Aleppo - Gazipasa - Istanbul

  Istanbul, Turkey
Monday, December 10, 2007

Itinerary : Aleppo - Gazipasa - Istanbul
Dates : 7th December to 10th of December 2007
Mileage in Turkey : 3280 km.
Mileage so far : 20950 km.

It was raining when we woke up in Aleppo so our plan to walk around Aleppo in the morning was not possible. Moreover, we have a border crossing to do where we knew it was not going to be a walk in the park. This "Syria-Turkey" crossing was giving us a headache and so we decided to load the bikes and just go for a quick spin in Aleppo before heading towards the border.

Aleppo...With a church in the middle of 2 mosques

It's with no real surprise that we had a difficult day at the border. On the syrian side of the border they are so corrupted that they bring you all over the place to pay "fees" that you don't understand...I thought we would never manage to leave Syria because Kevin has a tendency to lose all sense of diplomacy when asked to pay mysterious fees... Then, on the Turkish side of the border they send you all over the place because they don't know how to use their newly updated computer system...I think that the EU has imposed Turkey to better monitor their border by upgrading their system if they want to have a chance to be part of the EU, but the problem is that no one knows how to use it! Nevertheless, we managed to get out of that Turkish side of the border in 2 hours...

The end of the trip is approaching fast now and so once we entered Turkey, we decided to do some serious mileage and reach Istanbul as quickly as possible so that we can spend a day there. So nothing much to say about the riding to Istanbul as we didn't see much. We did 1500 km in a day and a half...The only thing enjoyable about this ride to Istanbul was maybe only the Adana-Antalya stretch where it's a nice curvy road along the coast.

Was looking forward to having a "day off" in Istanbul and discover this city that is divided in 2 areas by the Bosphore river with the west side being called the European side of Istanbul and on the east, the Asian side. We stayed in the historical part of the city called Sultanamet so that we can be at walking distance from the sites to visit.

So off we went to discover Istanbul the next day and we started by visiting the Blue mosque which is an incredible piece of architecture. Then just opposite the blue mosque, there's the Aya Sofia which is an amazing building as well. The Aya Sofia was a church for 1000 years, then a mosque for 500 years and in 1930 it was declared a Museum by Ataturk. After a quick walk in on of the biggest bazaar in the world, we had seen all the things we had to see in a day in Istanbul except the famous Hammam or Turkish bath! I was delighted with my Syrian Hammam experience so I proposed Kevin to go to the baths after dinner. We have to go to a Turkish bath in Turkey I thought! But without any surprise, he refused and so we opted to go the "bar area" of Istanbul in Taksim to discuss the Europe itinerary over a beer.

The blue mosque...Really blue!

inside the blue mosque...

aya sofia...Now a museum...

Popular sunday outing on the bosphore river...

Taksim! The nightlife area...

Really tired from the hardcore riding....

Brainstorming on Europe route...

I have one more chance in Budapest to get Kevin into the Baths...His excuse of not going to the bath was that he didn't want to have his buttocks punched by a huge bearded Turk in a red speedo...So I think in Budapest, I will have to lie and tell him that I read that Hungaria is the only country in the world where the massages in the baths are performed by women...

The next day was going to be our last day in Turkey and the start of our European adventure. In the morning, we first did a quick stop at the BMW in Istanbul so that we could get equipped to confront the cold weather of eastern Europe, and finally get Kevin proper motorcycle gears! Crazy Kevin...We have 10 days left and he finally got motorcycle boots and a rain suit! He took advantage to review his bike and luggage setup as well...So now he's starting to entertain people on the road with his funny setup...

Kev's minibar...

dry bag converted into a nice Tankbag!