Turkey until Istanbul

After travelling for 3 weeks and riding almost 3000 km I arrived in Istanbul at the 10th of November. Despite I ate as much as I could along the way I lost five to eight kilos as it was mostly cold and I did a lot of riding. Now that the winter lies mostly behind me it is time to slow down and enjoy even more.
After setting up my camp a last time in the Turkish mountains there were 200 km left to ride to Istanbul and I planned to do this within two days. After 50 km however I met Anne Ben and Marco riding the same direction by bike and we decided to do the trip together. Anne started riding in Berlin seven weeks ago Ben and Marco in the UK three and a half months ago. At that point of time we planned to go seperate ways again after Istanbul so after one day riding together Anne and me speeded up to reach Istanbul in the evening of the 10th while Ben and Marco wanted to go slower and go into town the next day. Riding into Istanbul by bike was on of the most frightening parts of my trip as it got late and we rode along a five lane highway in the dark and Turkish people are not exactly driving slow. When we finally reached the center we payed a visit to the Blue Mosque before we checked into a hotel with few over the city. Thanks to Annes charmes it was quite affordable. My first shower in two weeks than some beer good night sleep and breakfast buffet and i felt like in heaven. Next day we met again with Ben and Marco and succeded to get couchsurfing places for everyone. Till then I am staying with Ben and Marco on the already Asian side of Istanbul with really friendly hosts as Anne ist with an other host on the European side. We spend the days visiting and enjoying all the culture in this impressive town and organise our further trip. Ben and Marco wanted to go to India aswell so we will group up. Anne did not plan that far but really wants to come along. As soon as shes finished organising her life in Germany she will hopefully also come along.

The planned route is to go to Ankara and pick up Visas for Iran. Than cross the mountains to Adana und travelling along the coast east passing Syria. After that we will ride south through the kurdish part of Iraq into Iran. As it ist impossible to get Visas for Pakistan we are forced to take a ship from Bandar e Abbas either over Dubai or directly to India. I am glad not to be alone on the upcoming passage which is a small ridge between winter in the mountains dessert PKK Syria and the southern part of Iraq.