Istanbul 18.10.2008

16 Oct 2008

Arrived in Istanbul last night. (In the dark again) What an absolutely phenominal city. Driving into the city I was overwhelmed by it all. Traffic is ridiculous, especially in peak hour. I loved the chaos though. Everyone for themselves and no rules on the road really. It somehow works very well. What a contrast to the Munchen traffic. (which also works of course, like most other German things) After some driving on my last few drops of fuel we somehow made it to a gas-station and then met up with Ismael, (a friend who lives here that I met through Cihan in my studenthouse in München) Another blessing. He came to meet us on one of the city-squares and sorted us out with safe parking for bikes, then invited us for a lovely, well needed Turkish meal in a very viby street. Then he lead us through this mad traffic on his bike, we following him on our bikes to his friend Elif who owes this wonderful guesthouse where I’m typing this at the moment. I do not want to make this site of ours sound like an advertising platform, but I can really strongly recommend this spot. (www.marmaraguesthouse.com) Right in the center where it’s all happening. Elif is a lovely caring person who made a great impression.  Thanx for having us here, much appreciated.

This morning I was up at 6:00 already because I thought of taking some pictures with sunrise but it turned out to be cloudy and rainy. I ended up spending the whole morning on doing admin concerning my bank in Germany and also South-Africa. What a frustration! And the fact that its all happening on the cell-phone which obviously costs a fortune cause its international didn’t help my frustration. Christoph decided to make up for the sleep we’ve lost over the last few days and showed his face at the breakfast area around 12:00 for the first time. (We did loose an hour due to different timezones though) Come to think of it, that means I actually got up at 05:00????  He spent the rest of the day “optimising” again which was definately worth it because he managed to reduce his luggage with quite a bit. I went for a walk and got lost which was fine because all is new and exciting. Eventually I found a cosy restaurant with good coffee where I enjoyed my book “Ich sehe was, was du nicht siehst” (Thannks Tamara, I’m really enjoying it)  Now I’m typing this with a view over water and city, and Bach English Suites (by Gould) in my ears.

I just realised that I didn’t say anything about the rest of our time in Greece and the travel to Istanbul. I’m gonna be short.  After the internet cafe in Kavala we had dinner in restaurant till pretty late. We then left not having any concrete plan or idea af where we’re gonna sleep. Long story short, we ended up camping in some Olive field next to road after being stuck without petrol around 1:00am in the middle of nowhere. (There seems to be a mistake with Christoph’s petrol meter) It was a long day and we both had a good sleep despite of uneven camp-surface. Lucky enough no farmer the next morning. We then headed off to the gas-station for coffee and breakfast and running water for brushing teeth and for gasoline of course. There we briefly met , what appeared to me like hippie-girls. 4 of them. They turned out to be German and also on their way to Istanbul in a mini-bus/van. We re-met them by co-incidence a few hours later at the border to Turkey again. What a friendly bunch, hence the photo- opportunity. Border took awhile cause I needed to get a visa and insurance for bike.

Thats it from my side for now. As always, thanks again for reading. I’m completely amazed, astounded and appreciative for all the interest from all you guys.

PS: And for everyone who’s asked about my back, (thanks for asking) it’s doing fine despite of all the riding.

