A Bike Adventure Around Cappadocia in Turkey | Slauka AllRideGirl

Ever wanted to go Cycling in Turkey? Experience hot air balloons flying overhead in Cappadocia? Then you definitely want to listen to this episode where Slauka give us her account of what it's actually like to go bikepacking there. She talks about the history of the region, the landscapes around there, waking up to hot air balloons all around her tent and of course the extreme hospitality shown to her by the locals. You can follow Slauka via her instagram account- @allridegirl 

You can also listen to our full length episode with Slauka where we talk about her experiences taking a 3 week bikepacking adventure in Norway. 

During this episode i also shout out places many listeners are looking forward to going to on a bike adventure in 2026. Get involved with the community adn join us on instagram - @SeekTravelRide 

Check out Old Man Mountain's Ponderosa Panniers

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Hello everybody, Bella Meloy here, host of Seek Travel Ride. Welcome back to another midweek episode where we are aiming to fuel your wonderlust for bike travel adventures. Now this week I am featuring guest Slauka, otherwise known as All Ride Girl on Instagram, and fans of the show will know I have actually featured Slauka before in a long form episode. In that episode we actually chatted about her amazing adventures through Norway, three weeks of bikepacking through some of the most stunning scenery in the world, I swear. And just a short while ago, Schlauka decided to take another bikepacking adventure, this time in Turkey, visiting the Cappadocia region. And she has kindly shared what it was like during that experience for us as well, and that's what I am featuring today. Before we hear what Schlauka has to say, I want to give a shout out to a few of you out there on Instagram. I asked you what bike adventures have you got planned for 2026? 2025's coming to an end, and it's the best time to start thinking about adventures for next year. And I got a lot of responses, so I'm gonna try my best to shout out as many of them as possible here. First comes from Frequency Bandit, and you have said Turkey. Well, I hope you're gonna listen to this episode. Maybe Slauka's gonna motivate you for Cappadocia. Then I have James Bale. Hi James, another fellow podcast guest. You have said off back to the Himalayas, followed by India, top to bottom, and then who knows? Oh, I cannot wait. Listeners, James took an amazing adventure way back in the mid 80s, took his bike all the way to Everest Base Camp, so I think he's going to reconnect some of the dots from that journey. Rob Jevon Lou, you have said the Eurovelo 1 from Onday to the North Cape. Ooh, what an awesome journey all the way up the Atlantic coast there. You've got some amazing adventures planned, and I think if I'm right, I think Eurovelo 1 does it also take in the Wild Atlantic Way in Ireland? I think it does. Rec Rab 82, McKenzie, hey, shout out to you, McKenzie. McKenzie is one of the hosts of Topath Talks in Edinburgh. Uh if you like listening to this podcast, make sure to get yourself along to Topath Talks because much like this, but every I think fortnight or so, restarting in the new year, they have new guest speakers on. So they're live events. But anyway, McKenzie has said dead ends and cake. Ooh, an ultra race. I think you get rewarded for all the efforts getting to each checkpoint, which is generally in very, very climby areas in the Alps there with a lovely piece of cake right up my alley as well. Fun Dot Type 2. North Cape 4000, that's another ultra event, so a huge ultra distance cycle. Uh typically I think leaves from Italy, if I'm correct, all the way up to North Cape. Josh T06, you have said the second half of the world. Uh and you've said the second half because Josh, you've already just cycled the first half. Well done to you. S underscore A underscore speed, you have said getting back to the UK. So a long journey ahead of you there, making your way all the way back home. Uh the dusty bike packer, you have said, I've got two. 3,000 kilometre gravel through Eastern Europe and then Ecuador to Ushua. And then all right, girl, Schlauka. We're featuring you, and you've also responded. So you have said Finland, Canada, and Norway. And it sounds like Norway is in your heart after that amazing adventure earlier this year. And last but not least, I have Kurt Werby, who we have been featuring. We featured his amazing adventures to Morocco. And Kurt, you have said next year you want to go to Japan, Wales, Scotland, Cyprus. All of them. Actually, just anywhere with less dogs. Yeah, you did have quite the experience with dogs in Morocco, didn't you? But it sounds like you're planning some great adventures ahead. And uh listeners, what about you? Let me know where are your bike adventures going to be taking you. As for me, hmm, gosh, I have so many places I'd love to adventure on my list. I think high up there on the top is actually more of France. I know the Pyrenees area really, really well, but I would actually love to discover some more parts of the country. And then, hmm, gosh, Norway. I mean, if I'm just making a list of places I like to go. Norway, Morocco, Turkey, the Wild Atlantic Way in Ireland. That one is definitely on my list. And then last but not least, Japan. There we go. Let me know, get in touch with me on Instagram. Our handle there is Seek Travel Ride, and tell me where are your adventures going to be taking you in 2026. And now let's listen to Slauka, Alright Girl, letting us know what it was like for her in Turkey.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

