Turkey

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From Wednesday 22 to Monday 27 June, from the Turkish border to Istanbul

Strict customs officers

The adventure continues this Wednesday, June 22, we arrive at the Turkish border. Going through customs is long and complicated. A group of German bikers is entitled to a complete search, it’s no joke with the customs officers.

A day without any particular event on the unpaved country roads which bring us to the village of Üsküp where the police lodge us in a meeting room. In Turkey hospitality is great, the population regularly invites us to drink tea.

The next two days we continue our journey to Istanbul. Car traffic is fairly heavy. In the city of Saray, Ali a restaurant owner invites us to sleep in his house. He speaks French and has lived in France for 24 years. The following day we sleep in the garden of a restaurant and like everywhere we are offered tea.

Istanbul the mysterious

Saturday 25 we arrive in the suburbs of Istanbul which are located about 40kms from the heart of the city. In Istanbul, there is not really a city center as it is spread out. Traffic is insane, no cycle path, everything is dedicated to cars. We drive either on expressways or sidewalks. A city where the number of mosques is unimaginable, there are everywhere. The city is a furnace, it’s hot, the traffic is intense and the sound of car horns is deafening. It will take us more than 4 hours to find a place to sleep, a real hassle.

Istanbul is a mysterious city in which to stroll and get lost in the maze of its streets and the Grand Bazaar. A place where they can sell you everything, even the things you don’t need. A place perfumed with the scent of spices. Istanbul the place of the mysterious Topkapi Palace or the magnificent Blue Mosque.

A megalopolis where the mixture of cultures impresses, you can just as well come across a woman veiled up to the eyes as a woman dressed very lightly in European style. The whole of this population seems to live in perfect harmony and with great tolerance.

The Bosphorus and its traffic

Monday 27 we leave Istanbul by bike. We take the roads or the sidewalks indiscriminately. We slip through the traffic as best we can and end up arriving at the ferry pier which will allow us to cross the Bosphorus, the famous strait between the Marmara Sea and the Black Sea. Dozens of ferries are permanently in action there. After this crossing, for the first time in our trip, we set foot in Asia. We end the day at Mustapha, a hotelier who likes cyclists and offers us accommodation for the night.