Istanbul

From Istanbul

Istanbul must surely be the most richly imagined city in existence. Layer upon layer of exoticised accounts by centuries of western traveler-writers lusting for something other than their staid and grey origins. It has been the aim and the end-point of many journeys, a natural full stop to traveling.

Probably the most overused descriptor for Istanbul – ‘East meets West’ – colours the background of our Istanbul, though has become somewhat abstract merely through repetition. For us, these antique notions of place and relation are a long way from our multiethnic home neighbourhoods, but have long drawn westerners to see the East and continue to inform the ‘western’ longings of this city.

Last legs

From Antalya to Istanbul

We sorely needed a detox from our 4 days of shameful, resort-style indulgence (despite its being interspersed with some actual medicine and learning). Back to basics, we said. So we hightailed it down the road to Antalya and beyond, chasing reports of forested mountains rippling down into the sea. Only about 15km beyond the city though, we found the new daylight savings time bringing darkness upon us earlier than we would like and we turned off the road to the beachside.

A fully sick conference

After an uneventful (read: nauseating for Ali) hydrofoil trip back to the Turkish mainland we backtracked from Tasucu to Silifke. We had a date with an Eurasian Congress and needed to cover some quick kilometers by bus to make it in time.

We successfully killed 7 hours in Silifke with the following ingredients: One Internet cafe. Two books: News from Tartary and Kim. One heavily moustached barber and two delicious kebabs. In no time we were nestled in the bus, staring at our personal TV screens watching what we aptly named ‘bus-cam’. ‘Bus-Cam’ is only marginally better than watching Turkish sitcoms (in Turkish). Thankfully, our bus-driver harbours no desire to become a script-writer. We passed the night away with incredibly boring episodes.

Cyprus Wrap Up

Total distance: 441km

Distance on unsealed roads: 15km

Nights spent camping: 5

Days spent cycling: 10

Average distance per day: 44km

Longest day: 77km

Maximum speed: 56.3kph

Highest altitude: 1850m

Tips for travelers

Some tips on ferries, border crossings and passport stamping.

GAStronomy: a campstove cooking tour - Cyprus

From GAStronomy Cyprus

When it comes to nurturing, one of the fundamental elements of my grandma’s armory is food. Generous servings of lemon-soaked potatoes, fried eggplant and dolmades (rice wrapped with vine leaves) are a mandatory part of my visits. Not quite as frequent, but equally as delicious is yemista, vegetables stuffed with rice and mince. When we visited my grandma’s cousin in Nicosia we were greeted with Cypriot (Turkish) coffee and homemade orange short-bread biscuits. It was a style I was well acquainted with. For lunch we ate yemista accompanied with fresh white bread, olives and a simple salad of tomatoes and lettuce. The meal brought be right back to my grandma’s kitchen and when I was impored to pile more Greek Cypriot goodness onto my plate, my reminisce was capped off.

For this episode of GAStronomy, we cooked yemista and we’ve shared the recipe below. First though, let me deliciously digress for an entrée of halloumi.

Imeroessa

From Return to Lapithos

When you travel by bicycle there is a drive to keep traveling. You’re defined by your exploration on two wheels. Finding new places, new paths and campsites is part of the excitement. Joining up those uncertain dots by bike is the adventure. It is quite a luxury to come back to a place we know. To recognize the turns, the people and the final resting place is a comfort. This is not strictly the adventure, but its effect on us is strengthened by all the dots we join to get there.

Climb every mountain: an amateur’s guide to hills

From Mountains of Cyprus

Cyprus is what you make of it. Or so the sanguine Latvian waitress in Nicosia told us of her 6 year stay. Not planning to be there for such an extensive residency, we decided to make it short, sweet and steep. Our route away from the fleshpots and gambling dens of the coast and capital would lead us to the central mountains of Troodos and the Pafos forest, where conifers carpet the slopes and mouflon (a wild species of sheep) scatter rocks into your path as they scurry away. Despite the general feeling in Nicosia that we would need a rental car, as the roads were too narrow, steep and dangerous, we felt we were up to the challenge.