2020-02-21 Day 467 Fri

The sea had some more life in it in the morning.

Left about 11:00 for the border at Edirne.

A lot of timber was being being pruned for fire wood

Leaving it rather late in the day, we could not bypass Erdine as the highway needed a pass (no cash on this one). Finally close to the border we filled with fuel. I had downloaded some more movies and we ran out of internet. No Bulgarian money. I could not check what I had in my Turkish account so just spent the cash. At the border we exited Turkey OK and quickly. They were all friendly. Then we drove over a sanitising wash and then had to pay for it! She said 3 Euro’s I grabbed the us and euro bag kept close at home an no euro but 500 TL had not put euro back after tahiti trip so did not fine Turkish lira…]

Paid in US dollars.

We passed 7km of trucks waiting to exit Bulgaria enter Turkey amazing how long they are kept waiting.

A pretty quick and painless border crossing.

Camped at the lake near Malki Voden. No calls to prayers tonight just howling dogs.

246km  Camp site  156m alt.

2020-02-20 Day 466 Thu

A little drizzle but not much. We left late and headed further up the coast.

On skinny whites or tracks we headed into Panayir Iskelesi. Google earth said the road went through. Lots of shanties so we followed the track south and camped out on a peninsular. What a great spot. We are both really quite tired not sure if it is all the food and late nights in the last ten days or so or???

Rained on and off during the night but the road in had gravel so was not worried. The wind was up and so was the sea.

44km  Camp site  46m alt.

2020-02-19 Day 465 Wed

Everyone was out at 0800 so we had an early start on the road. The road was a little busy until we got a little further west but not too bad. 

The home of the national football teams club

We headed up to Kiyikoy on the Black Sea coast nearer the border with Bulgaria. We drove the last section on tracks.

And got tuned back two times once with mud and low lying trees .

 

The other with deliberately felled trees over the road this was at the border with the nature reserve. Finally we made it to the coast. 

There was not much room and none too flat, so we preceded to dig the front right tire in and I hunted down some big rocks to put under the tire. As I picked up one I saw a cop car coming so carrying said rock walked to car, and putting it down told john. Two very young cops in a ute with little English they looked at passport and made a phone call, all good and they left. How did they know we were here? “eye in the sky”? We had seen no-one since being on the back roads so maybe for an hour but they turn up with 5 minutes of getting to camp site????

A lovely spot it was

151km  Camp site  79m alt.

 

2020-02-18 Day 464 Tue

We handed over the Koala that had been stuffed in Johns drawer for a few months. John had suggested we char the fur as they all know about the Australian fires... Feliz asked us if we had time to go to her school we said yes! So Selmon went off to work and we walked with Feliz to her school. A very noisy class and not very well behaved. Maybe the difference between country and city kids. Demirci’s kids were well behaved and did not shout over the top of every one.

After an hour we headed off to Aldatamaz to have our brakes checked. 

Dropped her off and then Selmon took us to the bus stop for Eminonu and the ferry back to Asia… Here we would meet Israfael who we first met at his home on the black sea. We had planned on driving up and seeing him tomorrow but he sent me a text to say he was down here visiting his daughter.

 The palace from the Bosphoros

 A ship being piloted through the Bospheros

We had a wonderful after noon. First having a rather big lunch followed by half a quince cooked in a rich syrup with clotted cream….

The old Ottoman public water supply

 people enjoying a sunny spring day.

 Cat houses.

Then a stroll along the promenade past the Maiden tower. 

Here the council workers and police were cleaning up the side walk and had confiscated a lot of chairs and tables. We followed as they picked up other stuff on the way along. About 50 of them some in trucks many two-up on large motor bikes. 

 The road sweeper

We walked and talked at the car ferry back to Istanbul we then caught a couple of small buses finally ending up at the Kadikoy ferry. We left Israfael to return to his wife and daughter while we caught the ferry back to Eminonu. We walked across the bridge to Karako. 

So many fishermen the poor little fish don’t stand a chance.

Here we bought some plumbing fittings then returned foot tired to Emononu where we caught the bus back to Ladatmaz. We didn’t arrive till close on 1800. The vehicle was ready so we paid the 250TL (AU$50) and with Selmon in the passenger seat navigating, and me in the house, we drove back to his place. Felize cooked us a magnificent dinner.  Lots of butter and salt.

13km  Camp site  92m alt

2020-02-17 Day 463 Mon

We had a morning of paper work then headed off to Yalova and the ferry to Instanbul. The way was slower than anticipated but we drove through old olive groves on wet muddy roads, but they were not slippery.

The Med was at it’s finest with a lovely blue that contrasted nicely with the olive groves.

We ended up on the pay brand new motorway travelling along at 100km/hr making some time up. We found the ferry which was in a different place than our map indicated.

Bought tickets I was 17TL (<AU$5) and John with EC was about 480tl (AU$120)

We had one hour to wait so put the lid up and did some more computer work. We will meet Selmon at his house and go out to dinner.

