Mission terre sainte sans avion

Need to go down south, wainting for the sun. cheap and ' fast' our big friend : flixbus!

Budapest a city where iv been a few times, but this time no plans, no expectation. I actually had good memories over there the last times I came.

Feeling good, found a cheap and super hostel. Have to check my options to keep going down south!

Fun fact : I went to the public bath to relax after the long bus trip. I managed to ran into the only belgo-hungarian girl I know in the world(from University). Cheesy : but what a small world 😀!

So, found a good option to go until Istanbul in train, gonna be 3 days in raw in the trains but like this I can be chill and eating some kilometers at the same time. So I bought my ticket for the next day and then stay a second night here

The afternoon i need to see some green and be in the nature. The city is beautiful but so noisy, so I decided to go explore a little bit outside the city. A person from Budapest talk to me about a nice spot to relax easily from the city.

On the way back, I do a little detour cause I need to do some exercise and keep training for rock climbing...

It has been only a few days that I left Belgium but it feels already like a lot had going on. I keep meeting people from differents countries with interesting stories and talking about the reality they v experienced in their society. It's crazy when you take the time to meet people and listening to their visions of life, the diversity of reality you can hear.

Budapest- Bucharest (night train)

So of course it's impossible to book a bed before the train, it s a bit like the lottery you never know what you ll get. Plus with my level of Romanian I m bit restricted to merci and Buena sera 😅

So in end up in the part of the train where people can't afford a bed. It's a familiar ambiance, everybody talks with his neighbor. I got to know a young Romanian student in English literature who writes novels. And a climber addict who has the most fuck up accident stories!

Top of my shape after this night 😂

Wainting for the next train I met Kai, a swedish guy, that happens to be a sailor that made his way in this world by himself, the real DIY types of person. Really impressive, how he knew nothing about sailing and started with a old boat founded. Now he has sailed in lot of places, has fixed-sold and bought a better boat a few times until being comfortable with a nice boat.

He has lived like this for 13 years, working a bit on other boats and traveling around the world and sharing his boat with others backpackers

http://www.kelsall39.com

We talked so much and be chill that we missed our connection. In our defense the train arrived 5 min earlier (Bulgarian lottery). Then, We take the next one but we won't make it to the next connection. So with Kai and Nils (German guy that also missed his train) we stop at night in gorma orjahovica.

With the help of a Bulgarian student that we v met in the train we go to the next town where it's possible to sleep for the night : veliko tarnovo!

The next morning, the surprise is even better : the place is really beautiful. Love when life puts you nice surprised on your way!

The best part is coming, I m thinking mountains and rock. So I look it up and found that is a spot for climbing 😎

In the afternoon, I m chilling with shu a traveler from Malaysia that left everything to travel and makes his way with his smile and a guitar : a real character, respect man'

And now we ride! Direction : Istanbul!!!

My plan for sleeping in Istanbul was to go to some friends of a Turkish friend living in Belgium. So damla ( thx again by the way 😀) had putted me in contact with her good friends: Can and Zinnure who directly accepted to host me.

I'm feeling bad because my train has arrived 4 hours late and they are waiting for me at their place. I have no way to contact them from the train. I go the fastest that I can to their neighborhood. Perfect timing, when I m in front of the building, they come out at this moment because they are in a hurry and have to go. They hand me the keys, welcome me and leave.

I'm exhausted after this night and haven't slept well neither in the previous ones. So I'm so happy when I enter In their place. It feels like a home 😀 I take a shower, eat and end up sleeping the whole afternoon!

I wake up late, completely desoriented. It's almost dark, it doesn't seem like I'm going to move in the center today. My hosts come back from their night ( it's actually Zinnure's birthday), so we have a few drinks together and I get to know each other. They are really interesting poeple and very welcoming, they took me like if I was family. I ask them a thousand of questions about their opinions and Turkish society. Really nice talk that goes in every way possible 😀

The next day, it feels like a Sunday. They have day off, so I cook them a brunch to thank them.

After that, time to go at least explore a bit the city!

It's a 20 million person city, it is just huge! So many people and things going on at the same time!!

Last time I came, I had walked a lot around and I had a good memories of the mosques. They are pretty beautiful and kind of quiet places. So I decided to go visit one and Walk randomly I. The neighborhood.