18 Oct 2008

Am sitting at breakfast table with Christoph. (Nadine arrived late last night and is still sleeping.) Had a really great time here since we arrived. Have spent alot of time on the city-streets, just walking around basically. On Friday I walked from hotel to Eyup which was about a 3 hour walk. I’ve never seen so many shops and people in one day before. Had a coffee at Cafe on the hill which overlooks the water and the city. Enjoyed my book. Walked back. Meanwhile Christoph was spending his whole day at BMW mainly trying to have his new heavy-duty chain fixed, but with no prevail. They apparently ended up sending him to Yamaha to fit the chain. I feel sorry for him ‘cause till yesterday he hasn’t seen anything of the city yet. At least we had the blessing of having Tolga (turkish friend I met in München through Cihan) driving and showing us around the city for the whole of yesterday. I cannot imagine a better tour-guide than him. He seems to know every little story and history behind all thats worth seeing. He took us for breakfast at next to Bosphorus in a lovely little cafe called Rumeli Hasari. Ismail also managed to break away from his business and join us. After that some driving through the city and then we made a stop at the Bazaar. It’s basically a building with filled with all kinds of little shops. Lots of jewelery, leather, materials and Turkish carpets. We met one of Tolgas friends who owes a leather clothing shop. He spoiled us with a turkish coffee. After a few minutes there was a small little gathering of turkish guys from the neighbouring shops, just joking around, having a laugh basically. Me and Christoph we’re laughing so much ‘cause these guys we’re really funny. I really enjoyed that. Funny how something small like that will probably turn out to be one of my best memories from Istanbul. Romy said something like that before, the greatest experiences is the people you meet which is so true. Tolga then took us to a little restaurant founded in 1918 and still running  strong. Had lovely traditional turkish food there.  I was by now quite eager to get back to hotel cause it was already evening again and having passed out on Tolga’s couch the previous night I haven’t had a shower or anything since the previous day. We headed back to hotel and I had my shower and left straight-away to meet up with Ismail who I again followed through the City streets on my bike (and he on his) to the Asian side of the city where he was having a get-together with some of his mountainering friends. (By the way, for those of you who doesn’t know, Istanbul is the only city in the world who lies over more than one Continent.) It’s crazy if you think our hotel is in Europe but I joined Ismail’s party in Asia. The drive over the canal to the Asian side is also something special. Especially at night. His friends at the party was a friendly bunch and I was a little sorry to leave eventually. I have to get something of my chest here: If you live in Germany it easily happens that one get a pre-conceived idea about the turkish people. In Germany they don’t seem to try to intergrate and there’s a lot of different things about the Turkish in Germany which is making a negative impression. (Of course not all of them, but on average) It’s a bit like the Afrikaans people in London who’s getting over-patriotic etc. Anyways, what I’m trying to say is that any pre-conceived idea I had about the turkish before is completely shattered. Every single person I’ve met here has been so incredibly friendly and kind and helpful. More than in Germany or South-Africa or anywhere else I’ve ever been for that matter. I think up to date this has become one of my favourate folks in the world. (After our Cape-Coloureds in South-Africa of course) Anyways, so after the Mountainering get-together Ismail and his girlfriend thought it a good idea to take me to a street (also on Asian side) full of bars and pubs and bikes and live music. What a wonderful vibe. I felt like I was back in the Mystic Boer in Bloemfontein. Same sort-of vibe anyways. Here again more than once the people would just come up and speak to me. So friendly. I guess my blonde hair also has something to do with it. I don’t know but however, everyone seems to be exceptionally friendly in Turkey.

After that we got back on the bikes, back to Europe, and joined Tolga and Christoph and Nadine who has arrived at airport somewhere around 01:00.  I’m not sure but I think we eventually got back to our hotel around 04:00. Tolga has a whole list of things that he wants to show us today but I don’t know how much of that’s gonna happen. We have to pack and sort our things before we leave tomorrow. Nadine is traveling with us from tomorrow onwards till we get to Syria in a week. She will be on the back of Christoph’s motorbike. I think we’re gonna have a bit of a luggage and weight-problem. You saw on the pictures how our bikes are packed, anyways, imagine that, and add Nadine and another 8kg of her luggage and another 28kg of extra stuff for Christoph. I can just say its gonna be interesting how we’re gonna manage that. We will find a way though. Like I said before I am very happy to have Nadine with us this week. I haven’t seen her for about half a year and have missed her and am happy to catch up with her. Just abit of background: Nadine is one of my best friends who I’ve known for around 10 years. She later met Christoph and that’s how me and him eventually got to know each other. Through Nadine. So in a way, this trip would not have happened if it wasn’t for her.

It’s already 13:00 and I still have to compress some pics for this post so that’s it for today. Thanks for reading.

 Cheers.