Damaskus/Syrien – Amman/Jordanien
Ein sehr gut rollender Tag hinter Damaskus und wir sind unmittelbar vor den Toren Ammans, der Hauptstadt Jordaniens.
Syrien liegt hinter uns. Alles absolut unproblematisch. Die Menschen wieder sehr herzlich. Die Händler meist mehr als fair in ihrer scheinbar freien Preisfestsetzung. […]
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Kirikhan/Türkei – Damaskus/Syrien : Fotos
Kirikhan/Turkey – Damascus/Syria
Hello there! Exactly a week later I am typing these lines here already on a jordanian keybord. We are in downtown Amman, the capital of Jordan. This post was actually scheduled for Monday, but we couldn’t upload the picts anywhere in Damaskus…
Thank you for all the comments! Tom is feeling much better again and his power is back! ;) But back to last week. We left Turkey on Thursday morning and want to say Thanks! again for the hospitality of all the friendly people we met along the way from Kesan to Kirikhan.
The Syrian border was a special one for us again, because we were entering Arabia and because we had to obtain our Visa already in Berlin. Everything was fine. So that’s it – we are in! We made it! All the way from Berlin, Alexanderplatz! Great feeling!
Our first stop was Idleb, after 50 km, a smaller city in the northwest, we wanted to have a look in the centre, get some money and some food and leave. But then we met Ali with his younger brother on a motorcycle. He was talking to us in english and finally offering us to stay with him in his house and his family. He told us, that he lives in the Netherlands already for some years and is now here in Idleb to see his family and friends. So we accepted his friendly invitation right away. It was fun for all of us! Well and a very good timing for an introduction into arabic culture! We talked about the traditions, the religion, politics, his life, learned our first arabic phrases and had some good food together. hmm!
The next day they accompanied us for a few kilometers. A last picture. Good bye and Good luck! Wow, what a start! we thought, when our first day finished outside of Hama. The next two days we were cycling along the M45 – the spine road of Syria towards Damaskus, passing through Homs. Fortunately we had a wide side lane to keep at least a little distance to the noice and exhausts of all the kinds of ‚modern‘ motorized vehicles. Well, that’s not much fun at all, but we had no other option and, to put it in a better light, it is a good lesson about human behaviour/intelligence after all. It is really a shame that there is still no real option of a clean, more silent ‚automobile‘, more than 100 years after its introduction and some 30, 40 years after people recognized all the negative consequences it causes, used the way we are using it today. Cycling on a recumbent, you have, in both meanings, a very different point of view. But I am proud also, to give a little exhample of a different way of individual mobility, with human power, everyday, when cycling to work, or also here on a syrian highway. Although it feels a bit like Don Quijote must have felt…
Especially when you enter a bigger agglomeration here (and not only here) with a bike, it feels a bit like wild-water rafting (I’ve never been on one of these raft tours, but still), unfortunately in dirty, poisened waters. It needs a bit of experience and skills, no question, but so far, we are fine and we get the respect we need to stay above the water level. But of course, I don’t want to talk badly about the Syrian cities or any other cities. It is a global problem. We all have to face it and have to find better solutions, rather sooner then later, that’s all I want to say.
Back to reality. ;) We arrived in Damaskus early afternoon and found a nice and simple place in the centre with the help of Rory, a young man from Scotland, who studies arabic here. This day and the next morning we had enough time to roam trough the old town and the busy centre and to get at least an idea, a personal image, of this exciting modern-traditional arabic city, which claims to be one of the oldest and continuosly inhabited places in the world.
Thank you!
Maik
pictures to this article: Kirikhan/Türkei – Damaskus/Syrien : Fotos
Kirikhan/Türkei – Damaskus/Syrien
Danke für die Anteilnahme bzgl. meiner Verdauung. Alles wieder im Lot und weiter geht’s.
Als nächstes Land geht es nach Syrien. Mehr noch, als bei anderen Grenzübertritten, sind wir auf das uns unbekannte Land, die neue Kultur gespannt. Ein notwendiges Visum hatten wir bereits in Berlin für 40.-€ besorgt, und wir sind sehr froh, dass die Einreise keine Probleme bereitet.
Gut auch, dass uns neben arabischen Wellenmustern lateinische Buchstaben den Weg weisen. […]
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Antalya/Türkei – Kirikhan/Türkei : Fotos
Antalya/Turkey – Kirikhan/Turkey
There they are, some new pictures and a few lines for you. Thank you for the comments! Well, I still did not write another post about the days from Bergama to Antalya for our english speaking visitors – but Elisa posted a spanish translation of Thomas german article as a comment. Gracias! ;)
I just want to add one more thought, I had, while cycling along the more remote southern cost of Turkey. The melon man and us, what we share: He offers his melons every day along the road outside of Kirkagac, his hometown and we have our daily kilometers. He seems to be free of worries, pessimistic thoughts and questionable desires. He seemed to be a happy, satisfied man.
We decided to lead a simple life as travellers on a bicycle tour, to meet the people who live in all these different countries of this planet, in their different worlds. And we are happy and satisfied with what we are doing! We feel a kind of freedom, independence everyday. We got everything we need with us, in our 4 bags, in our memory, in our heart!
o.k. so far – now back to today – Wednesday. We are about to leave Turkey today or tomorrow and cross the border to Syria! That’s exiting – no question! ;) Our days along the cost were not very rich of special events but also not only hard work. Thomas felt not very well 2 days after we left Antalya. We had to slow down and rest. Then, after some good days again digestion problems. So, after a hard uphill morning, when we left the cost of the Medeterranian sea to the East, we looked for a place to rest again and found help here in Kirikhan. We were standing on the busy main street, when a well dressed woman approached me and asked me, what we are doing here in this small town far away from touristic attractions. On my question for a simple accomodation, she said that there are no hotels here, but asked a man on a motorcycle, who then lead us to a teachers hostel. He is a teacher himself and could speak a few words in english. It was a clean and friendly hostel, where Thomas found the rest he needed. After some cups of camomille tea and some oatmeal porridge he is feeling better today! On these days it becomes clear again, how important it is to be healthy and to keep a good relationship with your body, to ask for such a performance, mentally and physically. Nothing is for granted! Plans change and have to be adjusted, everyday. A good health is most important for a continuation of this tour!
Well, so we will write again from Syria! Hope you enjoy some of the new picts. (Our route was Antalya-Alanya-Anamur-Mersin-Adana-Iskenderun-Kirikhan) We wish you all some sunny days till christmas!
Maik
pictures to this article: Antalya/Türkei – Kirikhan/Türkei : Fotos
Antalya/Türkei – Kirikhan/Türkei
Nachtrag zur Etappe ‚Bergama/Türkei – Antalya/Türkei‘: Als erstes Bild der über uns erschienene Zeitungsartikel (Titelseite mit 2 Fotos!). Oder über den Bürgermeister? Vielleicht kann jemand den Artikel übersetzen? […]
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