Still got it! I impressed like the first time I came! This city is really impressive 🇹🇷

I walk around and hit back home because I got a night train to catch. On the way, I stopped for some kuru fasulye (dried beans cookt in a special way) that Zannure had recommended me. It was just excellent 😀

Thanks again to both of them, had a great time!✌️

At the station of Antalya, there is atmosphere of tension. There is a big football game this night, so there is a lot of poeple screaming everywhere and throwing some fireworks. What a change after the climber paradise...

I eat and jump in the bus for Tasucu

The accompagnant of the bus, wakes me up yelling Tasucu in my ear ! I wake up and don't really understand what is happening. I grab my stuff and get out of the bus. There, he has already throwed my bag on the ground. And they leave immediately...

I arrive at 6 am, it's still dark and cold. No where to go, I start to walk randomly. I meet Hussein, a young Turkish guy who's waiting for his bus. We manage to communicate with a piece of paper and a pen 😀

We eat a breakfast at bakery /atelier to wait for the sunrise.

Tasucu Is a small city on the coast with a port. It looks like a place where Turkish poeple come for the weekend or during the summer. Now it's a bit empty and décalé.

I go to the park to finish my night of sleeping

I pay myself a little reconfort since we are in a port 😉

Now I just have the day to kill and chill until my ferry for Cyprus at night

Let's roll captain!

It s not poeple on holiday in this boat. It s truck driver and young Turkish going on military service. I m the only traveler in this crowd!

When we arrive at the Port everybody hurry up, truck and military going out and fast!

I walk from the Port to the center of kyrenia and from there take a bus to Nicosia. It's strange, it is still turkey (even though the territory is not officially recognized for the north part. Turkey occupy it for more than 40 years) but it s a different ambiance than on the continent. Poeple drive on the left and way more speak in English.

I walk in the city to look how can I cross to the other side. I m pretty surprised when I arrive there. It's a real no man's land in between both part with a UNO presence in the middle.

Once I arrive on the other side it has nothing to do, it looks like I m on holiday in southern Spain expect people drive on the left and speak greek!

It's a bit weird, so far the more I was going down south the more the environment was getting different from Western Europe. In Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey, very few people spoke English and the organization, the street, the ambiance was so different. Now, I just went completely the other way!!

Fun fact :I drank a tea in northern Cyprus and an other in the south part and I paid like ten times the price 😛

I keep going with a last bus to Limassol, South of Cyprus. That s where is the biggest Marina. After those 48h of trip I m pretty tired and need to take a break to realize where I am exactly! So I stop in a hostel to rest.

Tomorrow, I have to go to the Port and try to find some boats that are willing to take me to Israel... We ll see😉

After two days at the Port of limassol, i succeed to make some useful contact. I have to be discreet because my best friend de security guard is there all the time... So I stay mainly in a part of the marina where he's not spending too much time.

Overv there, I met an Indian owner of a big yacht, that told me there was a Belgian Capitan. I got to meet him, he s friendly and accept to hear my story. He has heard about an Israeli boat but they left a few days ago.... To bad! I gave him my number in case of he hears anything. He s not very optimistic about it, he explained me that most of the boat in this Marina are from Rich poeple that are going to spend the winter in Cyprus.

Later on I meet I guy from Cyprus that also works for someone else on a boat. He s very friendly and helpful because he has traveled a lot in the past. We talked for a while and arrived to the same conclusion that with the other Capitan : it s a long shot and limassol is not the best place for it.

So new plan : I m going to larnaca. It's a other city on the coast with a smaller port. There are not a lot of boat but it's not a hig class private marina over there. Hopefully I ll have more chance over there.

I decided to take the rest of the day to go in the sea 🏊

My time in limassol was okay, I v met some nice poeple include Roy ( an Israeli guy pretty funny), eat wey and rest a little bit. But the ambiance is not so enjoyable as it was in the previous places I have been.

Had a really hard time getting a appointment to a doctor. So I finish my last day at the doctor ( nedded a shot of vaccination missing before departure).

