Other than this we ate a lot of Tavuk  Döner / Yarum Tavuk , also known as a chicken sandwich.

The one unmissable site in Istanbul is the Hagia Sophia.

It was built as a Catholic church 1500 years ago, burned down several times, then got rebuilt, had minarets added, the mosaics got plastered over.

Today it is a museum and church, it is still very beautiful and, of course, monumental.

We also visited the Basilica Cistern.

We could walk under the city in massive columned halls, underneath us fish swam.  In the past this was the city’s largest reservoir and they had huge water pipes through which they brought the water in.

We also saw the Taksim quarter by the Galata tower.

And there was a CS party!

The Grand Bazaar.

Once I have been here for the 4th race of a 5-day orienteering event.   Then it was empty because it was held in the night, every shopper was gone and every shop had packed up all its wares. Well, during the day it was rather different, sometimes fewer, sometimes more people throngred in its covered streets.

We met an old man in the Yeni Mosque.

We chatted a lot with him and he told us a lot about islam.

When we were saying good bye to him, he told me how lucky I am to have a wife like Zita and that I should look after her like a jewel, mustn’t break her (mustn’t break her heart), because once its broken, while you can pick the pieces up and put them together, it will never be the same again.

Tomorrow we’ll say good bye to Europe.

Europe was great, the balkan people are amazingly friendly and hospitable, the Turks until now, until Istanbul were even more so.

We would like to say thanks to every Couchsurfer whom we met in Istanbul, especially to  Kivanc and Ali, who gave us their time and place in their life and home, thus creating a home for us in this enormous metropolis.

We said good bye to Dani, our faithful companion, whom we would like to thank for accompanying us this far!

Find our home in Istanbul – not easy…

Arriving to Istanbul was not that hard that we thought. The traffic is acceptable, the only thing you need is to flow with others. This is the key element of driving in Asia I can say. So do not be bothered by nothing, even if you see a burning car.
(watch your video about arriving to Istanbul here!)

Our last minute host were Kivanc and his girlfriend in a lovely flat, at floor -2. :) Big thank you for them for hosting us, since find a CS host in Istanbul was literally impossible for us!

At the morning we successfully overslept, so we had to take a taxi to Sultanahmed, to the Iranian Embassy for applying our visas before the Embassy closes down. Unfortunately missed the Embassy, because the closing times is not 12:30 as we know it from Lonely Planet forums, but 11:30, so we have no other chances than try our luck at Monday.

Friends from Nigeria – At the Blue Mosque and the seaside

We get two really kind new friend, Thomas and his mother at a park, where we tried to use Public free wifi.

Since Thomas mother was never been in a sea before, I grabbed her hand, and “forced” her to put our feet into the water. She liked it!

At Mavi Guesthouse, following the paths of the Blazing Saddles

We still had no idea, where will we sleep, since no CS accepted us so far.

We get a tip in a hostel that we should try the Mavi Guesthouse. This is a classical backpackers hostels with a big and crowded dormitory at the up-most story. (Small rooms were expensive for us.)

We were so happy, when we accidentally found The Blazing Saddles fliers on the wall. These guys lived at Arpi’s place in Budapest, and now here, we sleep at the same place.

“The Boat That Rocked”– Couchsurfing party on the Bosporus

In these days were one of the biggest CS party of Istanbul, a boat party with 400 CS members on the Bosporus between Europe and Asia – this is something what we can not miss!

A good news: we get a host, Ali, and he said we can meet on the boat. OK…. :)

To show, what kind of man we get at the last minute, here you are some short lines from his CS profile: „I’m a deeply disturbed, horny, drunk egocentric pervert with violent intentions and no brains or sense of humour. I’m xenophobic, homophobic, and I use CS solely to satisfy my sexual needs and to practice my axe-wielding/chopping skills. I’m very short tempered when I’m hungry, I smoke like a chimney, I can’t socialize when I’m sober, and I have no idea why people write me positive refs.„ – by the way he has just 80 positive references…

Home Sweet Home – with our Ali

Dani and Arpi with our crazy Ali

The rest of the days we spent at Ali’s place, not moving anywhere. Well, the  only thing we had to arrange was the visa for Iran.

Farewell from Ali

We left Edirne in the morning. Ali joined us for the first 25kms before we stopped in a village for a tea.

The locals were sitting at the tables, were playing cards and drinking tea. It was half lira so we had some too and also bought a large box of ice cream for 3 liras. During the break we cleaned the chains cause it was due despite they were still in working order. We said good bye form Ali, we had a good time with him, it was a nice change before three of us hit the road again.

The road was still undulating; we planned to go till Kirklareli, 60kms from Edirne, but the hills tired us out so we arrived there only in dinner time. Zita and Dani went shopping to the local BIM while I looked after the bikes. It turned out that we put the bikes in the police parking slot, the police captain warned me about it but we could stay there.

During this time I found a suitable place to cook. Along the road we saw plenty spots with chairs and tables outside where people could sit and have tea. There was one like this just behind the police station. We tried to emulate the home flavors but it wasn’t even close. We better get use to it as the farther we go the different the tastes going to be.

Hotel Petrol*** – Kizilcikdere

After the dinner the washing up was my duty. I wasn’t impressed at all and said never again. I’d rather put everything away as it is… The hygiene in the toilet of a restaurant was terrible. It was filthy. Next time I do it in the bushes using our Oertlieb bag. But we have survived that too, and decided to ride a few more miles before sunset.

We reached Kizilcikdere where the locals advised the petrol station for camping. The same place Ali mentioned us. The guy there was very kind and he even invited us to sleep in a place we could lock surrounded by walls and fences. It must have been a storage space. The place was almost perfect due to the tractors going all night long.

Rollercoaster road

We packed uor things quickly then we only stopped to have a break after 20 kms, at a petrol station again. The cheapest ice cream is half lira in Turkey so I can treat my Zita with one and a foot massage every time. We stopped in the village to eat a lahmacun for breakfast and to get wifi as we didn’t have a host in Istambul yet.

The undulating road was very tiring, physically and mentally too. At some point we stopped at a local religious building where Zita found a tap, she took the time to wash her hair. Over here we attracted a large group of kids who we befriended quickly by showing them the reflective bands they really fancied.

After some more hills we stopped again and as soon as we settled a lorry driver came to us with a 2.5l Coke in his hand. He only stopped to give us some refreshment, we are greatful for it. It’s unbelievable what kind of people we meet in Turkey.

.

After the break we were flying to the next town thanks to the long downhill. We stopped at a cafeteria where we found a wifi so we could check our mails. Unfortunately there was still no answer regarding the couches… To forget the sorrow we checked your comments. You can’t imagine how much inspiration you can give us. :) It’s great you like what we do and how we do it. Its even better to know that others try to follow the example.

There was another surprise here too, the lorry driver found us, this time he invited us for a tea. We had a little chat, got to know each other a bit more. From the money he left on the table we could have a kebab doner each before we continued the journey.