Facing a miniature sandstorm on the road. Better get used to it, there will be more of those along the way.

Created by vulcanic activity millions of years ago, Cappadocia is a geological oddity of honeycombed hills and towering boulders of otherworldly beauty.

Riding around and getting amazed by the natural sights and ‘buildings’ all around

Thousands of years ago, when mankind started roaming these lands, they learned that the matter composition in these vulcanic towers is quite softer and brittle. They used this to there advantage by carving entire cities and settlements out of the rockformations. I can only imagen how it must have been when these settlements were buzzing with people. It’s genius!

Man, I am not made for this much sun!

Taking Perry off road through Cappadocia and having an absolute blast!

Went on a little expedition in a Cristian ‘Church’ carved into a mountain. Man sees a narrow hole in the ground, and guess what does he does. Ofcourse he goes inside! When finally stumbled down, crawled through tiny tunnels leading to an underground chamber and a dead end. So crawling back again and having quite a hard time pushing myself up again on the narrow hole with my full motorcycle gear on. Would I do it all over again? Evet!!

Watching the sun set in Cappadocia.

After a good night sleep and a great breakfast with delicious DARK bread filled with seeds (thank you Sayra), nothing is more relaxing than playing guitar and singing Red Hot Chili Peppers and Johnny Cash. All thanks to my wonderful hosts Gürol and Sayra Çaydaş of Prana Cave Hotel in Cappadocia. It gave me the power to ride the upcoming hundreds of kilometers towards Erzincan.

With already 250km behind me, I had to find a stop to buy some snacks and refreshments (and also massage my buttocks). The owner walks around screaming ‘Meraba!’, but when he spotted my license plate switched to; ‘Ggallo, how ggaat et mhet jouw? Amsterdam, Rotterdam, van Persie!’ Turned out his brother is actually living in the Netherlands and therefor he knew some Dutch. He introduced himself as Turgut and was such a warm and positive man. I was offered Cay (Turkish Tea) and we had a conversation with hands and feet. Turgut got really interested in my motorcycle and started throwing big piles of 100 Lira notes on the table. Saying ‘Take, you fly to Amsterdam’. I could only laugh and shake my head.

Along the way I spotted an adventurous biker riding on the safetylane. I passed by with while giving a big thumbs up and felt that I needed to stop a bit further to have a chat. While taking of my helmet and gloves the guy came closer and (again upon seeing my licenseplate) said; ‘Eindelijk weer eens Nederlands praten!’ This hero is called David and decided to ride his bicycle from Belgium to Tehran. After a great chat we promised each upon finishing our trips to have a nice glass of La Chouffe when back in the flatlands.

The evening fell, the air was getting very chilly and I was nowhere near Erzincan yet, but cruising through the mountains far away from a city or even a small town. When I spotted a lake on the other side of the highway I made a big U-turn and started looking for a little dirtroad off the highway that could take me towards the lake. When I realised there was none I used the alternative by making a sharp turn to the right, turning on the big light and taking Perry off the road and across the fields and towards the water the hard way. There I eventually found a nice piece of flat ground that, by looking at the firepits, has been used for camping in the past. Perfect! (this shot was actually made the next day in the morning)

Since I was sleeping under the stars I could have a great view of the 2015 Blood Moon on the night of 27/28 September. When the natural event was in full effect, almost all surrounding light was dimmed, making it possible to see vast numbers of stars and to me yet unkown formations. I tried to focus me 18-55 lens as best as I could and balanced my camera on the side of my boot. This is the result.

It was very cold in the mountains, accompanied by a strong wind from the water, it left me shivering all night. You have to suffer if you want to make blurry pictures of the Blood Moon.

Following the road towards Erzurum throw the vast mountains and badly maintained roads (Self graded; +1BE, which means still better than Belgium) having a yoghurt with muesli breakfast at 1pm.

Riding on a nice piece of tarmac towards the border of Iran.

When finally arriving at the border of Turkey there were some things that had to be arranged before I could enter the country. For some reason the system was not having it’s day, so the gut behind the counter decided it would be best to just play a few games of Backgammon (for one solid hour) before undertaking any other actions. Welcome to Turkey! :D

With yet another great experience at a bordercrossing, the was luckely something good coming from these moments of pure misery. At the same time a Romanian couple on a bike were passing through the border and since we were both heading towards Istanbul, decided to wait for me and ride the remaining 260km together.

Finally getting close to Istanbul. If you think Turkish traffic is horrible during the day, try it at night..

Walking through the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul

DO NOT SIT ON THE STAIRS. People are wonderful

Leaving Istanbul behind me as I cross the Marmara Denizi with a ferry. Farewell Istanbul, until we meet again.

At the bordercontrol I realised i did not had my passport in my travelpouch and had to strip my entire luggage in the hope to find it. (hoping I did not leave it in Trieste.)

The face says it all..

The view from the balcony of my wonderful hosts in Krapina. Such an interesting little town.

Perry in the line of fire. In Croatian towns and villages there are still many building around that are a hard reminder of the Yugoslav War and the Croatian War of Independence. These public buildings, houses and streetcorners were completly torn up by shells and bulletfire. With a heavy feeling in my stomach I took some time to let the buildings engulve me with impressions of courage, pride, hatred, revolt, sacrifice and the innocent caught in the conflict.

Greetings from Timisoara, Romania!

Skull Tower, Nis, Serbia

Riding through the Serbian mountains in the south

The Bulgarian cheese is so compact and rich of taste, even knives are no match for it. Delicious stuff!

Beautiful view of the sun setting in Rose Valley and the town Karlovo in Bulgaria

How many times do you find yourself in the actual Balkan mountains? This was my excuse to try out something new :)

Paragliding in the Balkan Mountains.

Wisdom comes with age and experience, but sometimes also on the inside of a bottlecap.

Roughly translated;

The most important things in life are not things.