“the orient”

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This post is about a 25km walk from Lüleburgaz to Babaeski. There’s a cow skull, a ruin, and an orientalist sunset.

I hung out with Inanc of the Lüleburgaz Bicycle Academy until it was almost noon, then I got going.

The highway was the same as before, only the landscape wasn’t. There seemed to be more agriculture than heavy industry now. I even saw a few tractors in the fields. The world was still grey, but it wasn’t depressing anymore.

skulls

One time I passed a farm that had a cow skull impaled on its gate. I took some pictures, then a tiny old lady came out. She tried to tell me something about the skull. I couldn’t understand it. My translation software couldn’t understand it, either.

There was a rosary on the skull. Did she want me to do something with it? Or with the skull itself? She said the word “iron” in Turkish, and I thought I heard her saying the word “nowruz”. In the end we just smiled at each other and said goodbye.

dogs

The road went up and down in long waves. One time I ran into two dogs who seemed to be angry at first but turned out to be cool after I had given them a few pieces of bread. They led me to an abandoned building that seemed to be their home.

I went in and found more dogs. They all wanted bread. The building looked as if it had been a restaurant once. I took out the rest of my bread for them. One thing that united the dogs with the building was that they all seemed incomplete without any humans around.

sunsets

When the sun set, I was just on a hill overlooking the town of Babaeski. I placed the camera on the tripod, then I sat down and drank the rest of my tea. Below me, the round dome of a mosque and the rocket-like shape of its minaret stood out from the silhouette of the town. The sky went from blue to yellow, then it exploded in orange and red.

At first I could hardly hear the prayer call. It was a faint whisper that came with the wind, something that sounded almost like sadness in the distance. I looked at the colors and listened to the sound. And then I realized that this was pretty much the definition of “The Orient” that generations of boring travel writers had been looking for.

pictures

With Inanc of the Bicycle Academy:

with Inanc of the Lüleburgaz Bicycle Academy

Cow skull:

cow skull

Old lady:

old lady near Lüleburgaz

Tractor in a field:

tractor in a field

The road to walk from Lüleburgaz to Babaeski:

The road to walk from Lüleburgaz to Babaeski

Trash near the highway around Lüleburgaz:

trash on the way from Lüleburgaz to Babaeski

The highway:

the highway from Lüleburgaz to Babaeski

Roadside ruin:

roadside ruin between Lüleburgaz and Babaeski

Self portrait in front of the setting sun:

Chris with Caboose in front of the setting sun

Sunset over Babaeski:

sunset over Babaeski

Cedid-Ali-Paşa Mosque in Babaeski:

Cedid-Ali-Paşa mosque in Babaeski



  • Robert

    That lady reminds me of my 5th grade teacher, Sister Irma (nickname Irma the Germa).
    Those pixs are excellent artistry.

    F Putin

    Reply

  • Steffi J.

    Schön, wieder von dir zu “hören”. Gruß aus Dresden

    Reply

  • DorisLe

    I really hope you can manage to write more blogposts again. These times are so f****ed up that I long to see something else than depressing and sad news.
    Good luck and travel save!

    Reply

  • Frank

    Amazing: You walk for so many years but you can still focus on the details with your photographies. Discovering the beauty in the normality is an art you have mastered. Good luck and stay healthy save!

    Reply

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