From the cold mountains near Zara to the heart of Cappadocia — cycling through Turkey where silence, salt, and sunlight blend into one unforgettable ride.
Yesterday turned out exactly the way I imagined — I spent the night in the mountains.
Not in any campsite, but under the open sky, just a kilometer off the road, beside a quiet stream. The only sounds were the wind and the murmur of water over the rocks. For a moment, I thought — this silence should be prescribed as therapy.
Towards Cappadocia
In the morning, I hesitated for a while. Should I head straight for Istanbul, or take a 200-kilometer detour through beautiful Cappadocia?
The sensible part of me whispered shorter is better, but my heart disagreed — and it won. Cappadocia it is.
Turkish nights had been freezing; the temperature dropped to zero, and my sleeping bag turned into a stiff cocoon. “Well,” I thought, “at least I won’t need coffee in the morning.”
Luckily, the day began with a 20-kilometer climb — a natural heater that pumped blood and spirit back into my body.
By noon, it was almost thirty degrees, and I laughed out loud. In Turkey, you can experience Siberia and the Sahara in a single day. The key is to keep moving — and keep smiling.
Salt, mountains, and ancient empires
Did you know that the town of Zara, located in the Sivas province, is famous for its salt lakes? The largest one, Tuzla Gölü, has been an important source of salt since Ottoman times. Locals say that “the air smells like the ocean, even though the sea is hundreds of kilometers away.”
The Sivas region lies in Central Anatolia, once a key crossroads of the ancient Silk Road. Thanks to its altitude of over 1,300 meters, summers here are milder — but the mountain nights can still surprise you.
