Month: September 2014

The Silk Route 2014 is officially over! We made it to Istanbul after an amazing few days of riding, through beautiful forests, steep hills, and a little bit of rain. We biked along the shore of the Black Sea before cutting inland and riding down the Bosphorus strait into Istanbul. Here is my actual GPS…

I am lying in bed in Safranbolu, enjoying the last rest day of the trip. Only four days of riding left!  

This final section of the Silk Route is aptly named the Hills of Anatolia. Last week there were hills, now there are HILLS. We just finished a very tough seven days of riding between rest days. The weather has been great – cool at night, and not getting too hot during the day. We now only…

Over the last several days we biked from Iran into Turkey. We are now just finishing our rest day in the city of Kars. The riding has been pretty tough, with lots of hills. But the weather has been nice – not the brutal heat that we have had to deal with for the last…

On our rest day in Tabriz, I went to the bazaar. The huge market is in a building with elaborate tiled ceilings. You can buy pretty much anything there, including some pretty strange carpets. The Iranians apparently really like sparkly shoes and gold jewellery. At night, I took a cable car to the top of…

In Tehran, we went to the Azari Traditional Teahouse. The place was pretty full, so we sat on the stage behind the band. They served us tea and a traditional Iranian meal. In the smaller town of Zanjan, we went to an amusement park. Most of the rides were closed after a safety inspection, but…