Walk Across Turkey

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

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,...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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

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

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....

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...

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...

Just a few minutes after saying goodbye to Enes, I met some truckers eating breakfast by the side of the road. They invited me...

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...

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

It took me about an hour of walking to reach Erbeyli. In most of the towns I had passed, the mosque was within 200-500...

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...

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...

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

Wednesday, 19 September When I woke up the next morning my right foot was hurting something fierce, the anxiety was back, and I still wanted...

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...

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,...