And also very complicated to leave the city, the buses where late and full. On the second one I got into an argument with the bus driver. Finally someone gave me his seat because he knew I was waiting Before him at bus stop for two hours. Thanks to this honest gentleman (name Alex), I m now in larnaca 🙏

Let's see tomorrow 😉

I started the day with the mission to go and check if the note is still there. Problem I checked out from my hostel and my bus for Ziggy is at one. So I m going to the marina with my big bag...

Luckily Ahmed an Egyptian guy I've at the hostel is going to the same direction. So we walked together, I left him my bag while I sneak in again in the marina. Have to hurry cause he has soon a bus.

I go directly to the boat but the note is still there... I found a responsable of the marina and ask him about this boat. Apparently they are leaving today for Israel ! My heart is full of hope 🙏

I go back outside, thanks Ahmed. Now I have to sneak in my bag inside 💪 I hidded it in some place so I don't have to walk inside with it. Otherwise it's gonna be to obvious I m not suppose to be here.

I sit and wait for the Israeli team to come. Big suspens for myself 😁

Finally they arrive! I go to them and introduce myself. The family say they don't know I ll have to ask the Capitan. He arrives and talk to me, he s friendly but unfortunately he cannot help me. He s a Skipper for a company, the poeple on the boat are a family who's booked the trip. That's not the complicated part because they don't seem opposite to the idea. The main problem is the paper to be register on the boat and enter legally in Israel. He says he's not able to help me 🙁

Big disappointment..

While I sit here on the bench and think what should I do, I decide to go check some boats in part of the marina I haven't been. It's a bit exposed because it's next to the entry where the security guy are. Nothing to lose anymore.

I speak with a few people. One guy told me to not go to zigy. He says it is not possible to catch an Israeli boat from there because they are no register office over there 🤔 what to think ?

I m heading back a bit confused, I heard some poeple speaking in Hebrew. I stoped and ask them. They don't they were just on a tour with a friend... I asked to the owner of the boat. He tells me that there is an Israeli boat, it's a friend of his.

He showed me the boat and and gave me the number !! Now I v contacted the guy and wait for an answer 🙏

I decided to set up my camp here. So I wait for the light to go down and go to get my bag. I have found a nice place where to stay 😇

Not so bad at end, I have cooked myself a nice picnic before leaving the hostel. I got food and water with me, I m all good ✌️

Begining the day ready to go and find out about this new boat coming in! Woke up, exercises and a good breakfast.

Here I am waiting in front of the boat, the note I've left the day before is not there anymore... So I know they read it, I m so curious to discover what do they think about it?

An old woman that I ve seen the day before around the marina, stoped and stepped in the boat. I go to her to introduce myself with my nicest smile. But unfortunately she's very clear about it : they don't sail with strangers. I try to explain and negociate but she's cutting the conversation. I don't insist and respect their decision.

Need to keep moving forward! I go to say hello to my Scottish friend and then left for groceries.

When I came back 'home' I put the things in order and sit on the couch to think about the plan two guys arrive (I recognized one of the two, he works for the marina) and ask what am I doing here? "Me ? Mmmmh you know just here sitting chill". They asked if it's my boat ? I said the truth. Then why do you stay here? I explained my situation of looking for a boat to Israel etc. That I had one but the guy changed his mind afterword...

They explained me that the second guy is the owner of the boat where I sleep and that he saw my bag and reported to the police. So they nicely asked me to take my things and follow the guy to the marina s office. I understand that I m in trouble but they are not aggressive at all.

So I play it cool, I try to speak with them. We laughed about the fact that he's place is " the Gypsies king hotel " he laughed and asked why did I choose this place to stay? I explained him that I found that was the chilest place of the marina. Simple but with everything you need, so I figured out that the person who set it up must be chill 😉 he apologize to have already called the police. If he knew it was someone chill like me if would have let me go like this.

At the office, police man is not laughing... The worker of the marina is. Pleading my cause explaining that I m peaceful. Nothing to do, he scanned my passport and tells me to never come back inside... It looks like it's gonna be complicated to find a boat outside the marina!

I got out, I was suppose to meet Salomé and Adrianna (two cousins from Spain) that travel together by bike. They are planning to cross also In a month and I was suppose to show them the tricks I found.

