Izzettin, the village habituated by the Turkic ethnic group, Crimean Tatars, has been a comfortable camping spot for me for the first night. I packed my tent and my sleeping bag up to my bicycle and thought about if my eyes really looked like “those of Tatars” as the family’s father suggested.

After 2,5 hours of ride, I had the first break of the day at the Turkish Petroleum. That break was not on my mind but the sign in front of the Station tricked me: “Turkish Tea and Screenwash are from the house!”

I took this opportunity to prepare myself a cup of coffee, and to plan tomorrow’s currency exchange at the border town, Ipsala. It was only 24 degrees Celcius but everyone was sweating all those free Turkish tea out. While I was leaving, I heard a man who got over the temperature with radical acceptance, saying: “Well, I guess all we can do is to get roasted now ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯”

They were the first dogs of the day, one of them had this bad-boy character reflecting his collar well.

Entering Tekirdağ Province, my muscles already wiped out each molecule of glucose or keton bodies available for my brain, so I hit the wall. I couldn’t ride further but I had to because after 15 minutes of rest I had no water left. I decided not to die out of thirst under a giraffe statue and started moving. At that moment I’ve encountered with two road cyclists, and they offered me their friend’s place to spend the night.

At first it looked like an awesome idea, but when I hydrated my brain a little, I knew that I should start with wildcamping. I was quite well conscious with my fear of it. Even we were in a conversation with my fellow cyclists, my RAM was busy with that night’s camping spot, so I wasn’t really there.

Then I stood up and said goodbye to them, one of my fresh bicycle-buddy warned me about the “long and steep hill” I’ll have to go over to leave Tekirdağ province. Once I heard this challenge, I become much more keen on to go over that hill. It was just before sunset, and while I was climbing up, my face warm in face of the afternoon sun, sweating even on the forearms, feeling out of breath and my heart pounding, I was already floating in joy of the physical and mental endeavor. Even the noise of the trucks before me felt somehow like a music or a beat.

Leaving Tekirdağ behind, I started riding around the Nusratlı Village, hope to find some trees to put my tent under. But all I could see or find was fields. I went up of a hill and reached the graveyard and at the moment I decided to set up my tent behind the graveyard, a family of 6 get out of a car in front of me. They were there to pray for the loved ones who passed away.

I couldn’t sleep behind the graveyard but filling my water bottles full was quite a win. I rode of to hill and prepared to leave the village, but it won’t be that easy. Suddenly, a dog with quite familiar looks started running after me, barking. Aha!

Well, I am quite an expert on dogs of any kind. So, I knew exactly how to approach it and we were friends with this crazy barking dog in 30 seconds. After cuddling with her, I directed my bicycle to the main road. At this moment, I thought I have seen a toy on the road. Upon approaching the toy, I realized it was a lizard with a vivid green color and a bleeding skull. I hopped down the bicycle and moved the lizard to the side of the road where it can -maybe- heal somehow. Well, I couldn’t do any operations on its skull but, he would have no chance to survive if he stayed on the road anyways.

After inspecting the lizard for a few more minutes, the dog had been called by the owner. But she hesitated to leave me, and I smiled to the owner. This crazy barking dog was the starting point of our conversation with the owner, Bekir Abi, who is a retired engineer. I asked him if he can think of any camping spots around the village and he answered “Safest place here is my garden, I have alarms and cameras and stuff. And the dog, Captain, of course.”

Me and Captain after making friends with each other, the ladybug I’ve found and lastly, Captain saying me goodbye!

Okay maybe not the cameras, but in sake of the dog and Bekir Abi’s vibe, I decided to stop here and put my tent. But the day was far then over!

Bekir Abi had 3 craftsmen working for him, and they were painting a new boat at the meantime. So Bekir Abi and Boat-Experts offered me this small sightseeing tour through the atelier. And of course, climbed up to the boat before the owner who paid for it, in order to feel the surface and get funny pictures.

Boats and books of Bekir Abi.

After the tour was over, Bekir Abi mentioned me about his daughter, Cansın, who around the town center to visit him. We planned to spend some time all together, if Cansın is available to do it. So Bekir Abi left to pick up his daughter and they were back with cherries for me!

When Bekir Abi and Cansın arrived, I was just finished with that day’s diary entry and was honored and emotional upon their kindness.

Me, Bekir Abi, Cansın and Captain shared this warm summer evening, chatted and stargazed together. Bekir Abi taught us how to identify a plane’s direction through the lights seen below. He told us about Angela Merkel’s lifelong dream, travelling with the Trans-Siberian Express. Bekir Abi also told about his encounter with this special traveler who was walking through the world. He told me that I was reminding him of that crazy walking guy. At that moment, we witnessed a peculiar flying object in the open summer sky. Of course, Bekir Abi knew what it was: Elon Musk’s Starlink.

Starlink was the peak point of the night, and we said goodnight to each other. It was quite easy to fall asleep in my tent, Captain at my side, guarding and snoring.

This journey was all about experiencing the world outside of my little bubble in Istanbul. And, even in the first two days, considering how much I have learned from the people, the journey served its purpose well. Western Tracea was treating me with kindness and gave me the sense of discovery about its people’s aims, joys and ambitions.

And oh! I have magically been found by another ladybug!

End of the day#2. (Right: Elon Musk’s Starlink spotted!)
Kilometers cycled: 113kms
Elevation gain: +1200m
Ladybug count: 1 (besides the abundance of many flying objects and satellites)