To the historic city of Amasya – one of the oldest cities in Anatolia

After the long day yesterday, good rest was important for us. And since we knew it was only a bit more than 70 km to Amasya, we could take it easy in the morning. However, the “good rest” didn’t really work out for me. The hotel had extremely thin walls, and we could hear a guy in the next room snoring. I could ignore that, but at 3 a.m. I woke up to the sound of a fight scene from a TV in another adjacent room. It was probably some kind of slapstick comedy in the style of Bud Spencer and Terence Hill, played at full volume. My biggest mistake was not reacting immediately. In the end, I only went to the receptionist shortly before 5 a.m. to ask him to deal with the problem. The man next door probably didn’t realize how thin the walls were, but he did turn the volume down. Then came the next surprise: the morning prayer echoed through the city speakers—but luckily it only lasted a few minutes, so I managed to get a bit more sleep.

Breakfast was only available until 9:30, and I didn’t want to miss it. After that, we took it easy and didn’t leave until 11:25. Before that, a few young men who ran a barbershop next to the hotel brought us water. People here are really kind.

The first long climb of the day started just a few hundred meters after departure. But we didn’t get far at first—after barely 250 meters, a group of young men enthusiastically invited us for tea. We couldn’t say no. They also wanted to give us food and even suggested we stay for a few days, telling us about the sights in the region. But we had already arranged to meet Shaun’s friend in Amasya. They also fixed Shaun’s pedal—a non-essential screw had fallen off a few days earlier, and he didn’t have a spare, but they did. In the end, it was after noon before we finally got going again.

During the first climb, we enjoyed the beautiful scenery, which reminded me of spring in Switzerland. There was also a brand-new road that rolled perfectly—the old road had simply been buried underneath and was still visible in places.

The first climb was immediately followed by a second one, bringing us to the highest point of the day. From there, it was almost all downhill to Amasya. We weren’t entirely sure which road was best after Havza, so we chose the main road. It had quite a bit of traffic and included several tunnels. By the way, we will pass Havza again in the opposite direction when we leave Amasya to return to the Black Sea. After descending through the tunnels, we switched to smaller roads to ride through Suluova instead of bypassing it on the main road.

After Suluova, there seemed to be a smaller road running parallel to the main road, but only for a few kilometers. When we stopped to decide how to continue, a man on a moped suddenly appeared and advised us to return to the main road. He also wanted to invite us to his orchard, but then suggested we continue instead, as the detour would have been too long.

Back on the main road, the surface was much better than the bumpy small road before, and since it was still downhill, we reached Amasya in no time. There was also a funny moment: on the main road, a minibus suddenly stopped in front of us and a man got out to greet us. We were already used to that. But then he opened the side door and took out a chainsaw, apparently trying to sell it to us—I had to laugh internally. When we declined, he brought out a suitcase with a cordless drill and tools, suggesting we might use it to repair our bikes—and he looked quite disappointed when we refused that as well.

When we arrived at the hotel at 5:15 p.m.—Shaun’s friend Ibi had reserved a room for us—we were warmly welcomed. A few minutes later, Ibi arrived as well. We quickly changed and had tea together before exploring the city with him. He explained the importance of the place and that its history dates back thousands of years to ancient times. After dinner, we also went to his favorite café and took the popular mirror selfie—and Ibi paid for everything, including the hotel.

My first impression of Amasya is extremely positive: a charming small city nestled between mountains, very clean, with beautiful Ottoman-style houses. Ibi said the city is greatly underrated, and I completely agree—I had never even heard of Amasya before, and now I’m thrilled to be here!