After an absolute pig of a night I woke up still very tired and broken. Sergeant trot pants was on duty last night and something must have really annoyed him. Combining this with the howling wind off the coast meant I got around 2 hours decent sleep. I had to make 3 separate trips to destinations of the beach picked at random depending on urgency. After the third time I became very aware my head torch could have been sending signals to the boats without myself having any idea! There were more dash dash dashes then dot dot dots unfortunately but Istanbul was still on the cards and hopefully I could find something there to make me feel better.
The weather was overcast which I didn't mind, at least the wind had calmed and there was a good road to lay down some early miles. I was going to give the stop for some food after about 2 hours another go as it worked so well yesterday. The thing with cycle touring is that everyday I different and the way I was feeling health wise was obviously very up and down so you can't really schedule anything. I felt surprisingly good so i cycled a bit further until I started to approach some bigger towns and some bigger stores. I need to find an electrical cable for my solar panel as mine has broken and its quite vital that I find one to keep charging my phone, camera and iPod. I stopped at a tiny shopping centre around 20 miles from Istanbul, that I saw had two electrical shops and figured I could also get some food. In both shops I had no luck, it appears that finding this specific cable could be very tough. I popped into a bakery anyway and bought a lovely looking sesame seed bun that seemed to be filled with cheese. Perfect, I love a cheesy bun and even though I didn't see the name of this specific bun I knew was going to enjoy it. First bite, almost took my hand off. After trying the bun I will now name it, I name it..."the olive surprise" I appreciate a lot of people like olives so this may not seem a big a deal at all, I absolutely hate olives (I've tried on more than one occasion to like them) I also hate thinking that something is going to taste like a dream and then it gives you a slap in the face. The saltiness in my mouth forced me to look down in horror at the bun that resembled a scarab beetle infested scene from "The Mummy." All in all an unsuccessful stop but note to self, ask before you bite.
As soon as I got back onto the road, the buildings started to grow bigger, more people started to appear on the roadside and cars were piling up. Only 5 more minutes had passed and I found myself surrounded by huge buildings, more interesting ones as well, more people and amazing smells and sights that I couldn't take in because I was in the middle of a 6 lane manic jam of cars going well over Nigel's comfortable coasting rate. What I was in but I had no idea about was Istanbul traffic. My odometer said I had at least 15 miles to go but this didn't stop me from thinking I had magically arrived early and began to get excited about a quick shower and an early relaxing pint. How wrong I was! When you think you are near to something and have to wait a while, time seems to drag more than ever. When you are meerkatting your way along a 6 lane motorway looking for a sign that says either "Fatih" or Bezoglu" for 15 miles time has stood still. 15 MILES!!! There was traffic leading up to Instanbul for 15 MILES! 10 miles on a bike takes an hour sometimes with no traffic. The last section of my ride may as well I been the whole day, I thought I was soo much closer than I was and the concentration needed to get from A to B without any of the crazy C's running me over left me absolutely exhausted!
I stopped mid traffic and asked a guy who was stopped on the side of the road how to get to Beyoglu. Beyoglu is the area and he didn't know where the intended hostel that i had screen shotted on my phone was but he told me to head for Teksin. Teksin is like the central square and it turned out I was only about 5 minutes from there. This advice turned out to be golden. I arrived in Teksin and went for a wander, lots of wxpensive hotels was a good sign because it meant I was in the main area and a free wifi restaurant or cafe would be nearby. Just as I turned to go into the cafe and search how far from my hostel I was, Marco and Margherita walk around the corner. I met these two about 5 days ago (I showed Margherita the snake picture) and was in a bit of a rush and wanted to camp alone so didn't chat long. They were on the hunt for a hostel also and so we all got a drink in the cafe and found a hostel only 1km from where we were.
The hostel was cheap, 8 euro a night with towels, free wifi and breakfast included. Laundry was cheap too and not really caring along with not having much to gauge the price on I was well happy. We had to carry the bikes up just one set of stairs to the laundry room and then our 8 person dorm was on the top floor. I have no issue with hostels at all, did it on my cycle tour to Scotland and it turned out an absolute treat. Marco and Margherita seemed happy also so after sorting showers and laundry out we hit the town for beers and food. We soon clicked, Marco had an eye for a bargain especially when it came to buying beers. We chose the old faithful trick of going to a pack local pub because a. It's going to be cheaper and b. if you're buying food, its normal the best. We entered and all the tables were taken but the owner soon turfed some local onto another table so we could sit down as a three. We only wanted drinks which I think was our downfall as we ended up paying more than next door! I think the owner was bitter that we didn't order food.
After a couple we looked for cheap food at a stall. I was like a man late on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night... on the hunt for the biggest kebab I could find. I found one smothered in chips, that didn't touch the sides! We walked around for a bit longer and took a bit more of the town in. Our plan was to get some drinks and take them back to the hostel. On the way back I had kebab round two, from a different stall this time and it came with butter milk (note to self, never drink buttermilk again) I bought a few Efes, a family pack of Doritos and chocolate brownie cake. I don't know what's wrong with me! When I say cake I mean a cake you cut for the family, I cut it up and ate the whole thing!
After a few vinos and beers a Turkish man from the hostel came an sat down with us. He had just got a job as a waiter and asked the guys if they could help him on the understanding and pronunciations of the menu. I will not go into detail as you had to be there bit the next 2 hours were some of the funniest I have so far. This guy was a right card and all I will say is that when you try to convince two very passionate (what italians aren't?) and knowledgeable Italians that carbonara sauce comes from a packet and gnocchi is solely pasta then you are fighting a losing battle my friend. He also said humans get special powers sometimes when they drink a lot of alcohol because once he drank 1.5 litres of Bacardi and could see lasers. It was the way he said it with such conviction and belief but like I said, you had to be there!
After that I was more than happy to go to bed. I have a lot of little thing to do and pick up and hopefully buy tomorrow. It's going to be very tough as my first impressions of Istanbul is that its absolutely bonkers and its probably easier to pick up a monkey playing the drums then it is to find some spare spokes!!!
We will see!
P.s Marco has had the same issue with dogs and now he says the best thing to do is stop, throw the bike down and stare them out. He said this worked for him all through South America. I'm going to try it but I know Nigel won't be best pleased about it!
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