The next two days in Sanandaj, or Sna in Kurdish, Ehsan was with me and we stayed two nights with friends of his. He studied there, so he knows a lot of people in the city. That was a great time, it kind of felt like home to be hanging out with a couple of friends.

From Sanandaj I took a long bus ride to Shiraz. Because of the time limit (I will be home from Christmas again, after a 7-month trip), I can't cycle all of Iran. The bus ride took about 20 hours. After taking off the saddle and adjusting the steering, the bicyle fit upright into the luggage compartment with the penniers still attached. What I did not realise, was that the bus was going to be fully loaded with big bags of strawberry plants. The bike ended up being totally buried between them.

I arrived in Shiraz in the morning, and went to the Ziba hostel. I had gotten the recommendation from someone in the Overland to Iran Whatsapp group, and it was a good one. The owner, Hamid, immediately offered me breakfast. That was great, as it was late in the moring and I was getting hungry. During breakfast, I immediately met some other travellers. There was a French couple who had reached Iran overland by public transport, a 21-year old German guy, Max, who had come on his motorcycle, and a 20-year old Latvian, Bruno, who had come all the way by hitchhiking. I liked that we had all come in a different way, and that none of us had taken a flight.

It had been raining for days, actually. In Kurdistan it was raining already, and it rained all the way through to Shiraz. When I cycled to the hostel it was not that bad, but during breakfast it started absolutely pouring down. That whole day it stayed like that. The next day, however, it stopped raining. Since then, for more than a week now, it has been sunny.

The day after I had arrived, I spent with Bruno and Max. Bruno and I went to see the Nasir Al-Mulk Mosque (Pink Mosque) early in the moring. At 8 in the moring, the light coming through the coloured glass gives a beautiful effect. Then we went to see Qavam House and its garden, and met Max there. Shiraz is an absolutely beautiful city. In the afternoon we took a taxi outside of the city Takht-e Jamshid (or persepolis). These are the remains of a palace complex built by Darius the Great.

Later that evening, another motorcyclist arrived at the hostel. Dorus, a 50-year old Dutch guy. He had ordered a bottle of Arak (a homemade liquor made of grapes, which is common in Iran) through Hamid, and I spent the night drinking with him. (In Iran everything is illegal but everything is possible). It was nice haning out with another Dutch person again. The next day I felt hungover. I had a slow morning, but in the afternoon I went to see the Chah-e-Cheragh Holy Shrine. That was incredibly beautiful. I got a free, personal tour. All foreigners seem to get a tour, and afterwards get taken into the 'foreign relations office.' We talked about how Iran gets misrepresented in the media, and I got a flyer from Ayatollah Khamenei to the youth of Western countries...

The next day I went off on a hitchhiking adventure with Bruno. What happened then I will write about another time.

In the mountains in Iraqi Kurdistan we spent the day and the night at the small house of the family that took us in during the heavy rain. The next day we made it to Erbil, or Hawler in Kurdish. The first part of that day was peaceful, in the nature. But as soon as we reached the flat area, it became hectic and the air polluted. Cycling along highways or densely populated areas in Iraq I have often felt my lungs beg for fresh air. The cars and trucks are often old and spit out black smoke. Also there is not always electricity, meaning that there are diesel generators everywhere for when there's no municipal power.

We stayed in Erbil for 2 nights. Then Birgit left us, she took a bus back to Turkey. I flipped a coin, which resulted in me joining Niels and Andrea for 2 days south to Kirkuk. (The other option was to take the straightest way to Iran). Kirkuk is in Federal Iraq, not in the Kurdish part of Iraq. It used to be part of the Kurdistan region until 2017, but after a referendum for independence the Kurdish region lost territory, including the city of Kirkuk. We only had the Iraqi Kurdistan visa, but did not expect any problems because of recent reports that the rules had changed and that you could now use the Kurdistan visa for all of Iraq.

We were planning to camp somewhere before the border checkpoint that evening, but had to make it at least to a military checkpoint. For safety reasons we wanted to be close to the checkpoint. For the last 10 km or so we had to ride on the highway, and it had just gotten dark. This was probably the most sketchy stretch of road of my whole trip thus far. It was a four-lane highway without a shoulder, meaning that we had to cycle on the road. It was pitch dark, and it was rush hour. There were many, many trucks passing us very closely. I was wearing my headlight, and could see the air pollution in front of my face. Afterwards I could wipe the particles off my forehead. Finally we made it to the checkpoint, and asked if we could sleep somewhere. It turned out that next to the checkpoint there was a mosque, so we could sleep there. A few times the Peshmerga officers came to visit us and reassured us that we could come to them if we needed anything or if there was any issue.

The next day we rode the remaining 10 km or so to the border crossing. But the unexpected happened: we were refused access to Federal Iraq. It was true that we had the Kurdish visa and not the Iraq visa, but recently there have been reports that the rules have chaged and that you can now use this visa for all of Iraq. Many travellers in the whatsapp travel groups had already reported that they passed without issues. It had been said, however, that not at every border they are aware of the new rules, which apparently only applies to Europeans. Some other travellers had said they were let through after the border officers had made some phone calls. And so we explained at the border about this information we had, and asked them to make some phone calls. Perhaps this was not possible because it was a Friday, which is a day off. But they would not change their minds. Some Iraqis tried to help us. There were even some tour guides who confirmed that they were also aware of the new rules, but they were not able to convince the border guards. Coincidentally, the uncle of a Kurdish classmate from highschool was on his way from Erbil to Kirkuk, so when he arrived he also tried to help us out. However, as far as he knew it was indeed not possible to enter Federal Iraq with the Kurdistan visa.

This is one difference from back home: in many places outside of the Western world it seems often impossible to get reliable, verifiable information. Our knowledge of the apparent new rules was based on reports from other travellers, who had received information from for example embassies and who had shared their own experiences at the border. However, we could not find any official sources to confirm that the rules actually had changed. It was already apparent from the reports that at some borders they were aware of the new rules and at some they were not, but in general from the information we had it seemed that since a month or two people were freely crossing into Federal Iraq with the Kurdistan visa. The next day Andrea and Niels would try it again at the border crossing going to Mosul, and were admitted without any issues. This confirms that there aren't actually clear rules to begin with. Different borders apply different rules. Niels and Andrea were, however, refused access to one hotel because they did not have an Iraqi visa. The situation reminds me of when Niels and I entered Kosovo at an unofficial border corssing. Different police officers had different opinions about whether we had to go and get registered at the border or not, and eventually agreed that we did not have to do that. There are no clear rules. Just different opinions by official people. You can get lucky, or unlucky.

We rode back to Erbil. My classmate's uncle had arranged an apartment for us. The next day I said goodbye to Niels and Andrea. My time had come to go off on my own again. In recent months I have mostly been with other people, so in a way it was a big step again. However, it also felt right. Iran was calling. This had been the goal of my trip the whole time, and to go there on my own felt like the way it should be. I had been having the feeling that I did want to have the alone experience again before the end of the trip, and also on your own in a way you immerse yourself more in a country.

I rode to the outskirts of Erbil, and decided to try to hitchhike to Suleimaniya from there. If things work out with my job related plans back home I don't have that much time left, and don't want to have to cut off a part of Iran or rush through it, considering that it was the goal. I managed to hitch a ride with Awat, a truck driver. It was a comfortable ride, I even napped a bit on the bed. Awat also took me out for dinner. That night in Suleimaniya I stayed with Hasan. His house in Halabja had burned down two months ago, so now he was temporarily living in an apartment in Suleimaniya. The fire had been caused by an electrical short circuit. This seems to be rather common in Iraq. During my time there I had seen many burnt out sockets. The electrical wires in the streets are an absolute chaos. And a whole section of the old bazaar in Erbil had been burnt down that way. In Suleimaniya I had exchanged Iraqi Dinars for Iranian Rial and US Dollars. In Iran, Western bank cards do not work because of sanctions. That's why you need cash.

The next day I had arranged with Awat that he would take me to Penjwen, which is not far from the Iranian border. He had to go there for a delivery. This also saved my quite some climbing: it's the start of the Zagros mountains. Iran lies much higher than Iraq, and hence it's colder. In Penjwen, Awat had arranged that I could sleep at the house of Serwer, a fellow truck driver. (Though Serwer was more my age, Awat was in his forties). This was a funny experience. Serwer, like Awat, barely spoke English. His friends and family also did not speak English. Serwer took me out for dinner, and then to a shisha lounge where we met some of his friends. I felt very much immersed in a far away country. This was definitley not a place where you would find any foreigners. There were some 20 or 30 local guys sitting on the floor of a small room with a low ceiling, each with their own shisha / hookah. When we got to Serwer's house, his mother prepared me some tea. 

Something about Kurdish houses: there is barely any furniture. The floor is covered with beautiful carpets, and everything happens on the floor. People sit on the floor, eat on the floor, and sleep there too. Sometimes there are couches, but they seem to be more for decoration. People sit on the floor in front of the couch. Serwer first sat me down on the couch, probably thinking it more appropriate for a European, but quickly changed his mind and urged me to come sit next to the heater, because the house was "cold." Actually I was already sweating because of the heat. Inside Kurdish households it is always very warm. Too warm for what I'm used to. 

The next day I crossed the border into Iran. In the first small town in Iran I immediately got invited for tea and lunch. I went to Marivan, the first city. I spent two nights there in a hotel. As I was looking for a place to buy a SIM card I met Paras, a girl who's an English teacher and who could help me. The next day I went to her class, to say hello to the kids. They were super excited to see a foreigner. This is a commong thing now. A lot of people ask me to take selfies, as if I'm some kind of celebrity.

After 2 nights in Marivan I cycled into the direction of Sanandaj, the next city. At some point I took a detour off the main road, to get away from the traffic. But at some point, the asphalt ended and it turned into a gravel road. I realised that it would now take a lot longer, but I was enjoying the time in the nature. Only occasionally a car of a motorcylce passed by, and I was surrounded by mountains. I was thinking to camp that night. But late that afternoon I met four girls, who urged me to come with them to their small town and sleep in the mosque there. I agreed. It was a very, very small town, at the end of a dead-end road between the mountains. It seemed as if the place was 100 years in the past. There was no phone reception there, and I would not be surprised if I was the first foreign person to set foot there, ever. When we entered the town, within no time it seemed that half of the town was standing around me. They brought me to the mosque, and there I met the imam. A bit later he even brought me some dinner and tea, and sat with me while I ate. 

The next day I was thinking to make it to Sanandaj, but did not get that far. The gravel road took a long time, until I finally arrived in the town of Shweshe (which had actually been my objective for the previous day). I bought a cold drink for a quick break. Then a guy approached me who spoke perfect English. This was Ehsan. I agreed to come with him to drink a tea with his friend Sasan who own's a small shop, and then also with his friend Farshad who was a car mechanic. Then I was a bit in a hurry to keep going to Sanandaj, but eventually Ehsan convinced me to hang out and stay the night at his place. He took me to the small town of his parents, toghether with two of his cousins, and we made a camp fire there. I really enjoyed that evening. Hanging out with Ehsan was like hanging out with friends at home. Around the camp fire me made the plan to go hiking the next day, and that I would stay another night. After dinner at his house, we went to watch some indoor football games that were taking place in Shweshe. There was a tournament between the different villages of the area going on. As soon as I entered I had a fan club of kids around me.

The next day we went hiking (Ehsan, Farshad and me). It was a mountain of 2410 m. It was a good way to celebrate my 7500 km of cylcling, which I had reached exacly in Shweshe. We had breakfast and lunch on the mountain. On the summit we had some of Farshad's homemade wine. That evening we went to see Swheshe play at the football tournament, and the fanclub of kids was around me again. Unfortunately Shweshe lost the game.

