I set off from the campsite to brave the Istanbul traffic conditions....the road was busy, the drivers impatient and the traffic stopped for enough time for me to be a bit concerned at the engine temperature...I set up the camera on a tripod in front of the dashboard to capture the MG cruising over the 'Fatıh sultanamet brıdge' which crosses the Bospherous..quite an unbelievable moment.
I eventually found the meeting point for my contact and we set off for the secure parking space underground carpark...
After such a busy morning I stopped for tea and something to eat and then headed off to the island of Bayukada...the biggest of the 5 islands off the mainland...half an hour later the ferryboat had brought me to an island where it was peace and quıet and the only traffic was eıther a bıcycle or a phaeton (horse drawn carriage)..it was a bit of a step back in time.
I cannot tell you what the scenery was like...but safe to say it was really someting else watching the sun go down from over the water where the main heart of istanbul is.
There is a church on the island and a very nice bar opposite selling the local beer 'Effes'...not a bad drop actually...
I found out this is where Leon Trotsky was put into voluntary exile by Stalin...
the buildings are magnificent...early 1900s...lots of wood decoration and french windows etc.
I had my first day out in the heart of Istanbul....a massive grand bizaar and I mean HUGE...Fez hats , sultans clothing (tempting), hubbly bubbly pipes, chess sets, pointy shoes and nearly everything you can imagine including a great line in carpets...
I went to see an underground water cistern all dark and myserious and with at least 100 tall stone columns holding the place together, 2 o which had the medusa carved on to them...
The blue mosque was simply magnificent and soo detailed....no shoes please...
and the Aya sophia church and later to become mosque was enjoying a major restoration...
There is so much to do here and the food is very tasty and very fresh...
Its a nice commute to the main part of Istanbul from the island and the locals are a very social bunch inviting me to dinner...lucky for me I can cook the odd meal and bring something along myself and they loved it...
Unfortunately the ferryboat to the east is not running at the moment so I will drive across in the MG
But...I still wait for my Iranian visa and it seems there might be a bit of a problem...relations from inside are a bit stormy and the issue of visas is all but stopped.
I spent a whole day trying to find out what is going on with my visa and the agency is not too confident, so I have been trying to work on another plan...which would mean either 4 extra countries north of the Caspian sea 'the Stans' where road conditions and visas can also be hard to come by
or a big boat trip to Singapore via the 'Suez Canal' in Egypt...
Tricky decisions as you can imagine...I have about 4 weeks to wait in Turkey and explore the place before I must make a decision, then my onward visas will expire or not leave me enought time to cover the distances...
In the meantime I will head up to the black sea coast but not too far from Istanbul just in case I have to get the cargo ship to Asia.
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As with all big projects its the support from friends that makes the difference,so I would like to say a big big thankyou to Paul and Mike and Linda and Emily for helping with the specialist parts and for being so efficient and swift and proffesional.
So I shall raise a glass to MG BITS when at my first port of call in Belgium where I am reliably told they sell the finest Beer in the world brewed by none other than Trappist monks......DING DONG!!!!
So I shall raise a glass to MG BITS when at my first port of call in Belgium where I am reliably told they sell the finest Beer in the world brewed by none other than Trappist monks......DING DONG!!!!
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