Hi Vela and hey to everyone listening. Um, Slauka, some people know me as Alright Girl, and I'm currently biking around central Turkey in this amazing region called Kaparokia. I am not on some huge long distance trip right now or cycling across all of Turkey. I actually came here just for this place, it's crazy landscapes and history, and honestly, the long travel day was totally worth it. There's so much to explore here. I planned an 8-day trip including travel time, so I've got about 6 days of actual riding, and the route is around uh 400km with over 6,000 meters of climbing, so it's a pretty solid adventure. Kappadochia is famous for its volcanic tough formations, chimneys, thousands of caves and underground cities, and these crazy deep, steep canyons. But it also has tons of high plateaus that reach up to about 1800 meters. One day you might find yourself riding through a tight, narrow canyon, and next, you're pedaling near volcanoes that rise all the way up to almost 4,000 meters. When you get here, it honestly feels like stepping into a fairy tale. All of this was shaped by three major volcanoes in that area that erupted over and over millions of years ago. Those eruptions covered the whole region in layers of soft tuff, which is super easy for nature to carve, and hard basalt and lava. Over time, weather like winds, rain, and really cold winters carved the soft tuff into these chimneys, canyons and different uh ridges and spires. Most of the chimneys have these basalt caps on top, like little heads protecting kind of the rest of the rock, which make them look like um well, just Google Love Valley Kappadochia and let your imagination do the rest. You'll immediately understand why it's named Love Valley. Thousands of years ago, people figured out the soft tuff could actually be their home because it's super easy to carve and it stays cool in the summer and warm in the winter. So they started digging out homes, churches, monasteries, storage rooms, and even entire underground cities, all with simple hand tools. Some of these underground cities went way down up to 85 meters below ground, with hidden tunnels and stone doors. In some places, people even lived underground with their livestock. For example, the city of Darinkuyu could um hide up to 20,000 people plus their livestock. So after hearing and reading all of this, I knew I had to see this place for myself. The first day started with some seriously steep and narrow canyons, and let me tell you, a lot of them weren't really ridable, so yeah, it turned into a long day of pushing, lifting and carrying my bike. I was moving way slower than I expected, and I started thinking, okay, maybe I need to adjust the route because at this pace um there is no way I'll make it back on time. Finally, I uh popped out onto a plateau and could uh speed up a bit, but I still didn't reach my planned wild camping spot. I ended up finding this tiny hidden meadow about a kilometer before a small village where I could pitch my tent. It um had a little river right next to it so I could wash up before bed. But uh I won't lie, I was a little nervous. It was my first night uh wild camping in a Muslim country, and you know how your brain likes to play tricks on you at night. Uh but I felt pretty confident the spot was well hidden, and I trusted what I'd read before. People in central Turkey are some of the friendliest on the planet. Still, it wasn't exactly a deep sleep kind of night, um, partly because the temperature dropped to 2 degrees Celsius and partly because my mind uh refused to chill. So, after camping down in the canyon, the second morning started with a climb back up to the plateau, and honestly, I pretty quickly forgot how badly I had slept and how freezing it was the night before. After a few kilometers, I rolled into a small village and spotted a little shop. I was hoping to grab some water and maybe some bread. They had the water but no bread. But here's the fun part: as I was paying for the water, another customer came in buying cigarettes, and he was holding some bread in his hands. Um, with the help of a translator, I asked him where he got it, and he understood I was trying to buy some, and then all of a sudden, he just gave