Yesterday I finally cycled to Sanandaj. Here I'm staying with Ismael. This afternoon, Ehsan will come visit.

I HAVE ARRIVED IN IRAN!! Yesterday, November 18, was the big day. After almost 6 months on the road, 16 countries, and 7395 km of cycling I found myself at the Bashmaq border between Iraq and Iran. This country has been the destination the whole time. It feels a bit unreal to finally be here. I am very curious about what Iran has to offer. It started off good yesterday. In the first small town I passed, I immediately got invited for tea and lunch with a family at their house. At the moment I'm staying in Marivan. It is raining; today I'll take a rest day. I'll take the time to do some catching up on writing, and to get a SIM card. This afternoon I will go to a school. Yesterday I met a girl who's an English teacher, and she asked if I would like to come to the class.

I will continue where I left off writing last time; the cold night in the tent in Turkey. This must have been about a month or so ago already. When I woke up that day, I had a big day of climbing a mountain ahead. I had to cross a mountain range, and had to cycle to 2000 m. I actually enjoyed it a lot. The beautiful nature and the solitude. The downhill that afternoon was very cold. I had to dress up very well to stay warm. When I got down, I met some guys who were working at the fields and who gave me potatoes. Next to where we were talking there was camp of Syrian refugees. I had seen those camps before; people living in tents next to the road in the middle of nowhere. I had been thinking of talking to the people, and decided this was a good opportunity to approach them. I was hoping that I could share some laughs with them, just like with the Turkish guys at the field who also barely spoke English. But at the refugee camp, the mood was dead serious. That evening I slept at the mosque in the town of Tufanbeyli. The temperature would drop to -7 degrees celsius, so I knew I did not want to camp.

The next day was a fun cycling day. From Göksen to Kahramanmaraş, it was a long strecht of straigt downhill. Perhaps some 40 km on good asphalt. There were a lot of tunnels. The first part of the road was actually closed, but I cylced through anyway. This meant I had a big road all to myself. Just before Kahramanmaraş, I had arranged to stay with Habip. Birgit and Kai had stayed with him two days earlier. Habip lived in a container. It was a temporary home, provided by the government, because his home was still being repaired from the earthquake in February 2023. Starting in Göksen, I started seeing damaged buildings still from the earthquake.

From Kahramanmaraş, the jouney led me through Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır, Mardin and then to the Iraqi border. From Diyarbakır, Birgit and I made a trip to Erzurum to pick up our visas for Iran. After some 10 days on my own I met Birgit and Kai again in Antep. ('Gazi,' which means something like 'warrior,' was added to the name Antep in 1920 after the Turkish war of independence. Many people still refer to the city as Antep). Kai, after one last dinner together, took a bus back to Istanbul to fly back to Germany. After a night in a hotel, Birgit and I spend the night with Demet, who works with Syrian refugees. There are some 4 million of them in the region.

I felt like something had changed now that I was in southeastern Turkey. The hospitality had increased, even though I already found the people quite welcoming before. But more and more we started getting invited for meals, and to stay overnight. The day that we left Gaziantep we got invited for lunch. That evening we reached the Euprates river. This felt like a big milestone to me because it's Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization. I remember learning about it in primary school and now I was there... We looked for a place to camp next to the river, but could find a suitable spot. Meanwhile it was getting dark. There was a small farm with some land, so we decided to ask there. Before we knew it we were sitting on the floor in the living room and got served a lovely dinner. There were a lot of kids there. Particularly Süleyman, a 4 year old boy, I will never forget. He was hyperactive. I became best buddies with him. We pitched our tents on their land that night. That day we were amazed to be invited twice that day, but from there on this started to become something quite normal.

In Urfa we stayed with some students. I had gotten in cotact with them through Niels, who had stayed with them for a long time. In Diyarbakır we had a Warmshowers host. This was actually a spare apartment that he used for parties and hosting people, so we had the place to ourselves. From there we did a trip to Erzurum. We went there by bus, stayed a night, and after we had our Iran visas in the pocket we hitchhiked back. Then 3 more cyclists came to stay at the apartment. A French couple, and Andrea, an Italian cyclist. Andrea we had already met in Antep. 

Andrea joined us to Iraq. We cycled to Mardin, and in between we stayed with a family in a small town. In Mardin we stayed with Servet, a business man. From there on, it was on to the Iraqi border. We had taken a bus in between. I had come to the realisation that my time for the trip was limited. I was applying for a traineeship back in The Netherlands. If I get it, there is a chance that I have to be back by mid December already. 

We first stayed a night in Zaxo. Then we went to Dohuk, and stayed with Kathleen for 3 nights. She is a Canadian woman, but lives there. She had about 26 cats in her house. In Dohuk we met up with Niels, and from there teamed up with the four of us. We took the route through the mountains, and stayed a night in a mosque before getting to Amedi. This is where we stayed with the two Americans, wich means that I have pretty much caught up with the writing. At least in short, of course. So much has happened. And about the last week or so I still need to write, but this is for another time.

At the moment I’m taking shelter in the living room of a family in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan, somewhere between Barzan and Erbil. I’m here with Niels, Andrea and Birgit. Just like during the night in our tents down by the river, we again got caught in heavy rain and thunder now while cycling up the gravel road into the mountains. We were received here by a family of about 12 people, who live in a small house which they most likely built themselves. The hospitality we have experienced from the Kurdish people is amazing. We were not surprised when they served us food and tea. The family is now out and we are resting in the living room. I will take this time to write about the last days, and to start recapping the last month. I have not properly updated the blog for nearly a month. I really want to do this, but so much is happening all the time that I hardly find time for it.

Last night we finally wild camped again. It had been quite a long time ago since I camped for the last time. There are two reasons for this. First of all, the hospitality of the people has increased a lot starting in Eastern Turkey, a little bit before reaching the Kurdish regions. We have been getting invited to stay the night at people’s places a lot. Secondly, from southeastern Turkey onwards it has been less advisable to camp out in the wild. In some areas there is fighting going on between the PKK and Turkish forces. In southeastern Turkey I started seeing military checkpoints, and the closer we got to Turkey’s southern border the more numerous they got. Here in Iraqi Kurdistan there are also military checkpoints everywhere. There are a few know areas in the mountains in the north in which there is fighting going on, and Turkey bombs those areas. Especially after the terrorist attack by the PKK in Ankara a few weeks ago, bombing increased. We have cycled through the valley which on both sides is flanked by mountains with PKK activity. We have heard explosions in the distance, as well as some gunfire. There are also areas with land mines. These are leftovers from Iraq’s tragic recent history, which is marked by war. Closer to the Iranian border there are still landmines from the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. For this reason, one should stick to the road and not veture out into the wild.

Last night, though, we found a great campspot. We already knew that we might wild camp again that night. From Barzan we were heading south towards Erbil, and there is no PKK activity going on here. We asked the Peshmerga, the Kurdish military that occupies the checkpoints, if it was okay to camp. We found a sandy area down where the Rwandz River joins the Great Zab River. There was a lot of dry wood there which had been washed up on the shore, so we made a fire. We cooked a nice large meal, using all four camping stoves. Around 9 pm we thought we would call it an early night, but then three local guys showed up. They tried to pursuade us to sleep over at their house, not understanding that we actually enjoy camping and that it would be a huge hassle to pack up all the things again at this hour. When they understood that we would not move from our spot, two of them rushed to their homes to bring us big bags of fruits, sweets, tea, sugar, a big bottle of oil, water, lentils, beans, tomato paste, cucumbers and tomatoes, rice, bulgur…. Fortunately in the end Birgit was able to pursuade them that we could not carry all of it and that they should take some of it back. A bit later two more of their friends arrived. And then perhaps 5 local Peshmerga soldiers, who were also curious. At this point we were a large group around the fire. Only one officer spoke some German, otherwise we communicated with body language, laughter and music. I took out my harmonica and for a moment we were dancing around the fire.

Around 5:30 this morning, all hell broke loose. A big thunderstorm gathered right above us. Thunder and lightning raged way too close for comfort. It poured down rain and the wind was so strong we were all afraid our tents might not stand it. We got through the night, though. In the morning I realised there was a puddle of water at my feet beneath my air mattress. About half and hour after we were finally on our way after a slow morning, the same happened again. This time we were on the bike on a gravel road in the mountains. This is how we ended up at the house here. We got here around lunchtime; I am not sure now if we will leave this place today or stay the night here. Heavy rain keeps coming and going.

The last few days

Before this we stayed with a family in the town of Barzan. The people belonged to the Barzani clan. The Barzanis are the people of this area. They are some 200.000 people living in some 200 villages. The Barzani family (the actual relatives of Mustafa Barzani, a very important figure for the Kurds who spent his life fighting for Kurdish rights and independence), also rules a part of Iraqi Kurdistan. Not everyone called Barzani actually belongs to the family. The Barzanis can be indentified by their red and white turbans. Other clans wear blue and white or black and white.

We ate so much food there. The Kurdish people love to serve their guests food. There is always an abundance of it, and it is delicious. We communicated mostly with Aylin, who spoke English and German well and must have been around my age. She served us the food that was mostly cooked by her mother. One time she was told off by her parents because they felt that she had not put enough food on the table for us, even though we had already eaten more than was good for our stomachs. Here one cultural difference is quite apparent: in Western Europe you finish your plate. Growing up, I learned that you should be thankful of the food you have on your plate, and not waste anything. Here, however, an empty plate seems to mean that you’re still hungry. They will serve you more.

We stayed a day in Barzan. We went to see the Barzani National Memorial, a museum about Mustafa Barzani. This was quite impressive. The museum used official international maps, treaties and figures, and thus can hardly be accused of making Kurdish propaganda. The museum was a good way to get a better understanding of Kurdish history and the struggle of the Kurdish people. We also went to see some nature. The mountains around here are magnificent, and there is a canyon through which at the bottom a river runs in a U-shape. We saw that at sunset. Yesterday, when we were cycling, we also stopped to see the Shanidar cave in which the remains of neanderthals have been found. To get there, we needed to take a steep uphill from the main road. We decided to leave our bikes down at the military checkpoint, and hitchhike up. I got to sit outside in the back of a pickup, which was quite an adventure.

The day that we cycled to Barzan was amazing. We had stayed the night with Rachel and Rebecca, two American girls who live in Amedi. After spending a nice long breakfast (Niels made pancakes), we started cycling. This was the day we heard explosions and gunshots in the mountians. It was Friday, and at every mosque there were speeches going on. At some point we wanted to look for some lunch in a small village. We saw two women baking bread ín a big stone oven, at the side of the gravel street. It was basically a big stone pit in which they burned wood, under a roof to shelter from rain. The women stuck the dough on the walls on the inside of the oven, and baked the bread that way. We intended to buy some, but they would not accept any money. Another lady from a house nextdoor brought us tea and homemade yogurt. Before long a group of curious villagers had gathered around us. One girl spoke good English. She explained that the women bake bread twice a week, and the other days other neighbours do it. They bake for the whole village. One lady went around the different houses to bring each household a pile of freshly baked bread.

The people in the town did not want us to leave. They had wanted us to be their guests for the night, and show us some beautiful nature in the area. We were of course very thankful for the offer, but in the end we decided to go on cycling. Sometimes you have to make choices, and especially now that people are offering us so much you don’t get anywhere if you take up all the offers. The road ahead went through some beautiful nature. What struck me the most, though, were the people along the road. It was Friday afternoon, and it seemed like everyone was picknicking along this road. For perhaps 15 km there were groups of people chilling along the road every 10 metres or so. We were the attraction of the day, as it seemed. Nearly everyone was waving and greeting us. Some offered tea or shisha and some wanted to take selfies. I have not greeted this many people in a single day in my life. Then came a big downhill with U-turn corners, towards the blue river donw in the valley. At some point I felt high from all the experience of the day. The hospitality and enthusiasm of the people, the positive energy, the stunning nature…

Recap of the last 3 weeks

The last time I properly updated the blog was in Kayseri. So much has happened since then that it feels more like two months ago. Let me recap some of it.

