ISTANBUL DAY 161- 167 22-28 -5-23

Rode up to Istanbul  from Pendik qwhich is only 40 km or so and got a room near Taksim Square at a hostel in a good location. The following day went to get it service and new tyres and took it for a Turkish Bath and now it looks new again after the guy gave it a detailed cleaning. 

 Justin is still in hospital, three weeks now, they operated again last Monday and put in two drains, his count dropped by three, was 7 and now is 4 which is encouraging and tomorrow  will have more tests and let's hope it has dropped again.

Checked into the apartment we rented for seven days and then went to the airport the next day at 4:30am to fetch Charmain. 

Have been touring the city which I have enjoyed, it has a nice vibe with it's narrow cobbled streets, stray cats and dogs everywhere but are all well looked after. 

With the biggest city in Europe split between Asia and Europe makes it quite a unique place and there is lots to see and do with thousands of restaurant's and Mosques.

    TAKSIM SQUARE TRAM

    BOSPHOROUS BRIDGE CONNECTING.            EUROPE TO ASIA.

    MOSQUE AT TAKSIM SQUARE 

    BACLAVA

    SHIRWARMA, AM SO SICK OF EATING            CHICKEN SHIRWARMA

    SIDEWALK CAFE'S SPRING UP                          EVERYWHERE AT NIGHT 

    THE BLUE MOSQUE 

    BY GALATA BRIDGE 

    GALATA BRIDGE 

    SPICE MARKET

    Hagia Sophia Mosque built in 537AD.Was a church, then converted into a Mosque in 1453 and then into a museum in 1935 and just recently President Erdogan changed it back into a mosque.

    PRAYERS AT THE BLUE MOSQUE ON            FRIDAY. BUILT IN 1609- 1620.

    The Basilica Cistern, constructed in the 6th century AD.

    Mythological character Medusa.

    Galata Tower constructed in 1348 for defence purposes and was a dungeon for Slaves working in the boatyard.

    Mosque on the BOSPHOROUS. 

TO USAK, INEGÖL AND PENDIK DAY158-160

BEKILLI TO USAK   DAY 158   66km.

Had a wet ride to Usak where I was soaked so found a hotel and showered to warm up and then dried my gear and it didn't  rain for the rest of the day. It is a big public holiday today , 19th May like an Indepence Day, and they had a political rally cause on the 28th they vote again cause no one person got more than 50% of the vote last week.

    BEKILLI  Main Street.

    View outside my window in BEKILLI. 

Worked on fixing my windscreen again with some zip ties to hold it in place, hopefully. Then the neighbouring restaurant's host and colleagues came over and chatted and then brought me some tea which hit the spot ! 

USAK TO INEGÖL    DAY 159    432km  10.5 hrs.

    People lining up for whatever they're making in Usak.

The skies were blue with no rain in the forecast so headed out on the TET again. Stopped at a nice coffee shop to charge my phone as it had died and I couldn't  follow the TET tracks. The young girl had just opened up and was by herself and said I could come in and I ordered a Cappuciano and she asked if I was hungry and wanted breakfast and I said no thanks and I sat down and charged my phone. Next minute she brings over the coffee and a breakfast full of smiles and asks me if I am okay. Ended up staying an hour, mostly speaking to Justin who is in hospital with an infection on the knee, not good, his second week in hospital and the count is not coming down so may have to operate again on Monday. 

I go to pay and she refuses my money and tells me on Google translate it is a gift, so I try give her a tip but refuses that and she just smiled, the people are so kind and helpful over here, it is quite remarkable. 

That was a nice heartwarming start to the day and I then  discovered I was way off route so backtracked and got going on the farm roads and back country routes . Encountered quite a bit of mud where I battled , it is hard work trying to stay upright in that and going at a snails pace, tip toeing through it.

The big problem for me is when I have to pick up the bike, your feet slip in the mud just to add to the nightmare and plus I can barely pick it up on a dry road. Had to re route a number of times cause of the mud when I could, so it was slow going.

Got to Inegöl and actually found a nice hotel in downtown for ţļ 800 = $40. 

    INEGÖL 

INEGÖL TO PENDIK     DAY 160    180km.

Being a Sunday the roads were fairly empty leaving town, was going to go to Canakkale but decided against it and headed up to Istanbul for the final section of the TET. 

Once again the route goes through all the villages and farms and then jumps onto some tar roads and then back onto to dirt roads. I ended up on a muddy road and kept going till I had enough and tracked back and then my front wheel just washed out away from me  and the tail end swung right around and was facing the opposite direction. Was no big deal except my front wheel was down over the small embankment and there was no ways I was going to get it out on my own. So walked down the road and caught a farmer who had just finished milking a cow and asked him through sign language if he could assist. We climbed in his car and drove back but to no avail could we pull the bike out, so he went back to get his tractor. 

Then four guys drove by and they all helped me and we got it up and out as the farmer approached with his tractor. Continued on through the mountains to the port at Yulova where I got a ferry to Istanbul, Asian side but still 30km south of the city at Pendik where I got a hotel for $30.

TRANS EUROPEAN TRAIL (TET) TO BUCAK DAY 156 512km. 12 hrs.

ALANYA TO BUCAK    Day 156   512km.

Alanya is a nice beach town filled with Russian tourists, the beach on the west side is nice and really craters to the tourists. 

I did a 6am departure cause I wanted to try the TET again, as I will see the coast when Charmain comes over, so will be great to go Island where there are no tourists. Had to ride 103km to get to the start of #8 route up in the mountains. Turned out to be a fantastic day and the scenery through the valley was beautful and was very, very remote in the mountains. Had a short knarly section where a stream had washed the road partially away and had to deal with large loose rocks but came away unscathed for once. 

Was only able to do just over 400km of the trail in ten hours, with another 100km to go and decided to get a $12 hotel in Bucak.

DAY 157  324km to BEKILLI  10hrs.18-5-23

Continued on the route to Yesilova where I stopped for tea and a Tosti and started the next route which was a lot of asphalt but with a fairly amount of easy dirt tracķ.

Stopped in Pamukkale to see the mineral rich thermal pool whichflow down the travertine hillside, was museum day so did not have to pay $20 to see the over rated pools, was a waste of time even being free.

Continued on and had to take cover for an hour because of a rain storm, so stopped at the tea house where all the men sit around and drink tea. I make a point of stopping at these places cause it is so unique and they always talk to you and they are all local hard working old guys, don't  know where the wives are but there are never women there.

After the storm I pushed on to see an historic Monastery, wish I would have known that it was just the rubble laying around that was once the walls , cause on the way in I did some ploughing after I hit some mud. Street tyres are not fairing to well in mud, and on the way out I went down three times. I was beat and sweating like a pig after picking it up and headed for the next town to call it for the day, where I got a hotel room for $5. I found a garage with a pressure washer where I hosed her down as it was caked in red mud. Didn't  get to far today as I had hoped, but was an easy day for the most part.

Tomorrow and the next day I will continue on the route and then will be near Istambuł where I will cut back to see some WW2 battlefields at Canakkale. Have to be in Istanbul in five days time.