrival, people wave and honk and wish us a ,good journey". In villages, we refresh ourselves at the washing place of the mosque. Very often, locals invite us to drink cay, Turkish tea. The communication works quite well with a mixture of English, some Turkish and GoogleTranslate. In many cases, an invitation for dinner and the offer to stay overnight follows. And our dear Anna receives one gift after another. Every evening we go to bed with so many impressions and touching moments. Often, this leaves us speechless.

From Fethiye we travel north with Josh and Carla, two German cyclists. In the village of Hamitköy we discover a very beautiful mosque and ask the Imam Selman if we can stay overnight for a night. Spontaneously he opens his house for the five of us and welcomes us. We drink tea and pray together in the mosque. He tells us that we can stay as long as we want. We are again speechless because of the warmth and generosity.

A few days later we stop in the village of Yasyer. We are offered a living container in the middle of the village to spend the night. The imam brings a heavy car battery with blue disco lights as there is no electricity. Half an hour later, Ezge and Ajam, two young women, invite us to their family to break the fast. It is Ramadan and many people do neither drink nor eat between 5 AM and 8 PM. One night turns into a total of four and we gradually get to know the whole village. Muhtar, the village president, proudly tells us that we are the first foreigners in the village and that he wants to take care of us personally.

All this hospitality happens spontaneously and without monetary consideration. The attempt to pay would be taken as an insult. "You carry so much joy. We are happy to take you in. It is our duty to do so. And surely it is no different at your home," we get to hear again and again. We look at each other and have to admit that at home it usually takes longer for people to open their doors to strangers.

The landscape is beautiful. Trees and plants are blooming, a sunny warm wind is blowing around our ears. Again and again we find dreamy bays or forests to camp in. The roads are in very good condition and the tourist season has not yet begun. So it is not difficult for us to find a place to spend the night.

On the open road we stop one day for a break. A few minutes later a car stops. Mertcan and Derya ask us who we are and spontaneously invite us to their home for tea. They drive behind us for about 30 minutes at a snail's pace so that we take the right way. At their home we are joyfully welcomed by the whole family. Anna immediately makes friends with Deriya’s 3-year-old daughter Deniz and the many animals. In the house of aunt Oja there is an empty apartment. We stay for a whole week and help with laying water pipes, weeding and planting. The time out does us good and we learn a lot about life in the country.

Oja tells us about her eventful life. She first worked as a journalist, but then changed to tourism and managed a hotel in Antalya for many years. When she got tired of all-inclusive tourism, she opened the only Turkish restaurant in Tehran. After two years she returned to Turkey, studied psychology and managed a large asylum for schizophrenics on the west coast for 8 years. And today she runs a farm with animals and organic vegetables. We are amazed how Oja has reinvented herself again and again in her life and stayed true to herself. She sets an example that you can always start something new.

At Easter, Serkan, Derya's husband, takes Carsten to the goose house. Two mother geese are incubating six eggs. One egg already has a small hole in it, but it hasn't wanted to open for days. Serkan takes it in his hand and carefully removes the shell. And so a new gosling is born. Carsten is fascinated. There is no better Easter present. Katharina feels the same way when she finds a small tortoise baby on the road a few days later.

The ancient sites of Efesus and Troia cast their spell over us. Anna finds it very exciting how comfortable people already lived 2,000 years ago - with marble toilets, underfloor heating, running water and indoor swimming pool. Also architecture and construction inspire us. The signs of the early Christians are still visible today. Maria is supposed to have spent her last 11 years here. And the Trojan horse encouraged us to dive into the world of Greek legends.

Should we go further north or east? This question kept us very busy. We have become so fond of Turkey and its people that we don't want to leave yet. Moreover, we think a lot about our friend Andrij in Ukraine and we don't have a good feeling about a trip to the north. We follow our feeling and decide to travel further east. Anatolia, Cappadocia and later Georgia and Armenia are waiting for us. We are excited and thank our Warmshower hosts Tuncay in Çanakkale and Aysel in Malkara as well as Alena in Winterthur who helped us with this decision.

So much for all our adventures. How we are feeling inside, you will find out in the individual reflections from us:

Carsten: "After the winter break we had a great start. Healthwise I feel good again. The people in Turkey touch me very much with their friendly and cordial nature. They have reawakened my longing for the Silk Road."

Katharina: "Through all the different people and personalities I meet on the trip, I expand my horizons and always learn something new. It helps if I take enough time to really engage with them. The more I open up myself, the more open people are."

Anna: "The Turks are so nice and I have already been given so much. When they hear that we biked from Switzerland to Turkey, they often can't believe it. They love my dimple. However, I don't like it when they pinch my cheek."

We send you and your loved ones warm greetings from Turkey and hope you are doing well. We would be happy to hear from you!

Katharina, Anna and Carsten

Our trip in numbers

Kilometers driven: 8.576

Hours in the saddle: 384

Average kilometers per day: 57

Nights in tent: 95

Nights as guest: 214

Nights in pension: 28

Number of sunny days: 198

Number of cloudy days: 85

Number of rainy days: 54