The rain followed me from Sofia, the Rila Mountains, the Bulgarian coast side, down to Istanbul. I guess I became to some kind of rain god as well, but just a small one. It’s not that
I hate rain, no “I’m only happy when it rains”, but having wet shoes and have to walk around in them is quite annoying. Especially my mountain boots, waterproof in and outside. F*** is this city huge and holy s*** these f****** are driving like maniacs. Sorry for the swearing
but I really was overwhelmed. Actually
I wanted to stay the first night a bit outside of the city but without
me noticing I was already inside.
- Few things I learned about traffic or just was reminded of:
- They are using the horn more than they swap gears.
- If there are two driving lines the right one is for parking and driving, just dodge!
- If you wanna overtake and both existing lines are occupied the line of the opposite street will be used, even if there is traffic coming.
- Always calculate that cars are coming on your line towards you.
(You may have heard of the Race where you ride full speed against each other
and the one who is a coward dogdes first?) - If a car really does not get out of the way be prepared to fly of the road.
- Be aware of uneven streets, you may find holes as big as your bike.
- One short horn: means Hi!
- One longer horn: I’m coming! or get out of my way!
- Constantly horning: Fu***** greenhorn are you sleeping or what!
After two days spending the night in a hotel/hostel I found a couch
in Istanbul. Or lets better say I would have. I got the appointment time and place. As usual I’m trying to go there 2 hours before just in case
to find the place. Thats what I did this time as well. The appointment was at the docks next to the Atatürk statue. (For anyone who doesn’t know — he was the guy who brought many reforms to Turkey) I found the dock with the name of the description
and after half an hour I found
a statue of Atatürk but 1 km away. I wrote a SMS that I would wait there.
The time we fixed passed and nobody was there and I started to worry that somethings wrong. I knew by then that it was the wrong monument. After 5 SMS and walking back and forth between the statue and
the dock a turkish guy without any english knowledge gave me the info-
rmation that the name of the dock was actually another part of
Istanbul and the fairy was going there. And there was an Atatürk Statue as well. I guess some of you know how
I really hate to be late on an appointment. I set the appointment an hour later and got to my bike and tried to go there. I REALLY TRIED. I drove to the direction of a big bridge which goes over the Bosphorus and I had to pass. After riding like a maniac, so no different than anybody else, I got to the bridge and
was under it but for driving over it you had to drive back into the city. Thats what I did and I saw direction plates on which was written the place
I had to go, I followed them and I got back to the place I was — far from the place where I should have been. It was about 11 at night. By then I was kinda down with my nerves and I decided to drop the appointment. And furthermore I would not take the bike anymore for traveling in this city itself and best would be not to go into big cities with it anyway anymore. I parked the bike in an “otopark” where they have an eye on and paid
for it for a few days. In my fucked up mood I walked all the way back to a cheap, ugly, noisy hotel but anyhow I had a good nap. The morning after I just went to the place with the boat on the dock and found the place straight away — without bike. They charge you the same price for
taking the boat as for metro. Nice and calm way of transportation so why not be intelligent and make use of it!