... Aya Sofia mosque, Istanbul
bicycle distances
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Ah! Constantinople. Capital of the Byzantine Empire until the city was conquered (in the year 1453 ) by the Turks and has been renamed since then Istanbul. But tell me, what was your journey to Istanbul like?
After I managed to tear myself apart from my beach paradise I took the D-250 a road thatgoes straight to the north, Istanbul. It was a kind of high way a bit boring really because you do not really pass through villages.
But I went fast: I managed to do every day about a hundred kilometers and the lap from Bozazi to Istanbul [1100 km] I have done in twelve days. Every night I camped out and during the day I had breaks in petrol stations (free cay, hamdoelilah'i!).
Haven't you visited at all cool sites such as Pamukkale (a salt lake, salt environment) or the rock sites of cappadocia?
Pamukkale I passed but like most countries I also crossed Turkey from the south to the north. I am not a tourist but a traveler. At one hand it is a pity because you miss so many things but at the other hand traveling by bicycle gives you the opportunity to meet authentic, local people/
... And? Did you have pleasant encounters on the road?.
Mmm, occasionally curious employees at a gas station. And an adolescent that was 'sucking' the whole time at my back, behind me, similar as those frogs did in Egypt, Nigeria. At one point I got that fed up I punched him in his face and shouted in English: "YOU You leave me alone!."
At a road curve he waited for me again, waited until I passed by and pulled a gun out of his pocket and pointed with it at me. It was pretty scary because you do not know if it was really gun or not, hard to see also because that little creep was thirty meters from me.
I cycled as fast as possible and now and then looking over my shoulder, but he was gone and stayed away ... It's still annoying, you keep thinking that such a figure waits for you until you're tired and then strikes ...
An action is always followed by a reaction. But you continued to Istanbul!.
Oh, I just wanted to arrive in Istanbul, my mind is actually a bit saturated. Every new experience, city, landscape becomes more and more normal to me, as a usual thing. Also Istanbul which is an insane city can not really surprise me ...
... Insane city?.
It is insane how many people live here. The arrival at this metropolis by bicycle is quite strenuous. The road leads you to/ besides a huge lake (Izmit) changing into a massive three-lane, four-lane high way with a lot of traffic controlled by persons who appear to suffer from the Down syndrome (Turkish Mongols).
But yes, if you have survived Dakar, Guinea Conacry, have had Kampala then this was actually peanuts (I told myself as another moron in a truck overtook me on a distance from me at appr. one inch). Apart from that considerable laps of the highway have a pretty steep descend and imagine yourself on an asphalt desert. I hardly could overcome my disgust for the route and find the motivation to keep on pedaling but I managed ...
But you made it, Hamdoelilah'i ... Where are you staying now?.
Right next to the huge mosque Aya Sofia!. It's quite touristy here and the hostal is somewhat rancid but there is a roof terrace and there are cool fellow travelers.
Do you notice some of the riots on Taksim Square?.
Nothing even though the protests are not far away from where I'm. I spoke to a lady caught up accidentally in the demonstration at the time the police had surrounded the square and started to bombard the protesters with gas grenades. The woman I spoke was hit by a gas capsule and could hardly breathe, she could not see anymore with her eyes ... She told me that the gas horribly hurts the breathing canal, the lungs and that you should not extinguish the pain with water (which actually makes it worse) but with milk (!).
Anwar the Egyptian told me that a scarf covering the nose and mouth dipped in oil/ vinegar also works great (his experience in 2011 at Midan Tahrir, Cairo) and the Israeli Ilan who was sitting next to us confirms this (in the Israeli army recruits are put in a tent in which a gas capsule is opened so they can experience what a gas grenade actually is).
Useful stuff you learn on this trip!. And how nice to hear this from an Israeli and an Egyptian...
Yeah man!. The hostal is a bit rancid but the guests are very interesting and I've already had more conversations here than in almost my entire voyage!. The whole world is here, Europeans, Canadians, but also an Indian, Malesians studying in Cairo, a Pakistani. With them (the Israeli about the Torah, the Indian guy about their book Gita) I talk about the different religions and especially the indian guy tells interesting things.
It is also interesting how they think what will be after this life: the Israeli guy thinks it is just Schluss [over], and cites the 17th century philosopher Spinoza : "It's very simple. Death is the place where you were before you came into this life. a place of nothing ... ", while the Indian believes that by doing good your spirit rise some levels and after this life comes back in another life in a person, but depending on your good deeds performed in the past.
So you are all day in that hostel hahahahaha! Have you seen nothing of the city?.
... um poquinho :) [a little bit]. I'm sitting here just a few steps from the Aya Sofia, the Blue Mosque and I have strolled around a bit. I also met an old friend:
... an Egyptian obelisk erected at Karnak by Pharaoh Tutmosis III some 3000 years BC and in the year 600 stolen from Egypt {by command of the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius} to be re-erected in Constantinople.