I realised that I forgot to write about the Derinkuyu underground city. This was still in the Cappadocia region, before the famous part. Just like the cave dwellings of the region, it was used by Byzantines some 1000 years ago. I went inside together with Birgit and Kay. It was quite busy underground. At some point there was narrow tunnel to a lower part, and people needed use it both for going up and for going down. This meant waiting around in narrow chambers underground together with many other people. The traffic was not well regulated. We joked that this would for sure not pass EU safety regulations.

In Kayseri, after spending time in the cafe where I properly updated the blog for the last time, I went to meet Luke and Jacqui again. We found a bar inside a hotel. In western Turkey it had still been easy to find bars, but the more you get away from the coast the less you see them. We were even treated to some live music. It felt a little bit like home. I realised that I had missed live music.

The next morning was my last morning in Kayseri. Two other couchsurfers had come to Mustafa’s place: Kotomi from Japan and Haiping from China. Haiping had come all the way over land. We shared a nice breakfast together. Then I left Kayseri. The weather had changed, it had become much colder. The mountains around Kayseri were now covered in snow. I was a bit hungover that day. As the sun was setting, I was cycling through an empty and barren landscape, looking for a place to camp. It was just before getting into the mountains. There was a lot of empty space to potentially pitch the tent, but I was hoping to find a place that would be a bit protected. To hide a little bit, but mostly to protect from the cold breeze. I knew the temperature would drop to -3 degrees celsius. In the end I found a nice protected spot in a small canyon. This was the coldest night in the tent so far, but with my two sleeping bags and clothes on I managed it.

I will continue recapping later…

Lately I have not found much time to update the website. During this whole trip already there is not actually much time to read, write or things like that. Lately I've had to spend the free moments on the application for a traineeship I'm interested in. I hope to find some time soon to do a proper update. However, I am very excited to announce that I've reached the next country: currently I'm in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

From Aksaray we had a short ride to the Ilhara Valley. This is a canyon, the nature is very beautiful. It is already part of the famous Cappadocia region. We started seeing the first caves in the rocks. During the 10th and 11th century, Byzantine christians dug out spaces in the rocks. They essentially built buildings by removing rock, instead of putting it together. We camped in the canyon that night.

The next day we cycled on to the more famous part of Cappadocia, namely the area aroud Göreme. We arrived as it was getting dark, and found a camp spot that had a broad view of the valley. The ground was too hard for my tent sticks, so I slept out in the open on my mattress. I actually really enjoyed that. We were of course hoping to see all the hot air balloons in the morning, for which Cappadocia is famous. Unfortunately that morning it was too windy. In the morning I parted ways with Birgit and Kai. They were going to a paid accomodation to leave their stuff and go hiking. With my foot I could not go on long hikes yet, plus I wanted to wild camp in Cappadocia. It is a touristy and expensive area, and there are plenty of very beautiful spots to free camp. That day I cycled around the area, did some small walks here and there, and in the evening I found a beautiful spot to camp looking out over the Love Valley. (There are multiple valleys you can explore).

The next morning, I was treated to an amazing spectacle of hot air balloons. Some 150 balloons go up simultaneously at first light in the morning. Coupled with the breathtaking landscape, it is a pretty unreal experience to see it. That day I wanted to cycle a bit and then look for another campspot a bit earlier in the afternoon, but I got a flat tyre. It turned out that there were some areas with a lot of thorns that were difficult to see. I took 26 thorns out of my front tyre, and 10 or so from the rear tyre. Luckily only one had actually pinched the tube of the front tyre. I spent some time fixing it, sitting at a spot with a nice view. I took the opportunity to replace the front brakes and clean the chain as well. That evening I found a camp spot looking out over the Pigeon Valley and the Red Valley. This spot was on the ridge right above the town of Göreme. The next morning, once again, there was an amazing balloon spectacle.

Two days ago I left Cappadocia. In Avanos, on the way out of the area, I bought some new earphones. I had been having issues with my earphones and headphones lately, and I really like to listen to some music, podcast or audiobook sometimes. I tested them at the shop, and they seemed to work fine. But when I put them in, some 10 km past Avanos, I realised one side was having issues. It would only work by holding the cable in a certain way. So I turned around, and tried a different pair. When this pair of earphones made my phone do strange things, skipping songs etc., I got the money back. By now I was quite delayed. My plan was to go to Kayseri, where I had arranged to stay with a Couchsurfing host. I cycled on a highway through a very dry and desolate area. Normally the highways in Turkey are quite nice to cycle, as they have a wide shoulder. But this one did not have a shoulder. That afternoon I decided that I could try hitchhiking. I had already been thinking that it could be a fun adventure to hitchhike with the bicyle one time. After about 15 minutes, two guys in a van stopped. It was perfect, they had a big empty space in the back for my bike. These guys, Omer and Mehmet, were painters. They were just coming back from a job. We communicated through google translate. When they dropped me off in the centre of Kayseri, there immediately was a shop owner, Kemal, who started talking to me. Half in English, half using a translator. He offered me food and something to drink.

Here in Kayseri I'm staying with Mustafa. Yesterday we went into the city together. Mustafa is a computer engineer and English teacher. Yesterday evening I met up with Luke and Jacqui, two New Zealanders that I had met at the Ilhara Valley. They are also cycling. I will meet them again in a bit. This is my second day off here in Kayseri. It is nice to take some time and to catch up writing. At the moment I am also writing an article for a local newspaper back home. From today the temperature has dropped quite a bit. From tomorrow onwards I will have to cross mountains.

On my last evening in Beyşehir I met some guys at the lakeside. They were playing the dombra, a two-string instrument from Central Asia, at the pier. I was intrigued and approached them. They were students, and were happy to hang out with me. Barış, the owner of the insturment, even taught me how to play a bit. Then they took me to eat pilav, a dish with rice and chicken, at the street. Barış told me he would pay for my meal, but in the end the guy who was selling the food did not even want any money for my portion...

The next day I cycled again for the first time after the accident. It was a 92 km ride to Konya, and it went very well. Though walking was still painful, riding the bike was fine. In Konya I teamed up with Birgit and Kai again. Konya seemed like a nice city to me. It seemed more convervative, judging by the amount of headscarfs and the absence of shorts. The inner city was beautiful. In a way it was a bit unfortunate that I did not spend more time there.

The next day we cycled 126 km to Tuz Gölü, the big salt lake. I really enjoyed the ride that day. The landscape really changed to the east of Konya. We had come from an area with hills and mountains, big lakes and green fields and forests with here and there some drier parts. To the east of Konya, until Aksaray, there was a big flat and very dry area. We came through a lot of very tiny towns with mud houses, and there were parts where you could look in any direction and see nothing. Just the dusty horizon after which you could look no further. Close to the salt lake, which for the most part is just a big salty plateau on which you can walk, the landscape turned into a scrubby semi-desert. I really enjoyed being in the nothingness. We camped next to the flamingo tower (a watch tower to observe the flamingos that were once there, but not anymore). At night we could see a lot of stars due to the lack of light pollution. The next morning we walked to the salt flat. There were small salt flats next to where we camped, but it was still quite a walk through a flooding area to get to the big salt flat. It was still not comfortable to walk with my foot, but I went for it anyway. It was a crazy experience to me to walk on salt, and see the bright white for as far as you can see till the mountains in the distance.  I took some salt from there with me which I now use for cooking.

From Tuz Gölü we went to Aksaray. On the way, in a tiny town, I met a Turkish man who had lived in The Netherlands for 30 years. Though he had moved back to Turkey after his retirement he assured me that The Netherlands was the best country in the world. I asked him what had made him go back to Turkey if that were the case, but he did not seem to understand the question. That day, in Sultanhanı, we went to see the karavanserai. This was a place where back in the day traders and travellers on the silk road would come and spend the night. Since we had left after lunch that day, we arrived in Aksaray after dark.

The days after Aksaray would have some incredible nature in store... And this is something I will write about another day ;)

A few days ago I had a crash with my bike. I was going downhill, when an insect went into my ear and couldn't get out. Thinking it was a wasp, I panicked for a moment and wanted to stop as quickly as I could to get it out. I hit the brakes and jumped off my bike, but had too much speed. It happened in a split second, and I immediately knew that I had messed up my left foot. Immediately some cars stopped, but soon a police car drove by and they took over the situation. The police called the ambulance, while Birgit was coming back up the hill. She was in front of me and had already gone down the hill. When she got back up there, the ambulance also arrived. Everything happened so quickly that we did not even really have time to discuss what to do. The ambulance personnell put me on a stretcher and put a brace around my neck. I realised how messed up the situation must look from the outside, and this made me a bit emotional for a moment. Though I knew that I was not that badly injured. The main thing was my foot, I was pretty sure it might be broken.

None of the police officers spoke a word of English. It was the same when my phone was stolen a month ago. Same in the ambulance. Though the doctor in the ambulance made an effort to communicate and cheer me up. I got to know that he is a supporter of the Galatasaray football club. In the hospital there was one doctor who spoke English, which I appreciated a lot. He told me his shift had finished but he was staying because he knew nobody else would be able to speak with me. Pretty quickly x-rays were being taken of my foot, hand and elbow. (Though I knew the last two were fine). Then I waited for some time on a stretcher in a waiting room. At some point there was quite a lot going on there, as a whole family had gathered in the room.

It turned out that nothing was broken, so that was a big relief. All I got was a bandage around the foot and a prescription for some creams and pain killers. In the meantime Birgit had booked us a hotel. The police had called a transport company to come pick her and the two bicycles up. The lady of the hotel came to the hospital with Birgit to come pick me up by car. I was in a surprisingly good mood. We ended up staying 3 nights at that hotel. For two days I did not go outside. But the free time allowed me to work on some articles. This is something I like to do but don't find the time for very often.

Yesterday morning Kai arrived, Birgit's husband. He'll be in Turkey for a week or 3. They set off that morning on their bicycles, to go to Beyşehir in 2 days. I took a bus there. I arrived in Beyşehir yesterday, they arrived today. There's a cycling community here, and they host cyclists through Warmshowers. I was picked up at the bus station by Dilara and Hassan. We first went to the club house of the cycling community, where we had a chat and they gave me a t-shirt. Then they walked me to the place I would be staying. It's a spacious room on the third floor of a kind of community building. Later when I looked down to the street from the balcony, I saw them walk by again. We decided to go out for some tea. They took me to a student cafe. This place looked very European, and there were only young people there. Beyşehir is a student town. There are basically only old people and students here, they told me. Two more of their friends arrived later, though they could not speak English. It was a fun evening.

The day before I had the crash we rode through the city of Burdur. There was a sort of ceremony going on there to honour the veterans / the military. There were some journalists there, and they were interested in Birgit and me. They asked if they could make a news report about us. So, in front of the camera, I told them about the cycling trip. From Burdur it was not very far to Isparta, but we had to cross some mountains. It was already a bit late, and we ended up having to look for a camp spot in the mountains. We were not very successful and it was already getting dark, so we decided to go to the one village there and ask around if we could camp in someone's garden. In the end we ended up camping on a playground. It was a very run-down and trashy place, actually. There were some toilets there, but it had probably been better had they not been there. It seemed to me that some money had been invested here for some regional development project, but that nobody had bothered to maintain the place afterwards. It got quite cold that night. The feeling reminded me of the times I travelled in my van in winter time. I did not expect that I would already have to use both sleeping bags and even the blanket. I think the temperature went down to about 3 degrees, and it felt to be about the limit of what was still doable (though I could've put on some more clothes). This was a bit of a pity, because I know that it will get colder still.

