Walk Across Turkey: Horsunlu
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...
Walk Across Turkey: Hobo Skills
On the morning of my seventh day on the road, I walked out of Nazilli and stopped at a tea garden near the village...
Walk Across Turkey: Luxury in Nazilli
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...
Walk Across Turkey: Köşk
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...
Walk Across Turkey: East of Aydın
Just a few minutes after saying goodbye to Enes, I met some truckers eating breakfast by the side of the road. They invited me...
Walk Across Turkey: My First Imam
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...
Walk Across Turkey: Naughty Boys and Circumcision
It was fig harvest season in the valley, and there was rack after rack of figs drying by the side of the road. Early...
Walk Across Turkey: Two Polish Guys
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...
Walk Across Turkey: Havutçulu
Back at the mosque, I pulled my sleeping bag and tent out of my pack, feeling like an imposter, marveling as I set up...
Walk Across Turkey: Kuşadası to Havutçulu
When I arrived at the docks Joy Anna was already there, playing fetch with a mangy stray dog while she waited to join me...
Walk Across Turkey: Kuşadası
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...
Walk Across Turkey: Where am I?
I wake with a start. Where am I? Through the parting fog of sleep I remember that I am in İstanbul. A hot sun...