Edirne was only about 10km on from the border with Bulgaria, but it felt about a 1000km nearer Asia. As we approached, it's skyline was full of Minarets - it has at least four mosques. The town centre was really quite impressive, full of parks, fountains and bazaars.
From Edirne, the road to Istanbul was really quite tough. A never ending rollercoaster of long, steep climbs followed by all too short descents. It wore us out and slowed our progress. However, as a motorway runs parallel to this road there wasn't much traffic.
It rained in Turkey too
We started to meet more cyclists in Turkey. This is Wolfgang Bachem on his way back to Germany
Rowena on the D100
Warning to Cyclists
The last 20km or so of the main road into Istanbul from the west, the D100, is by far the most dangerous road we have ever cycled. Although it is not classified as such, it is essentially a motorway. The heavy traffic, highspeeds and traffic flow at the slip roads make it extremely hazardous for cyclists. We both thought we were going to die on this road, seriously. It is also a very unpleasant pedal through miles of unattractive ribbon development along the coast. Our advice would be not to cycle this road. Either take the train from Edirne or put your bike on a bus about 30km out. If you do decide to risk it, it's best to come off the D100 at the airport turning and get on the coast road - follow the signs for Bakirkoy. This is a less hazardous road. Just before Bakirkoy, there's a good campsite on the right, near a shell garage.
Arriving in Istanbul
Having survived the D100, from Bakirkoy we followed Kennedy Caddesi into the centre. With the Sea of Marmara on our right, full of ships at anchor waiting to enter the Bhosphorous, and the old city on our left, it was one of the truly great arrivals.
We were able to follow Kennedy Caddesi right along the sea front to the foot of the Blue Mosque. We then turned left into Sultanahmet and found ourselves an hotel.
We hated Istanbul at first. It was hot, crowded, full of tourists and comparatively expenisve. And, when we were able to get up to date with our emails we discovered we weren't going to be able to get visas for Iran. This, together with the fact that it had taken us alot longer to get across Europe than anticipated meant we had to make some difficult decisions about the rest of the trip. After, some heart searching we decided to truncate the trip by flying to Dushanbe, cycling the Pamir Highway and returning from Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan. Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tibet would have to wait for another year. We would still have to go to Ankara for visas. We would also have three week wait for our GBAO permits for Tajikistan.
Blue Mosque
Crossing the Bosphorous
So, after four nights we left the bikes in Istanbul and took the train to Ankara. When we arrived it felt as if we had jumped from the frying pan into the fire: it was even hotter, more crowded and more expensive than Istanbul. For, three days we chased around getting visas and buying airline tickets.
Note to those that follow: if you want to feel like a complete pariah, try cashing Travellers Cheques in Turkey. We could only find two banks that would cash them (reluctantly) and then only three per day. This gave us a real problem as we needed lots of cash Dollars for Central Asia.
Anit Kabir, Ataturk's Mausoleum, Ankara
Guards at Anit Kabir
Ilhom
This is Ilhom, an Uzbek waiter at the Hotel Buhara. After long, hot days chasing visas and trying to cash travellers cheques, he plied us with free tea and cheered us up no end.
By the time we left, we really quite liked Ankara.
We took the train back to Istanbul, only this time it broke down in the midle of nowhere and we had a two hour wait for a replacement engine. Then, when we got back to Istanbul, Tim left his wallet in the Taxi. As we'd been dropped off in the street, not at a hotel, this caused a big panic - there are only 12,000 identical yellow cabs in Istanbul. However, Rowena said it would be alright and it was. There was a taxi office nearby and after 20 minutes of calls on mobiles they had the wallet back.
Second time around we liked Istanbul alot more. It is truly one of the world's great cities. We liked it even more when our replacement tyres, sent from the UK, turned up at the parcel office.
As we still had three weeks to wait before we would have our permit for Tajikistan, and we couldn't face pedalling out of Istanbul, we decided to take the ferry across the sea of Marmara and do a mini tour along the south coast to Gallipoli and back.
Mini Tour of Marmara and Gallipoli
From Bandirma we followed the southern shore of the Sea of Marmara to Biga and then Lapseki.
By the Sea of Marmara, near Bandirma
Not much traffic
At Lepseki we hopped on a ferry across the Dardenelles to the Gallipoli Pennisula and the small port of Gelibolu (nice place). We had a free night in Pension at Gelibolu in exchange for some English conversation with some students from the marine college.
Crossing the Dardenelles at Lapseki
Harbour at Gelibolu
From Gelibolu we crossed to the Agean coast of Galipoli and had a splendid couple of days camping by the beach and swimming in the turquoise sea.
The Dardenelles
Gallipoli Penninsula The inscription on the hillside reads "Traveller, halt! The soil you heedlessly tread once witnessed the end of an era. Listen! In this mound once beat the heart of a nation."
At Eceabat, we re-crossed the Dardenelles to Chanakkale and headed down the Agean coast, past the ruins of Troy and Alexandria. Further down the coast we camped at a site run by an opera singer.
Olive Grove Camp
Ruins of Alexandria near Geyliki
We then headed up into the hills. This gave some really picturesque cycling on empty roads.
Into the hills above Geyliki
This couple gave us breakfast when we camped in a field near their cafe
Lemon stall Bayramic
Topping up with water
Yasar Ekici, a school teacher who led us to a beautiful camp spot on his moped
Thunder brewing in the hills
A big hill on the way back to Bandirma
View of Marmara
After a couple of weeks, we returned to Bandirma and took the ferry back to Istanbul. As we were cycling back to the campsite at Bakirkoy, stopped at a red light amongst all the rush hour traffic, the couple in the car next to us wound down their window and handed Rowena a big handful of cherries. Can't imagine that happening in London.
Two days later we caught the plane to Tajikistan.
Cyclability
A
Off the main roads, Turkey is a joy to cycle in. The main roads aren't too bad either - most have a hard shoulder. The drivers are pretty considerate, but do inist on giving you a "toot" as they go by.
Cake rating
B+
We ate really well in Turkey. Lots of meat, fresh vegetables and fruit. And the Baklava is 100% pure energy.
Accommodation
A
Wild camping is easy and campsites with facilities are reasonably priced. There's also a good range of hotel accomodation