At the foot of the Obelisk you see figures carved in stone: Byzantines and their faces after all these centuries still surprisingly clear, in a good state. Some have a mustache and beard, dressed in this roman toga but at the same time look almost medieval, something in between Roman and medieval.
It fascinates me, it's like travelling back in time and as a spectator looking at (the faces of) people that once controlled a huge empire that was ultimately doomed to disappear together with them (in the year 1453 the city was conquered by the Turks).
It is in this square a bit of a cacophony of history because right behind the obelisk is a bronze spiral founded in x years BC by the 34 Greek city-states to commemorate their victory over the Persians while behind the spiral an Obelisk made out of bricks is standing. This Obelisk was a kind of beacon during the horse races (think of Ben Hur 'like figures on a cart behind a horse) competing with each other and racing around this Obelisk|.
... And what about your Biciklette ?. Is it still in one piece?
The front wheel (bought in Juba, South Sudan) started to have movement in the hub and I was not sure whether the wheel (hub) was finished or that there dirt was the cause of the movement. If it's just dirt open and clean it is a fairly simple operation that now I can do myself but I wanted to make sure what the problem was.
... So again the need to find a local mechanic who grabs his hammer and starts hammering on the bicycle frame just as in Guinea?.
HA!. No, I do not know whether I'm in the European part of the city (the Bosphorus separates the city in a european part and an asian part) but considering bicycles, bicycle parts Istanbul is like Europe. Here you find everything and good bicycles eye?! Racing bikes, mountain bikes, Shimano parts, everything can be found here.
They have even Schwalbe tires, the elite tires, but the price of this type of tyre is also made elite: 70 euros. So two tires would cost me 140 euros, when you consider that my bicycle costed me 180 euro, such a price for only a tyre is |wahnsinn!.
... towers of the Haya Sofia
The nice thing is that a whole street specializes in cycling. The repairsection is around the corner of this bicycle street: a somewhat fat old chief not even standing up when I formulate the problem in very bad turkish in a generous way delegates my question to Ahmed, a 17 year old adolescent who I first rather observe with suspicion but my African experience has taught me that adolescents also are well able to repair a bicycle.
Psah, like in Africa the repair is performed on the street. Me I'm sitting 30 cm besides Ahmed on the sidewalk to see what he does and I help him by giving him the tool he needs and occasionally I try to say something intelligents [in Turkish]. After 5 minutes I get Cay from the chief, and after 15 minutes a cigarette from Ahmet.
... besides the blue mosque
Ahmed says 'Good' when he touches the hub of the front rim. I am very surprised because I have come all the way from Juba, still a distance of 7000 km and that with a part made by Genuine Chinese Craftsmanship and it's ok too-hamdoelilah'i - [when I touch the the ledge myself I feel the ledge in where the bearings are is still intact].
Eventually he does a whole bike check, checks the brakes thoroughly, replaces the part that the chain lifts to another vitesse [velocity] and assures me that the rear wheel is junk but good enough to do the remaining 3000 km ['no problem '] and this all for 15 + 25 TL (for the part) gives 40 Turkish Lira [16 euro] not bad eye?.
... Well it's all or nothing for that Hakmed. Do you know where his house lives in case something goes wrong in the Czech Republic?. Besides that such a street full of bicycle shops/ activity actually IS Istanbul right?.
If you are referring to the specialization on one item [in this case the bike] you're right. And that's basically the same as in the Middle East, Cairo, Jerusalem, El Khartoum. Souks [markets], districts specialize in products. items such as fruit, vegetables, clothes, hardware, but also something as minor as buttons (!). And in between, you can always eat falaffel, or drink a Cay.
... city walls, at Topkapi, Istanbul
In the more touristic area there are wide avenues on which a tram rumbles, you find a Mc Donalds, book shops [that don't sell a map of eastern europe I've already tried four aber Nyet], antique shops, and fancy shops.
Do you see activity like in Amsterdam such as living statues, street theater / music, creative expressions of people?.
I have not even seen a fraction of the city, but in that uber touristical area where I am you don't see any street activities except street vendors of all kinds of junk and street children. There is culture, even a lot, but for what I have seen is that in a theater, concert hall rather than on the street but maybe it's because the tourist season still has to begin.
It is true that if you're outside the tourist area people are just working, making a living as there is not really that frivolity plus there is this constant traffic clogging the streets.
People are dressed western in jeans, but there are also people in the dzjallabya, women with niktab, a fashionable headscarf, or tight leggings.
... staring at the father of the nation; Ataturk, close to Taksim park, Istanbul
... And the rest of your trip?. via the Balkan or eastern Europe?
The idea is to go through Eastern Europe and follow the rivers Danube and the Rhine to 'home'. There is also a piece of the Balkan, namely Vukovar [Croacia] and Belgrade [Serbia].
Allez! move your butt to Fehnerbace, I wonder how that looks like!
Listo papi!
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