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| Sunrise at the Veliko Tarnovo campsite |
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| Bent and broken trees on the hill sides |
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| Old and new |
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| The bush campsite on the way to Istanbul |
We left Veliko Tarnovo early to make our way to Istanbul as the journey will take more than a day. The weather was mild and it looked as if it would be a fine day as we left the camp site but became colder as we went along with everyone putting on more clothing. A lot of the trees on the hills on the side of the road were broken at half height or bent over to touch the ground, seemingly by natural causes. Getting closer to the border the standard of the houses improved with more gravel pits and many more vineyards to be seen. When we stopped at a service station just before the border I was told not to walk too far as the guards did not like people walking around. Some of the others changed money here and it was only when they arrived in Istanbul that they noticed that it had been changed to Romanian not Turkey money, by design or otherwise is not known.
We had been told that the visa at the Turkish border would cost £10, 15 euro or US$20. Working this out at the relevant exchange rates the £10 equated to 12 euro and US$16 so it was cheaper to pay in sterling. But, what we did not know was that the £10 fee only related to the EU passport as the Canadian and Australian amongst us had to pay euro 45 and 20 respectively. Except for walking back and forth to pay for the visa, then to have the passport stamped and walking around the place we had no problems passing through to Turkey with the time taken to go through the two border being two hours, a very good time by all accounts. We had finished at the border by 1400hrs.
Driving on the E80/03 towards Istanbul the countryside was mainly of rolling green farmland, fences, but not many trees. After a couple of hours travelling there was much more forest around us and we turned off the main road to look for somewhere to camp for the night. I think we ended up in a rubbish/ gravel pit place! As there was plenty of dead wood lying around a fire was lit and the barbecue taken off the truck so that gas for cooking could be saved. Jay had a packet of marshmallows and he had great delight cooking them on the fire. Although the idea was to save on gas cooking on the fire resulted in much more cleaning of the pots and pans as they were pretty dirty on the outside. During the night the regular call to prayers was heard from the village, (and the dogs howling at the same time), but I did not hear the 0100 hrs call but I was awake to hear the 0500 hrs one. During the night everyone heard the nightingales singing round the glen we were camped in.
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| Keeping warm round the fire |
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| A typical housing estate near Istanbul |
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| A house near Istanbul |
It is now two weeks since we left London and at 0830 hrs local time we parked in Istanbul, our last stop in Europe before going into the East. For the past 100 kilometres or so the motorway sides were planted with trees, shrubs and flowers and very pleasant to see. Leaving the truck in a secure parking area we walked to the hostel, The Orient Hostel, went to our room which had thirty bunk beds (15 pairs), left our bags to go walking and the heavens opened.
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| Istanbul Ferries |
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| Istanbul Harbour |
Istanbul Harbour
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