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It was a long flight as I departed out of Sacramento, California, and had stop overs in Los Angeles and Zurich. In Zurich I had a nine hour layover. UGH! Finally, I arrived in Istanbul at 1:45 am. on the 19th. That is not a great time to arrive in a new country. I claimed my bike case from the baggage area and along with my carry-on bag departed the arrival terminal.
 The New Mosque seen from Golden Horn
My room was on the third floor of this old hotel, and it was very cold and damp. The temperature was a cool 45 degrees. My bed had only a bottom sheet and then two wool blankets. Luckily, I brought along a sarong that I had bought in Thailand on a previous trip and that I take along for use on the beach or in this case, for use as a top sheet. Breakfast was included in the price of the room, $20. It consisted of coffee or tea, neither of which I drink, five olives, a sliced tomato, and an egg in the shell. I didn't eat any of it. I ended up with some bread, with butter and honey for my breakfast. If this is the typical Turkish breakfast, I'm in trouble already.
After that breakfast, I headed out the door to find an ATM and some cash. This is a very old city and I stayed in the oldest part. The streets were very narrow and winding up and down the hills. It took some time to locate an ATM that would accept my Cirrus card. I then withdrew 100 million! That should get me by for a few days. The exchange rate was 1 US dollar to 1,310,000 Turkish lira. That 100 mil was about $75. I also bought a map of the country to help me find my way when I hit the road in a couple of days.
A look around the city
Istanbul is a big megatropolis situated on a series of hills and has a population of about 12 million. There are small streets that go every which direction and it is crowded and congested. This ciy was founded in 700 BC. It was conquered and ruled by the Romans for quite some time and even today there are ancient Roman ruins throughout the city. A unique thing about Turkey is that one half of the country is on the European continent and one half is on the Asian continent. The Bospherous Sea separates the two continents.
I had thought it was going to be warmer here and that isn't the case so far. I was under the misconception that Turkey was located farther south than it actually is. It is on the same latitude as Portland, Oregon. April weather in Oregon is cool and here is it also cool.
Tea is the most important drink in the country and is served everywhere. There are waiters scurrying along the sidewalks here and there, delivering trays of hot tea which is served in very small glass cups. I'm not a tea drinker, either hot or cold.
 Grand Bazaar
The Turks are generally light skinned and they all seem to have very dark, black hair. Although this is a Muslim country, I've only seen a few men wearing the traditional long Muslim skirt. Most men are wearing a Fez hat and most of the women are covered from head to toe. Since the weather is so cool, women are wearing coats that slmost touch the ground.
Crossing the Sea
I unpacked my bikecase and put the bike together, then mounted the panniers. I'm going to use 2 rear panniers, a rear trunk bag, and a handlebar bag. I will have about 32 pounds of clothes and gear to carry. On this trip I will be riding my 1999 TREK 2120 with a triple chainring and a 10 gear rear cassete. This is a road bike that I have set up for touring. I'm using 700x23 tires. After the reassembly, I put my bike case in storage and checked out of the hotel. It was another cold and overcast morning and rain was threatening. I found a little restaurant in the tourist area that served a Western breakfast and was able to order some French toast. I needed to cross the Bospherus Sea to get to the Asian side of Turkey and there were 3 choices of transportation to make the trip; a bus which takes a highway and crosses a long bridge, a passenger ferry, or a vehicle ferry. I decided on the passenger ferry and cycled down from the hills to the seashore to take a look. The passenger ferry wouldn't depart until 2pm and the crossing would take 3 hours. My next destination, Bursa was about 50 miles from the port, so if I took this ferry I wouldn't get there until after dark. Besides, it was now 8 am and I sure didn't want to wait around for the departure time. While at the terminal, I saw another loaded touring cyclist and wandered over to speak with him. He had a mountain bike and panniers that looked like they were brand new. He was French, about 30 years old, and spoke good English. He told me that he was going to take the passenger ferry and was also headed to Bursa. I mentioned that I didn't want to wait for the late departure time and that I was going down the road to the next ferry terminal to see what my other options might be. I cycled along the coast about 5 miles and came upon the "Otoferybot" (auto ferry boat) pier. The car ferry was scheduled to depart at 9:15 am, so that was my choice for transport. The cost would be $7.50 versus $1.80 for the passenger ferry. This was also a bigger ship and had nice lounge seating with television and food and drink service. I pedaled aboard and was just starting to secure my bike to a pipe when another cyclist approached. He had noticed me and came over to visit. He was a Turk, 50 years old, and a stock broker. He was out for a Sunday ride and would go over to ride a 40 mile loop. He spoke very little English, but helped me with my map as I showed him my proposed cycling route in Turkey. He advised me on some better roads as the road surfaces in Turkey can be pretty bad. This ship was also quite a bit faster than the passenger ferry as the crossing only took 45 minutes. We we debarked, we went to a restaurant that served Turkish pie and had an early lunch, or maybe it was a late breakfast. We each got a small loaf of bread that was slice into 3 layers and had a Feta cheese spread and shredded lettuce. Not to bad!