In Eğirdir, at the peninsula, we had some lunch. When we left to go around the lake, I got a flat tyre. It was actually the first flat tyre whily cycling. I can't complain, considering I've cycled 5630 km. I only once had to fix my tyre before, but my bike was just parked at the hostel in Berlin then. Some farmers stopped and gave us apples. It turned out we were next to an apple distribution centre. Trucks, vans and tractors kept arriving to drop loads of apples there. It turned out that the region was full of orchards with apple trees.

After Izmir, Birgit and I spent 4 nights wild camping, and now we're having 2 nights at an apartment in Salda. We took a train to get out of Izmir again, and then started the journey inland. From Selçuk, where we got off the train, we rode uphill to the town of Şirince. It was very hot again. A kind of heat that I had not felt since the Western Balkans. At some point along the way we met a Turkish man and woman, who were having lunch at their camping table next to their small campervan. They immediately offered us food and drink when they saw us. We had just finished our lunch, but I gladly drank some ayran. Ayran is a drink made of yogurt, water and salt. You find it everywhere in Turkey.  Şirince is an old Greek town, and is famous for its fruit wine. We bought a bottle, and drank it at the camp spot we found after it already got dark. The next days we camped in a field, in a small forest, and next to a ridge with a beautiful view. We were invited for tea a few times along the way. It's exciting to go inland. At the coast we stayed with a couple of people and they seemed to be quite liberal and pro-western. (Though this is also a complicated story, I plan to write more about this later). More inland, however, it seems that people are more traditional and conservative. I'm curious about getting more east. The hot days are over now. During the day it will not be too cold for now, but the nights are definitely getting fresher. Also the days are quickly getting shorter. I'm happy that I bought a second sleeping bag. After such a long summer, I'm ready for the autumn.

Today it's 4 months ago that I left home. A few days ago I reached 5000 km. At the moment I'm in Izmir. From Firat's place, Birgit and I headed south along the coast. We passed close by Troy again, and visited the burial site of Achilles. To get there, we passed through an abandoned beach resort. It looked like the place had been abandoned quite abrubtly; it was an eerie place. That evening we camped hidden between the olive trees.

The next day, the landscape became more rocky and rugged. We had to do some more climbing again, but it was very beautiful. When we passed through a small town, we were given a free meal. A group of people was gathered at the mosque, and meals were being handed out. One man spoke English well, and he explained to us that someone from the village had passed away, and that it is tradition to then gather and eat together. In the afternoon we arrived in Assos, an ancient Greek city. We put up our tents at a small camp site there. We had a nice view, looking out across the bay to the Greek island of Lesbos. In the evening and night it got very windy there, but we could shelter a bit behind a small caravan to have our dinner and breakfast.

The next day was very different once again. This time we entered a very populated area. We cycled on more busy roads that day. In Turkey the highways have a wide shoulder, so it is not actually that bad to cycle. We had tailwind, so we were very fast. That evening we again found a camp spot between some olive trees.

The next day we cycled to Dikili, where we met our host Metin. He and his friend Aydin met us on their bicyles, and we cycled into town together. Metin had already told us that there would be a cycling event, so we went there together. Metin is member of a cycling group in Dikili. The town has a new cylcing lane along the coast, constructed last year. The event was organised to raise awareness. With a group of perhaps 20 or 30 people we cycled a few km up and down Dikili's coastline, ringing the bells. Afterwards most people gathered at a cafe at the beach. Birgit and I ended up dancing with the women to Turkish music. It was a fun evening.

That evening we also met Metin's wife Saida. The next morning she made a delicious breakfast. That day we cycled to Bergama together with Metin. He also has an apartment in Bergama, and his dental practice is there. We slept in his office that night. On a hill next to Bergama, there is the ancient city of Pergamon. Birgit and I hiked through the bush to avoid paying the entrance fee. (Turkey has become quite expensive because of the inflation). It was a fascinating place to see.

Two days ago we went to Izmir. We cycled some 50 km to Aliaga, and then took a train into Izmir to avoid the heavy traffic. We arrived on the northern shore of the bay, and cycled along the coast to our host Mehmet. He lives on the southern shore. In Izmir we both replaced the chains of our bikes. I also sent a package home. It is now getting colder, so I won't need my hammock anymore. Now I have space for an extra sleeping bag, which I will hopefully buy today.

At the moment I'm in Güzelyalı, just south of Çanakkale. I teamed up with Birgit, from Germany. I stayed at hers for my last night in Germany, in Cottbus. She started her trip a bit later than me, but eventually she took a bus in Greece to catch up with me in Turkey. We are now staying with Firat, our lovely host here. Tonight will be our third and last night here. Today we went to the ancient city of Troy, which is not far from here.

On the day that Coen flew back to The Netherlands, we went to a hamman. To me that was a really nice experience. It was a nice relief after all the stress with the stolen phone. That afternoon, after Coen had gone to the airport, I went to meet Deniz. I met him and the girl he was dating at the Boğaziçi University campus, and they showed me around there. Since a few years there is a security checkpoint which you have to pass to enter the campus. I could only go together with them, as they were students there, and had to leave my ID with the security personnel as a deposit. Deniz told me that in recent years the freedom of the universities has been significantly limited. Since the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey, the state has grown increasingly authoritarian. Afterwards we went to a restaurant close by, and met a group of Deniz' friends there. We had a nice dinner together, and to my surprise they had arranged a cake for my birthday, which had been 3 days earlier. The next day Deniz and I went into the old town.

After spending 7 nights in Istanbul, I finally reunited with the adventure bike in Lüleburgaz. I was really happy to be cycling again the next day. Though that day I had two uncomfortable experiences with groups of dogs on the street being way too protective of their little territory, barking aggressively and coming too close for comfort. It was nice then to meet Birgit that evening, to cycle together for some time. That evening, as the sun was setting, we found a nice spot to camp in the fields. The next day we made it to the tip of the Gulf of Saros, which connects to the Aegean Sea. We camped there. It was actually the first time on this trip that I reached the sea. So far I've always been inland. 

The next day we entered the Gelibolu (Gallipoli) peninsula. We had crazy headwind. The headwind had already been very strong the two days before, but on the peninsula we were even more exposed. It felt really special for me to be on the peninsula, though. It is a very strategic geographical place - the Dardanelles Strait divides Europe and Asia, and connects the Black Sea with the rest of the world - and there is a lot of history there. The town of Gelibolu (Gallipoli) was the first European town that the Ottomans conquered, in 1354. The peninsula is also well-known for the Gallipoli Campaign; the failed attempt by the Entente powers in 1915 to take control of the peninsula and the strait, in order to get at Constantinople. In the end about half a million souldiers died there. This event was also very important for Australia and New Zealand, which as British dominions contributed a lot of troops for the campaign - the ANZACs. It is often regarded as an event that contributed to Australians and New Zealanders increasingly seeing themselves as independent from Britain. When I was backpackig in New Zealand and was living with a family for a while, we went to the commemorations for ANZAC-day in Gisborne on the 25th of April, 2018. With this in mind, it felt really special to now be at the place where this history unfolded.

That night Birgit and I ended up staying with a host, Onur, in Eceabat. He welcomed us at his apartment, cooked a delicious dinner, and then went to work for his night shift. He let us stay at his apartment alone, and did not even take the keys with him. He trusted that we would let him in in the morning. Onur works as a traffic controller for ships going through the Dardanelles. The next morning he took us to the place where the ANZACs actually landed. I went for a swim next to the remains of a sunk ANZAC landing-craft. After lunch, Birgit and I took the ferry over to Çanakkale. This meant going to the Asian side, this time not knowing when I'll be back in Europe. 

Now we're at Firat's place. He is a very interesting guy. He cycled from Turkey to Mongolia in 1985 (now he's 62), and has lived in Dubai and Libya for work. Yesterday Firat cycled with us to the ancient city of Troy, which is not very far from here. On the way he showed us some World War One cannons on the shore - supplied by the Germans to help out the Ottomans - pointed at the strait. We went to the museum at Troy, but when it closed earlier than expected we could not go to the actual excavation site anymore. So, we went again today. This time we took a mini-bus, and then hitchhiked. Troy was quite fascinating to see. The oldest parts are some 5000 years old. Though there are 9 layers built on top of each other, so the younger layers, of the Roman period, are 'only' some 1500 years old. When we got back, Firat showed us some big World War Two guns on the hill behind the town. Also German, and also pointed at the strait.

Breakfast with Firat.

I'm in Istanbul now; the point where Europe and Asia come together! In fact my birthday was the day that I took the ferry over to the Asian side, a big moment! My friend Coen came to visit me, so we booked an Airbnb. Niels also joined for the birthday celebrations.

That night, though, my phone got stolen.  Niels and I went out for a late night snack, and then went to chill a bit on a grass field at Taksim square. At some point a guy came and chatted a bit with us. We were lying on the grass, and the guy came lying next to me for a moment. He actually came really close, and put his head on my arm. Soon he left again. Then a few minutes later I realised that my phone was not in my pocket anymore.

The next day was not a good day for me. I had a hangover and had to come to terms with the fact that my phone was stolen. (I had bought that phone just 3 weeks ago in Montenegro).  I went to a few police stations to make a report. They at first kept sending me to a different location, telling me to come back later or asking me to wait. Eventually in the evening I got a document from the police. Then,  late in the evening, I applied for the insurance. 

Yesterday I went to buy a new phone. I also got a SIM card again. Just a week ago I had bought a Turkish SIM card, and they are not super cheap here. Unfortunately it seems like I have lost access to my Dutch phone number. 

Now that I have taken the steps that I needed to take since my phone was stolen, I am feeling much better again. For some time I was questioning how much longer I actually want to continue with this trip. But now I feel excited again about what Turkey has to offer. Tonight I will stay with Deniz. I had met him during the first year of my studies. He lives here, and invited me to come stay at his place.

Right upon leaving Plovdiv I met Felipe, a cyclist from Brazil. We cycled together for about 5 minutes, and then he got a flat tyre. He spent some time fixing it. When it didn't work out, I gave him one of my spare tubes. Meanwhile rain started pouring down. Then we cycled some 35 km, and found a place to camp. It was a bit of a trashy place, close to the main road. But it was hidden, and there were some nice trees to hang the hammock. We both slept in the hammock. It was a bit rainy, but Felipe had some tarps so we could keep ourselves dry. In the evening we had some cool conversations. Felipe is a student in International Relations just like me. His family had also been involved in the guerilla struggle when Brazil was still a dictatorship, so he definitely had some interesting stories to tell.

The next morning we were on our way early, to make it as far as possible towards the Turkish border. Felipe had overstayed his Schengen visa by a few days, and so needed to cross the border as soon as possible. (Bulgaria joined the Schengen zone a few months ago, and Felipe had not realised this.) But later that day we lost each other. At some point Felipe went ahead, and I did not see him again. This has happened before with someone in Hungary.

I cycled on to Svilengrad by myself, which is close to the point where Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece come together. I found a really nice camp spot next to the river. Felipe had given me one of his tarps, so I made a shelter. It had been raining the whole day, which was a reminder that the summer will gradually be ending. 

During the day, Niels had told me that he had lost his wallet, most likely in Svilengrad. He was already in Turkey, taking a bus to Istanbul. He told me a few places where he went, so the next morning (today) I went to check at a bakery, a gas station and a police station to see if his wallet had been found. Because it's sunday, the bakery was closed. At the gas station they had not found anything, and there had been no reports at the police station. But when I came back to the gas station to ask if they had heard anything from the colleague who was working there yesterday, I was told that they heard that the wallet was found at the bakery. It was there, but the bakery was closed. There seemed to be no way to get someone to open the door to give me the wallet. So I decided to wait a day, so I can collect Niels' wallet tomorrow. I decided that I would do a day trip to Greece, and cross into Turkey tomorrow.

