Crazy how much there is to experience in 4 weeks! Our path led us to the paradise of Gaziantep. If you ask a Turk, where you should definitely experience the local dishes, in 90% of the cases, the answer will be – you'll have to go to Gaziantep! And it's true, the food there was especially aromatic and super tasty. The Baklava got a whole new meaning, because it really melted on the tongue here and it was just incredibly tasty. We also had taste other dishes like for example Iskender or Lahmacun and many sweets on our food tour.

Our destinatiob was Mardin. From there we wanted to go to the Van See. The climate in south east Antanolia got drier and hotter. Especially at the start of the route we quickly realized, that we had to fill up enough water, because stores, let alone houses, became quite rare. Sometime we cycled for 50 kilometers without seeing a single tree, that could provide us with some shadow.

After all though, we met – in case we encountered someone on the way – very heartfelt people. One day we discovered a ruin, in front of which we wanted to spend the night. When it got dark, a car stopped in front of the ruin and an elderly man come towards us with his son. They tried everything to convince us, to come home with them. But we were still really tired from the ride, had already built up our tent and ate. Dismanteling everything again and driving multiple kilometers through the dark to an outlying village, was just not eligible for us. They said goodbye and half an hour later another car came towards our camping spot. It was the same men as before. This time though, they had a huge bag of food with them, so nice really! We found potatoes, onions, paprikas, chili, but also salad from their own garden and even a sort of yoghurt in it. We learned later, that we should've eaten that together with the salad.

The next day we arrived in Mardin in the late afternoon. We definitely wanted to explore the old town, but we needed more time for that. So we needed a place for the night. After a little longer search we ended up finding something. A security guard smiled at us and that was the moment. We asked if he had a spot for our tent and not long after that we could build up our tent around the corner. To capture the perfect evening mood and the sunset, Dani got the drone and started a roundflight over the beautiful Mardin. After a short time the satellites suddenly failed and the drone didn't get any signals anymore and decided to land somewhere out of sight on its own. We paniced. First the phone that was run over by a truck and now the drone was gone too... nerves were on edge. Did this bad luck just never end? We had no other choice, than to start trying to find it somewhere coincidentally or to just leave it on its own. The new finder would certainly have much fun with it.

Dani started running, somewhere where he assumed it to be based on the last photos. Out of breath he asked all passer-by, if they had seen something. One said he could eventually help us and we exchanged numbers. Two hours later this someone showed up with our drone in his hands. Crazy! Oh how relieved we were, we had never expected that! We wanted to a finder's reward to the young turk, but he refused and said it comes from the heart. Simply incredible!

While Mardin was already fascinating, Midyat absolutely captivated us. We reached the city around noon and had just gotten bread at the bakery. Not far away we found a bench with a roof where we could sit in the shade and eat. We got our olive oil. Melli started cutting the tomatoes. A man came out of nowhere and asked if we wanted tea or something to eat. We thanked him politely and pointed at our small bowls. Not even minute had passed and another man came. This man had two steaming teas on a tray, that we just couldn't say no to. 

He was barely gone and a young woman showed up with an even bigger tray. She had a bowl with olives, cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, bread and 2 glasses as well as water and juice for us. We were speechless. Something like that had never happened to us! The woman saw our food, but hers was better and we should definitely eat it. We couldn't refuse that. She came again and went even further. A steaming pan with cheese on a fried egg... so good and we were totally blown away. But it wasn't over just yet. The woman came a third time and served us Mokka in the cutest glasses with silver patterns and a cap, that we had ever seen. There was also Lokum, i.e. turkish delight and nuts. We were in heaven! The nice woman didn't want anything in return, she was just happy, that we liked everything so much and took photos with us. We never experienced such hopsitality in our almost 2 years of world tour... just incredible!

Best wishes from on the way
Melli & Dani
 

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