I guess the French guy also got on this ferry, although I never saw him come aboard. Not long after we started cycling toward Bursa we came upon him as he plodded along the side of the road. The Turk also spoke some French so they conversed as we poked along. Those two were cycling so slow that I lost patience and as we started a long climb I passed them and pulled away. It had been raining off and on all morning and the road was wet and the temperature cold. As I climbed I began to warm up and by the time I reached the 1100 foot summit, I was really warmed and so stopped and took off my rain gear. I waited and waited and those riders didn't show. Maybe they stopped for a rest or to get a drink. Who knows?? I continued on and had a couple of additional climbs before reaching Bursa at 52 miles. After a long descent, I was now cold because of wet clothing. This was a pretty large city, maybe a million or more inhabitants. It took me over an hour to find a hotel, spelled 'otel' here. There were a zillion streets and small one lane alleys. I found this little otel with 8 rooms and one toiled, a squat type, of course. And, there was a shower "down the hall", $7. After leaving Istanbul and that heavy touristed area, the price of hotel rooms should drop considerably. Just before arriving in Bursa I stopped at a gas station and washed my bike, gear, and body, as the wet roads had covered everything with mud and grit. Since today was a Sunday, most stores and shops were closed as was the famous Bursa silk market.
I went to dinner and ordered a chicken kabab with rice. The rice appeared to be Spanish rice, but was served cold. This Bursa area is also famous for the manufacture of Turkish towels and they look very plush and beautiful. I looked at them and decided there was no way I could carry a set on my bike. Lots of people out strolling along the narrow streets. An odd sight for me was seeing men walk with other men, arm in arm with each other. Women also do this, but not as often as the men I saw. So far, everyone I've met or talked to, have been very friendly and helpful. Even when I mention that I'm American. The Turks are big basketball fans, so I tell them I'm from Sacramento, California, and they love that. The Sacramento Kings basketball team have a player from Turkey.
In search of warmer weather
I awoke this morning to bright sunshine, the first time I've seen the sun for more than a few moments since my arrival. But it is still pretty cold outside. I went looking for something to eat for breakfast and found a bakery and after browsing the baked goods, settled for what looked to be a cinnamon roll. One bite later and I knew this was a mistake as it was a roll with ground up olives in the dough. Olives, olives, and more olives. Everywhere there is olives.
I decided to head out to the western coast and hope for warmer weather. It is about 200 miles to the Agean Sea and as I've been told, the road is narrow with lots of trucks and buses. With that in mind I inquired as to the location of the bus station and was told the 'otgar' was about 10 miles north of the city. I packed up my bike, checked my compass, and started out in a northern direction. I guess I was actually going in a north-western direction as I cycled about 15 miles before determining that I had gone the wrong direction and was now lost. I then started trying to get directions by stopping people and asking if they understood English, but I wasn't having any luck using this technique, so I then began to mention 'otgar', and that word would get me a long dialog. They would talk for 5 minutes giving me directions, or so I thought. Of course I understood none of this and only the pointing of a arm in the right direction was of any help. I kept stopping and asking, and finally after 25 miles I arrived at the terminal. The bus terminal was quite new and very large with at least 100 bus bays. The buidling itself was at least 300 x 300 feet in size and contained numerous restaurants, shops and stores. I purchased a first class ticket for $7.50 and stowed my bike and bags in the baggage compartment and found my seat on the bus. All the buses seemed to be new and were spotless. The one I was on even had Turkish carpets on the aisle. I was even served a small cake and a soda. At one point, the passenger sitting next to me started singing a religious chant and that lasted for about 10 minutes. Actually, he could carry a tune pretty well. Our route traveled through rolling green hills and lots of open farm land. It was planting season and a lot of people were out working the fields, doing all the work on their hand and knees. I saw a few horse drawn plows and a few tractors. Every so often there would be a small herd of sheep or goats being attended by a herder. What a boring job that must be, watching the animals eat and sh-- all day. The bus trip to 5 1/2 hours.
I arrived in Canakkale, pronounced 'juh nock ka lay', at 4:30 pm. This little coastal town is right on the sea and is very clean and quaint. As I rode around the area I noticed quite a few bike riders. The terrain is very flat at this point, so that is probably why there are so many bikes. I had to do a bit of searching to find a room, but found a nice place where the owner spoke some English. English is not widely spoken outside of tourist areas.
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