They just came back from 10 days cycling in turkey in the country side. So they were really looking forward to a hot shower and a washing machine. Looks like destiny had other plans. It's already end of the evening and sun is going down, so we set up the camp on the beach. We spent a nice moment to relax and have some drinks, I m happy I need to think about something else that being kicked out. They are very chill and fun, we are in the same trip so get along pretty well 😎

Good morning, yoga, sea and breakfast 🏊🧘🥑

Something is in the air, we don't want to put out the camp. We feel at home with our Gypsies king camping. Sunshine is here and we are I a good mood so we're taking our time ✌️

Adrianna hurted her ankle playing volleyball but still in a good mood 🤽

We started making sign for what we need, her : washing machine and hot shower me : a boat to Israel. We gonna see if larnaca poeple are willing to help us ?

So you have the picttured all the bikes, bags and the mess around that we moved from the beach to the sidewalk 😅

We only attracted poeple that needed things and nobody to help us. At least we met nice people!

After all this craziness, I decided to get back to my reality and see what can I do at the marina. I went to check if I could put my sign somewhere near the entrance. I thought it would be easy but the guard are not very positive about it. I try to negotiate with them. They called the police office of the marina to see what their gonna say. They arrive in a big Jeep and asked me why do I want to go by boat etc. As I explained my trip, they relax and say ok for the sign. I tried to negociate a little bit more and see if I can come back inside at some conditions.

I should have stopped before because the conversation end it up about how did I get in in Cyprus ? Big problem, remember : north part is occupied by turkey, therefore it's an illegal territory for Cyprus government. I'm speaking with the borders officers, it's their main mission...🤔

I end up saying that I arrived From Greece with a sailing boat to Cyprus directly. they want more info about the Port, the crew etc. I explained that I m cooker that travel working for poeple and don't always remember the name of the boat.

They keep asking questions and start to be a bit aggressive. So I play the international cooperation card. I take out my cart of visit and explain that I m honest citizen that has worked for his traveled. They asked for passport, so I give my ID cause passport got stamp. It seems that the visit cart has done the trick to install the trust again. They take my name and leave me. Ouf i almost got into more trouble.

I go back to the gitans and think about what I m gonna do ?

This crazy day needs to end, the girls are tired and Adrianna cannot walk. So they decided to take a hostel. On my side I will stay at the beach one more night and see if I can find a way to get back in the marina tomorrow. If not I will need to really think about plan b...

I go to check if my sign is well attached. He s not... The guardian ( with who I get along now cause we got into talking peacefully) explains me that the boss of the marina heard the story and got very angry and took the sign of 😤 the security guy kept it on the side for me. He advised me to not come back at all here.

When I get back, Salome started to tell me : maybe you should let it go ? At this moment, I hear a car calling next to us. Some one is calling me. I go to the car, it's the owner of the boat next where I was sleeping !! He tells me that he was looking for me since yesterday night. " Put your things in my trunk and let s go ".

So he takes me in as his guest, the security guy register me in the list.

He takes me to his boat and tell me that I can stay as long as I need. He even open the boat so I can sleep inside 😂

He went to the police office to say that I was his guest and that I was allowed to be here! To summarize, now I m legally staying at the marina and I can get in and out as I need 🤝

I suppose because I was chill with him when he kicked me out, he changed his mind 🙏 what's the lesson here ? I m not sure but destiny his with me 😇

A hot shower 🚿 and go end this day with the Spanish team and a nice kebap

They rest in their hostel and me I go back walking and singing to my home ✌️⚓

With this kind of up and down, I hope there is a boat in my gift list from the destiny ⛵

I m gonna sleep well after all this craziness!⌛🌙

Storm is coming on the island so it's not gonna move much those two next day ⚡🌧️☔

Didn't really got a plan but I felt like I needed to change a little bit of landscape and see a bit if the island.

I knew I could get hosted in Limassol so I thought going there to look at the place differently than the first time I've been. I decided to go hitchhiking to see if it's true what I've heard : " cypriot don't take hitchhikers" ?

I started my trip around midday in larnaca and had to get at Limassol, 60km away. Normally to hard !

Well it was not to bad, except that a guy drop me on the highway and an other in a super small village where i got stocked for a while; I have to say that it was pretty good.

My last ride even took me in the center of the city to help me cause he lives outside. It was not for the conversation neither cause he knew about 10 words of English!

