Back to the beach! Black sea was a great adding to my riding in Turkey. It was quite hot during the day; I enjoyed the sea and the water falls across from the sea at as much as I could. From the border 'till Rize, I had the sea on my right, and waterfalls on my left. The roads were great and the ppl were nice.
Things changed... The prices were sky-high and the so spoken "generosity" went out the window. I was now closer to Europe, and things were more about $$$. Turkey ppl were nice and polite, but the usual muslin feeling I was use to 'till then, was long gone. Everything had a price and sometimes.
I was in the north coast, an area were the main business seemed to be tourism, so...I was a tourist like any other.
Rode all the way to Samsun, where I turned south to the more country area. It did change a little, but not much. The road to Istanbul were either up mountains or rollinhg hills. Ppl kept saying it was flat all the way ahead of me. It did not get flat'till I got to Greece.
Turkey was nice, its nature out of the coast didn't change much, but it was nice. Met a biker on midway, Philipe from France. He was biking from Istanbul to Yerevan, Armenia. We stopped for a little chat, exchanged e-mails, info, and went on our way.
In Samsun, I had e-mailed my friend Yusuf who lived in Istanbul; he was my only contact in Turkey (old friends from TW). By the time I got to Gerede, about 350km from Istanbul, I decided I wanted to ride as hard as I could to arrive in Istanbul, wehre I had a friend.
After sleeping only 3.5 hours, I got back on the road rushing to reach Istanbul on that same day. I was then in Acaparazzi..I think...150km from Istanbul. Later on on the road, I stopped for a rest, looked at the trees down the road and thought of taking a nap; it was hot and I was sleepy. Then; I looked back from where I came from and saw a bike coming...probably a local guy going home or whatever, I thought.
Wait..are those panniers? Yap, it was Jason, coming from Africa. We had a chat and I decided to ride with him to Istanbul. It was all I needed, a company to keep me awake and riding. He planned to sleep before Istanbul and arrive next morning at the Bosphorus where the Turkey Rowing Federation was waiting for him to help on hs cross - rowing. We stopped around 25km before Istanbul and slept at a car dealer who was nice enough to let us stay in his shop overnight...after we been rushed out by this women at a mosque near by.
Arrived in Istanbul early enough for a coffee before meeting Jason's contact. I checked my email and got Yusuf's email. Called him and got his location - Studio Ugur at Beshitash.
got a ride on another boat and watched Jason row his way to Europe's side of Turkey. Funny to see him going around the back of a huge ship coming on his direction.
Crossed...I was now in Europe...Asian was finally done. IT was a big step for me. I great feeling of acomplishment...I DID ASIA!!!! ;)
To be continued...
