Today is the 18th of July. We left Kazanlak, Bulgaria heading South to connect to the major road heading East to Turkey and Istanbul. After driving a short time, another "Go Help" ambulance passed us. We all stopped at the next convenient spot on the road. It was the "Nomad Adventure" team of Bec and Mike. They are driving a Land Rover 4x4 with a diesel and manual shift also. They had taken the same winding road drive (called Transfagarasan) along the mountain river to the hydro-electric dam. They said they had seen a program about this great drive on a travel show in the U.K. They said the weather was really bad for them the night before also. Everyone was fine, and both teams asked each other if there was anything that the other team needed.
Pressing on, we made it to the East-West road we wanted and we were off to our destination - Istanbul. We sort of. Bec and Mike told us that because of the traffic congestion, etc. near Istanbul, they were going to travel Northwest from Istanbul to the smaller city of Sile on the Black Sea that had good camping areas. So that became our new destination for the day.
Now we had to cross the Bulgarian border checkpoint out of the country and enter Turkey at its boarder crossing on our route. The turn off and road to the Bulgarian boarder check point was like driving though and old scattered industrial area with a small road that kept getting more questionable as the correct route. We came to a checkpoint that had no one manning it. We thought the Bulgarian weren't managing it that day. We came to the next crossing which we thought was the Turkish boarder. Robert asked about vehicle insurance purchase as our U.K insurance was no good going forward from here. The guards seemed to understand though they spoke no English. They took us to an office were a lady told us in English that we were still at the Bulgarian boarder. We thanked here and left.
Not going into details, we were at the Turkish boarder crossing for several hours. Long waits in line. Visas have to be purchased separately at another window. Than insurance is purchased at another building. The vehicle has to be registered. Than we finally are given the stamp of approval, and we are off to Turkey. All this on a hot, sunny day.
We made it to Istanbul. Traveling the fine highways in Turkey is an adventure around populated areas. Turks are very aggressive, fast drivers. I came to think that when you buy a new car here, everything is under factory warranty except the horn. They must have to replace them often from so much use. We were traveling on the Turkish tollway system. I had purchased a debit card for 50 Turkish lira at the beginning of the toll road to use on the system. We did a lot of driving just trying to find our way around the city and in the direction of our destination for the night.
We finally were on the road to Sile. It was dark now. Although the roads overall are really great, there is a lot of construction everywhere. It was a little over an hour driving time to our destination on a good day in the sun light. So it was slower for us at night. On the outskirts of Sile, we stopped at a petrol station. We were told that there was a campground up the dirt road through a field next to them off the short road to the university behind them on the hill. There was also a university bus that we could take back to Istanbul in the morning for a visit to the famous Hagia Sophia complex that began as a church, was a mosque after the conquest of the area by Ottoman Turks in 1453, and has been open to the public as a cultural center only since 1935.
OK, up the steep dirt road up the hill. After driving into a locked gate in the weeds on one "path" we back out until we can back off the path and head back. We turn another way and see a sign for "PizzArt" a small restaurant that we were told about. At the bottom of the grade to the left was the restaurant. There were a couple of students from the nearby university having a beer. They both spoke English. We were told that the restaurant had rooms in the back that were nice. We really didn't want to continue to find the campground and we both really needed a shower. The room was modest with no air conditioning. The bath was down the walk way. Ok we take the room for the agreed price. We go to the dining room and have something to eat. It is about 10 PM local time. After a couple of beers, dead tired, I take a shower and go to sleep.
Match the Captions to the Photo....
-Bec and Mike
-Asking for Directions Again
-At the Boarder
-Istanbul Traffic
-They Didn't Have My Size
-Norbert, Robert, Attila, Can, and Can (Pronounced sort of like John)
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