In limassol, I meet Andonis that received me as I we knew each other for a long time. Big bed, nice appartement and very chill guy 😎

Felt good to live at a other rythmin and see the inside of the life of a local 🌯

After 2 days of pure relaxness, I've made a plan !

So I leave the city, hitchhiking to the mountains to be in the wild✌️

Except for leaving the city I haven't waited more than 5 min and my last ride a guy named Chris did a huge detour just to drop me where I needed to be and all that with a big smile 👍

I guess what we say about cypriot and hitchhiking is not so true 😉

I arrive to kidasi when the sun is going down. So I thank chriss and must find two trees quickly to set up my hamac ! Not a single tree around it s all bush and mountains...

I finally found two In the middle of a field. Didn't seems like it was raining so I didn't put my tarp. I felt asleep looking at the stars...

..... Huge mistake playing poète disparu ! I woke up in the middle of the night, freezing cause wind had raisen up and temperature must be around 5c°🥶

Puted my tarp half sleeping with a strong wind, not my best set up but made it 😂 learned my lesson!

So the plan for the day was :

CLIMBING!!!🙌💪🧗

And I got a ride with Tony to the north side 👌 perfect that's where I m meeting with Carter for some more climbing!

I set up my camp in this small town call guzelyurt in the Turkish area. It happens to be a military town so it's full of soldier but no problems everybody is pretty friendly!

I found a nice spot in the parc near the university and the military base, that will do for the night 😀

Morning exercises, breakfast and I go to the meeting point to wait Carter.

My phone changed time when he connected to WiFi so I got there one hour to early ( north and south part are not always on the same time zone) but this yes. So I looked for a cafe open at 7:00. I ended up driking tea with all the senior of the village 😀 they even paid for my drinks.

So back to the meeting point, I find Carter with a group of young people.

I didn't know, he is a teacher from USA at one of the Turkish university in the north. An old school climber passionate that has created a club for the students who want to discover this adventure!

So here we hitting to the 5 fingers mountains in the north of the island at 12 in 2 small cars.

I'm lucky they took me considering the freespace in the car 😉 plus Carter has opened most of the routes where we go climbing so he knows very well the area.

They're pretty organize, we split up in groups and each go to s sector and open some routes for the rest of the group.

Carter took me with him to a sector where the easiest is a 6b ( my Maximum level)...

So I warp between two routes, and did pretty good.

He even pushed me into a 7a Wich I have never even tried indoor. For a first visit on the rock I m happy, I made it to the top ( with falls of course!) 🧗

I finished the day by flashing a 6c on the first try! I still don't believe it 😅✌️

Today was a good day!

Group with very good vibes✌️

They dropped me on way back outside of of the north part of Nicosia. I thanked everybody for this nice session!

I'm suppose to meet andonis (that hosted me) for a party in the south of Nicosia.

So after 3 days in the outdoor, climbing, no shower I walked about 10km across the city to meet him 🚿😎

On the way I stopped to eat and check my messages, I got one from the British that I have met in larnaca s marina: the boat (penelopa) is there!!! It's the boat I ve missed from one day when I arrived the first time. The Capitan is a nice guy that comes every once in while from Israel. Everybody said that he would probably take me but he has no phone to be contacted, so I could only wait and pray He is my last hope to get there by boat 🙏

I immediately answerd to my friend to ask him if he had the chance to talk to him but he is not connected, it s to late. I will contact him the day after.

When I called him the day after, he gives me the bad news that he already left cause a storm was announced for the next days. He was supposed to stay longer but he changed plans at the last minute...🌊🌬️🌀

So now I'm back in Limassol, resting a little bit after those days pretty intense 🛀🛌🍵

I'm starting to accept the signs that the universe is sending me 😂 I'm going to keep visiting a bit the island while I figured out if I still have an other option that the plane.🧘

Vasilis place is located outside of the center of Nicosia, where you can forget that you are in the capital. With his roommate Alexis, they really have implemented an open house spirit in this house ✌️I don't know them at all and they have welcomed me as an old time friends, feel good to be in a Home!

They are both open minded person with atypical stories, so my time over there is filled with interesting stories and conversations!

