Istanbul, the arrival !
Wednesday, 19th of October, last ferry of this trip on the Marmara sea. I arrived in Istanbul with the rain. As soon as I put my feet in this city, I don’t have time to realize, I put on my raincoat, turn on the GPS, let’s go to the backpacker at 2km. I discovered the pleasure of riding in Istanbul, the traffic, the cobblestones, the buses… But that is it, my bike is stored in the base of the backpacker, it won’t move for the next six days! I leave my bags in my room; 8 beds, 7 men, the bedroom stinks! Now, I can take the tile to realize. Good achievement. I needed less than a hundred days to reach my goal, 99 days exactly. And as the saying goes, the journey holds more importance than the destination. 99 days of adventure. And now, I feel lost in this huge city. I have six days to walk down the streets. But not all the streets, Istanbul and its agglomeration is more than 5300km² (like two times Paris) and more than 16 millions of inhabitants. So in six days, I will see a little part of this city, marked by its history and its culture.
Time to discover Istanbul
It doesn’t take time to be in the ambiance. My hostel is in the tourist area close to the old town, in Sultanahmet district. So in 2 minutes, I am lost in the middle of the crowd, I am not the only one who is visiting Istanbul. I had so much food in my bags from the families who gave me on my way. So I enjoy my lunch in the square in front of Hagia Sophia. Built in the IV century under the Byzantine empire, the church became a mosque during the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by the Ottoman empire. Icon of Istanbul, listed as UNESCO World Heritage site in 1985, it has to be earned. The queue is soooo long. There is at least one hour’s wait, so I am putting off this visit. Instead, I go for a walk. I discovered the Grand Bazaar, the world’s largest covered market. There are 4000 shops. A labyrinth with a lot of colors. And then, the Spice Market, smaller but so much color as well and so attractive with the Turkish delights or spices. After that, I visited my first Turkish mosque. I went inside the New Mosque, near the Golden Horn in Eminönü district. It looks amazing from the outside and from the inside. All in mosaic, in blue and red, it is spectacular and huge. It is a big contrast between the city and the bazaars which are crawling and inside the mosque where it is nice and peaceful. Once I remove my shoes, it is calm and quiet. Soon as I go outside, I meet a Turkish guy who offers me a Turkish coffee. I say yes, the good thing with Turkish coffee is that you can drink it very quickly, it does not require any commitment. But quickly, his conversation was a bit boring, he quotes all the French actor’s names that he knows (he knows a lot…). So when he offers to guide me in Istanbul, I gently thank him but I prefer to visit the city on my own. And then, Mister was not happy. He starts to be not so nice, almost angry because he doesn’t understand that I prefer to be alone rather than to be with someone. This is the first man of many to come – on my way back – who thinks that a girl alone necessarily needs a man. At least, I had a coffee and toilets. I take the streets again, alone and happy. There are always nice things to see in every corner of the streets. And to mark this first day in Istanbul, but mainly to celebrate my first 4370 km, I offer myself my first Turkish beer!
Breakfast is included in the night’s price in the hostel, so I enjoy a nice big plate every morning on the rooftop, where I can see beautiful sunrises. It is the opportunity to meet other travelers too, strangely mainly men. But I prefer to discover Istanbul on my own. So much to do, so it is better to organize my days alone. I do a guided tour with a group to know more about Istanbul, its European part and Asian part as well. It only took 20 minutes by ferry boat on the Bosphorus to cross from one continent to another – there is the subway as well, but it is not so charming. The Bosphorus is the Detroit which links the Black sea to the Marmara sea and cuts Istanbul in two parts. The Asian part is less touristy, more authentic. So the prices are lower, you don’t have this feeling of being ripped off when you buy food. I make the most of this day in Asia to offer myself a Turkish bath. On the contrary of the prices on the European side, here I found a cheap Turkish bath, around 10€. The experience was awesome. The baths are not mixt, I was in the middle of Turkish women in underwear. You can’t be modest. Immediately, one of them shows me everything I have to do. She doesn’t speak English, so we speak with gestures. I do everything that she tells me : hammam, basin of water, sauna, massage with black gloves and massage with lather’s soap. I loved it, it was very relaxing and funny too. I can continue this beautiful day in Asia with culinary discovery like the sandwich Kokoreç – made with offal’s lamb grilled on a spit ; a Mercimek çorbasi – a soup of red lentils or a Künefe – a dessert made with kadaif (fine Turkish noodles), hot cheese and syrup, this is special. I go back to Europe by night, it is magical, it looks like Christmas has come early with all these lights and the colder weather which is starting to settle in.
My other days were quite busy as well. Between the cultural visits like the Museum of Archeology or the Museum of the Turkish and Islamic Arts or the visit of the different districts like Karaköy, Eminönü (where there is the beautiful Süleyman mosque on top of the hill), the district of Balat along the Golden Horn (the old Jewish district). But six days was enough for me. I am not a city girl and this city – which is very huge – requires lots of energy. It is teeming everywhere, all the time. I succeeded in visiting the mosque of Hagia Sofia before I left, but by night. Because early in the morning, there is already a queue one hour before it opens. So despite the few tourists that are still there at 9pm, I can admire the immensity of this mosque but sadly it is a bit dark at this time. (And for people who wonder if I visited the Blue mosque, I didn’t, it is in renovation).
I spent my last day with a Canadian who loves big treks. It gives me other ideas of adventures… And it is always interesting to meet other travelers to cross our ways to see Life. After a few beers and a kebab, each will go his own way. He goes to Dubai where he is building a vertical farm. For me, it is time to dust my bike. Before leaving the hostel, I meet (quickly) a woman who is looking for a taxi to move with her big bag. She is Iranian, she is escaping her country and inside this bag it is all her life. She already manifested, she doesn’t want to remain silent, so she has to leave or it is the prison for her. She flees in Turkish. For me who has the chance to be free and travel, it is difficult to imagine the life of these women who have to leave their country because their rights and their freedom are flouted. I leave Turkish on this sad note.
Time to go back !
I have to ride only 10km from the hostel to the bus station. I needed 1h15 on a flat ground. So, no, it is not a legend, riding in Istanbul is difficult! It is a big mess with the cars, then even by bike I can’t ride in the busy streets, obliged to suffer the traffic jams! And with a few mistakes, the GPS made me ride in a high speed road and a tear of one of my bike’s bags, these 10km were epic! And I don’t feel relaxed until I will be 100% sure that my bike will be with me on the bus. Because leaving Istanbul is the most difficult. By bike, impossible, too dangerous; by train, impossible, the bike is not allowed in international trains. So it will be by bus. I wait until 8.30pm. When I arrived at the platform with my bike, the driver piled up. It doesn’t look good. But the kindness and the efficacy of Turkish people, everything is possible. They helped me to dismantle the front wheel and pulled all different parts of my bike everywhere in the luggage bay. Perfect. Now, I just have to get on the bus, ready for the next 8 hours. The night will be long. But it is a new start, the cold weather is coming, I have to go back to France. I have to find the motivation to ride again, and this is hard after reaching my goal. But new adventures (and misadventures) are waiting for me on the way back! By bike, we are never bored…
