Monthly Archives: December 2021

Hallelujah, the Hagia Sophia is a mosque!

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This post is about a visit to the Hagia Sophia. She has recently been converted into a mosque, which I think is wonderful. One cannot visit Xi’an without seeing the Terracotta Army, one cannot visit Samarkand without seeing the Registan, and one cannot visit Istanbul without seeing the Hagia Sophia. It is the law. And […]


eclecticism

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This post is about a visit to Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. I am confused by the stylistic mess and delighted by a forgery and by a church. The Caboose is safe in a garage on the European side while I am staying with the Kantian in Kadฤฑkรถy. Istanbul is all around me, and I can […]


a walk from Asia to Europe

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This post is about a walk over the Bosphorus Bridge. I worry about the Caboose and end up almost getting in the way of the Turkish President. When I crouched down to put the newly repaired wheel back onto the Caboose, I noticed something alarming: the suspension of the wheel was broken. It was unclear […]


Kabus means nightmare

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This post is about being worried in Kadikรถy. I am wearing a Santa hat, and I go and get a wheel and my hat repaired. Am I an optimist or a pessimist? I am not sure. On the one hand you have to be an optimist – even to the point of being naive – […]


how to get permission to walk over the Bosphorus Bridge

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This post is about how I finally get permission to walk over the Bosphorus Bridge. It involves a run to the Governor’s Office and the Police. I slept for a day, then I sat down with the Kantian to talk about my worries. The Bridge Problem. The goddamned Bridge Problem. Many people were trying to […]


Istanbul

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This post is about a 33km walk from Polonezkรถy to Istanbul. The day starts with snow and ends in a traffic vortex. But I am happy. Istanbul. Finally. After all those years of trying to get there, after a global pandemic and a personal diagnosis, I found it hard to believe that it was real. […]


Poles

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This post is about a 9km walk from Cumhuriyet to Polonezkรถy. I wonder about some trash in a forest, and then someone asks me if I’m Polish. I wanted to be a bit closer to Istanbul for the final push into the city. So I found a village with a couple of guesthouses in the […]


Goodbye, Hospitable Sea

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This post is about a 26km walk from Dogancili to Cumhuriyet. It’s the last time I will walk alongside the Black Sea. I woke up in my winter sleeping bag, breathing little white clouds into the air above me. When I got up the cats were still there, and so was the Black Sea. It […]


the same to a cat

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This post is about a 20km walk from Sile to Dogancili. I start out getting lost on the coast, then I walk on the highway for a while. After a day spent dodging the rain in Sile, I decided it was time to leave. Istanbul was waiting. Europe was waiting. The Bridge Problem was waiting. […]


cautious optimism

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This post is about a 22,6km walk from Imrenli to Sile. It rains even harder than the day before. But I am optimistic about something. All my stuff had dried overnight, and they were all warm from the radiators. So I put on warm clothes and warm shoes and a warm hat, and then I […]


poncho

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This post is about a 14km walk from Agva to Imrenli. It rains all day, but in the end I get good food and a poncho. Three days it had rained without stopping. The pavement was wet, the air was wet, the dogs were wet, everything was wet. When I went to a restaurant to […]


1-3-0-0-0

This post is about a 22km walk from Bagirganli to Agva. It’s the day where The Longest Way crosses the 13.000km mark, and of course I dance. I rose at sunrise and got on my way. The weather forecast was talking about heavy rain in the afternoon, and I wanted to arrive at my destination […]


screaming while sober

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This post is about a 22km walk from Kerpe to Bagirganli. It follows one of the nicest roads I’ve ever been on. It had rained a bit during the night, but I had been warm and safe in a hotel room. When I stepped out onto the road there weren’t and people in sight. There […]


previously on Lost

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This post is about an 28km walk from Ortakรถy to Kerpe. I get lost a few times, and in the end I run into a pack of dogs. When I woke up, my guest was still there. She stretched herself and demanded some more bread, then she left without so much as a goodbye. She […]


the imam’s cat

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This post is about a 30km walk from Karasu to Ortakรถy. I end up pitching my tent next to a mosque, and I have a guest for the night. After a day of rest in Karasu I felt a bit better. It had stopped raining, too. So I slowly waltzed out of town, past rows […]


booster fail

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This post is about a 16km walk from Kocaali to Karasu. I hang out with a baker, then I fail to get a Covid vaccine booster shot. Another morning, another empty place. I stepped out of the door and pulled the Caboose onto the street. I moved west and then northwest without talking to anyone, […]


walking on plastic

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This post is about a 15km walk from Karabun to Kocaali. My feet hurt and I am generally whiny. I end up in a pink guesthouse, though. The whole place was quiet when I left. I didn’t know if it was because nobody was awake or because nobody was there. I walked on a narrow […]


anger

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This post is about an 18km walk from Akcakoca to Karaburun. I follow a highway along the coast, and I am angry all day. One thing I did over the past few days when I was down with a cold in a small hotel room that smelled like smoke: I deleted more than half of […]


pekmez & tahini

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This post is about pekmez and tahini, and how I think it’s extremely weird that we don’t have them in Germany. Over the next few days I drank a lot of tea with lemon. I also took some cold medicine that the receptionist had given me. I tried to stay in my room as much […]