This is the kingly way of writing a blog! The sounds of the waves and the endless Marmara Sea stretches ahead of us. We're relaxing on the beach and listening to the murmur of the sea. It's slowly getting dark and it seems that the dusk might catch the writer of this blog. This whole day was like this, we bathed, sunbathed and took our well-deserved relaxation after hundreds of kilometers of cycling.
In the morning however we went to the city center of Tekirdag, once again at the invitation of the Town Hall. The Vice Mayor and the vice-president of the Turkish-Hungarian Cultural and Friendly Society welcomed us at the Rákoczi Memorial House. Our friend Ali, the guard at the Rákoczi museum was the interpreter. After that we were invited for lunch as well. Ali, who is Turkish but speaks Hungarian perfectly, told us the story of Francis II Rákoczi in such a way that it would've stirred the envy of any history teacher. Of the houses that the prince bought for the outcasts, only one is standing today: this served as the dining hall of Rákoczi's entourage. The rest unfortunately collapsed, because the Hungarian state only bought this one.
During the visit of the museum we laid wreaths at statue of the person after whom our tour is named. We have mentioned a while back, weeks ago, that this year we're not only walking the path of the rolling mountains, but we'd like to discover a personality that the Hungarian public has forgotten, whom however from a Turkish point of view is a very important person. Székely Ábrahám, a.k.a. Ibrahim Mütefferika, the founder of the Turkish press and the diplomat of the Sultan wrote the following about himself: "I, a humble servant, was born in Hungary, in the city of Kolozsvár [Cluj-Napoca]". This is a great honor for us, even more so because most likely he was the student of our school. So our Turkish-Hungarian ancestor deserves the many wreaths we have placed at his statues. Other than our own, we have placed the ribbons of 35 other Unitarian communities who have supported our tour.
After that we drank some coffee on the beach, visited the statue of Rákoczi, which was erected by the Turkish in honor of the Prince. Most Turkish cities have a statue of Atatürk in the middle of their public squares, in Tekirdag however in the middle of the most beautiful park one can find the two meter (~7 feet) statue of the great revolutionary. Not that far away from it stands the Mikes sculptural group, which other than the writer contains his unrequited love, Zsuzsi and the fictional addressee of his letters, Countess P.E.
By the time of visit of Tekirdag was over, it was almost afternoon, so we hurried back to bathe. Since then the situation mentioned previously is dominant. Everyone is enjoying the sea and some are preparing for a night visit of the sea. We were just having dinner, and celebrating the last person to have his birthday during the tour: Szabi could drink his first glass of wine tonight (at least officially). He has come of age with us, so we gave him a cycling top, a cake and Turkish wine called "Tiger". Szabi is the heart-and-soul of the tour, wherever there's something to do he is always there. We wish him many more happy cycling tours!
Tomorrow will be the last, Istambul day in Turkey. We are collecting messages, and we will be putting them up together with the pictures later this evening. Until then, enjoy the post!
J
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