Gallipoli

Today was a bonus day.  We decided to do a day trip to the Gallipoli Peninsula.  That is where an important WWI battle was fought in 1915.  The battle was between the Ottoman Empire and the British Empire.   It was an important nation defining event for what became Turkey and for New Zealand and Australia national identity. 

The 10 month battle resulted in 300,000 casualties and was an Ottoman victory.

Since the battlefield was 4 hours from Istanbul,  each way, it was a long, but exceptional day.

 Then and now pictures of what is known as ANZAC Beach, the landing zone for the British 

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic and the hero General for the Ottomans

Address by Ataturk in 1934, which is worth reading 

War memorial featuring both opponents 

Australian Memorial on Lone Tree Hill

New Zealand Memorial on Chunuk Bair 

View from Chunuk Bair, the highly contested highpoint 

Istanbul

How do you even begin to see a city of 22 million people and the center of so much history?  Our answer was to hire a guide.   It was the will of god (Insha'Allah) that we got a marvelous guide Emil (or as we called her Amy).  She patiently spent 7 hours with us hitting the highlights of the old city of Istanbul.  She had great stories, personal and historical, that put everything in context.  It was a very educational and fun day.  It was her birthday and she was so outgoing that by the end of the day we joked that she must know everyone in Istanbul.

I am just going to share pictures and very brief explanations of things that I am sure could be studied for a lifetime.

The three of us from the Topkapi Palace, overlooking the Bosphorus

Topkapi Palace was very peaceful, despite huge crowds.  The gardens, grownds, buildings were so well curated

On the palace growns this area had been Roman, Ottoman, Church, Mosque and Museum over the millennium

The "Blue Mosque" early in the morning  

The same mosque in the afternoon

View of the Bosphorus and Asia

The Hippodrome - Formerly a Roman stadium

Inside the Basilica Cistern - Built by the Romans in 5th century - It is 100,000 square feet and has 336 columns.  The hand is modern art, recently addes

An example of one of the many isles of columns.  The line on the columns shows the water level when in use

The Grand Bazaar - 4000 shops - Rob and my idea of hell on earth

We got up this morning at 0600 to get into a famous Mosque, the Hagia Sophia,  to see the building during the morning prayers, rather to wait with the hordes of tourists at 0900.

This inside of the Hagia Sophia during Friday morning prayers.   Just under the chandeliers,  you can see the men assembled for prayers. 

Below are some photos from our tour along the Bosphorus this afternoon. The weather was perfect and the views stunning. It will take a little work for me to recreate the names of all the places (palaces, bridges, Mosques).

Arnavutkoy to Istanbul

Well, we made it!  We arrived at our hotel in Istanbul at about noon today.   We are in a city of 22,000,000 and we only saw one other bicycle on our 22 mile journey today.   Perhaps that gives you a hint you how well the local population is acclimated to bicycles.  Nevertheless,  we persevered and completed our journey successfully.   After 2600 miles and 8 weeks of cycling,  we are even one day ahead of schedule.   Also, I need to credit my bike tires by telling you that I completed the adventure without a flat tire.

We have a couple of things left to do, the most important of which is boxing up our bicycles for our flight home on Sunday.   In the meantime,  we have a few tours and adventures in Istanbul. 

Saray To Arnavutkoy

Today was a day that had me a little worried.   We had 58 miles on the route,  with very few services that we knew about and over 4,000 feet of climbing.   Yesterday,  we cycled in 29 mph crosswinds and similar weather was forecasted for today. Also, there were very few roads available and reports of lots of dogs.

With all those considerations,  we started an hour early.   I am pleased to report that the ride went well.  We are now 20 miles from Istanbul and the end of the ride.

We (Rob) did have an exciting few seconds with a dog.  The dogs here are big, a lot must go 100 lbs or more.  Even the wild dogs are large.  My guess is that they are former shepherding dogs who have been let go or the offspring of those dogs.  

Anyway,  mid-day we passes a farm and a big dog ran towards the fence barking.  We thought we were good until he dunked under a well worn path under the fence.  He showed his teeth and bit Robs rear pannier bag, pulling it off his bike.  Like the pervervial "dog that caught the car" he did not know what to do with it and quickly retreated.  It would have been a good use for the pepper spray we have been carrying since Belgrade if he didn't. 

Kirklareli to Saray

Things are winding down.  We had a lot of wind today,  thankfully,  not all headwinds.   We covered 50 miles today,  with a variety of road conditions,  ranging from goat paths (yes, actual goat paths) to 4 lane highways.   Not a lot of pictures today, just putting down our heads to get the job done.  We have about 100 miles to go. 

Some of the many dog packs.  Fortunately,  none have been threatening.   I am not sure how my pepper spray will work being used by a bike in windy conditions. 

