Monthly Archives: May 2015

Riding a bicycle into Istanbul is definitely an interesting (and in many ways very stupid) way to spend your day. Even though I had taken a one day detour to get to approach the city from the “calm” north, traffic was… intense. To put it nicely. By now I’ve been riding in to quite a few big cities in Europe, but Istanbul makes them all seem like small villages in comparison.

I only had a 40 km ride to do, but still it was more exhausting than going three times the distance or have a full day of riding somewhere in the mountains. However, everything went great, and in late afternoon I found my Warm Showers host Ali’s place and could finally relax. And relax I did. Actually I ended up relaxing for a full week.

My host Ali. A professional model train repair man…

…who proved to not only repair trains as he fixed every little piece of my broken gear

There are one million things to do and see in Istanbul. And any other time I would probably be running back and forth between monuments and bazaars to try to check off as many of them as I could. But this time I pretty much spent the week trying to do as little as possible. Apart from sleeping in every morning, eating crazy amounts of Turkish food and cuddling with Ali’s dog Dino that is. And I think I needed that.

No cleats, and a passed out dog. Just the right level of intensity for a week off the saddle.

Just some 10 K’s from the loadness, hussle and busy streets of central Istanbul

Well, of course. I did do some tourist stuff. And I did start working on the paperwork for my visas. And I did (well, mostly Ali) give my bike a well needed overhaul to get it ready for Asia.

Some pics from the week:

On my second day in Istanbul the Turks were celebrating one of their big national holidays

Ali and I decided to make it a little more Swedish…

…and snuck in a couple of new colors in the big ocean of Turkish flags

I got short but sweet visit from Swedish Kerstin and Jörgen – representatives from The Bike Ramble’s sponsors SDC. Together we went in full out tourist mode for one day.

And maybe most impornant of all. The bike. It had been taken care of me for more than two months without complaining. For sure it had made itself worthy of the spa treatment of a lifetime.

No matter how nice it felt to not think about cycling for a while, I got restless a lot quicker than I thought. After just a few days I was already feeling eager to get going, and after a full week I could almost feel my legs pedaling in my sleep. I’ve gotten so used to the constant movement of life on the road, and in some way I’m starting to feel like I not just want, but actually need it.

After being room mates for a full week, it was sad saying goodbye to Ali. I think we both had gotten used to having each other around, so leaving felt kind of weird. At the same time my mind and body was so damn eager to hit the road again. I have a feeling that these mixed emotions of sadness for leaving and excitement to keep going will accompany me for this whole experience.

So. Deep breath. 1.. 2.. 3!

And I was off. Waving to Ali in the rear mirror as I was slowly taking my first pedal strokes on big leg number two.

Warm up is over, and the real adventure has now officially begun.

I’m cycling Asia!

Country number twelve of The Bike Ramble was Greece. Yet another place I visited for the first time. I crossed in from Macedonia without having checked the maps all that much, so I didn’t really know what I would come to.

Not all that much, it turned out. Or the opposite, depending on how you look at it. My first day in Greece I passed a couple of tiny villages, but apart from them I was really out in the Greek nothingness. This was an absolutely amazing day as I for one of the first times really got the feeling of being in a truly remote place.

Think this sign was a pretty good indicator that one of the villages I passed through wasn’t all that up to date

With a few shepheards as my only company, I cycled my way up and down rolling hills surrounded by the most stunning views. Every pedal stroke with the greatest sense of freedom and the feeling that ‘This is it. This is exactly why I’m doing this’.

Having to filter my water from streams instead of just stopping at the next gas station, and having unlimited options of dreamlike campspots gave me the best start possible in Greece.

I spent a total of about one week in the country, and I enjoyed myself immensely. The country is absolutely beautiful, and people were way too nice to me. Seems like anywhere I went, people welcomed me with open arms and… food!

Several times when I stopped somewhere – asking to use the toilet or fill my water bottles – I ended up having lunch with the gas station owner or spend the entire afternoon with a Greek family who were out to eat. It’s mindblowing and so heartwarming to see all these people reach out with the only intention of being nice to this unknown foreign girl riding her bicycle.

It’s still a fact that I’m travelling solo. But I’m surely not alone.

I don’t think a salad could possibly get anymore Greek than this one

Slowly I cycled my way East. With great days in the saddle and more amazing camping I felt like I was smiling my way though every single day. Even the couple of rainy ones I had.

