Once you have arrived in the northern part of Germany, a hearty wadden sea area hike should of course not be missed by Brita and Gerda during the travel program with alaturka.

Once again we were on a hiking tour in the Harz mountains, had already visited the Hübichenstein near Bad Grund and now wanted to go to the Harz hiking pin stamping point 129 to add another stamp to our hiking pass.

After our recent visit to the Bastei Bridge, we also wanted to visit the town of Hohnstein, especially Hohnstein Castle as an attraction and Friends of Nature House and as a starting point for hiking and climbing tours in the Saxon Switzerland National Park.

Once again it was time. Our dear friend and hiking guide Ömer had invited us to another excursion through the coastal Taurus Mountains near Manavgat above the Oymarpinar dam.

Another event was on our schedule this weekend because we wanted to do a paddling tour on the Unstrut, a smaller tributary to the Saale, which we had had on our to-do list for a long time.

A new book has been published on Via Egnatia, the 2000 year old Roman road to Istanbul, former Constantinopel.

After visiting the state school in Pforta and getting to know one of it´s “master students”, Friedrich Gottlieb Kloppstock (we will report after the introduction), we also wanted to hike the circular hiking trail to the Bismarck Tower, which begins at the school and which leads to a spring named with writers name.

Sucullu, a small town of 5.000 people on the St Paul Trail close to Antioch in Pisidia, is having a traditional folk festival. On 17th July, traditionally-dressed villagers with their animals will walk from the mosque in Yalvaç, past the ruins at Antioch, along the aqueduct to Sucullu (about 2-3 hrs walk).

Kate Clow first came to Turkey in 1989 to sell computer systems. In 1992 she moved to Antalya and, out of sheer interest, began researching the ancient roads that connected the cities of Greek and Roman times.

We had often passed the eye-catching dolomite rocks near Scharzfeld on our way through the Harz Mountains, and now there was finally enough time for a short hike up the rocks and on to the legendary "Unicorn Cave".

As already reported in our article on the Harzer hiking needles, we had found increasing interest in the targeted hike to the multi-layered stamping points to the special highlights of the Harz hiking trails and thus also decided to equip ourselves with hiking passes and to supplement them with the various stamps.

Today we have decided to visit the ruins of the Königsburg and the Königshütter waterfall in order, as announced, to fill our hiking pass with more stamps for the Harzer hiking pin.

"Rennsteig" hiking trail in the Thuringian Forest, which is now marked with a distinctive "R", has been used for many centuries by people with a wide variety of interests, whose motives could hardly be more different.

The Hanskuehnenburg is a managed mountain hut in the western Harz Mountains, near the well-known winter sports resort of Braunlage.

At the beginning of our hike into the picturesque Feldaist valley, which we have planned for today, the Bruckmühle in Pregarten is our chosen starting point and is now home to active cultural and artistic workers as well as the region’s associations.

We were on our way back from Braunlage to Clausthal-Zellerfeld in the early afternoon when the wonderful sunshine, despite the forecast for rain, forced us to stop at the Oderteich car park.

At first it was just a small side note that we noticed during a conversation with the local hiking guide Ömer over Sunday tea.

The wonderful weather and the urge to go on our first motorcycle tour after winter made us open the garage and roll the Yamaha into the yard.

"Hey and hello, we are Luisa from Freiburg and Kevin from Emmendingen on the way to "Tierra del Fuego", so our two camping neighbors at Lake Ohrid presented themselves after their arrival on a Honda Africa Twin and fixing their tent while enjoying the obligatory welcome coffee and the associated "brandy" at Camping Rino.

Repeated discussions about the use of the Istanbul Circuit by Formula 1 between the Turkish government as the guarantor and organizer Bernie Ecclestone have not exactly contributed to the positive publicity of the circuit in recent months.