Day 45

Sleeping location: Beyhan Hotel, Istanbul
Distance (km today/total): 0 / 4425
Estimated climb (m today/total): 0 / 36500
Dried fruit purchased: 2kg
Day in three words: Istanbul is lovely

A rest day with the first half spent on bike maintenance and internet admin, and the second half spent wandering around with my dad. I’ve been to Istanbul before so wasn’t in sightseeing mode, but it really is the most magnificent place to just walk around and take in the sights, sounds and smells. At the Hagia Sofia I spotted a touring cyclist from afar and went to say hi, then realised it was Andreas from back in Plovdiv. We had a catchup and then he headed off to his hostel, then eventually Vietnam.

We spent the day grazing from the various street food sellers, including one guy who sold “mini melons” that were kind of like short fat cucumbers. I had never realised that a cucumber is really just a long savoury melon. Mind blown. At the spice market we picked up a LOT of dried fruit for snacking over the next week. Then we went to the Galata Bridge to watch the sunset, which was one of the most amazing sunsets (and potentially most amazing things) I’ve ever seen. The sky was on fire with pinks and oranges and yellows, over the water and the mosques on the left. It was made even more atmospheric by a restaurant slinging a load of fish parts into the water below us, which caused hundreds of seagulls to descend and swoop around in an attempt to get some. I then swooped for an aubergine and lamb kebab and we got an early night - tomorrow we say goodbye to Istanbul and head south*.

*As with the first 10 days of the trip, in the last 10 days I haven’t moved south at all, so I have again been going the wrong way for over 1000km.

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