Stage 68: From Corum to Havza

During breakfast, I met Fatih, a Turkish man who had lived in Switzerland for ten years and therefore spoke good German. After a long conversation about God and the world, we continued through the mountains, with snow becoming less and less frequent. We were slowly but surely heading towards the coast! During my break at a petrol station south of Merzifon, I had three pleasant encounters. First, a truck driver waved me over and gave me two mandarins. I must have caught his attention on the road. Then another man brought me a tea, probably because I looked a bit frozen. And finally, another man approached me and asked where I would sleep tonight, I think he wanted to offer me a place to stay. And all of this happened during a 30-minute break, the Turkish hospitality is always impressive.

After the break, we continued on bumpy roads through hills and along a small and extensively fenced reservoir (Yedikir Baraj). After about 25 kilometers of bumpy terrain and beautiful landscapes, I arrived in Suluova, a larger town where I was once again 'greeted' by dogs. Unfortunately, the city of Amasya was not on my route. As it turned out later, it is supposed to be very worth seeing, especially because of its Ottoman houses and Pontic tombs. Well, maybe next time!

After continuing on quiet country roads, I reached the town of Havza in the afternoon, where my accommodation for the day was located. There stands the 'Havza Atatürk House', which was used by Atatürk as the first headquarters during the Turkish War of Independence in 1919. Today, it is a museum. Accordingly, Havza is also located on the 'Kurtulus Yolu', the Road of Independence. This 98 km long route leads from Samsun to Amasya and corresponds to the route Atatürk took back then. On May 19, 1919, Atatürk arrived in Samsun by ship and organized the resistance against the occupying forces. That was the beginning of the War of Independence and therefore still a national holiday in Turkey today. Nowadays, Havza is rather a small and insignificant spa town, there wasn't much to see for me in the evening.