My first trip took to the East took place in spring of 1980, from 26 February to 1 April. The destination was Jerusalem in order to celebrate Easter in the Holy Land. The route ran from Bonn via Munich, the Brenner expressway, Villach, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Belgrade, Sofia, Plovdiv, Edirne to Istanbul. Then via Bursa to the ancient sites on the west coast of Turkey (e.g. Pergamon, Ephesus, Miletus, Didyma), to Bodrum and via Pammukkale to Antalya, and from there first to Lycia (to Termessos), then further east along the south coast (with stops in Perge, Aspendos and Side) via Alanya and Anamur to Silifke (departure to Korykos). Continuing crossing the Taurus mountains to Konya and Ankara. From there to the ruins of Alaca Hüyük and Bogazköy (Hattusa: capital of the Hittite Empire) and - leaving aside Cappadocia (temporarily closed to foreigners due to terrorist investigation) - again crossing the Taurus south to Mersin and via Adana to Antakya. From there crossing the border into Syria with the first destination Aleppo (21.3. = 21. birthday). Via Homs to Palmyra and through the desert to Damascus. From there via Homs and the Crac du Chevalier (Crusader Castle) to the coast to Lattakia (ruins of Ugarit). The planned ship passage via Cyprus to Israel proved to be too complicated and costly, so that from Lattakia we started the journey home - in just 5 days with overnight stays in Silifke, Pergamon, Thessaloniki and near Zagreb to Leverkusen (Cologne). In just under 5 weeks, a total of 13,000 km were covered.
Images coming soon - page archive under preparation!