some pictures going to Istanbul / kepek a törökorszagrol
posted by somewhere over yonder @ 6:18 PM
2 comments
Friday, July 07, 2006
Saturday, July 01, 2006
How i got to İstanbul
IGEN İSTANBULBAN VAGYOK
YES I AM IN İSTANBUL
i have a little bit of extra time now, because i couldnt get the bus i wanted to for georgia, so i will take a bus tonight, that gets me to the border tomorrow in the early afternoon.
cycling backwards in time to burgas, i can cycle forwards again in these lines, to revel the hilly midnight border approach. due to the fact that the things went the way they went and i met a very nice person in municipality in burgas, and i didnt actually swim in the black sea for 10 minutes like eli wrote, but actually 15... i got off to a bit of a late start for the day's destination: malko turnovo, right near the bulgarian border. leaving burgas at 18:30, i didnt stand a chance to actually get anywhere before nightfall. i thought of trying out my tent for the first time, but since i had somebody waiting for me in m.turnovo, who kept calling me and encouraging me to come, saying that the road is without holes (this was only partially true) and there is no traffic at night (much more accurate) that i can still come, no problem if late. so i cycled the night. there was a lot of up and down and i wore special head lamp to make sure i avoid any holes (i didnt want to hit a huge bump and have to change tires in the dark). it was a bit lonely, but pleasant also at the same time. i had to divide my time between wondering how long i have to keep going up and up up up and up, and wether those 2 faint lights in the woods belonged rather to an ocelot or a jaguar, and finally thinking about how long it was to malko turnovo. just when i thought i had still at least 10-15 more kilometers, all of a sudden a noticed a big advertisement sign in the dark, a "see you soon" message from a bulgarian mobile phone operator, and then suddenly i am in malko turnovo. after cycling through the woods at dark, it was a different experience to catch the rest of the spain-france game at stoyan´s place.
next day i cycled across the border to turkey, some more uphill just to the border, where i had both the guard in the first check point and the second checkpoint joke with me about being justin timberlake, and then i sped on to kirklarelli. my turkish partners arranged for a meeting at the municipality there, and beforehand i had three 50 year old turkish men on bikes come and pick me up and take me around town. i had already been fully overwhelmed with the sensations of a wholly new place, and this was then excacerbated at the mayor´s office. posh is the word to start with: posh. blue carpets lining the walls, glowing (halogram?) things on the wall, thick carpet and polished wooden furniture. while i thought this might be the living space of an emir, my translator kept referring to him as the "prime minister". so the prime minister of kirklarelli kindly welcomed us and told us about his experiences in holland, based on which he himself would like to see bike lanes being built in kirklarelli. probably he can even do it, he just has to push the button.
i had to still cycle that night to vize, although i had really hoped to stay longer in kirklarelli (the most educated turkish city i was told). sleeping in vize made it at least theoretically possible that i could reach istanbul the next day, 140 km away.
last day, vize-istanbul: to divide it up into the three main sections
1. vize-saray: short section, flat, little traffic, enjoyable first section 20 km
2. saray-catalca: very hilly, up and down incessantly, very sweaty, little traffic. ca. 70 km
3. catalca-büyükcekmece: wonderfully downhill, a lot more traffic, ca. 20 km
4. büyükcekmece - istanbul: up and down, %&$§§$& traffic, ca. 30 km.
section 1: pleasant, nice, good, fun. i even met some other long distance travellers, who had come up from south western turkey and headed for bulgaria and on to central europe. they also have a blog: http://timandpiper.blogspot.com/
section 2: long, taxing, made me tired. hot. sweaty. but the best ever homemade yoghurt in my life in the village 10 km before Catalca.
section 3: the easiest ride of the day. nice to hardly have to pedal for a change.
