I am not very good at writing epilogues, but as this story has an introduction, it probably needs an epilogue as well, correct?

As I had mentioned earlier, Cyprus did not become my favorite destination,, plus I had some rather poor spells of weather - despite this, it had been a great trip, not a single day having been like another one, not knowing what the next mile would bring, always experiencing something new and unique, meeting many friendly people, experiencing beautiful landscapes, crossing multiple countries (and time zones 😉), traveling by train, bus, ferry, car, airplane and of course, on two wheels, shooting over 1,000 photos (i.e. some 30 per day). When I fly somewhere, I look at the landscape below, wondering how the biking and traveling could be down below. On this flight home, there were a number of places I had ridden on, first, the coastal cities of Turkey, then seeing the Black Sea I had crossed in 2016, then many places in Romania with Bucharest and the Carpathian mountains, Hungary and finally in Austria.

The Oscar prize for friendliness goes to the Turkish people, I was quite impressed how helpful and accommodating they were...again, çok teşekkür ederim! Helping when it comes to a flat tire, driving me to a bike shop when the brakes malfunction, fixing these for free...and inviting me for lunch...

As for Ella, I wish you all the best for the new phase of your life back in Russia! Thanks for driving some 2,500 kilometers - and my apologies that Northern Cyprus did not become your favorite place - but the trip made you realize where you want to continue your life.

On the beach with Ella

So, let us see a summary map of the route I had ridden on - one that does not have all the detours, but also contains section I had ridden on by metro. It says 1,873 kilometers, my statistics come close, to 1,820 kilometers, in sixteen biking days. Here is a link to this map.

Biking map

...and here is a map of my entire journey, spanning seven countries. I had traveled some 1,200 kilometers by train, biked 1,820 kilometers, rode in car for 2,600 kilometers and sailed some 550 kilometers on a ferry - so this makes roughly 6,200 kilometers, translating to about 200 km per day...quite a busy month! Here is a link to the map.

Full map...

Here is a bit of statistics for my 16 riding days, in terms of distance and elevation - so here is the break-down of the 1,820 kilometers, meaning a daily average of some 114 kilometers - give or take a few...

OK, folks, so long!