I'm in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. I've just said goodbye to Niels, after spending close to 3 weeks together. Though we'll see each other quite soon again in Istanbul. Maybe at some point we'll cycle together again. It has been really nice to team up for a while. Niels and I crossed paths at a good moment for me. I had been thinking for some time that I would like to meet someone with whom I could cycle a bit longer. Especially after some down days in Sarajevo, it was great to have a travel buddy. It's a bit strange to be alone again, but I'm also excited to do my own thing again.

I'll summarise some of the things that happened since I last wrote. When we were in Morino, Montenegro, we went up a steep path that we thought would lead us over the mountain to Kosovo. Some people had said we could not cross the border in this area (since the '90s the border corssing had been closed, but some said it would be possible by bicycle), but we decided to give it a go. However, the path turned super steep. We had to push the bike. Then we got stuck in a thunder storm. We made a little shelter under Niels' tarp and sat there for more than 2 hours. At some point I had a look a bit higher up, and realised it would be impossible to go there by bicycle. Meanwhile it got late, so we went back down a bit to the last houses that we had seen. We were hoping that someone could offer us shelter. We ended up with a whole family, more than 10 people. They welcomed us with rakija (the traditional, homemade liquor) and coffee. They also gave us dinner. Only one of them spoke some English, but somehow we managed to communicate. They were a Serbian family. When I recorded a video and mentioned Montenegro, they shouted 'SRBIA!, SRBIA!.' We slept there on a mattress under a roof outside.

The next day we took a different road that they had explained to us. This was much, much better. Instead of a hiking trail, this was a proper asphalt road. It went uphill for some 30 km, but it wasn't crazy steep. Still we had contradictory information about whether or not we could cross the border. When we arrived at the top, it started raining a lot. Lucky us, there was an abandoned house there. So we sheltered there and made lunch there. The Montenegro police came to check us. We asked them again whether we could cross the border. First silence, then a phone call, then they told us that we could go. They would pretend not to have seen us. When the rain got a bit less, we went down. That downhill was absolutely breath-taking. When we got to the border, the asphalt road stopped. On the Kosovo side it was a gravel road. The border had been blocked for cars, but we could easily sneak through. There was no border police. It was clearly not an official border crossing. This was a road that had been in use when Yugoslavia was still one country. At first when entering Kosovo we thought that the landscape would get less spectacular. 5 or 10 km later, though, we entered a gorge / canyon. We had a long downhill through the canyon all the way to Pejë. This was unreal. I think I've never had a border crossing that was such an adventure, and entering a country being so spectacular.

In Pejë we took a rest day. We went to the police station to ask if we needed to register or something, since we had not encountered any border police. At first one police officer told us that we had entered illegally, and that we should go to the nearest official border crossing to have our passports checked. But then he asked an officer from the border police who was there. He thought about it for a moment, confirmed that we were illegal, and then asked us where we were planning to go. We explained that we wanted to go to Pristina and then leave Kosovo again on the way to Skopje. They told us to just go. They could not guarantee that we would not get trouble when leaving Kosovo again, but "since it is the touristy season" they didn't seem to mind that we were in Kosovo illegally. 

Then we went on to Pristina, spending one night free camping in between. From Pristina we went straight to Skopje, in North Macedonia.  The ride into North Macedonia was also nice, because it was a 30 km downhill to Skopje. The landscape also clearly changed after crossing the border. It was much drier on the Macedonian side. In Skopje we went to a restaurant, and then looked for a spot to camp in a city park. Niels put up his tent and I slept in my hammock. I really enjoyed that. During the night we could hear a big party in the distance, but I found the sound enjoyable. The next day we spent the morning and the beginning of the afternoon exploring Skopje. I really enjoyed that city. Later in the afternoon we were on the bicyle again, and found a spot to camp in a field with quite a nice view.

The next day we headed for the Bulgarian border, though we ended up spending one more night in North Macedonia. We met some guys at a gas station in Kriva Palanka, and hung out with them till late in the evening. We had a good time with them,  but over time we got to know that one of them was very racist. In the dark we went to look for a camp spot. We actually found quite a nice place next to a small river. 

The next day we crossed the border into Bulgaria. We camped near Kustendil after going out for dinner. The next day we made it to Samokov. We again found a place to camp, and made a camp fire. That day we had had a lot of head wind. The road had also been going uphill, and we were now at some 1000 m altitude. This paid off the next day, yesterday. All day yesterday we were going downhill. We made it until some 35 km before Plovdiv. We found a really beautiful spot to camp next to the Maritsa river. I slept in the hammock again. This morning we rode to Plovdiv. Niels and I spent some time checking out the city, and then went to a restaurant on a hill for lunch. Then I checked in at the hostel, and we had our goodbye.

This has been a very concise summary of the last week and a half or so. Actually so much has happened that I have not written about. We have talked to so many people, and gained so many insights. I realise it's impossible to write it all down, though I'm happy that for now I caught up with some writing.

Let me continue where I left off at the last blog entry. When we woke up at that construction site in Montenegro, I was not feeling well. I had to puke, and could not really eat. Niels had a flat tyre and had to spend some time fixing it. I gave him one of my spare tubes, as he was having trouble to fix his ones. That day was a hard day for me. I think it was physically the most challenging so far. We first had to some steep and rocky gravel roads again. The sun was burning hot and I was feeling sick. Things got a bit better when finally we got to an asphalt road again and I finally ate something. We steadily pushed on that day.  At some point we took a break in the shade next to a stream. I took a nap there. Though it probably wasn't more than 30 minutes, to me it felt like I had slept for hours. We made it to Bijelo Polje, and took and apartment there. The next day Niels was sick, he had something similar. I was already feeling better then. We stayed an extra day in Bijelo Polje.

Montenegro took longer than we expected. There were actually many days when we rode only 30 or 40 km. The terrain is mountainous. Though there are some amazing new asphalt roads in Montenegro, we've also had to deal with some steep gravel roads. Breaks would often also take longer than expected as many people would talk to us. 

Trying to corss into Kosovo from Montenegro was an adventure. From Bijelo Polje we did not make it very far and camped near Berane. From there the main route to Kosovo leads through Rozaje. Komoot, however, also showed us a different route. It was a bit shorter, so we decided to take that one. We had an enjoyable morning riding down to the town of Murino. There we took a break at a cafe. We knew that from Murino we would have to basically climb a mountain, to 1900 metres. Kosovo was on the other side of the mountains. We already noticed upon entering Murino, however, that on the street sign Pec (Pejë, the city in Kosovo) was crossed through. (To be continued........)

At the moment I'm in Pejë, Kosovo, together with Niels. We've been cycling together since Sarajevo. It has been some time since I've updated the blog. I have not found the time for it. So much has happened since; I hardly know where to start. We are taking a rest day now. We were not sure about it so we flipped a coin (happy I could still put one of my Hungarian Forints to use). I will use this day to update the website.

Sarajevo was a bit of a rough time for me. I was staying at a campsite on a hill on the west-side of the city. It was a nice place, but still quite far from the city centre. It was like having arrived at a major destination, but not really being there at the same time. The owner of the campsite, Selim, was into cycling and the campsite was especially made for cyclists. I was hoping to meet some other cyclists there, but unfortunately there were no others there. During the first full day I walked down the hill to take a bus to the city. In the evening, however, the bus to go back never showed up. In the end I called Selim to ask what to do, and he told me another way to get back without having to take a taxi. I had to take a tram and then a bus. But when I arrived at the tram stop, the tram was broken. I talked with the driver for some time. At first he told me it would be fixed soon, but when that wasn't the case he told me to take a bus, then walk a bit, then the other bus to where I needed to go. So I took that bus. But when I got to the place where I needed to take the last bus, already so much time had passed that I missed the last bus. So I had to take a taxi. 

The next day it was clear to me that I should not use public transport, but rahter cycle to the city. I had taken a slow morning, then went to the city for a bit and had a beer. I had come up with the idea to go to the top of the hill of the campsite to watch the sunset, so at some point I had to rush back a bit to make it on time. When I got to the hill, I pushed really hard to cycle uphill as fast as I could. The hill was really quite steep. At some point I felt that my bike was wobbling a bit. I could not find a wobble in the wheel. Also when I was not paddling it didn't wobble. When I got back to the campsite, I found out that my frame was broken. Everything just kind of came together. I was feeling a bit homesick, a bit lonely, and my equipment was breaking. The next day I got the frame welded at a local mechanic down the hill. It did not seem very professional but it held together for the time being. I went into the city to buy a SIM card. I had resisted getting one at first because I thought it was more adventurous, but now I decided there was no point in making things more complicated than they are. For a while I couldn't get the SIM card to work, and that day turned into another day of feeling low and emotional. Eventually the SIM worked after I went to the office of the provider, which happened to be close by, and they changed something in the settings.

That evening everything got better. The first day in Sarajevo I had met Katrin and Jérémie. I started talking with them when I saw their bicylces with all the gear. They were cycling and rock climbing, and were planning to go into the mountains north of Sarajevo. We had said that we could meet there again. So that evening after I got my stuff fixed I got back to the campsite to pack my stuff, and then rode some 25 km to Nahorevo, where I met them again. By this point it was getting dark. The last, steep part of the mountain we rode together. They had read about a mountain hut where you could also pitch a tent. It turned out to be the house of a man named Dragan. It was such a nice place. We had some beers there and ate our own food there for a late dinner. There were some other people there too, it was a fun night. We could pitch our tents for free in the garden. Perfect, because there were hardly any other flat spots.

I ended up staying in the mountains for 4 nights. The first full day Katrin, Jérémie and I went for a hike. First to the Skakavac waterfall, which with 98 metres is one of the tallest waterfalls in Europe, and then to the summit at about 1500 m. We ate some really nice traditional food at Dragan's place in the evening. The next day we went rock climbing. It was my first time doing this. Jérémie and Katrin have all the gear and are experienced. It was really cool to get the opportunity to try rock climbing in this way. Later that day we saw two other cyclists battling up the hill: Niels and Alessandra. Jérémie, Katrin and I had planned to hike to the top of the mountain and sleep there under the stars for the night, and so Niels and Alessandra joined us. That was a great experience, sleeping at the top of the mountain. We could look out over Sarajevo. The next day we went rock climbing again.

Niels, from Germany, is also cycling east. We decided to team up for some time. On Sunday the 11th we said goodbye to the others. We got down back to Sarajevo. The plan was to first go to a mechanic to get my frame welded properly. We had improvised some reinforcements on the frame to give it some extra support, using Niels' broken kickstand. But because it was Sunday we could not find any place to do it. I was already feeling the stress again which I had been feeling before the days on the mountain. I wondered whether it would be better to spend a night in Sarajevo and get the bike fixed the next day. In the end I decided to go with Niels and get the bike fixed somewhere else. It was holding for the moment. That was a good choice. I just had to get out of Sarajevo. I was a bit disappointed that I did not get to enjoy the city the way I was hoping to. I had been eager to experience the history of the city a bit more. Sarajevo is a mix of cultures. The Ottomans have been there, the First World War basically got started there, and in the 90s the city was besieged. You can still see bullet holes everywhere.

Niels and I camped at a playground. When we got there, there was one boy sitting there and we talked with him for a bit. The place turned out to be a meeting spot for the local teenagers. It got pretty busy there as we were cooking our dinner. The next day we had a really enjoyable ride to Gorazde. Uphill in the morning, and when we got to the top we had a long break. We ended up meeting some locals there who offered us a beer. Others gave us vegetables. After that, we had an absolutely amazing downhill. It was a good road, and the downhill was not too steep. We could really just enjoy the views and roll down. On the way we saw a car with an Arabian licence plate twice, and had some interaction with the people inside. Later, when we took a break at a war memorial, the car showed up again and we talked with the guys. They were two older guys from Dubai. They immediately offered us coffee, tea, dates and delicious homemade cookies. They also gave us a bunch to take with us. When we got to Gorazde we were quite hungry, and went to a restaurant for a late lunch. We decided to just stay then night in Gorazde, even though we had only cycled some 30 km. We camped next to the river Drina.