me this bread for free. So, this is exactly why people say central Turkey is full of some of the friendliest people you'll ever meet. I ended up sitting outside the shop for a while, enjoying my bread and sipping on some Coca-Cola, and the shop owner came out and started uh chatting with me. Again, thanks to a translator, we could actually communicate. Um, his name was Mustafa, and uh he started showing me photos of his whole family visiting Mecca just a few weeks ago. We shook hands and he wished me good luck on my trip. Honestly, that moment made me feel so good, like really warm at heart. It's a moment like this that reminds you how incredibly friendly people can be here. Just a couple of kilometers later, I stopped at this garden restaurant and its owner was so friendly. He spoke fluent German, so we chatted a bit and then he offered me to camp in the restaurant garden. I was very sad to say no because I still had around 50 kilometers to cycle that day, but that's another sign of how friendly Turkish people are. After cycling another 30 kilometers, I was riding along a huge potato field. Suddenly, a woman in the distance started uh shouting something in my direction, but I couldn't quite hear or understand her, so I slowed down and eventually stopped. And with the help of a translator, I understood that she was inviting me over for a chai and a cake right there on the field. Her whole family was uh taking a short break from work, um, and she held a little boy in her arms. He was barefoot and maybe a year and a half old. Without thinking much, I lifted him gently and put him on my saddle and pushed the bike towards the group. They welcomed me as uh if I was a part of the family. They offered me some chai and a cake, and we talked and laughed, and sometimes we had to use the translator, but sometimes we were just communicating with uh you know hands and smiles and uh whatever signals we could invent. So yeah, it was one of those moments where language just did not really matter. But I realized I needed to continue my journey, so we took a few selfies together and I hopped back on my bike to finish the last kilometer of the day. The next morning I rushed to the center of uh city of Darinku to visit one of the largest underground cities in the world. And as I already mentioned before, this place could uh accommodate up to 20,000 people. It uh stretches across several levels, and without the signs uh guiding visitors, um I would probably have gotten completely lost. It's hard to imagine entire communities living down there for years. And uh yeah, it's like an entire hidden world carved into the rock. After exploring the underground city, I headed towards Ihlara Valley. If you ever find yourself in the area, you absolutely have to walk through its canyons. It feels like stepping into a completely different world comparing to the landscapes I had seen over the previous three days. Ilara is much greener with a river going through the valley, and it's really peaceful and refreshing. Um, yeah, it's super nice. You can visit the paid section if you want, but there is also another entrance where you don't need to pay, and it's uh just as beautiful as the other part. So, either way, um the valley is unforgettable, and you definitely should visit it. If you ever decide to cycle through Kappadochia region, there is one thing you absolutely must do: it's to wake up before sunrise and go watch the hot air balloons. For me, it was honestly one of the most magical moments I have ever experienced. Um, you know those uh pictures online that look like they're AI generated? Well, in reality, it really looks like that, or maybe even better. The best place to watch the balloons is near the town of Guremen, just above the Love Valley. And if you want to know the exact spot with the best views and zero tourists, just let me know and I can send you the GPX uh location. I really hope uh some of you will travel to Turkey uh one day and explore the Kappadokia region, especially Bebek, because uh it's uh really one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen, and to experience this on two wheels, yeah, it uh it's uh just unforgettable.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