Erdine to Kirklareli

We had our first full day in Turkey today.   It was a sunny day,  but pretty significant headwinds and a few hills.  Our moving average speed was 9.9, which was the lowest of the trip and a reflection of the conditions and not the efforts. 

Also, not much for photos today.   The ride was pretty rural, on low traffic roads.  We saw a lot of dogs, sheep and cows. 

Svilengrad , Bulgaria to Erdine, Turkey 🇹🇷

Another crazy day on the road.  Today we cycled out of Bulgaria, across part of Greece and into Turkey, all in under 35 miles.  Despite the weather forecast of scattered showers, we cycled all 3 hours in a light rain.  Fortunately, the roads were good, traffic light and distance short.  The two border crossings were accomplished in under 20 minutes each.  It does help to be on a bicycle.

We rolled in Erdine, Turkey, just in time to see several marevelous Mosques and hear the call to prayers.  The city of 200,000 was crowded with tourists, Saturday locals and beeping horns and city bustle.  Things certainly have changed from our start in France 7 weeks ago.

Today's route.  Note the shortcut across a protruding portion of Greece

Erdine used to be the captol of all of Turkey.  Hence the wonderful Mosques and civic bulidings

This is the three balconies Mosque - Note the three balcones on the right spire

The Selimiye Mosque - Vast, striking Ottoman imperial mosque dating to 1575, with soaring 71m minarets & a grand dome.

From our hotel window

Also, from our hotel window 

Haskovo to Svilengrad

 We had another very nice day today.  It was on the shorter side, covering only 45 miles.  We are about 3 miles away from the Greek border and will head that way tomorrow.  We had good weather and interesting roads.  We got in to our hotel about the time that rain clouds were developing.  We have not had rain for weeks and are not interested in cycling in the rain.

Our lodging last night was interesting.  It was a 4 star resort, but we were  the only customers.  We were met at the front door by the owner and several of his  adult children.  The hotel was nice, but it was deep in renovations.  The owner and his adult children seemed like "mafia" types to us.  All they did was sit outside talk and smoke, wearing sweat suits.   We were able to get beer ($1.50 for a half liter glass) and a decent dinner and grilled cheese sandwiches and coffee for breakfast.  They were very nice and interested in our journey, but it was a little weird.

Before today, we had gone about a week without seeing any long distance cyclists.  Today we met a couple from Norway, one from Australia and another from Germany.  All were headed to Istanbul and then onward.  My theory is that all the long distance travelers are funneling into Istanbul (since going north requires them to cross Ukraine or Russia).  It was interesting to hear from these folks, but for once, I don't have a desire to go any further.

Svilengrad from the hill above

The countryside outside of Haskovo

One of the towns we passed through

Riding over a 600 year old bridge

The river on the way into our destination town

Plovdiv to Haskovo

I do enjoy the point in a bike tour when you can cycle nearly 60 miles and climb nearly 2000 feet and be in by 3 PM, without feeling tired.

We had a very nice ride today.  The weather was perfect, the sun was shining,  the roads were not bad and the scenery was pretty good. 

We headed across the Thracian plains today with farm fields on out left and Rhodope Mountains on our right.

The towns were generally nice.  We stopped for lunch and had our new favorite,  a banitsa (pastry with cheese filling).

War Memorial for the Balkan wars and WWI

Plovdiv

Despite only putting in two days since our last rest day, we decided to take a day off and explore Plovdiv.  The city was is reported to be the longest continuously settled area in Europe, with over 8000 years of history.  In addition to a rich history of being self ruled by the Bulgarians, the area was heavily influenced by the Romans and Ottomans'.

We headed off with a guide to visit  Asen’s Fortress, and Bachkovo Monastery.  Both had over 1000 years of history.

The Church on the hill and fortress ruins on the right

Looking back at the Thracian Valley

The church was not destroyed by the Ottomans' who occupied the area from the 15th to 19th century

The Bulgarian Orthodox churches inside the monastery

One of 23 chapels in the mountains surrounding the fortress and monastery

The second half of our day was a guided tour of the city of Plovdiv.  Plovdiv was selected as the Bulgarian host of the European Capital of Culture 2019, so there was lots to see.

This is a pretty amazing shot of the old and the new.  The Roman city on the left remains under most of the modern city of Plovdiv.  When possible, it is being excavated and restored.

The seats are part of a Roman stadium that seated over 30,000 spectators.  Most of the stadium is under the center city pedestrian area.  The picture shows another era with the Minaret from the Mosque as a remnant of the Ottoman occupation.

The old town is comprised of beautiful homes from the mid 19th century, built in the Bulgarian Revival Style. 

The Roman theater seating 3500 is still used today.  Fortunately, it is a music venue and no longer a gladiatorial site