Because we had such a good time together, Cindy and I decided to travel together for some time and our next stop was the Nemrut Crater. It was a beautiful place!
We did some hiking on the edge of the crater in the rain, played with Yolo (the stray dog, Cindy had saved a couple of weeks ago), helped an elderly couple and their friend going up a small off-road track with their “off-road Sprinter van” we recovered together, and Cindy met a bear while peeing.
I started to call Cindy “Bengel”, a German word for “brat” but more nice and a bit funny and not so serious. But she did not like it because it was a word for a boy. But it just described her so well! She was always up to do something (sometimes silly), fearless, lovely and strong.
My rush through Turkey continued and I reached a lake near the city of Batman. Not kidding, I went through it just because of the name which always reminds me of a Batman action figure my mother had glued some feather angel wings to the back and hung into a tree in our garden.
I just wanted to have a rest at this lake when a friendly guy came by and invited me to a barbeque. I accepted and had a funny meal with him and his friends supported by Google Translate.
After the meal I helped them building up their plantage and we had a lot of fun.
In the evening they insisted that I have to join them for dinner at the home of one of them. It was super nice and very interesting and traditional.
After five weeks at that wonderful beach near Datca in Turkey, I felt like it was time to move on. For the first time on my journey I had an plan: I had decided to travel to Cyprus, stay there for 95 days before returning to Turkey for another 90 days. This would give me a warm winter and the opportunity to explore the east and northeast of Turkey, Georgia, and Armenia in spring and summer.
I asked some new Turkish friends for a recommendation on where to go dancing on New Year’s Eve. They suggested a small town by the coast, so I headed there. Upon arrival, I discovered that the town was a hot spot for tourists, filled with holiday apartments, hotels, bars, restaurants, a harbor, and a promenade. It was a proper little “concept town”. Although that place felt pretty alien to me, I decided to stay there to have a chance to meet some nice people and have a dance after my time in nature.
In the evening, I met Isa and Arne. They were traveling and living in their all-wheel-drive VW van and on their leisurely way to India. I felt connected to them from the moment we met. We spent the evening and the night talking about a lot of things, including living in a community on a sustainable farming, being human, traveling, and all the other stuff. I enjoyed our conversations a lot. Later that night, we went to a bar and chatted for hours with a friendly Turkish woman. Just when I started to dance a little, the music stopped at 1 AM. I didn’t know about the rule, but the bars weren’t allowed to play music after 1 AM. So I continued hanging out with the others and having a good time. By the end of the night, I had drunk more beer than for years, I guess. I felt good but the next day I took it easy.
After a day of relaxation, I headed south towards Cyprus. Isa and Arne, who had left the day before, had told me about a great hot thermal bath at a stunning lake. When I arrived, I ran into them again. They continued their journey, while I headed to the thermal bath, which looked like an alien spaceship. I spent hours soaking in the hot water. After months without a hot bath that felt awesome.
The next day, I went on a hike, explored ancient ruins, and took a ferry across a river. The ferry was very small, and when it was Rosinante’s and my turn, we had to drive slightly on the loading ramp to make room for two more cars. I had never been on such a tiny ferry before and although our ferry was very far from it, it remembered me on these super adventurous videos about little motorboats that carry jeeps across rivers in Asia and South America.