The next day we had to go uphill to the border with Montenegro. At the Bosnian checkpoint, 7 km before the actual border, we witnessed a pretty crazy situation. A man from Syria came walking from the other side. There was a big dog there. The dog walked towards the man and barked at him. I don't know exactly what happened (the border police afterwards told us that the Syrian man had hit the dog with a stick, although I had not seen it), but the dog really attacked the man and he started screaming like crazy. First they ran in a circle around a border guard, then the man fell down and the dog bit him in his leg. The border police helped the man into their little office. The dog seemed to have completed his mission and went back to his former position, looking content. The man was bleeding. Niels was quick to take out his first-aid kit. He disinfected the man's wounds and put bandages around. The border guards called the police to take the man to the nearest hospital. Not much later they showed up. They put the man in the trunk, he had to sit on the spare wheel. The police said that there was no space because they were too many colleagues and there was equipment on the other seats. I found this really, really strange. They surely could've worked something out if they tried. It was a big van. Niels left the Syrian man his phone number. He texted later to thank him, and he also said that the police had not treated him well.

We rode another 7 km until we were actually in Montenegro. There we immediately found a place to camp on a flat spot in a field, quite high up. The next morning we still had to go through the Montenegran checkpoint. The ride into Montenegro that day was absolutely beautiful. As we were already quite high up in the mountains, we had a long downhill until the town of Pljevlja. The road was new and the asphalt was smooth. The views were amazing. The landscape looked like a fairytale. In Pljevlja we took a long break at a cafe, to skip the hottest part of the day. That evening we found a pretty strange place to camp. Actually we were following the route that Komoot was showing us. First we had a beautiful downhill on a new road, but then at some point the asphalt ended and there was gravel. It was alright for a while, but at some point the road turned into a very steep and rocky path down. Then there were two ways to go. One road would continue a bit, the other was going up. Though that second option had actually been blocked by a pile of rocks, we still felt that we needed to go there. It was now getting late so we dicided to fill our water bottles in a little stream there (Niels has a water filter which you can use to fill bottles) in order to be prepared to camp. Then the rocky road went very steeply uphill. There was loose gravel and we almost could not make it, but we managed to push the bikes up. But then we discovered that the road just ended there. It stopped at an abyss, a sort of canyon. We were at a construction site, we could see that a bridge was being built there. We decided to just camp there. As it was getting dark, there was no point in going the steep path back. In the end it was not such a bad place, It was protected between rocks (it was between a hill that had been cut through for the future road). It was hard to get to so it felt very safe. There were no humans or animals around. There was a lot of scrap wood there, so we made a campfire.

Actually that day when I wrote that I wasn't sure what to do turned out to be a great day. I went to buy some supplies at the supermarket, and there I met Elmir. He started talking to me because he saw the bicycle packed with all the stuff, and was interested to know where I was from and what I was doing. The bicycle is a good conversation starter. At some point I mentioned that I was thinking to go to the lake and find a camp spot there. Elmir told me there was a nicer, smaller lake. He would show me the direction, but first had to go pay some bills. So I waited for him there, actually right next to the building he grew up in. When he came back we had conversations about lots of stuff, so I told him that I was quite interested in the history of Bosnia. How it had been here during the war and stuff like that. I was not in a hurry and he also had a free day, so we decided to spend the day in the city together. Elmir told me about the city, showed me some sights, and we had a long conversation about the war. He also showed me some things in the city that were related to the war. Things that he had lived through personally. I was thinking to perhaps write an article about it.

Then in the evening he took me to the lake. It was some 8 km from the city, and we cycled there together. That was such a nice place. It used to be a mine, but now it is filled with water from some underground wells. The water is very clear. Elmir told me they discovered it during the war. At that time they didn't have the possibility to go to the Adriatic coast, so now they at least had this lake. Around the lake in the bush there were several cottages that people built themselves. One of them belonged to a friend of Elmir, who happened to be there when we arrived. This was very nice, because he let me camp at his spot. I realised that if I would've showed up at this lake by myself it would've probably been hard to find a suitable spot to camp.

We swam there, had a beer and listened to some Balkan music. I got to know the people at the cottage next door. That was really nice, because it took away my last worries that camping there might be a problem. The guy who owned (and had built) the cottage next door was a huge man. Though he looked a bit intimidating, he was actually a very sweet person. He told me that there was nothing to worry about for the night, because he would be my body guard. He also invited me for dinner.

The next day I was on my way again, in the direction of Sarajevo. Although the navigation can show other routes for bicycles, my experience with Bosnia so far is that it is much better to just take the main road. (At least here in the mountainous part of Bosnia that's the case). There is traffic but it's not too bad. Going off the main roads means that you'll have some very steep climbs and downhills, sometimes on gravel roads. Although the main road also has to go over the mountains, it is smooth and not too steep. The by roads add up to double the amount of elevation.

That night I slept in a motel in Kladanj. That was a beautiful little town in the mountains. Actually my plan had been to free camp. But when I stopped for a coffee at the motel I asked if there were wild animals around and if maybe it was not a good idea to camp in the nature. They told me that was the case and advised me not to camp. I decided to just stay at that motel. Afterwards I've heard from some other people that it should not be a problem to camp in the bush, that the animals (wolves, bears) stay far away from human infrastructure. At the moment I'm staying at a little camp site on a hill just outside Sarajevo.

I'm in Tuzla, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I've spent the night in the cheapest and smallest little room I could find here. I could not find any hostels here, nor any Warmshowers hosts, so it's a tiny single room in a small guest house. At the moment I'm drinking my instant coffee that I made with warm tap water, while trying to figure out what I'm going to do today. I didn't really feel like doing a big cycling day today. I thought of taking a rest day in Tuzla, but to be honest I don't really feel like this is the place for it. I think I will just relax this morning, and then ride to a lake nearby. It's only some 15 or 20 km from here. I might go look for a place to free camp there in the afternoon.

The idea of being in Bosnia is exciting to me. From the beginning it has felt like one of the highlights of this trip, especially of the European part. Only 30 years ago this country was at war. It is ethnically diverse, and has a large muslim population. Since the war the country is basically divided into two parts: Republika Srpska, which is more Serbian, and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is mostly populated by Bosniaks, who are typically muslim, and also by Croats. The highest political authority is the High Representative, which currently is a German guy. This structure was created in 1995 at the end of the war to oversee the peaceful sharing of power between the different ethnic groups. It does mean, however, that Bosnia is not a fully sovereign country. All this is very interesting to me, and so I've long been curious to see how life is here and learn more about the country.

At the moment I'm in Novi Sad, a city in northern Serbia. Serbia is the 8th country on my trip, and the first one that I have not visited before! Actually, from here on everything is new to me. I have not been to any of the countries on the road ahead. Budapest was the last place that I had been to before. In that sense it's a new phase of the trip. I see it as the third phase of the trip.

The first phase was the part until the Fusion festival in northern Germany. This was the part of getting used to being on a cycling adventure, adjusting to life on the road. In it I noticed an evolution in my mental approach to the trip, allowing me to get rid of expectations and concerns (to an extend, of course) and take things as they come. It was also a time of visiting friends, and taking it slow. There was no point in going fast, otherwise I would arrive at Fusion way too early. Berlin and Fusion were like a holiday from what had now become my day to day life.

The second phase was the part from Fusion until Budapest. I now started to make more distance. In Poland I had my first 100 km day, and now 100+ km days are something I do quite regularly. My body had adapted to cycling too. In the beginning I would be quite done with it after 50 or 60 km, now that usually does not happen until double that distance. The second phase of the the trip is also when I started meeting more other long-distance cyclists, which has been a very positive development. It was great to stay at Birgit's place in Cottbus, as she's also cycling to Iran and on further. She only started a week or so ago, but I think it's quite likely we meet again at some point. Getting onto the Eurovelo 9 in Czech Republic and then the Eurovelo 6 from Vienna was a great way to meet other cyclists, and I've spent times cycling and camping with others that I met along the way. My confidence has also been boosted, partly by experience and partly by seeing how others do it. This specifically means that I am confident cycling until the evening without knowing where to sleep. I know that I will find a place. Before I would start to get very eager to find a place in the afternoon.

This thrid phase is exciting to me. I have left the European Union, and am at the beginning of a time of exploring the Balkans. Beforehand this was already something that I was looking forward to. Bosnia especially is a country that draws my attention, and this will be my next destination. I wasn't sure what to expect of Serbia. The things I've heard about it were not always positive. It also feels like it's one of those places that Western Europeans don't tend to visit so much. Also politically it is more oriented towards Russia. So far, though, I feel that the people have been quite friendly. Novi Sad is a cute city, not too big. I do notice that the country is a bit poorer than Eastern European countries within the EU, and unfortunately there is a lot of trash at the roadsides. For some reason I've also seen a disproportionate amount of dead animals along the roads. You smell them before you see them.

When I left Budapest I first spent a day cycling by myself. I cylced 125 km that day. It was a great day. I was very excited about the trip. In the early afternoon I found a nice place to have a swim and refresh. Especially in the late afternoon and evening I felt a lot of energy. If the sun wasn't going down I would've continued cycling. I treated myself to a delicious Hungarian meal in a restaurant. As the sun was setting I found a place to sleep. I slept in my hammock for the first time. As I had finally bought mosquito repellent I thought I'd try it. The next day I met Lea and Simon, who were also following the Eurovelo 6. We spent another big day cycling together and found a place to camp near Mohács, not far from the point where Hungary, Serbia and Croatia come together. We made a camp fire and cooked a nice pasta, though there were a lot of mosquitoes. The next morning Lea went off on her own, while Simon and I went for coffee and breakfast. Then we started cycling again. Simon has a fast bike and is travelling much lighter (he's only on a short trip), so like the day before he went ahead for a bit. But then we never saw each other again... We must've taken a different road somewhere. Though we were following the Eurovelo 6, he had downloaded a route that somone had cycled before. I think that one might have deviated from the official route a bit here and there. We had not exchanged contacts yet. It was kind of sad, as we had a lot of fun together. We laughed a lot. So yeah I suppose the lesson for the next time is to exchange contacts right away when you find a travel buddy. I did go to the town in Serbia that I knew Simon was planning to go to, but did not find him. I ended up staying the night at a hotel at a beautiful spot next to the Danube, looking out to Croatia on the other side. It was the first time staying in a hotel. Before starting my trip, my aunt and uncle had given me a voucher to stay at an accommodation. This was a good time to use it. After that night there, in Apatin, I spent one night camping in the fields and now I'm in Novi Sad for two nights.

In Vienna I discovered a slight wobble in the back wheel of my bike. Also one of the spokes was broken. So on the day that I was leaving Vienna, I first went by a bike shop. Alexander had recommended me to go to a place called City Biker, and I was happy I went there. They helped me right away. The wheel was straightened and the spoke replaced, and I got some extra spokes to take with me. I got the tyres changed right away. The new ones are wider, with more profile. I think they are better suited for the trip ahead.

From Vienna I started following the Danube river towards Bratislava. This is another European bike route: Eurovelo 6. At some point in the afternoon I met Emilie, a Canadian girl. She was cycling from Passau in Germany, to Budapest. We decided to cycle together for some time. When we got to Bratislava we rode around the city centre a bit, and then went on to search for a camp spot. Just as it was getting dark we found a spot. It was a bit of a trashy place in the bush next to a pond, and full of mosquitoes. In the morning we could appreciate the place, though.

