As I already said, in Istanbul I found some of that normality that I had lost mile by mile, step by step, even if in the end normality doesn’t exists, luckily… it depends on the way you look at things.
Istanbul will always remain impressed on me, but I think that as every big metropolis it doesn’t fully reflect the soul of a population, at least in an era such the one we live in!
To tell the truth, when I left I didn’t know what to expect, I had to retake my rhythm and engage mind and body again, that were a bit numb after the long-wanted, but brief, sedentary break. As always I located on the map the path to follow but then I had to extemporize day by day… In fact I couldn’t imagine that the way to the Black Sea was so dry in its structure, even if at the same time so rich of generous and radiant people… here, hospitality is a religion.
Following the D10, the first 60 miles were surrounded by too much smog, buildings and confusion, but once I left that “district”, to be precise in the area from Sapanca Lake to the green Bolu mountains, everything became more uncontaminated; when I couldn’t find a place to camp in the greenery I was sustained, as always, by the gas station attendants, who always gave me shelter and some place on the still boiling cement… but at least it was safe and guarded.
Then the landscape began to change, slowly indeed, but incredibly sudden to my standard… everything was drier, the cultivated fields became more and more rare and the climate hot-dry and stifling, that kind of climate that leads you to drink a liter of water every minute… I started to do some training for the real deserts that I will face, and I have to say that enjoyed that… I enjoy the contact with the silence, and listening to the voice of the wind that digs the rocks, blow by blow; in silence everything becomes richer… it only got interrupted by the villages I found on the way, by the song coming from the mosques in the prayer times, that fills the valleys of charm and colors of ancient times. I can’t wait to feel that silence completely, I will let all these sensations surround me, and it will be then very difficult to get back to reality!!
Crossing Turkey on the road, and slowly, literally drives the Turkish people mad, a curious people, they bombard you with questions even if they perfectly know you’re not understanding a word of what they say.
In my next post I will try to describe you some anecdote of their generosity towards the neighbor, so entrenched in their culture, where there have been exchanges of view… I’m learning a bit more what Islam means, what being a Muslim means! And if you’re wondering whether I’m losing weight… not at all!! Here, at every mile I’m offered food and so much company…
I’m getting used to everything very easily, and Turkey has already entered my heart as any nation before.
Always smile

Thanks to Carolina Quaranta for translation!