31 July - 8 August: Turkey (Part 1)

Up early to make a run to Istanbul as the hotel guy said ‘is fine until 6 then it goes crazy as millions of cars converge from every direction’ full of people coming home after the weekend. So, Michele and I had agreed to get an early start, I with my British punctuality was loading up my bike for the agreed 9.30 start, Michele and Luiga popped down at half 10 to say it would probably be closer to 11 or maybe 12 by they’d be ready for off in their cheery Italian sing-song accent. 

Finally on the move, we hit the motorway heading to Turkey and set in for a steady ride at 100km. Ideally we would have picked up the speed to make up for lost time, however Luiga as Michele’s pillion was carrying a huge backpack on her shoulders and anything faster would be far too uncomfortable and likely quite dangerous.

At the border, either side of a river guarded for the first time on this trip by soldiers with machine guns, the Italians flew through as I got stuck at every point. Firstly it was for a Green Card, apparently the UK has gone off on its own and insurance companies no longer issue them, even if you phone every one and beg – some sources on the internet say they must, as insurers, provide one if requested, but nope not in England “because no-one uses them any more”. 

So it’s off to the Green Card booth you have to go. With all the urgency of someone who knows they’re the only sales point of said documents and you have no option to go anywhere else, half an hour later (5 minutes processing in-between 25 minutes of mobile chatting) I had a Green Card. Perfect, so I can go through now? Nope, Italians don’t need a visa, but Brits do. So off to the visa booth and 15 Euros lighter but now legal as a beagle, finally I could ride into Turkey, the bridge between Europe and Asia. 

The all important passport stamps

Green Card insurance

The motorway to Istanbul was easy going at first that incrementally became the most difficult and draining riding of the whole trip so far. About 100 kilometres from Istanbul the traffic started to become manic with three then four lanes of traffic forcing its way down the two lane motorway. Riding wise it was impossible to find the right response, if you held back, people would overtake you right and left side to force themselves into the space infront. If you rode hard through the gaps and closed down any space, then the frequent sudden traffic jams meant frequent uncomfortably hard breaking and hoping the traffic behind you was doing the same. I presume having “Death or Glory” tattooed to the inside of your eyelids replaces the theory test part of learning to drive here.

Adding to the fun, near Istanbul we came to a toll section of motorway, no problem on the face of it, but going through the gates there was no way of collecting a ticket like usual, only a swipe card system. Michele, Luiga & I puzzled over what to do and could only decide to go on and sort it out at the far side. The traffic madness kept up so we stopped firstly for a breather at a petrol station then at the side of a 10+ lane wide toll booth area. Asking a load of other people stopped at the side of the road what to do, including a happy group of lads in the back of a lorry, it turned out we needed an electronic card which a small building to the side of the control gates sold. About 20 Euros later we had cards in hand and went to pass through, Michele first set an alarm off despite having a green pass light, then the same happened to me, no point stopping to ask the police what it meant just needed to keep going because the sun was setting behind us and it was bad enough riding into the city in day, never mind at night. 

Hot Turkey!

Our mates in the back of a truck

We rode directly to the tourist part of Istanbul, Sultanahmet, to find a hotel. All the way feeling better as every time the arrival distance dropped by just 0.1 kilometre, we’d really had enough by now. Riding the wrong way up countless one way streets to find some hotels, the best option seemed to be a cheap hostel with 10 Euro dorm for me and a 25 Euro private room for Michele and Luiga. With that we chained the bikes up, unpacked and went out for food at the end of a hellish day. 

The next day was sightseeing in the morning at the Blue Mosque and Grand Bazaar. The Mosque more than impressive for all its hulking size it’s so light and finely detailed inside. The Bazaar less so, despite there being thousands of small shops, there was only really 5 types – jewellery, lights, watches & sunglasses, carpets/fabrics etc. I was really hoping it would be more like the madness of Moroccan markets and chaotic, but it’s all fairly easy going stuff. 

The Blue Mosque from outside

The Blue Mosque, Istanbul

Inside the Blue Mosque

In the afternoon I’d arranged to meet up with a motorcycling club in Istanbul, having exchanged a few messages on Horizons Unlimited. Kindly they rode out to the hostel so I could follow to find the way to their place where I could leave my bike. Over the next few days the club ratcheted up the kindness and hospitality to unbelievable proportions.

Not content with furnishing me with an apartment for free for the week (the hostel it turned out was really grotty so this alone was cause for joy bend measure!), my bike was booked in for a service, calls made to DHL to get a special club price for shipping to Delhi, a metro pass and phone cards were all found, and they even ran back to the hostel to pick up my clothes bag that was still there so I could spend some time looking through their photos of trips around the middle east. So every practical problem I had been taken care of, and there were really weighing on my shoulders (where do you even start, in a city the size of London, finding an English speaking shipping agent who can air freight your bike to India?), talk about a boost to morale! 

The Club's office / home

Parked up for the next week or so

No sooner in than the phone was in meltdown

Oil and filter change at Kuzgun Motors

Apo and Taylan, fantastic mechanics!

Michele and Luiga left for their long ride home after we had a final meal out. The luck of meeting such a nice couple completely by chance was the kind of thing I’d dared to hope this trip would throw up. The next few days were unfortunately fairly quiet as I came down with a bad stomach, though having a private apartment rather than a shared damp hostel room took the edge of it! Later in the week, being able to call home on my birthday using call cards rather than my mobile (c£2 per min) was fantastic as was a surprise trip out to the countryside for a BBQ and some off road enduro riding with a few friends of the club. Back from the trip out, a video message from friends at home was a perfect end to the day. Thanks again guys!

A bit of off-roading

chicken prepped

Getting a fire going

Delicious!

With more info on Turkey than its possible to digest, I’ve now got a plan for the next few weeks to ride a 3000km loop of the country before landing back here on the 4^th September to get my bike prepped for freighting. A complicated process in principle but with the promise of having someone to translate and run me round to each office (tax, customs, DHL etc) it all feels remarkably under control. I was really hoping to be in India a bit sooner, however the end of Ramadan shuts most of Turkey down for a week, so better to enjoy a few extra days here and sort it all out after the holiday than rush like crazy to get it all sorted before.