The next day we continued along the danube on the Slovakian side. Basically the whole day we could see Hungary on the other side. It was a warm day, and a couple of times we found a nice spot to have a swim in the river. At some point we met two French guys who were on their way to Romania, and we spent quite some time that day cycling with the 4 of us. We also discovered a starting bush fire that day. The French guys were quick to contact the authorities. In the evening, Emilie and I found a nice camp spot between the trees next to the river, though again it was infested with mosquitoes. I definitley should buy some insect repellent.

The next day we crossed into Hungary. We had taken it very slow in the morning. Our camp spot was a very nice place to wake up to, so we spent some time just chilling. We ended up cycling some 50 km that day, which was much less than the other days. We again found a camp spot in the bush as it was getting dark, and again full of mosquitoes. It had been raining, and the path we took to look for a place to camp was very muddy and slippery. It can for sure be a bit stressful to find a campspot as the sun is going down, but everyting is easier when you're two people.

The next day was warm again. This was the day we made it to Budapest. As we arrived in Budapest around 6 pm, we got ourselves some beers at a bar right next to the Danube, with live music. Then we went to eat something at a kebab place. The owner was super kind, and very impressed that we were biking. He gave us some free drinks to take with us along the way. Then we went to our hostel. It's basically a house on the outskirts of the city, with a garden. I quite enjoy the tranquility here, and prefer not to be right in the hustle and bustle of the city right now. Emilie moved to a hostel in the centre.

I'm having my second day off cycling in Budapest at the moment. It's funny how things just kinda go as they go. Initially I thought I would not go to Budapest, but straight south from around Bratislava. Though I don't have a fixed route, and can be flexible. It was nice to meet other cyclists along the Eurovelo 6, and I'm happy to have spent a few days cycling with Emilie. As I mentioned before, everyting just gets easier when you have a travel buddy. I chose to embark on this journey by myself, because I knew that by yourself you can have the most raw experience. You'll end up meeting more people and you get to learn more about yourself and grow. But I also knew that it was going to be hard at times. Travelling like this is not only fun all the time, there are ups and downs. There are times when I wonder what I'm doing, what the purpose of it all is. Other times it is super obvious. I hope I get to meet some other cyclists that I can team up with for a while.

From Olomouc I cycled to Brno. I kind of made that decision during the day. I was actually cycling south, heading straight for the Slovakian border. But I realised that from where I was it could still make sense to head for Brno, the second largest city of the Czech Republic, and from there straight south into Austria and to Vienna. From Vienna I can follow the Danube to Bratislava, the Slovakian capital. A part of me wanted to cross the Czech - Slovakian border for the simple reason that Czechoslovakia used to be one country, and that this border only came into existence at the end of 1992 after the confederation peacefully split into the two independent countries of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. I kinda wanted to see for myself how similar or different the people were on the two sides of the border, and what they thought about each other. But ultimately I thought to myself that it would probably be just be a border like any other, and that adding Austria and Vienna to my itinerary, and a piece along the Danube, would be the more interesting choice.

How different do things actually get when crossing a state border? This is quite a philosophical question, something that I think about quite a lot during this trip. You can approach this question from different angles, and get to different conclusions. What I generally love about Europe is that we have many different cultures and customs in a small area. You can drive a few hours or days - or cycle a few days or weeks - and you'll find yourself in a place with a different language, different cuisine, different (though connected) history, etcetera. But taking a more zoomed-in perspective, it seems to be all the same. No matter on which side of an imaginary line in the land you're born, or which language you speak, almost everyone seems to be concerned with the same things: you work to make a living (some are lucky enough to do someting gratifying, many just do it because they need the money), you like to hang out with your friends and care about the wellbeing of your family. When cycling, at some border crossings in Europe you don't even see a sign.

When I was camping in the bush at the border between Czech Republic and Austria the other day, I had this thought: Am I now in between two peoples, that both have their attention fixed on their country (and therefore are turned with their backs towards me)? The people on the Czech side watch the Czech television, look to Prague for their political aspriations and grievances, and their friends and family live in the Czech Repulic. Even though Austria was 500 metres away from where I was (I was on the Czech side), the next Austrian town might very well be of less concern to them than a similar Czech town a few hundred kilometres away. For the Austrians it would be the other way around.

Anyway, in Brno I spent the night in a bunker. Underground tunnels and rooms, beneath a hill with a castle on top. It was built during the Cold War, as a place to seek shelter in the event of a nuclear attack. Now it's a hostel, altough anyone can still enter for free if a nuclear missile is heading for Brno... On the way to Brno I actually passed the site where the Battle of Austerlitz had taken place, an important event during the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century.

From Brno I cycled south to the Austrian border. By accident I came onto the Eurovelo 9 route, a European cycle route from the Baltic sea to the Adriatic sea. It was nice to be able to turn off my navigation for a while and just follow the signs. I camped in the bush and was actually able to watch the final of the European football chapmpionship on my laptop, which was a nice surprise.

The next day started off a bit tough. It was hot, hilly, and a long way to Vienna. I had contacted many people in Vienna to ask for a place to sleep, but had had no success. A hostel would be a possibility, but without contact details I had no way of knowing whether there would be a secure place to store the bike. I realised that if I would make it to Vienna at all, it would only be in the evening. But everything changed when I met Jackob and Mateusz, two Polish guys who were cycling the Eurovelo down to the Adriatic sea. We cycled the remaining part to Vienna together, and ate a well-deserved burger when we made it to the outskirts of the city around 9 pm. Meanwile I heard back from Alexander, a Warmshowers whom I had contacted. I was welcome to come crash at his place. 

The bunker / hostel in Brno

With Jackob and Mateusz

Yesterday I made my way south from Wrocław. I ended up breaking my day record again: 128 km. Initially I was navigating to Nysa, or at least so I thought. When I arrived, I was surprised by how small the town was. Turns out, I wasn't in Nysa. The navigation device had sent me to a different town, be it in the same area. As I was actually already past Nysa I decided to push on further. I was getting close to Czech Republic, so I decided that I would make it there that day.

Getting into Czech Republic also meant getting into the mountains. Today was definitely a much harder day to cycle, although I also got the reward of a long downhill when I got back to the flatlands. I did 90 km today, 60 of them in the mountains. At the moment I'm staying with a Warmshowers host in Olomouc. The weather has been unpredictable for the last two days. I reckon that there have been six or seven sudden thunder storms. I've had to seek shelter a couple of times.

At the moment I'm in Wrocław, one of the bigger cities in Poland. I have some friends here (see picture below) that I met at the Camino de Santiago earlier this year. Today has not been my most successful day. At first I was not sure whether I would stay another day here and watch the Dutch football team play the semi final in the European championship tonight, or get going again and hopefully watch it somewhere else. But then I found someone  who could host me in a town close to the Czech border, so I decided to get going. However, the host wasn't going to be home until 8 pm, so I didn't rush and did not leave until after 1 pm. Today is a hot day, however. It's 34 degrees celsius. After cycling some 5 km through Wrocław the heat really got to me, and I started wondering whether I really wanted to cycle 85 km through this heat. I started to think that perhaps I would have to make so many stops that I might not make it on time to watch the game. And so I made the decision to turn back and stay in Wrocław for a third night. This felt a bit defeatist at first (I know that if I really wanted to I could've pushed through the heat and also make it on time), but I realised that actually it was wat I really wanted to do. Now I can chill with a cold drink, maybe I'll go for a swim, and I can be sure to watch the game with friends.

The heat can't every time be a reason not to move, however. I know that I'm gonna have to face some crazy heat in the Balkans, perhaps even more than today. If I let the heat stop me I might as well take a break for the whole summer. But I should approach it in a smarter way. Leave early in the morning and perhaps take a longer break in the middle of the day. But yeah for now I'm gonna take the rest of this day to chill, and trust that this was the right decision. Though I want to cycle far, I also have time on my hands.

The ride to Wrocław two days ago was the biggest one so far: 101 km. I'm happy to have hit the 100 km mark.

The last couple of days I've been running into some interesting experiences. From Cottbus I cycled about 90 km to the town of Zagań in Poland. I had contacted someone through Warmshowers there. The host, Marta, told me that she was not at home (she's travelling by bicycle in the Balkans), but that I could go to her parents and that they would help me further. When I arrived, they welcomed me with some sandwiches and something to drink. They were in their seventies and could only speak Polish, but we could communicate quite well using google translate. They told me that they would take me to Marta's apartment. So we loaded the bike into the van, and the dad drove me to the apartment. I thought that was so amazing, that someone would lend me their apartment without knowing me, while not being at home themselves. I had a very comfortable evening to mysef.

The next day, yesterday, I rode another 85 km to the east. It was a hot day, and I was having some headwind. I received a message on my phone from the Polish government, warning that a heavy storm was expected later that day. I was happy to already have arranged a place to sleep; another Warmshowers host. In the morning I had contacted Charles who lives right in between Zagań and Wroclaw, which was perfect for me. He's a Frenchman living in Poland. Turns out, he and his young family basically live in a palace. It's a 301 year old building, on a huge property. I was quite amazed when I arrived.

I feel like at this stage of the trip, I'm slowly starting to notice a kind of spiritual development. In the beginning of the trip, especially the first two weeks, I was searching for something. I was not sure how the trip was going to go, and I think I had certain expectations. This could make me a bit stressed or anxious at times. It was uncertain if the expectations were going to come true. I was wondering if I would get lonely, if I would have difficulty finding a place to sleep, etcetera. As it was in the beginning I had of course not had so many experiences yet. Although I knew I wanted to do this, it might have felt at times that I did not know why, what the purpose of it all was. Now it feels like it's starting to become quite clear why I'm doing this. And actually, I knew the reasons already. But now I'm really feeling them inside. It's the people, the unexpected experiences, the things you learn, the growth you experience. Travelling teaches you a lot. And I've been able to let go of expectations. This was a big one too. It makes you able to appreciate small things. Whatever crosses your path can be something to be amazed about. When so many experiences come your way, you will inevitably let go of any possible preconceptions. You have to open your mind, and open it will. This is also the value of travelling by yourself; you're more exposed to it all. You can't rely on a companion, so you just have to jump into the deep end. You'll be incentivised to approach people, because basically there is no other choice. But this leads to the most interesting interactions. And everyone has something to teach you. All you need to do is be willing to learn.

It's been some time since I last updated the website. It also feels like I had a bit of a break from the bicycle trip, as I was at the Fusion festival. That was amazing, by the way. Two of my closest friends came over, so we had a little reunion there. The festival itself is a different world; for a time you feel like you're totally outside of regular society. The festival is a society in itself, one where everyone seems to get along and everyone respects each other. A society where people are themselves to the fullest, and in this way at their most beautiful. The individual comes to fruition, while at the same time people look out for one another. Personal freedom then does not come at the cost of someone else's freedom. And the music. And the party. Wow.

When my friends Blanca and Seb left, it took me a bit of time to get back into the travel flow. Especially right after they left, and I still had one night to go at the festival. After an intense few days together, I was missing them, knowing that probably I won't see them for the rest of this year. I took a train back to the southern outskirts of Berlin. The Fusion festival is about 100 km north of Berlin, and I decided that I did not want to cycle that part twice. I also did not want to go to Berlin again. It had been long enough, now I really just wanted to get on with the trip, make some distance. 

I found a Warmshowers host in Zeesen, just south of Berlin. I stayed with Michael, a Canadian man who had been living in Germany for some years and now has a young family here. I camped in the garden. I feel like this got me back into the travel flow. I remembered why I'm doing this. It's the people you meet, the random unexpected experiences. 

From Zeesen I went on to Cottbus, where I am now. On the way I spent one night wild camping. I found a really cozy spot in the forest, next to a lake. I found out that there are some wolves living in this forest. That wasn't the most comforting thought, but well, I knew this was going to happen at some point.