Something that came to my mind a bunch of times every single day through Greece was this thing with ‘not appreciating what you have until it’s gone’. We all know it’s true, right?

Apparently it’s also applicable to alphabets. Man, I really haven’t been giving road signs with Latin letters enough credit!

Big stretches of road I had pretty much to myself. Many people think that solo cyclists spend all this time on their own, buried in deep thoughts about life or how to create world peace when they get back. And sure. It’s definitely true that I spend way more time in reflection than I ever do at home. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that this is anywhere near the whole truth.

When I’m alone, I’m letting out my inner dork. And trust me, my inner dork is pretty damn dorky – but she does make me smile. I’m singing (screaming) on the top of my lungs in the downhills when I’m happy. I’m dancing like a fool by the side of the road when I need to cheer myself up. And I’m taking selfies with turtles when the opportunity presents itself.

My guess is that not only touring cyclists, but most people goof around like this when noone is looking. And if not, at least I think everyone should. Having fun is fun! And if you’re having fun by yourself, at least you know that the whole crowd (you) will laugh at any joke you make. Foolproof!

The gallery on my phone is filled with tracks from moments like this.

1. Wait, what’s that? Inner dork waking up.

2. OK. Only one resonable thing to do here.

3. Pull out the camera and hope that I’m as alone as I think.

4. And then of course. Snap a photo pretending to be the most badass cycling spy Greece has ever seen.

My week in Greece ended just as great as it had begun. Though in a very different manner compared to the start. Already a couple of months back I had been invited to Alexandroupolis by blog reader Philippos. With his friends Vladimir and Alex I was treated to a couple of relaxing days of the bike.

My tent was replaced by a comfy bed. The pasta from my stove by ouzo and fresh fish. And the filtered stream water turned into liters of frappe cappuchino. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to end my time in Greece. The day I left, Philippos and Vladimir even joined me to pedal the last stretch before the Turkish border.

I think you can tell this by now. But I really, really love this weird new life I live on the road.

Take care!

Fredrika

It’s almost been a month now since I crossed into Albania from Montenegro. Since the start of my tour, people had kept telling me that ‘As long as you stay in Norhtern and Central Europe it will all be OK. But once you roll into the Balkans, everything and everyone will go absolutely nuts!’.

From before I aready knew that people tend to take any given opportunity to exaggerate how dangerous and ‘crazy’ things are in places they generally have no personal experience of. But even still, I had been rolling through Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Montenegro waiting for signs of this Balkan madness people kept referring to – without much success.

Probably somewhere in Montenegro I stopped thinking about this at all, as there obviously was not really any connection between these stories and reality. So more relaxed than ever I crossed into Albania, without even considering that things would be any different from the past few weeks through the Balkans.

But – they were.

I spent roughly one week in Albania. An intense week that involved lots of firsts and worsts. Povery, dirt, hopelessness and even violence was constantly present, and I many times had difficulty enjoying views and downhills in the same way I had been before. In hindsight though, it’s clear that many of the ‘bad’ parts of this week are very valuable experiences for my continuation East.

And already – less than one month later – I can look back at my time in Albania with a smile. Apart from being another country with beautiful landscapes and amazing people, it’s also the place were I aquired and got comfortable with a bunch of weird skills – like:

– Handling some pretty rough traffic both in and out of cities
– Fending of angry and aggressive mobs of dogs (with my feet and panniers still intact)
– Getting rid of rude and disrespectful truck drivers with a smile
– Avoiding potholes, enjoying great scenery and not get run over – all at the same time!

Don’t get me wrong though! Albania was awesome already while I was experiencing it. In so many ways, and because of so many wonderful people.

Here are a bunch of photos to give you some glimpses of my Albanian roller coaster ride!

My first night in Albania I met Mikel who welcomed me with homemade raki and a Shkodër city tour

Mikel’s house kind of became the meeting point of all tour cyclists passing through town

And I ended up having not just one, but four Swiss companions to Tirana

My fully loaded bike usually brings a lot of curiosity from people around. But cycling next to the rolling circus of Annaelle and Jonas, I was definitely no longer the center of attention

An early stop gave us lots of time for hanging out, reading maps and sharing stories from the road

With several stoves we took the opportunity to prepare a three course camp dinner

…And then suddenly I found myself in Tirana. With my mum and brother. Happy, happy, happy!

My mum’s idea of adventure. Head torch – sure. But queen sized hotel bed..?

Albanian structure?

And Albanian… Well, something.