section 4: i would not want to wish this experience on my worst enemy. while i had the romantic notion of cycling leasurely into istanbul on small streets, and heading ever inward, i found out that the only option from where i was consisted of a mad 8 or 10 lane highway which i rode on for over an hour, wondering when will it ever end? i did the citizens of istanbul a great public service: i cleaned the air for them - with my lungs! i could see all the black smoke from the non TÜVed cars and truck go by, but i could not see when i could remove myself from this nightmare. i kept asking people for taksim, pointing in directions at a 90 degree angle either right or left, but they always insisted i go straight. i thought i was hallucinating when i saw the second huge banner saying "welcome to istanbul" i had already been welcomed 10 km back, but i didnt feel that way, and so i uttered my meanest in contempt.
i could go on, but suffice it to say that i made it to taksim, and was met by Tuna. before i met tuna it was my own treat for reaching the goal of "Sofia - Istanbul" that i sucked dry a grapefruit i had bought that morning in Vize. We then met Dilek of the Turkish Young Greens, where I stayed for the next two nights.
friday was a whirlwind of press time, public transportation conference, meeting the mayor of Istanbul and holding a film night in the evening. the Turkish guidebook had been prepared by this time: now there are 2! turkish and bulgarian. so we could deliver the guide in to the mayor and to various transport people that day, as well as in the evening to civil society.
when i was the first time a tourist in istanbul 8 years ago (while student in bulgaria) i didnt have nearly such a rocking night out on the town as this one. thanks Fulya, Elvan and Ahmecan!
And it is of course exciting to see things getting organized by people like Kevser, Tuna, Dilek, Fulya, Murat and others, especially since next year there will be the "Towards Carfree Cities" hosted in Istanbul. Should I just stay here until then, or come back 5 months early next year....?
While huge traffic and huge pollution is certainly a problem in Istanbul, there has been some positive things done lately, for example all over the city there are beautiful new bus stops, really high class, and new (and cleaner) buses as well. And just for my arrival they opened an underground funiclar from Taksim to Kabatas, which transports you in 110 seconds as opposed to bus or car - up to 20 minutes in verstockendes but not verstummtes traffic.
Now I am in Asia. I will catch soon a bus to Rize. Then I will catch a bus to the border. Then I will cycle across the border. Then I will be in Batumi. Then I will go to Biking Beyond Borders Goes East Conference. Currently I am still very much to the west.
YES I AM IN İSTANBUL
i have a little bit of extra time now, because i couldnt get the bus i wanted to for georgia, so i will take a bus tonight, that gets me to the border tomorrow in the early afternoon.
cycling backwards in time to burgas, i can cycle forwards again in these lines, to revel the hilly midnight border approach. due to the fact that the things went the way they went and i met a very nice person in municipality in burgas, and i didnt actually swim in the black sea for 10 minutes like eli wrote, but actually 15... i got off to a bit of a late start for the day's destination: malko turnovo, right near the bulgarian border. leaving burgas at 18:30, i didnt stand a chance to actually get anywhere before nightfall. i thought of trying out my tent for the first time, but since i had somebody waiting for me in m.turnovo, who kept calling me and encouraging me to come, saying that the road is without holes (this was only partially true) and there is no traffic at night (much more accurate) that i can still come, no problem if late. so i cycled the night. there was a lot of up and down and i wore special head lamp to make sure i avoid any holes (i didnt want to hit a huge bump and have to change tires in the dark). it was a bit lonely, but pleasant also at the same time. i had to divide my time between wondering how long i have to keep going up and up up up and up, and wether those 2 faint lights in the woods belonged rather to an ocelot or a jaguar, and finally thinking about how long it was to malko turnovo. just when i thought i had still at least 10-15 more kilometers, all of a sudden a noticed a big advertisement sign in the dark, a "see you soon" message from a bulgarian mobile phone operator, and then suddenly i am in malko turnovo. after cycling through the woods at dark, it was a different experience to catch the rest of the spain-france game at stoyan´s place.
