Istanbul, Turkey

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  Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
Sunday, July 20, 2008

Ola... we made it all save and sound to Istanbul!! Crossed 8 countries, cycled almost 4000km's from West to the East of Europe. Saw the most amazing sights and cities in those 6 weeks. Each country with its own charm, culture and different foods. From floods in France to 40 plus degrees in Bulgaria, and luckily without too many injuries. We unfortunately had Neil, Maralyn and Don who had to leave the tour, but they are all doing much better and am sure they are training hard to get back on their bikes again soon. I know Neil is looking to fly back home in the next couple of days...

Also incase you want to have a look, our tour company has put on some great photos and stories onto their site which is  http://www.tourdafrique.com/

I have been trying to download my pictures but without any luck

Bushcamp!!

. Will try again tmorrow in the old city, so stay tuned. Below the last 3 days before we arrived in Istanbul.
Love
M

DAY 48 "Give me some energy" - Kirklareli to Saray (3564km to 3637km)
As I unfortunately got a bad stomach bug over the last few days my energy level was hard to find, and especially struggled getting up those hills. I had to remind myself to look at the beautiful countryside we were crossing as at one point the only thing I was focussing on was the white line of the tarmac.  We took quite a few breaks at the variety of tea houses that are available in Turkey. Some only serve tea, others provide cold drinks or some kind of lemonade, but tastes more like "lemsip" to me. They are all so friendly and make sureto get enough chairs out for you. There was a little market happening across the road where we stopped and we decided to go and have a sneaky peak. So with the bikes we wondered throuh the local market and by this stage we had around 8 kids following us closely. We bought some candies for them and in return we received the yummiest honey dew melon and chocolates. After lots of free food and fun chats we left the town and cycled on. Lucky for me it was a short day and we rocked into Saray after 75km

We made it to Istanbul (Me,John,Lýz,Graeme,Alan)

. I had to change my tires as after all the rough roads we had travelled on they looked very tired and were not going to make it to Istanbul. Kiwi John was very kind to help me, owe this man a beer or two, including our mechanic who found out that my front bearing was gone and needs urgent replacing. In the evening a group of us went to the park where we indulged in some baklava and tea and had a laugh as one Turkish man got caught by his girlfriend for looking at me and unfortunately for him he received the biggest smack....oopsie be a little more discreet next time mate! Off to bed early as since arriving in Turkey it is not the dogs or alarm clock that wake you bu the "call to pray" at around 5.00am.

DAY 49 "BUSHCAMP" - Saray to Tayakadin (3637km to 3727km)
Today, the day before getting to Istanbul, we are staying in our tents again at a bush camp....wasnt sure what that entailed, no showers and toilets I guess. but was looking forward to sleeping in my tent. Funny how you start missing this. As we only had a 90km ride today...haha.. we stopped twice for tea and icecreams to not get to camp too early. The man offered us all free tea and provided lots of chairs and shade. Got talking to a local who spoke perfect German, which is something that has quite surprised me on this tour, German gets you very far, even though I would of course not like to admit it but even in Hungary and Romania you can get by with German more than English

Graeme, Nic and Ý

.  The German had some great influence in the past. During our cycle we saw a few men with guns along the way, quite perculiar, and rather scary when you just gone into the bushes to have a toilet stop to then hear a noise nearby and a man with a gun appears...glad my cycle pants were not half way down my legs, as that could have been rather messy!
We arrived at bushcamp late in the afternoon to find out that they had created showers for us, yeahh!!! They had put up some tarp and a huge cooking pot full of water and a bucket to throw the water over yourself. Perfect and much better than a baby wipe shower i can tell you and actually felt quite refreshing. We also had a small kiosk serving cold drinks...this was the lucury bushcamp for sure.. In the evening we were given our cycle jerseys saying "Paris to Istanbul". For all of us to wear the following day getting into Istanbul. After dinner we sat around with some locals watching the full moon appearing from behind the trees. Randy, one of our tour guides, played on the drums which was brought by a one armed local. The one armed man played as well and his 7 year old son danced....a rather bizarre ritual to say the least. Not only did it look like he was doing a rather feminine dance but the locals put money on his forhead by licking the note...! After the boy had danced for around 10 minutes instead of giving him water they gave him the local raki, a very strong spirit. The poor boy thought it was water and drank it...it was so sad to see as he of course got a big shock and spat it all out, which the locals thought was the funniest thing

Ýstanbul sightseeing from boat

. I wonder if it was part of the act but it sure didnt look it to me.

DAY 50 "50km to Istanbul...." - Tayakadin to Istanbul (3727 km to 3779)
The day has come...the last ride for many and for us the last ride with our friends. A day with lots of mixed feelings. Happy for them as they made it all the way to Istanbul which is an amazing effort and sad as it will be different leaving them in Istanbul, but somehow also feeling great as my journey is not finished yet...to me it really starts here. We had a short day ahead of us, which was nice as when we had to climb a rather steep incline of 17% where I could feel every part of my body hurting...I think this body needs a well deserved rest. Started to daydream about the massages I was going to get and possibly a scrub at the local turkish baths. We stopped briefly on the way and arrived at the Bospherus, which was the finish line at around 10.30am. The company had organised a boat to take us and the bikes on a 50 min trip on the bospherus to our hotel. What an excellent way to finish and see some of the amazing sights Istanbul has to offer. With a beer in our hands we all cheered, hugged and celebrated....The evening was organised at a nice restaurant, where they had put together a slide show of the trip. I think we all just started to realise how much we had actually travelled and seen over these last 50 days....just incredible....and so much more to see over the next 110 days.

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

My future palace	Go to Mosque by boat!	Colourful headgear...	Me at the Blue Mosque
Blue Mosque	Square in Blue Mosque	Ýnside blue mosque	The Cistern

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