Arriving at Istanbul at Yenikapi. With John driving an me navigating we made our way along the foreshore west towards the old airport and onto the roads we knew oh so well from our importing tire days, a year ago.

Near Selmon’s house we got tangled up with the daily market. But managed a park near the mosque. I went to the markets and bought some dried fruit, cranberries, more dates and some raisins and apricots.

We waited for Selmon to arrive then walked with him to his new car and picking Feliz and Fazer up we drove back the way we’d come towards the airport. 

We had dinner at a restaurant on the lake Kucukcekmece Golu. A nice dinner but my first two choices were sold out….

Feliz sat in the car with and asleep Fazer while we three had a walk along the promenade.

We got to sleep on their pull-out couch.

162km  Camp site  103m alt.

2020-02-16 Day 462 Sun

Although we had heard the call to prayer at 06:45 we did not wake till my alarm went off at 07:45. We thought this would give us time to prepare for the day, including shower and getting the dry ingredients for pancakes organised. However we did not factor into it Mostafa’s visit. He wanted to go buy some food but I said our idea was to make pancakes he thought this good. John jumped into the shower which was a bit of a concern but Mostafa coped (just).

 

We were almost ready when Cemel (Gemel) arrived. We hurriedly put the lid down and followed him to his house. Breakfast was all laid out but I asked about cooking the pancakes all OK.

So I whisked then up borrowed another pan and cooked them. 

This big pot of yogurt was sent into town to make butter!!

As we sat down to breakfast the other guests arrived, Gulsah and her husband and 3 year old.

We had a wonderful breakfast but on top of all the food yesterday we did not eat a lot.

We chatted for a while then Gulsah left and we shortly after. They wanted a shot of the vehicle in the main square so I drove it down. We took some photos a last cup of tea then we drove to Mustafa’s house to say goodbye.

Mustafa arrived with cheese and bread so an opportune time to hand him our little parcel.

Inside and farewell to his wife then more photos. Then Hande came with violin on her way to school. Mustafa asked her to get her ukulele and she played it in EC. First live performance.

 Saying good bye to Mustafa and Feliz

 Hande serenading inside of EC.

 Carpets design in the streets.

Finally all done we headed off for the ferry at Yalova.

Cemel had shown a quicker way on the map so we took that route.

A slow drive to stat with an uneven road but the roads improved as did our speed. Even ended up on the brand new free way. Which cost us 26 lira (AU$6.50). Not may people using it yet.

A car checked out our website and soon after had a message. They too have a camper and asked us to check out a place which happens to be 5km from where we intend to camp.

We found a camp near Tirilye out on a peninsular near an olive grove. A lovely quiet spot. We had wanted to camp near an old monastery but the track was gated.

263km  Camp site  90m alt

2020-02-15 Day 461 Sat

Breakfast with Mustafa at 09:00 his family were till asleep.

Mustafa had one more shop he wanted to show us Cemal’s brother in law’s shop. We got there by going to a fertilizer shop and waiting for the brother in law then he took us to his ware house. Most of the people we are dealing with are wholesalers and do not have a shop front as such.

Here we saw some Afghan carpets which we liked.

We returned to Cemel's shop front and travelled in his car back to his ware house. We looked at the small carpets then asked to see the bamboo carpets most of which were still being worked on.

After some deliberation we chose one a 2m x 2.9m one.

Back to the hand woven carpets where two small ones were finally chosen. Next to brother in law and we chose two of the Afghan carpets.

Now Cemal stopped a few times to show us different workshops.  A shop that specialises in mosque doors were also interesting. The design and writing all done by two large machines with a engraving head.

I found the bell man really neat. He makes the animal bells and exports to Greece and Bulgaria. Some where tiny and others very big but those for carnivals good size for elephants though.

Now we know who made all the ones we hear most nights…

Next a visit to the Saturday market. A section for local produce and imported from other villages.We dropped into a very modern looking restaurant for a small lunch , very good chicken soup followed by a huge platter of grilled meats...Not small at all.

 We dropped by Cemal's wife's clothes shop and I bought a pair of trousers with lots of pockets and she gifted us a hoody each.

Next back at his store where we paid a deposit and wrote out carpet costs and reciept. Had a little trouble with English so he asked a friend into help Gulsah is an English teacher and has good English. She helped us a lot.

Cemal wanted to take us to dinner so piled into his car with his wife we headed 40km to another village. When we arrived Elif (via google translate) said she was going to pray and would I like to go to. I accompanied her. Shoes off, step  inside then lift shoes inside onto rack. She then signalled me to a chair and she prayed. The room had a carpet with the soft lines going from left to right. A small carpet was placed in the right hand corner and this is where Elif stood, facing the wall. Whispering she went through her motions which entailed prostrating herself 4 times. Very interesting.

Gulsah and family met us there. We had a wonderful meal of fresh water fish and lots of smaller platters.

I fell asleep on the way back to Demirci…… We stopped at a cafe and had roasted chestnuts and tea followed by a Turkish coffee.

The chestnut were tipped wet onto the top of the fire place and where cooked to perfection…..

into bed close to midnight.

0km Camp site  918m alt.