next day i cycled across the border to turkey, some more uphill just to the border, where i had both the guard in the first check point and the second checkpoint joke with me about being justin timberlake, and then i sped on to kirklarelli. my turkish partners arranged for a meeting at the municipality there, and beforehand i had three 50 year old turkish men on bikes come and pick me up and take me around town. i had already been fully overwhelmed with the sensations of a wholly new place, and this was then excacerbated at the mayor´s office. posh is the word to start with: posh. blue carpets lining the walls, glowing (halogram?) things on the wall, thick carpet and polished wooden furniture. while i thought this might be the living space of an emir, my translator kept referring to him as the "prime minister". so the prime minister of kirklarelli kindly welcomed us and told us about his experiences in holland, based on which he himself would like to see bike lanes being built in kirklarelli. probably he can even do it, he just has to push the button.
i had to still cycle that night to vize, although i had really hoped to stay longer in kirklarelli (the most educated turkish city i was told). sleeping in vize made it at least theoretically possible that i could reach istanbul the next day, 140 km away.
last day, vize-istanbul: to divide it up into the three main sections
1. vize-saray: short section, flat, little traffic, enjoyable first section 20 km
2. saray-catalca: very hilly, up and down incessantly, very sweaty, little traffic. ca. 70 km
3. catalca-büyükcekmece: wonderfully downhill, a lot more traffic, ca. 20 km
4. büyükcekmece - istanbul: up and down, %&$§§$& traffic, ca. 30 km.
section 1: pleasant, nice, good, fun. i even met some other long distance travellers, who had come up from south western turkey and headed for bulgaria and on to central europe. they also have a blog: http://timandpiper.blogspot.com/
section 2: long, taxing, made me tired. hot. sweaty. but the best ever homemade yoghurt in my life in the village 10 km before Catalca.
section 3: the easiest ride of the day. nice to hardly have to pedal for a change.
section 4: i would not want to wish this experience on my worst enemy. while i had the romantic notion of cycling leasurely into istanbul on small streets, and heading ever inward, i found out that the only option from where i was consisted of a mad 8 or 10 lane highway which i rode on for over an hour, wondering when will it ever end? i did the citizens of istanbul a great public service: i cleaned the air for them - with my lungs! i could see all the black smoke from the non TÜVed cars and truck go by, but i could not see when i could remove myself from this nightmare. i kept asking people for taksim, pointing in directions at a 90 degree angle either right or left, but they always insisted i go straight. i thought i was hallucinating when i saw the second huge banner saying "welcome to istanbul" i had already been welcomed 10 km back, but i didnt feel that way, and so i uttered my meanest in contempt.
i could go on, but suffice it to say that i made it to taksim, and was met by Tuna. before i met tuna it was my own treat for reaching the goal of "Sofia - Istanbul" that i sucked dry a grapefruit i had bought that morning in Vize. We then met Dilek of the Turkish Young Greens, where I stayed for the next two nights.
friday was a whirlwind of press time, public transportation conference, meeting the mayor of Istanbul and holding a film night in the evening. the Turkish guidebook had been prepared by this time: now there are 2! turkish and bulgarian. so we could deliver the guide in to the mayor and to various transport people that day, as well as in the evening to civil society.
when i was the first time a tourist in istanbul 8 years ago (while student in bulgaria) i didnt have nearly such a rocking night out on the town as this one. thanks Fulya, Elvan and Ahmecan!
And it is of course exciting to see things getting organized by people like Kevser, Tuna, Dilek, Fulya, Murat and others, especially since next year there will be the "Towards Carfree Cities" hosted in Istanbul. Should I just stay here until then, or come back 5 months early next year....?
While huge traffic and huge pollution is certainly a problem in Istanbul, there has been some positive things done lately, for example all over the city there are beautiful new bus stops, really high class, and new (and cleaner) buses as well. And just for my arrival they opened an underground funiclar from Taksim to Kabatas, which transports you in 110 seconds as opposed to bus or car - up to 20 minutes in verstockendes but not verstummtes traffic.
Now I am in Asia. I will catch soon a bus to Rize. Then I will catch a bus to the border. Then I will cycle across the border. Then I will be in Batumi. Then I will go to Biking Beyond Borders Goes East Conference. Currently I am still very much to the west.
posted by somewhere over yonder @ 12:26 PM
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