Turkey - Return to Istanbul - Day 371(26,660 miles)

After 32 days and just over 3000 miles (4800 km) we arrived back in Istanbul, neither of us expected to cover so much ground but Turkey is a big old country and there is still alot for us to come back and explore another time.

Adil our friend from the motorbike club had offerred to meet us on the outskirts of the city but as we had a GPS record from our previous visit we thought we'd be OK. We did enter the city via the Bosphorus Bridge which was important to put us in the right part of the city, but unfortunately due to a case of 'premature exiting' we ended up in the thick of the city rather than continuing around the ring road. It was Friday afternoon, notoriously bad in most cities but with a few illegal u-turns and use of pavements we were back on the right road without losing too much time. We arrived hot, a little harrassed but very glad to be back at the club.

A welcome back cake from the club members, suitably served on top of a map of Turkey!

Metmin, Tatiana and Yasmin and a selection of biscuits (to go with the cake!)

The main priorities for the next couple of days were to give the Tenere a good clean, fit new tyres and service the engine. We were lucky enough to have the use of Apo's workshop (you may remember him as the cook of the fantastic chicken we ate during our last visit). As you can see from his well loaded KTM above, Apo and some friends were off camping after helping John.

Come Sunday I left John to relax at the club's apartment and went into the old city for a bit more sightseeing that I hadn't fitted in last time.


Above is the Hagia/Agia/Aya (it seems to be known as any of these) Sofia museum. There has been a church on this sight since 363 AD, this building was completed in 537 AD and has been a Greek church, Roman Catholic church and Mosque during the centuries since finally becoming a museum in 1935. A very impressive structure and huge space.


A joy to visit on a hot day is the Basilica Cistern, an underground chamber of nearly 10,000 square metres. Apparently there are hundreds of cisterns under the city that used to supply filtered water. Today it's a huge, grand fish pond with beautiful columns and ceilings where tourists go to cool off.

During both our visits here we have spent most evenings in the neighbourhood local to the club as this is much cheaper than the city centre. We had become regulars at one particular restaurant that served good food and often sat on the front balcony people watching.

We always felt perfectly safe in this area and many of the club members were local people so we weren't so much worried as intrigued when for 3 nights there were swarms of riot police, water canons and armoured vehicles patrolling the local streets.


We saw no actual protests or riots but we did hear there had been an anti-government protest a short distance away. No news seemed to make it to the internet and we didn't find any english written newspapers in Turkey. However since then the 4 highest officials in the Turkish armed forces have resigned as well supposedly due to disagreements with the government, no idea if there is a link.

We had a great time in Turkey, the history is amazing and the people incredibly friendly. Once again a huge thankyou to all the wonderful people we met at the Istanbul Bisiklet Motosiklet Ihtisas Klubu we have made many special friends who we hope to see again.