Walk Across Turkey

Friday, 7 September I stopped that day at Horsunlu, a small village at the eastern edge of the Menderes River valley. The river valley at that...

Monday, 17 September - Denizli Monday morning, the third week of the walk, I packed up my stuff and said goodbye to Metin and the...

On the morning of my seventh day on the road, I walked out of Nazilli and stopped at a tea garden near the village...

In this better frame of mind, I continued walking through Denizli. My gait was slowed by the pain in my foot, and by mid-afternoon,...

Sunday, 2 September At 5:15 a.m. the wail of the muezzin’s call to prayer from the loudspeakers of the minaret rising over me stirred me...

Once I got my tent set up in the park, the feeling of panic I had felt back in the hotel 36 hours earlier...

30 September through 7 October at Charly's Pansiyon I stayed at the pension for over a week, sleeping by the lake, taking showers with hot...

Thursday, 20 September The next morning when I woke up, I went back out onto the square and found Eren and Özgür at the büfe....

Monday, 24 September The next morning, safe in the knowledge that my two key indicators were on track, I hopped on the bus and went...

I reached the town of Köşk (population 9,900) early on Tuesday, 4 September. It was only 10:45 a.m. I had planned to spend the...

It was lunchtime when I arrived in Nazilli, population about 120,000. I walked up to the first restaurant I saw and ordered a lunch...

On Friday morning, my fourth morning in Horsunlu this time around, I woke up and got ready to begin another day of working my...

The day’s walk was along a section of road with gently rolling hills, gradually climbing towards Denizli, a city halfway between the Menderes River...

I wake with a start. Where am I? Through the parting fog of sleep I remember that I am in İstanbul. A hot sun...

Wednesday, 26 September The next morning, about forty-five minutes into that day’s walk, I pulled off at a gas station for a morning break. I...

The next day, Saturday, Metin and I took a car to his village for the wedding. Our first stop was in another village to...

Friday, 12 October The next day I woke up early, packed up my stuff, and took a look around the room. Eight hours ago I...

Saturday, 22 September In the morning, early, before anyone was stirring in Çardak, I walked out to the main road and began that day’s walk...

Friday, 21 September I began my second full day in Çardak using the hotel’s slow internet connection to upload photos to my blog. Toward the...

About two hours later, with the sprawling edges of Denizli visible in the distance, I stopped at a gas station for a bottle of...

When I arrived at the docks Joy Anna was already there, playing fetch with a mangy stray dog while she waited to join me...

Friday, 14 September The next morning I woke up, broke camp, and walked over to the station’s café for a breakfast of menemen (scrambled eggs,...

Saturday, 8 September About 3 hours out of Horsunlu, I started the climb out of the Menderes River valley. The predictable pattern of the farm...

Back at the mosque, I pulled my sleeping bag and tent out of my pack, feeling like an imposter, marveling as I set up...