About 15 km far from the border we arrived to Batumi and were already dark, so the big question was where will we sleep? We got help from Khivcha who gave us a room after diner and some graze lessons.In the opposite of the bed was a big bear carpet on the wall. I had to turn a bit because Zita couldn’t sleep.Next day we went to see the city together with Khivcha and Vazha. We saw a church on top with blue cupola was beautiful, inside everything was blue. Batumi was incredible!On front of the national theatre we found the symbol of Georgia, the gold lion without nose.We had bath in the see.Had a walk in a park and tried the kadzhapuri.This is a georgian food: roundel with cheese became soon our favourite.The Lonely Planet mentions from Graze: the invention of wine, Stalin, the graze dance, the big hospitality, the mountains and kadzhapuri.

From these we got the hospitality, kachapuri and dance from Khvicha”s family and Vazha for which we are very thanks full and hope that one day we can give it back to them maybe here in Budapest.

In a town called Görele we stopped to rest.

Yes, I can write about the fantastic hospitality that we found everywhere, as our days were simply filled with it.  Wherever we went, whatever we did, all the time and everywhere our experience was that the locals were really nice to us.

Therefore it was difficult to leave Görele, but we didn’t regret a single minute spent here, we were treated very well and we could sort a lot of important stuff on the internet.

On this day we progressed 74 km, and in the evening we got a place to pitch our tent in Mehmet’s garden. He invited us to his table, and  as we were rather hungry we didn’t resist. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me, as it would have made a fantastic photograph as this large family: young and old, man and woman mother and father in law, grandmother, grandfather and children sat round a table which was piled high with great food.  They made us welcome at this table.

Mehmet and his family allowed us to stay several days in their garden and as we have not found any other accommodation in Trabzon, there was no point to move on, so we decided to stay, spending the day with cleaning the bikes.

In the evening Zita and I went down to the shore and had a dip in the Black Sea.

It was good to be down on the beach, just playing and enjoying the sea, running up and down on the waterside and throwing stones into the water.

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.