I arrived there tired from the hiking and climbing. I had set up the goal to make a decision on this boat/plane situation when I ll be back from this last trip. So it is time for me to come up with a conclusion after all of this this thinking I v been through lately 🙈🙉🙊

I have been trying to analyze why it was so hard for me to accept to take this plane ?

The starting point is that I challenged myself to go traveling around the world by myself. To that I added the fact that I didn't want to use the plane during the whole trip.

The reasons are :

I experienced traveling by the past with planes, and I didn't enjoy the fact to be propulsed into a place like this. The idea here, was to take the time of the journey, crossing borders, see the landscape changing, languages, cultures and food as well. In a way experienced fully the travelling part as a main step. Stop where your guts tell you to stay!

I also have ecological motivation. I wanted to try to travel in a responsable and a respectful way. So not taking the plane was making sense in this objective.

So from there how can I question those reasons and try to match them with the reality I have been experiencing lately ? 🤔

For the part of taking my time and live the full travel-experience from home to my first step, I honestly can say I'm very satisfied how it went and wich surprises had been put on my path.

On the impact question, I would say that I m a bit more triggered. In a way just by traveling you're a source of pollution ( buses, trains, cars, ferry) except if you do everything by bike or walking (respect to those ones!). On the other side, I travel following a light impact lifestyle in comparison of most poeple moving a lot by plan and not paying attention to their consuming habits. So I would say it's a Gray conclusion 🧐

Then, trying to look at the whole picture and when I was thinking in a very logical way, they wasn't good reason to not take this plane. But something was bothering me from the inside...So what it is ?

I challenged myself to go around the world without plane, Wich is one of the most scary and at the same time coolest decision I v made in my life. I ve been dreaming about traveling around the world since I was a teenager 🧭🗺️

I worked and puted so much hope in this project that I kind of have high expectations for myself! It got me thinking about the reasons of this trip and what can I learn through itself ?

I decided to give me this time in my life to NOT stick to a plan, to experience a certain type of freedom, to discover, learn, meet, understand, try, etc everyday.

All those things are suppose to be positive !

So I arrived to a certain conclusion : " a challenge should push you to go over your limit, not blocking you. When it's the case, maybe it's not relevant anymore"💪

I got so obcessed with the boat challenge, that I almost forgot the giant step I took by leaving my comfortable flat country 😉 plus all the adventure I ve been through lately that has fulfilled me with so much experience!

I did everything that was in my power to find a boat (even illegal solutions), I kept focuses on my objective, I did not give up at several difficult step. My last safe chance of crossing left last week, my Israeli contact in the marina doesn't answer me anymore, the English couple are back home for the holidays and sailing season is off. I reached a pointed where I m fighting against the elements and nature. That is maybe above my strength and Power 🙏

I realized at some point that Ego was the main thing that was blocking me.

If vanity and lack of acceptation of unpredictable events are leading a part of my trip, then I am going wrong way!

So I would like to thank everyone that has supported, believed or helped me during this adventure! It meant a lot, some days I was loosing my good spirit and you good words kept me up. Plus some of you helped me looking in an other way at the reality! Merci, teshekir, efkharisto, thanks 🙏✌️🙏

When I look back, Cyprus was my training time : I had the chance to use and try all my material, get into the rythmin and the vibe of traveling. It stopped me from rushing and arriving with calm 🧘

Bonus : I v trained a lot my rockclimbing skills 😉

Believe it or not but I booked my flight in the afternoon and the same evening I got hill ! I don't know if it was a virus or my body that just let it go after a month of moving all the time ? But I was with strong fever, very weak and made the craziest dreams 🥴🤒🤯

The day after I was still weak but getting slowly back on my feet as long as the day went by 💪

Vas' and Alexis took care of me by giving me good food, tea and vitamin 🤗

I thanked them and left for Paphos where my flight was leaving ✌️

The flight was 45 min... Almost a joke !

I learned some good lessons for the rest of my trip! A simple and important one about boathitchicking : don't be on the rush, target an area (not a country) and be there on the proper period 😀

Now I know what to do for the Atlantic!

Hey to everyone this is the end of the first chapter but the adventure is not over! To follow the next chapter you can click on this link :

https://www.myatlas.com/maellyon/another-brick-in-the-wall

Hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading me, it means a lot to have your support 🙂💪✌️