Blogs from Turkey, Middle East - page 24

MAKU to DOGUBAZIT, TURKEY. 16 September, 2016 23 Kms SubT. Kms 2813.37 kms . Road Condition: ok Weather: MILD 27c cloudy. Time in Saddle: 55 mins Av Speed: av. 24.8 kph. Av Cadence. 71 RpmElevation: 150 m up; 0 m downCalories burned : > 1000 Today at breakfast we were told that the town we were to cycle to overnight had a terrorist issue with the PPK, the Kurdish Revolutionary Army, killing 7 policeman. Mid morning the Turkish Airforce retaliated bombing the village of the terrorists 15 kms from town. So the cycling after Iran was curtailed. Hence the short distance. We are hoteling rather than camping And tomorrow we will be bused to Kars, our next official rest day, one day early. We are restricted to the hotel building here in Dogubazit, which is 6 ... read more

Geo: 41.0138, 28.9497This wraps it up for us at the capitol of the Eastern Roman Empire. Off very early in the morning for Athens.A little about our impressions of Istanbul and the Turkish inhabitants. The setting is spectacularly beautiful. Blue water all around with often steep hills. Climate is also wonderful, low humidity and moderate temperatures. Highs were uniformly in the mid 70's.The inhabitants are profoundly diverse in appearance, at least the woman. The men generally are dressed alike, most with some degree of a beard, but otherwise dressing as folks would in the U.S. or Europe. By contrast the woman vary from full Burkas, who represent perhaps five per cent, to women wearing rather provocative attire. The Turks seem to accept this as a matter of course. We saw no signs of disapproval due to ... read more

Geo: 41.0138, 28.9497Set sail this morning traversing essentially the entire length of the Bosphorus Strait (its not that long). Best day so far at Istanbul. Scenery was quite nice, Bird enjoyed the history and the weather continues to be wonderful. Averages here are in the mid-upper seventies, which is what has been occurring. It was, however, very breezy. We did arise much earlier than yesterday. Perhaps we have adjusted to the seven hour time zone discrepancy.... read more

Geo: 41.0138, 28.9497Okay folks, we arrived at Constantinople (Instanbul, Turkey) at 5:20 pm local time after eleven hours flying (and to think it will take another hour on the return). Anyway, it is two continents down! Yes two, review our intro and you will see we said four continents between 30 August and 7 October. On 30 August we were on the continent of North America, now we are in Istanbul, which is Europe, so that's two. As a bit of an aside, we would like to tell everyone what they already know-we have three wonderful children. Baby Bird was just excellent and cooperative in keeping her sister Sally during our trip. And Doozer rivaled her with assisting in Sally's care. The easy willingness of these two was such a pleasure. Thank you kids; we love ... read more

You all saw those postcard pictures....but can you only put the location on the map? I couldn't precisely few months ago too, but I cannot claim to have see the world without making it one day to Pamukkale. From Cappadocia, I could have fly back to Istanbul, than transfer to another flight to Denizli. Instead, I went on the backpacker way. I spent my night in two buses plus a minivan all the way from Urgup to Pamukkale. The bus ticket was 17usd. I had no idea what to expect. The buses were full. These buses are not really the one you find on long distances in South America. They were clean, service was decent....but a comfortable night it was not. These buses must be great for a 4-5 hours day ride...not that easy for a ... read more