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TRAVEL FEATURE - TURKEY ANTONIO FEMIA ( w ) / ALESSANDRA REALE ( p )
THE WIDE ROUGH ROADS OF TURKEY
The murmur of the single cylinder is the soundtrack of our lazy pace , forcibly slow because of the many trucks in both directions . The chilly air bites hard as we leave Konya early in the morning , a short ride on the D-330 , a four-lane highway like all selfrespecting Turkish roads , and then found ourselves stuck in the traffic .
The temperature grows as we go lower , the muggy weather takes away the fascination of the motorbike as an instrument of freedom . Turkey is a large country and it looked more so staring at a map printed on both sides . In the morning we got over the shock of turning the map , now we ’ re ready to go over the limit , taking the speedway ! It turned out to be the wisest choice not only to shorten the time but especially to mitigate the unbearable desert heat of August . The O-52 Speedway quickly crosses the southeast of the nation , cutting the plane desert stretching southbound to infinity , streaked with scattered cultivations as green spots , interrupting a constant carpet in all its shade of amber .
It ’ s night when we finish our 650 kilometres for the day , aware that the other side of the map is related to a more intense declination of Turkish hospitality , during the last stops in service stations we exchanged tobacco with local people , they offered us their intense coffee , we shot photos together with the owner and the cook of a restaurant , quickly shared worldwide over their Instagram . In these days it ’ s hard to meet western tourists and our presence is a real event for them .
Mustafa , hotel Uğur ’ s owner , welcomes us with plenty of tea upon the terrace , still warm despite hours after sunset . Suggesting what to see in and around the city of Sanliurfa , the city of prophets , Mustafa talks about how things have changed in
TRAVERSE 125