Bicycle Touring in Turkey

This week’s Travelsonabike2 on this day bicycle touring blog post comes from Turkey on the 28th November 2011. Time to stop playing the tourist and get back on that bike.

Monday 28th November 2011. In Istanbul.

It was a bit of a sad day today, as I had to say goodbye to Julie. It’s been nice playing the tourist for the past few days. But that’s not what this trip is about. I need to get back on my bike and get on with the next leg of my journey, next stop, Iran.

After seeing Julie off at the airport, I returned to the hotel to look at the map. It was then that I realised just how much further I had to cycle. And how little I’d already cycled. I’m not even a quarter of the way.

I spent the rest of the day cleaning and servicing the bike before retiring to the hotel bar for a few hours. As I was leaving the bar to go out for dinner tonight, I said to Ahmet, the barman, that I would be back later. He said, “Fine, I’ll see you later. I just need to get another bottle of gin,” he only got a new one last night. I think somebody in this hotel drinks a lot of gin!!

Dinner was nice. I had a traditional Turkish dish called Testi Kebabi, which contains onion, peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic and spices. It is made with either lamb or chicken. I had lamb. The dish gets cooked in a clay pot on an open wood fire. The clay pot is then brought to the table, and with a swift blow from a heavy knife, the pot is cracked open and poured onto a plate. It came with rice and bread.

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