In May 2024, I was on a hiking trip in Georgia and became friends with Ella, a lady of Russian origin, living in the Black Sea resort town of Batumi. We have many interests in common, such as classical music, traveling and hiking - and even though we met only briefly on my earlier visit to Batumi, we became pen-pals. In one of our WhatsApp exchanges, she spoke highly of an earlier visit to (Greek) Cyprus and threw up the idea of us visiting (Turkish) Cyprus.

Ella in May 2024 close to the sea near Batumi

I considered the options of riding my bike through Turkey all the way to the Cyprus ferry, however, Ella suggested that it would be better for her if I rode my bike to Batumi, from where we would take her car to the island - with the added benefit of having a vehicle while in Cyprus. This idea sounded quite nice, too, in this case I would still ride through Turkey, but not in a southeastern direction, but just heading (more or less) east, following (more or less) the coast of the Black Sea.

Ella told me when she would have time off - and this happened to be Tuesday, October 29th. I was able to leave Vienna on the Wednesday, October 9th - giving me some 20 days to reach Batumi. Now the distance between Vienna and Georgia is close to 3,000 kilometers (depending on the route), so it was clear to me I would not be able to get there in just 20 days - especially not in the fall, when the days are short - and as you will see - quite cold. So I knew I would need to take a train to get closer to Georgia, but even by spending hours googling trains that would carry bikes, I was unable to find a ticket that would take me any further than the Hungarian border with Romania.

Still, I started on the morning of October 9th from my apartment in Vienna, with a vague idea of somehow making it at least to Romania, even better, to Bulgaria, by train. Please allow me to write the story as it developed - to see if I would be able to catch a train and then ride at least fifteen hundred kilometers through Turkey, to reach Batumi by October 29th - if that would work, there would be over 1,200 kilometers of car riding to Cyprus and then back to Batumi - from where I still would somehow need to get home. Quite a few moving pieces at the beginning. As I am writing this story back in Vienna, I will tell you how the events unfolded. Hope you will join me for the ride.