In Cottbus I'm staying with Birgit and Kai. I came into contact with Birgit some week ago though a Whatsapp group for long distance cyclists. She is going to do a similar trip, also going to Iran and then on further. It's really nice to meet someone who's doing something similar. Perhaps we can also meet again at some point during the trip, let's see.

I'm writing this in the morning, and will start cycling in a bit. I'm excited today, because today is the day I will finally cross into Poland! I've spent a long time in Germany; almost 6 weeks. It's been a great time, but now I'm also very much looking forward to get further away from home, to places that are increasingly unfamiliar. I took it slow in Germany, taking a detour to see friends, spending a lot of time in Berlin to time it right for the festival, and then the festival itself. From here on I reckon it's going to go a bit faster. I think I might want to increase my average distance per day a bit (so far I've done around 60 or so per day, so nothing crazy), and now I don't really have specific places and specific dates to be somewhere anymore, which also feels good. From here on, for a while the countries will also be much smaller than Germany. I basically fully crossed Germany, but in Poland for example I will only cut through the southwestern corner. So yeah, I think this will make for more different experiences in a shorter time. I feel totally ready.

Berlin has been a blast. I ended up staying there for about a week and a half. I moved around a bit, staying with three different friends and in two different hostel rooms. I did not really plan to stay in Berlin for this long, but I was still hoping to go to a festival north of Berlin for which I had to wait. This did give some uncertainty for a while, as it had been very difficult to get by a festival ticket. There were some moments when I was not sure whether I wanted to stay in the city longer, as it was not what I expected from this trip. And then two days before I was supposed to leave Berlin, while fixing a flat tyre I discovered a crack in the rim of the back wheel of my bicycle. At that moment I thought I would have to stay in the city even longer for sure, or perhaps even come back after the festival (for which at that point I still had no ticket) to get it fixed then. In that case I could only hope that the rim wouldn't completely break down in the 200 km to and from the festival.

There was a bike store close to the hostel (thinking about it, I'm lucky that I discovered the crack in Berlin and not somewhere in the middle of nowhere), but they had no room for appointments in the next week or two. I found a bike store in the outskirts of Berlin where I could book an appointment for the next morning. I went there after a few hours of sleep (the Berlin clubbing scene is pretty crazy), but they did not have the part that I needed and said it would take up to two weeks to get it done. But the guy told me that there was another bike store close by, so I went to check there as well. And yes, there they had a spare wheel lying aroud that fit my bike! So I bought the wheel. The guy there changed my cassette from the old wheel to the new one, and I did the rest. And then, while I was sitting on the side walk fixing my bike, I got a phone call. It was someone who was offering me a festival ticket!

Some days earlier I had sent a message on a forum, asking if someone had a spare ticket for the festival. I explained that I had come by bicycle from The Netherlands and was gonna go on to the Middle East. The guy who contacted me had one spare ticket with his friend group. They had been looking for someone to offer it to. The festival is very popular so many people ask for tickets. They specifically decided to give it to me because they liked the fact that I had come by bicycle.

Though there were some moments in Berlin when I felt like I would rather be cycling and making distance, there have also been great times. I have met some lovely people. Some I already knew beforehand, and others I met along the way. I have watched some football games of the European Championship in public viewings, been out dancing a couple of times, went bird watching outside the city with someone I met at the hostel. It feels like so much has happened in Berlin.

After 900 km of cycling, I am now in Berlin. (See the route I roughly did below. I am still trying to figure out how to create a nice visualisation of the route on a map; any suggestions are welcome ;-) for now I am just taking pictures of google maps on my laptop screen.) I have some friends in Berlin. The first two nights here I stayed at Paul's place, and at the moment I am staying with Mathis. Both of them I know from my time living and studying in The Hague.

From Göttingen I cycled eastward in order to stay south of the Harz mountains. One sunny day in a tiny town I found a small GDR museum (about the former East Germany). Actually, 'museum' is a big word for it. It was more like a collection of stuff. It belonged to an old lady, who had made her own house into a museum full of her own stuff from the time of the GDR. I had a look through the museum. When I got back to the entrance after some 15 minutes of looking at type-writers, books, bottles of alcohol, clothes and pictures of East German politicians and Soviet leaders, the lady looked at me indignantly. She could not believe I had seen everything so quickly, and basically sent me back into the museum. Then I asked her to come with me and perhaps explain a few things about the stuff I was looking at, which she happily agreed to do. She proudly told me that since the opening of the museum in August 2009, she had received about 12400 visitors. I calculated that that's just over 2 visitors per day on average.

After the night in the orchard I cycled on eastward to Halle, and then from Halle northward again towards Berlin. I spent a night with a Warmshowers host in the town of Vockerode, just outside the city of Dessau. From Vockerode to Berlin I did not really have to use my navigation device. I could follow a bicycle lane along the Elbe river from Vockerode to Lutherstadt Wittenberg, and from there I followed an international cycling route to Berlin. Apparently this is a route that you can follow all the way from France to Saint Petersburg. This was really nice, as for two days I encountered very little traffic and spent a lot of time riding through the forest.

Lutherstadt Wittenberg was quite a beautiful town, and it is a town with a history too. This was the place where Marin Luther put his 95 theses on the door of a catholic church. This eventually led to the emergence of protestantism, which split off from the catholic church. It's crazy to think about how many people this affected. European history (and North American, for that matter) might have looked quite differently without it.

In the forest just outside of the town of Bad Belzig I found a nice spot to pitch my tent and sleep for the night.

For the first time in about a week and a half I've put up my tent again! I'm in an orchard on a hill, close to the town of Sangerhausen in the German state of Saksen-Anhalt. As I was cycling uphill to look for a place to sleep away from the road, I ran into the guy who ows the orchard. He told me I was more than welcome to put up my tent here, and pick as many cherries from the trees as I like. I couldn't have asked for a better spot.

So yeah, lately I've been staying at people's homes. After my first Warmshowers experience, it was only a short ride to Kassel. In Kassel I know Julia, whom I met at a festival last year. I spent two nights at hers. During the day that we had together we spent the afternoon hiking, contemplating about life and being amazed by the nature. There is a big hill next to Kassel, with a monument on top overlooking the city. On the way you can find a castle that seems to be straight out of a fairytale. After Kassel I went to Göttingen, where Erik lives. Funny enough I met Erik at the same festival last year. I also spent two nights at his place. During the day, Erik had some university things to do, and I came along. There was a lecture in the morning and a class about parasites in the afternoon, which took place in the fields.

From Göttingen, which is in Niedersaksen, I crossed into Thüringen. This meant crossing the former border between West Germany and East Germany. Until about 35 years ago, nobody could cross there. You could get shot if you tried; such a different world it was back then. It is still visible what used to be the bufferzone: between the grainfields there is a strip of wild-growing nature. Because back in the day the area was heavily militarised there might still be landmines in the former bufferzone, and so nobody cultivates it. One thing that I noticed right away when crossing into the former East Germany, was the amout of advertising for the AFD, Germany's populist far-right party. The European elections are being held these days, so there is a lot of political advertisement in the towns. But before crossing into former East Germany, I saw a mix of different parties being advertised. Here, however, I don't really see anyting else but AFD. This party would like to close Germany's borders again, just like many other extreme-right parties in Europe. People are dissatisfied with our current neoliberal system, and there certainly are problems. But these problems aren't national. Instead of fragmenting Europe, the only way to tackle current problems in the long run in through a stronger Europe.

Anyway, after Göttingen I had arranged to stay with another Warmshowers host. This was last night, and it was super fun! I was received by Philipp and his three young kids of 2, 4 and 7 years old. Good thing I speak some German! As I arrived the kids were full of energy, showing me tricks and asking me all kinds of questions. Dinner was just about ready when I arrived: we had hamburgers. In the evening, as the kids were sleeping, I shared a beer with Philipp next to the campfire. It was a great coversation. A few times during the trip so far I've felt some stress about where I would sleep, if I would get lonely, and so on. The last time I did a big trip by myself I was backpacking and staying in hostels a lot. This trip so far is very different, and I think at times I've been searching for my flow. Some comments that Philipp made, put these thoughts in perspective. I feel like this helped me to set my mind straight.

I've spent the last 2 nights in the small town of Herlinghausen, at the boundary between the two German states of Northrhine Westphalia and Hessen. I found a host here through Warmshowers, an application for bike packers to find people who can host you. It has been a great experience. Torben, the host, has a patch of land on which he has made a natural garden. All kinds of fruit trees, herbs and other edible plants grow there. He deliberately doesn't take away weeds and other things that start growing there, so it is very good for the nature. Insects and birs love it. This piece of land used to be a grain field, so the project regenerates the soil.

His latest project is building a tiny house, so he can actually start living in the garden. This is what I was helping with yesterday. We constructed the foundation for the roof, which is in the picture below.

After 5 days of cycling and a total of about 300 kilometres, I am now just outside Lippstadt in Germany. This has been my first goal, as a very good friend of mine lives here. We met in New Zealand in 2017, when we were both backpacking there. One night we were sitting in a hot tub in Rotorua, when I came up with the idea that one day I would cycle from my place in The Netherlands to his place in Germany. So yeah, this one can be ticked off the list of things to do!

The trip has been going well so far. Most days haven't been too sunny but not rainy either, which is nice for cycling. Yesterday I had to deal with some rain though. Before getting to Lippstadt my main companions have been my bicycle and my tent, so I was looking forward to get here. Yesterday morning, though, I met the first other bike packer. It was Christian from Austria, who was going to the North Cape and back. We shared coffee and had breakfast toghether in the rain. I was really surprised when he told me he was retired; at first I thought he was in his late 30s or early 40s. I suppose living an active lifestyle keeps you young.

Today I am taking my first rest day. 

THE ADVENTURE HAS STARTED!!! I left my home after lunch. My parents and siblings were there to wave me goodbye. Next time we'll see each other will most likely be in 2025. For the last week or two I've been at my parents' place to spend some valuable time with the family. Earlier this month I had a goodbye BBQ with friends in The Hague, a week later with friends in Friesland, and last week some family members came over. I can definitely say I'm lucky to be surrounded with such amazing friends and family, so I'm grateful to have had a proper goodbye. 

So yeah, I feel all ready for the trip now. Ready for the landscapes, the smells and sounds and tastes, the cultures, languages, the lessons in history, the political intricacies, also the sore butt, the sunburn and the food poisoning (or am I?), and the nights I will spend looking at the stars, as well as the sunrise- and set, and the thunder storms and the buzzling cities. But most of all, I am ready for the people with whom I'll cross paths. If past travel experiences have taught me one thing it is this: you'll meet the most interesting individuals.

Today has not been a very long day. There were still some preparations to do in the morning, so I left in the afternoon. Cycled about 45 kilometres, and now I'm at a camp site in the province of Drenthe. I reckon that The Netherlands will be one of the few, if not the only country that I will learn more about by leaving it than by cycling through it. Spending extended periods of time abroad gives you the chance to see your own country from an outsider perspective. In my experience so far, I usually start to appreciate small things about my own country that I had not noticed before.

Preparations for the big adventure are in full swing. I'm lucky to have a friend who knows all about bicycles: It's a second hand bike and I came to the conclusion that the chain and the blades might not be able to sustain a trip to the Middle East. We replaced 2 out of 3 front blades, the chain, the cassette (back blades), and also the cables for the brakes. The brakes themselves I had already replaced. I also got a flat tyre, which I thought was great because it gave me a good opportunity to refresh my tyre-fixing skills before starting the trip. I am now quite confident that the bicycle is ready. By dismantling and reassembling the bike I've also learned more about the bike itself, which gives me the confidence that I can fix it myself when needed. Meanwhile I am delivering groceries to scramble some last savings for the trip.