Then finally. Came the countryside

And I got to do what I love the most. Peek into the lives of random – amazing – people for a night or two

This was definitely the most difficult and time consuing tent pitching I’ve ever experienced

But Mario came with it as a body guard so I was happy as could be!

Albania is absolutely beautiful. If you want it to be.

But you will have to ignore the trash and dirt that is always – always – present

When standing in the same spot you can either see this

Or turn around to see this…

Just kilometers before the border to Macedonia I ran into Sara from England – another female solo cyclist!

Possibly the coolest person I’ve ever met. One year ago she built her own bike – and rode it to Palestine. When she got there? Well. She simply wasn’t ready to stop just yet and is now pedaling her way back home.

That’s all for now. Keep your eyes open though. Another post – this one about my ride through Macedonia and Greece – is coming up shortly.

Cheers!

Keeping this blog up to date has been a bit tricky from the beginning, so last week I decided to take the time to finally catch up with the writing. Then Albania happened. And after a week with limited internet access I’m now even more behind than before. Let’s not worry too much about that though, sooner or later I promise to catch up with reality :)

Coming from Albania, possibly the poorest country in Europe, I feel pretty ridiculous writing this post. But for the sake of chronology, I’ll do it anyways.

So, where were we? Right.

After getting a little too comfortable by the touristic coastline of Croatia, I decided to search out some more adventure. And all I had to do to find it was to cross the mountains that stretch along the sea. Just a couple of hours of riding away from the hotels and bars by the waterfront, I was presented to a very different Croatia. A poorer and dirtier one. One where I actually needed the croatian words and expressions I had learned, but not really needed to use, while rolling down the coast.

I spent the day going for the border into Bosnia & Herzegovina and reached it an hour of so before sunset. Since I was just gonna spend a couple of days in the country, I didn’t really feel like camping and was hoping that I would find some locals who’d let me pick their brains for the night.

And I did!

One at least. And I’m still smiling just thinking about it.

That night Karlo – the ultimate Bosnian macho man – delivered a one man show I’m pretty sure I won’t forget in a long time. I won’t talk too much about this, but at least I can pass on a few quotes from this pretty hilarious guy.

To top the night off, I slept on the floor in the garage, next to Karlo’s gun.

Epic night, haha.

The next day I visited Mostar, one of the big tourist cities in the country. And it was nice. I guess.

It’s funny how things work for me while I’m travelling like this. When cycling I’m always going for the next goal – like Mostar in this case. And most of the time I’ve barely reached it before I want to go for the next one.

I knew it before, but it’s really getting more and more obvious that I don’t enjoy being in the cities nearly as much as I do being in between them. I mean. Seeing and walking over the old bridge in Mostar. Nice. But that’s it.

Spending the night in Karlo’s house in the middle of nowhere? That’s an experience!

However, I’m glad I got there, not least because of the road back towards Croatia being so incredibly beautiful. I followed a river I now can’t remember the name of, and it was one of those rides when you catch yourself about to crash into ditches just because you’re spending way to little time actually looking on the raod.

The way to, and the surroundings of Mostar, ment seeing a lot more people suffering than I’d been doing up until then. I still wasn’t used to, or ready for, passing old ladies digging through garbage for something to eat. Or kids simply sitting in the street doing nothing but staring at their feet. Not even begging for money. Just existing.

Of course this is something I’ve known is coming. And even though I do enjoy sunshine and clean bathrooms, this is exactly why I’m doing this trip. To see the world. And to see it as it actually is. However, I won’t deny that I was really caught off guard here. Again, I knew this was coming. But I didn’t know it was coming so soon. And it hit hard.

After a heartbreaking day back towards the Croatian coast, I had one of the best homestays so far on the trip. With the family who seemingly had the least to give. Determined to make me feel like one of the family, I was pampered with food, bread, hugs and probably the warmest welcome I’ve ever gotten in a house where I really don’t belong.

This was one of those nights that are simply too good for my mind to remember to take out the camera, and I’m sad that I don’t have a photo together with the whole family. However, I do have one of the bed the dad of the family ‘built’ me.

Where I late into the night fell alseep with a crazy mix of emotions swirling inside of me.

This was definitely my best detour so far, and after a morning of coffee, laughs and more hugs I returned to continue my journey along the coast.

When I got back there the sea was just as beautiful, and the ‘Caffe Bars’ just as many as when I left. The big difference though, was that now I actually knew what was behind those big mountains on my left side.