With the orange and green card in hand, we drove up to the toll gate and waved the card infront of the card reader. Nothing happened. Then we poked the card into another card reader, and following a beep the gate raised and we were on our way to Istanbul.
Initially, traffic was light for such a large road, but as we drew closer to Istanbul the lanes began to fill up and it quickly became apparent that we no longer blended in at all. Children stared at the weird men in their tiny car, young men gave their thumbs up in approval, and everyone beeped their horns - seemingly for anything and everything from approval for our vehicle and mission, disapproval for being cut off in traffic by another car, disappointment at the speed of travel, or just to test if the horn on their car was still working. We joked that much like in the old Marshall Batteries ads, there must be a service in Turkey that you can call at any time of day and night, and a man will come out to replace your horn by the roadside.
Once we were within a few kilometers of Istanbul, a family traveling in a black Audi wagon pulled alongside us, and the driver and father called out to us and asked us where we were headed. Not having any particular plans at this point, we replied that we intended to drive to the center of town, and there get some money, lunch, a map and maybe explore the city a little. The driver replied that there were many 'centers' of town in Istanbul, but that we should go to Taksim. A few puzzled looks later he offered to show us the way.
As we followed the Audi, the open fields with smatterings of farmhouses and mosques gave way to enormous modern developments consisting of almost identical apartment towers, and then slowly to an almost limitless sea of buildings both old and new as we made our way toward Taksim. Once we were close enough to find our own way by roadsigns, the Audi pulled over at a service station and the father came over to us to explain the rest of the way, and quizzed us a little about what we were doing in Turkey. Not wanting to unnecessarily reveal our true mission, we explained that we were part of the Mongol Rally, and were driving through Turkey on our way to Ulaanbaatar, purely for adventure.
Not long after the service station we found our way to Taksim, parked and wandered to the square in the sweltering midday heat. After an all-too-brief bout of sightseeing, we ate a great open kebab lunch, and then set to business getting a road map of Turkey and cash for the journey. Along the way we discovered a small bookstore with some cats sleeping off the heat of the day on top of a collection of second hand books. Poking around for a while we found a collection of old and second hand postcards for sale. We bought a few to send home to friends and family and then returned to car, to continue our pursuit.
Leaving Istanbul was easier said than done, even with our maps of the city and of Turkey, but eventually after numerous semi-successful attempts at communicating with the locals, and a few wrong turns, we were back on the freeway and on our way towards Trabzon.
For just over 200km after leaving Istanbul we still had the luxury of traveling on the very good toll-road, with our speed limited only by the Micra's feeble 998cc motor. We knew that it couldn't last though, and just before the town of Gerede we were forced to exit the toll-road and try our luck with the regular Turkish highway network.
As we followed the Audi, the open fields with smatterings of farmhouses and mosques gave way to enormous modern developments consisting of almost identical apartment towers, and then slowly to an almost limitless sea of buildings both old and new as we made our way toward Taksim. Once we were close enough to find our own way by roadsigns, the Audi pulled over at a service station and the father came over to us to explain the rest of the way, and quizzed us a little about what we were doing in Turkey. Not wanting to unnecessarily reveal our true mission, we explained that we were part of the Mongol Rally, and were driving through Turkey on our way to Ulaanbaatar, purely for adventure.
Not long after the service station we found our way to Taksim, parked and wandered to the square in the sweltering midday heat. After an all-too-brief bout of sightseeing, we ate a great open kebab lunch, and then set to business getting a road map of Turkey and cash for the journey. Along the way we discovered a small bookstore with some cats sleeping off the heat of the day on top of a collection of second hand books. Poking around for a while we found a collection of old and second hand postcards for sale. We bought a few to send home to friends and family and then returned to car, to continue our pursuit.
Leaving Istanbul was easier said than done, even with our maps of the city and of Turkey, but eventually after numerous semi-successful attempts at communicating with the locals, and a few wrong turns, we were back on the freeway and on our way towards Trabzon.
For just over 200km after leaving Istanbul we still had the luxury of traveling on the very good toll-road, with our speed limited only by the Micra's feeble 998cc motor. We knew that it couldn't last though, and just before the town of Gerede we were forced to exit the toll-road and try our luck with the regular Turkish highway network.
Off the toll-road our traveling speed dropped significantly, and once again we found ourselves driving through endless roadworks detours and doing everything we could to avoid becoming victims to yet another crazy overtaking move. With night falling, we came to the realization that we were unlikely to make it to Trabzon tonight, and instead set our sights on Samsun, about 300km to Trabzon's west.
At around 10pm our stomachs got the better of us, and we pulled in to a small roadside restaurant for another delicious open kebab meal with some of the almost ruby-coloured Turkish tea. Our appetites sated, we continued driving into the night toward Samsun, stopping only for petrol (accompanied by more fantastic Turkish tea, and an awkward conversation with one of the young men working there who knew enough english to ask us questions, but not quite enough to understand our replies.)
Finally we reached Samsun around 2 or 3am (this was becoming an all too familiar now) and drove around looking for somewhere to sleep. We come across a group of men standing by the side of the road outside of a mini market, and with more sign language and pictionary explain to them that we are looking for a hotel. Not long afterward we set forth again, armed with a hastily scribbled map showing us the way to the nearest hotel. Or so we think.
I'm not sure if it was the quality of the map, or the quality of our sleep deprived thinking at this point, but it took us something like an hour to find the hotel not more than a kilometer from where we had stopped. Ready to fall asleep in a gutter somewhere at this point, we made our way into the hotel carpark, only to be told by the hotel operator that they were closed, and that we'd have to go somewhere else.
Dejected, we decided to drive on toward Trabzon, and if possible find somewhere appropriate to pitch our tent and camp for the night. Not finding anywhere suitable for camping, and in serious danger of getting into a traffic accident in our sleep deprived state, we finally pulled into a service station and settled in for a very uncomfortable night, sleeping in the car.
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