posted on 28 Oct 2022 Tatev — 10 Sep 2022 Tatev monastery

While we are taking a few, long overdue rest days here in the mountains in Italy, I can finally take the time to write about some of our more positive experiences of the trip again. We have more or less been on the move non-stop since we left Iran, and in the meantime we crossed Turkey by train, island-hopped through Greece and cycled for two weeks in Italy. More about our current plans at the end of the post, but first: Armenia.

keep reading

posted on 26 Sep 2022 Miyaneh — 21 Sep 2022 Impressive mosaics inside the Blue Mosque

Salām! We finally made it to Iran after ten months of travelling. We were so happy to have made it and the first week in the country was amazing. Only to come to an abrupt end a few days later. We had an encounter with the secret police and the scary experience made us decide to leave Iran. We spent only ten days in Iran and saw the ugly face of it way too quickly.

keep reading

posted on 6 Sep 2022 Tbilisi — 26 Aug 2022 Road to Mestia

Well, Georgia turned out a bit different than we had expected and it ended up being not a very positive experience. In the end, we did have a few nice days of cycling and went to some beautiful places, but overall we didn't enjoy our time so much.

keep reading

posted on 13 Aug 2022 Batumi — 11 Aug 2022 Cycling in 40°C

Here's part two of our time in Turkey. From Ankara, we cycled southeast towards Turkish Kurdistan, until we realised we had to change our plans of going to Iran through Iraqi Kurdistan. We took another bus and eventually finished off Turkey in the northeast, before reaching the Black Sea and crossing the border to Georgia.

keep reading

posted on 3 Aug 2022 Anakara — 6 Jul 2022 Always up

Merhaba arkadaşlarım! Since our last update, we cycled from Istanbul to the Mediterranean Sea, followed the coastline for a while, took a bus to Ankara and then cycled through Central Anatolia to reach the summit of Mount Nemrut, before arriving in Mesopotamia by crossing the famous Eufrat.

keep reading

posted on 19 Jun 2022 Istanbul — 2 Jun 2022 Istanbul skyline

It has been four weeks since we left Thessaloniki. Since then, many things have happened. Mainly because we changed countries, from Greece to Turkey or, more correctly, Türkiye. The hospitality and generosity since then have been crazy, and it’s getting more intense by the day. There are so many stories to tell, more than I could write down, but here are a few of them.

keep reading

posted on 23 May 2022 Thessaloniki — 21 May 2022 Mount Olympus

Last week we started the second part of our trip as we handed over the keys of the camper van to my parents and we left Athens on our bicycles. Next significant stop: Istanbul (or, Konstantinopouli for the Greeks).

keep reading

posted on 15 Mar 2022 Brașov — 4 Mar 2022 Tineke and fresh snow

Parked just next to the border of Serbia, but still in Romania, it is time to reflect on our three-week stay here. I had been in Romania before and was looking forward a lot to exploring a bit more. Although, I can say that I still don't like (most of) the dogs here.

keep reading

posted on 22 Feb 2022 Waregem — 10 Nov 2021 Tineke's bird on Walter

This is Walter. Our camper van. Our home for the next couple of months, mostly.

keep reading