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| sunflower fields are all over Gallipoli Peninsula |
After my unsuccessful Saroz Bay diving experience in Erikli, I at least wanted to swim at this very beautiful part of Aegea Sea. Gurol, my host from couchsurfing at Gelibolu offered to go to Fatma Kadin beach close to Gelibolu at Saroz Bay by bicycles. First I hesitated a little because he was a guy who had done a two week Europe trip by bike and I was not sure about my own physical condition. He convinced me and guarenteed to adapt his speed to mine. So we decided to go. It was a lovely trip and was not like what I was afraid of. The hills were still the biggest problems but I could deal the rest very well.
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| bicycles waiting for us at Fatma Kadin beach |
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| Fatma Kadin beach |
It took us 4-5 hours to go, to swim and to come back. I was feeling a little tired but very happy to be able to do a trip like that. For the next day I was planning to go to Gokceada, the very west of Turkiye. Everybody told me how big the island is and there are no buses or minibuses and I need a car or a motorcycle to travel around but I couldn't have found any vehicle by then. Gurol again offered me another brilliant idea. He told me to take his bike and go to Gokceada with it. He also described me the itenary of how I can go. I accepted it immediately.
The next day I woke up at 7am. Gurol helped me about the last arrangements and the Australian brothers who were also staying at his house prepared us breakfast. After the breakfast I was ready to go.
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| my bike and tent are ready to go! |
The only way to go to Gokceada is to take the ferry. The ferries are very big and not only carry the passengers but also the vehicles.
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| Gokceada ferry and the island Gokceada |
The entrance to Gokceada where I saw from the ferry was not like what I've been told. I was told that the island is green, full of trees but the hills I was seeing were very bare. Still with the excitement of riding a bike and adventure, I was eagar to go on.
Vegetation of the island changed radically inside the island. It was like a bare shell around the island to protect its forests inside. The other unexpected thing for me was the hills. The hills were very high for me to bike. At some points, ok I confess, at many points I had to walk near my bike. Under the hot sun, it was not easy to ride and when it was 5:30pm, I understood that the route I planned to do at the island was over my limits. I was in the middle of the island, climbing the hills, thirsty and tired. So I decided to turn back and find another way to reach the sea side.
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| riding the hills |
I found another road seems more smooth than the other one and decided to go from there. This time it was a challange I'd excepted. I started riding and after 3 or 4 minutes I was climbing again. But this time I didn't give up. I continued climbing. After nearly one hour, I was at the top of the hill ready to go down. I jumped to my bike and enjoyed the ride. Within 40 minutes, I saw the sea and had one of my greatest screams ever. Now I was riding beside the sea saying hi to every sheep and goat I saw and singing by myself.
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| free sheeps of Gokceada |
There are over 6000 people living on the island. This number increases at summer times because of tourists. But the real inhabitants are not the people but sheeps and especially goats. They live and be fed freely at nature. Because of this reason goat stew of Gokceada is very famous and incredibly delicious. If you have ever tasted Patagonian sheep, you will understand what I'm talking about.
The last aim of my first day was to find a place near the sea to camp and I was lucky to find it in half an hour. So before the sunset, I was able to swim and of course watch the sunset sitting in my tent.
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| my bike and my tent ready for the sunset |
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sunset
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It was my first time sleeping in nature without anybody. It was only me, my bike, goats, sea and the full moon and I loved it. During my trip I'll definetly do this as much as I can.
The next day I woke up at 6:30am, packed my tent and set out. Today's plan was to see Dereköy which was a big Greek village till 1970's. It has a church and a big laundry place where all the women were washing their clothes. After the Kıbrıs War, Greek people left their houses and turned back to Greece. Because of this the village is full of ruins. Still, there are turkish and greek people living in the village. And beside it would be lovely to have a organic village breakfast with fresh vegetables and home made cheese.
It was encouraging to notice that I perform better at riding today. The only problem was I had no water left. At Turkiye, especially around villages it is very normal to come across a drinking fountain. But this time it took me three hours to find one of them and as you can imagine, it was my second scream in the island.
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| my bike while I was drinking water from the fountain |
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| totally freash and organic village breakfast with 5 different kind of jams |
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| house ruins of Derekoy, the Greek village |
Turning back to the center lasted shorter than I expected. So I decided to see Kaleköy at the north side of the island before I leave.
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| Kaleköy |
After a two day trip of Gokceada, I was ready to go back to Gelibolu, pick up my luggage and get ready for Çanakkale the next day.
Gokceada, Imroz with its old name has a very long history. It was a very important place at past. If you want to learn more about it, here is the link of Wikipedia for you;
