Istanbuli Bikers

Arrived in Istanbul at peak hour ( its always peak hour) and took about 2 hours to cover around 15km. Lane swaping for no reason, panniers nudged if I'm in their way.    But found our way to the hostel with only minor damage to both our bikes.  I got hung up on a bollard, dragged me down and bent my pannier frame ( not broke it Dave, welds held up fine!).  Dave stopped to unhook me, his bike rolled off the side stand and we were both blocking the footpath, which we were riding down to dodge a traffic jam.  Untangled, we rode on to the hostel.  Felt good about being able to ride into the centre of a 16 million people town and find the hostel with no map or GPS.
Food here is fantastic, whether from a 'hole in the wall' or cafe.  This is just up the street from where my daughter Kate and husband Kris used to live, and was a favourite of Kate's.

Galata Tower. Built as a fire lookout, but burnt down unfortunately.   Next day, Ben and Peter arrived after their tour of lower Europe. Peter lurking in the shadows before he knew we were there.

With 4 in the room, things became a little messy..............................................

Next morning we all mounted up and rode about 18km out to meet the Istanbuli Bikers.  These guys have a clubhouse and workshop for locals and travellers.  Made us very welcome and assisted with visa info. We were invited to join them for the afternoon and camping overnight in the forest by the sea, but we couldn't join them.

Mehmet who runs the club made us very welcome and we met some Russian travellers who gave us a business card and said if we have any trouble in any sizeable Russian town 'give me a call, I know people who know people who will be able to sort and problem you have'.   we may need Dmitry at some stage.  Met a couple of nice dogs, a bullie named Casper.  Not all that clean, but they had been for a swim.

One of many mosques,  Yeni Camii,

 through the sea mist that rolled in.

Fairly typical meal for less than $10.   Good, fresh and tasty.

Wandered down to the Grand Bazzar, but it was late in the arvo and we were all tiring.

Trudged back to the hostel, a quiet drink and out for a meal.  Next day we venture back to Sultanahmet to revisit vist the Bazaar which we found closed and headed to the Ayasofya museaum and Blue Mosque, followed by a visit to the ancient cistern, a huge underground water storage.

We hopped the tram for the trip home, as tomorrow was going to be a busy visa getting day.

Next morning we got up early and headed out got up early for the visa run.  First to Tajikistan. Helpful bloke. Hand over all the paperwork, go to the nearest bank to pay our $40US fees and received our visas and Pamir Permits.   

 Next off to Kazakhstan.   The forms we downloaded from the net the night before were obselete.     Fill out the new forms, hand over all the paperwork and old matey says very nicely, ' you can collect NEXT Monday.   To make things worse, we can't get our Uzbekistan until we get our Kazak 'cos they need to make sure that we don't want to settle down in Uzbek and start new lives.   Uzbek visas take a week, but we can pick them up in Iran on the way through.  Dave and Ben are presently trying to get the info for our Russian visas and Dave's off to the Oz consulate to sort a problem of having too few blank pages left in his passport.   istanbul is a great city, one of the best, but we've had enough and want to be on the road.  Very frustating to say the least.

Ben, Peter and I went to the local hammam for a Turkish Bath to soothe the bodies and mind.   It was only locals, building has been there in one form or another since 540ad.   we saunaed, were scrubbed, massaged and sent home feeling a bit compensated for the lousy day at the the embassies.

This blog is brought to you by the generousity of Dave Morley, without who's computer I'd be stuffed.    Clicking on the pics should enlarge them.