Thank you so much, Slauka. Oh my goodness, I have actually learned quite a lot here because listeners, I featured a fair few guests now who have travelled through Turkey extensively, and a lot of them often will also go to Cabodokia. And so I thought I already knew so much about this region, but Saka, you've taught me so much. I didn't know about these underground places, all these caves and these areas which you also explored, and it sounded like they're actually monumental places, like they're huge. I have, of course, heard of what did you call it, Love Valley uh with the uh how do we put it, very phallic-shaped mountains. And of course the images of Cabadochia. I have seen many a guest come out of their tent with hundreds of hot air balloons just gliding over them. And you are right, you sort of mentioned how when you see those images, you somehow think, uh, it's gotta be AI, right? But it wasn't at all, and I absolutely oh yeah, I think it's definitely one of the places that I especially would love to experience for myself. And Schlauka, I saw some of your footage there when you were in country, and there's an amazing new bike path there as well, which looks phenomenal. So, bike adventurers, if you're heading to Turkey and you're heading to Cabodoka, you have got lots to look forward to, and uh perhaps take Slauka up on her offer there, get in touch with her. I've put her Instagram account in the show notes. Find out her GPX coordinates for this super camping spot away from all the tourists. Slauka, something else that you mentioned there, which is a recurring theme on this podcast, was the kindness that was afforded to you all throughout your adventure there in Turkey. From people handing you bread to offering you places to sleep, just their curiosity and welcoming hearts and hospitality, it seemed endless. And I'm so glad that you got to experience that as well. And I am looking ever so forward to seeing where your twenty twenty six adventures take you to. Thank you so much for sharing your story here. Listeners, if you also want to get involved in these midweek episodes, reach out to me and let me know all about your bike adventure, and we can see if we can feature your adventures here on the show as well. Now, listeners, recently I shared a post on Instagram reflecting back on all the lessons that I have learned having interviewed over a hundred and fifty guests, and there's been some common key themes there which aren't really a surprise for me now, but it's quite interesting to sort of reflect back on it all as a whole. I shared a few of those themes on Instagram as polls, and I'd love to share some of the results with you. One of the first ones was the idea that I'm not a cyclist. Now, more guests than not that I have interviewed, I'm not sure if that's grammatically correct, but you get what I mean. More often than not, guests tell me adamantly, I'm not a cyclist, I don't even consider myself a rider, or sometimes they weren't a cyclist when they started and they've fallen in love with the sport and now they are. And so I posed it. What about you, listeners? Like, how many people here do you see yourself as a cyclist? And I posed that question, and 52% of you don't, and 48% of you do. So it's almost a 50-50 split. But when you think of this bike travel space, I think it really falls in line with that. I think an outsider would view anybody on a bike as a cyclist, but it's not necessarily the case. In fact, previous guest, Jacob Ashton, he responded really well on this, and he probably put it better than I could. What he said was, How about cyclists who tour via tourists who cycle? And I thought, ooh, that's a good point. I love that. The last poll that I had here on Instagram was I asked, Are you a planner? And that comes from another key theme of no plan can be the best plan, and the best adventure experiences come when you leave rigid planning behind. So I asked you fans of the show out there, do you plan out your bike adventure? And it's a split. 50-50. 50% of people plan it out. Yes, I plan a route out for each and every day. And 50% of you say no, I have a start and end point only. So there we go. Half of us are planners, half of us aren't. I definitely fall into the second category. I don't plan. I might have three weeks where I might need to get from here to there. Gosh, three weeks, that feels like a luxury. Let's be honest, Bella. I might have a long weekend where I know where I need to get to. But how I get there and what route I take, I often leave to yeah, how I'm feeling. So that's me. But there are many of you who need that structure and that plan and you know where you're going each and every day. Power to you, there is no right or wrong way here, just adventurous travel. So there we go. So listeners, I do pose a lot of these questions on Instagram throughout the week. If you are not following us there, what are you doing? Give us a follow. Seek travel ride is our account there. Along with these questions, you also get to see the pictures and videos from the guests that I feature on the show as well, and it sort of gives you more insights into their adventures. Join us there on Instagram and be part of our community. Okay, last but certainly not least, this is my favorite part of these midweek episodes because this is where I get to shout out you, my absolute dead set legends of super fans, who are buying me coffees. Each and every week, these virtual coffees come in and they go towards the running costs of the podcast. This week I am shouting out Terry, aka Footloose Freckle, Terry Terry Jockhurst, a previous guest of the show. You have said another great podcast, Bella. Thank you so much for bringing Heinz's story to us. I'd much rather buy you a coffee in person, but you know, needs must. Enjoy. Oh, thank you so much, Terry. I appreciate your virtual coffees, and I do definitely hope to share a proper in-real-life coffee with you because I have done that once before, and I want to hear all about your latest adventure. Listeners, I featured Terry talking about her trip through Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, and not long after her episode went live, she flew out to the US, rode along Route 66, and then also took a detour and visited some of Central America as well. So you've had some amazing adventures, and I thank you so much for shouting me some coffees. And then I actually have another previous guest, Robert Reynolds. You didn't say anything, you just bought me some coffee. So thank you, Dead Set Legend. Robert was one of the first episodes of the podcast there. In, you know, oh gosh, I think on the top of my head, Robert, I think in PAPS was number nine. Regardless, an amazing story. If you haven't listened to it yet, seek it out, and thank you so much for shouting me some coffees. So, listeners, if you're a fan of the podcast and you want to contribute to the running cost of the show, you can simply head to buymeacoffee.com forward slash seek travel ride. Buy me some coffees and let me know what is it that you love about the podcast and where, of course, is your next bike adventure going to take you. Until the next episode, I'm Bella Malloy. Thanks for listening.