We tucked into the large and varied Turkish buffet breakfast soon after the dining room opened at seven o'clock this morning. I guess we will be there even earlier tomorrow so that we can get on the road as early as possible.
Then we jumped on the bicycles and headed off to the Eşrefoğlu Mosque. Süleyman Bey, the second bey of Eshrefids, commissioned the building of the Mosque, which was completed in 1299. A simple and rather austere building, its most striking features are the 42 seven and a half meter tall cedar wood pillars that support the roof. Apparently no nails were used in the construction. At the center of the mosque there is a snow pit. Up to the 1940s, the pit used to be filled up with snow from the nearby mountains. This snow both cooled the mosque during the summers and supplied the necessary humidity to the wooden infrastructure.
We bracketed the Mosque visit with some birdwatching although we didn't find anything more than the most common birds.
Town planners who don't ride bicycles shouldn't be allowed to design cycle paths.
Tomorrow we head towards Konya, one of Turkey's major cities. We need to extend our visas because, as South Africans, the electronic visa system (a very quick and easy online application) only gives us a 30 day stay in Turkey. The Turkish consular staff in Pretoria said we simply need to visit an immigration office in one of the larger cities to apply for an extension and assured us that we should have no problems extending our stay here.
Because the temperature forecasts for this whole week are north of thirty seven degrees, we will need to break the ride to Konya in two because it will be too hot to cycle after midday. Hopefully we will find somewhere suitable to wildcamp.
Today's ride: 10 km (6 miles) Total: 290 km (180 miles)
9 months ago
9 months ago