Istanbul

Istanbul. What a crazy place. This along with Iran and Turkmenistan was one of the places that I was looking forward to visiting the most. The ride in was 'interesting' with the world famous mayhem in the sweltering heat fully living to expectations. I did decide to try and get a bit clever with the gps though and ended up 30km on the other side of town from my hotel, which meant a 2hr ride around the city trying to stay alive! I made it though and had just about enough energy to have a couple beers and head for bed. A rest day the following day meant a chance to seek out the Turkmen embassy to enquire about a new, quick visa. Took the train out and spent the morning unsuccessfully chasing the visa. Oh well. Used the days off the bike to visit the Blue Mosque, Grand Bazar, The Palace Cistern, bought 'The Bookseller Of Kabul,' met and had lunch with a real casanova kebab shop owner named 'Elton.' Good times in a buzzing place, need to go back...