Walk Across Turkey

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

Toward the end of the day, I approached the village of Bahtiyar. It was about a few miles off the main road and up...

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...

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,...

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

Tuesday, 18 September Tuesday morning I awoke with a start to my cell phone alarm. I panicked. Oh my god, I am still at this...

Tuesday, 23 October on the way to Sarıköy After four days at the hotel in Beyşehir, I was eager to get moving again. I felt...

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...

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...

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....

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

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...

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

Monday and Tuesday, 8 and 9 October I enjoyed the pension at Eğirdir so much that several days when my week’s vacation was finished, I...

It was fig harvest season in the valley, and there was rack after rack of figs drying by the side of the road. Early...

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

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

Sunday, 23 September The next day I walked into the town of Dinar feeling lonely, uncomfortable, and out of place. I knew I needed some...

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...

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...

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

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,...

The next morning I pulled on my pack and walked out of the lobby of the Thermal Springs hotel. I started to cross the...

Thursday, 30 August - Kuşadası At 10:30 a.m., at the walk’s starting point in Kuşadası, I stepped off an overnight bus from İstanbul. The other...