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Dresden
One fixed gear, 13 countries, 4300km, sunshine, thunderstorms, wind, mountains, beaches, beautiful cities, fear, happiness and so many wonderful people‌
Prague
Bratislava Vienna Budapest
But why ride a bike from Hamburg to Istanbul? Novi Sad Belgrade
Sarajevo Dubrovnik
Tirana Thessaloniki
We’ve called Hamburg our hometown for the past 4 years. After completing our studies and
apprenticeships we’re now both 24 - so we’ve got to face the big question, “What’s next?”. The endless winters and the short rainy days of our day-to-day life in Hamburg sparked a desire for freedom, adventure, sunshine and most of all the meaning of life. Life is simple and the bicycle is the most efficient way of transportation. Slow enough to enjoy the passing landscape and the changing scenery, fast enough to get clocked in a 30 km/h zone or to escape a dangerous dog – and always the option to stop wherever you want, to get to know people and all kinds of culture. The bicycle gives us the freedom of absolute self-determination.
Armed with a tent, a gas cooker and a camera – we jumped right into a three month adventure to explore the countries and life between Hamburg and Istanbul.
Our route started next to our home river Elbe, which was a really smooth ride with an idyllic countryside and many grannies on their e-bikes.
First small mountains crossed our way and let us sweat in the midsum-
mer heat as hell. And they scared us!! Ascents of just 400 meters forced us to push our fully loaded bicycles and we just asked ourselves for the first time, if we really gonna make it till Istanbul. It seemed still so far away with no imagination about the imminent countries and their elevation.
Just before Budapest we felt like the real adventure started. Far away from home we met two french guys in our age, with the same idea of traveling a bicycle, the same amount of kilometers and almost the same direction (Constanta, Rumania). So it was clear that we gonna continue
with the two super relaxed guys from France for the next days. It was a great feeling to be a gang out of four persons, push each other to our limits, escape together from wild dogs, discover new places and have some deep talks in front of astonishing sunsets.
In Belgrade it was time to separate. Our new friends followed the Danube and we chose the direction of Sarajevo with no idea how to get there.
Some research taught us about surrounding mountains up to 1600m and the olympic winter games that took place there. Definitely not the information we wanted to hear!
A next unknown country waited for us and welcomed us with open
arms. Right after the border to Bosnia and Herzegowina we were invited by an open-hearted family to stay for a few days. We experienced probably the best hospitality on our trip. It was just a tiny unremarkable city, but the people were full of positive energy. The family took us on a beautiful hike, to a local music-festival, a big traditional Saรง-picknick and even their choir-rehearsal. We could have stay there forever! This happening gave us probably the power to manage the upcoming kilometers and climbs till Sarajevo. Narrow streets, trucks overtaking us and honking in long and dark tunnels, but everywhere breathtaking countrysides and handwaving people which motivated us to continue.
Unexpected and surprisingly it was working to climb mountains with elevation of 14% on a fixed gear (48x17) KRZBERG V5, packed with around 15kg. Hartmut carried on his Specialized Awol almost double of the weight, considering the heavy Canon DSLR, a laptop, harddrives, our tent and most of the tools. So we were pretty much in the same situation, leaving aside the fact that I had to make some enjoyable breaks in the downhill parts, which were sometimes even harder than the uphill ones.
After the enormous climbs we felt relieved to reach our destination - the city of Sarajevo.
Our road continued on the path of the Ottoman Empire straight to the mediterian sea. After a few rainy days and some heavy thunderstorms we were lucky to enjoy the turquoise water of the beautiful Croatian and Montenegrin coast. Everywhere small fruit markets and beautiful beaches which seduced us to stop a bit more often to take a swim.
Albania was the next country just in front of us and I think it was the most exciting one. Donkeys pulling wagons, pigs searching for food in dumpsters, turtles by the roadside and some main roads which turned out to be some bumpy gravel roads. It was a beautiful and colorful spectacle to observe. Friendly and happy people at every corner, old farmers bringing us fresh grapes to our tent in the morning and a lot of beautiful nature.
At this point we didn’t even recognized how far we got. Suddenly you are at places you never imagined to reach on a bicycle.
Greece was standing in the frontdoor. The last country before Turkey and we started to get more sentimental with every kilometer. We had divided feelings. After we left Thessaloniki it felt like we are on the finishing straight to Istanbul. We didn’t want this trip to be over and hoped for some beautiful greek beaches but it wasn’t so easy to find them… The eastern part of Greece known as Eastern Macedonia, or Thrace was unexpectedly spooky and empty.
So we kept on pedaling and found some great cliff diving spots, inspiring people and some packs of dogs running behind us for long distances.
With every passing day Istanbul became a more tangible and realistic target.
200 kilometers before Istanbul the city began to grow.
We were riding on a five-lane kind of highway going straight into the city, where trucks and cars were rushing few centimeters next to us. It was the most exhausting and stressful part of the whole trip. But it was definitely worth it.
A fter all it was even fun to ride fixed, crisscross trough the traffic jams, touch the cars with our
elbows, skitch on a small truck for a few meters and then finally arrive completely fulfilled in front of the Hagia-Sophia!! We made it and the feeling was overwhelming. No traget seemed now too far away for us.
We learned a lot about us, about different cultures and the history of the balkan. We met so many enriching people, we made new friends and we’ve seen so many beautiful places. Grab your bike and discover the world!!
Big thanks to 8barbikes, Continental tires (just one flat tire on
4300km), Radklaus Husum and Thiesjan Ruchholz for the support <3