Turkey- not as far as you might think

[PaulinBont]

It's that time of year when I imagine that we're all looking at maps, atlases etc and dreaming of where to go once it warms up a bit.

How about Turkey?

It's not as far as somebody might initially think ; I woke up on the Turkish Greek border and had breakfast before setting off for the Greek port of Igounamesta to get the overnight ferry to Northern Italy and the following day, I'm in the south-east of France with a day's ride back to Calais for the tunnel.

Gallipoli during a fortnight's annual leave is very 'doable if you like your military histoy; for the culture-vultures, Istanbul is only a couple of hours riding away.

e-Visa obtained in a couple of minutes, incredibly friendly people, fantastic food and nice weather.....what's not to like

[captinktm]

It's that time of year when I imagine that we're all looking at maps, atlases etc and dreaming of where to go once it warms up a bit.

How about Turkey?

It's not as far as somebody might initially think ; I woke up on the Turkish Greek border and had breakfast before setting off for the Greek port of Igounamesta to get the overnight ferry to Northern Italy and the following day, I'm in the south-east of France with a day's ride back to Calais for the tunnel.

Gallipoli during a fortnight's annual leave is very 'doable if you like your military histoy; for the culture-vultures, Istanbul is only a couple of hours riding away.

e-Visa obtained in a couple of minutes, incredibly friendly people, fantastic food and nice weather.....what's not to like

Yes your spot boss, it's a great place and the off road and mountains are magnificent. I have ridden there both ways via Greece and via Serbia/Bulgaria if you like ferries then take the |Greece route, if you like ragging motorways then go via Serbia. Winter in Turkey can be nice weather obviously the farther south you go the better but we did get a few wet years. Istanbul can and does have some of the worst weather I have ever seen in the winter, it's also packed, think of London then double the traffic.
Oh and if you want a stop over in Bulgaria then give me a shout. All are welcome.

[PaulinBont]

Last trip, we crossed over into Svilingrad and wild camped in a field before going into Jambol for brekkie

[Richard Simpson Mark II]

Worth going to Gallipoli just to read the inscription written by Ataturk (commanded the Turkish forces, and later became the rule who modernised the country) on the memorial which was put up by the Turks to commemorate the defeated invading forces.


https://journals.worldnomads.com/stowaw ... oes-that-s

We could do with a modern Ataturk or two...can anyone recommend a decent biography of him?

[captinktm]

Worth going to Gallipoli just to read the inscription written by Ataturk (commanded the Turkish forces, and later became the rule who modernised the country) on the memorial which was put up by the Turks to commemorate the defeated invading forces.


https://journals.worldnomads.com/stowaw ... oes-that-s

We could do with a modern Ataturk or two...can anyone recommend a decent biography of him?

Yes Gallipoli is a very interesting place to visit and then of course you can cross the Marmara Sea via the Canakalle ferry which is a great way to start Turkey proper. As for Ataturk, he is still worshiped as a god. There are pictures of him in ever and I mean ever business establishment. It funny how we in the west champion democracy and then look to guys like Ataturk wishing we could find someone like him. He of course had the backing of the military and was able to modernize Turkey without opposition from Islamic leaders. There are plenty of British Army Generals that could and would do a good job..........but would we let them?
The other thing that always strike me when I travel along the Gallipoli peninsular and being ex Army, why oh why did the allies attack there, it was suicide.
Did you know it's actually against the law in Turkey to talk down the country or Ataturk.

[PaulinBont]

Tactical necessity to knock Turkey out of the war. Royal Navy's attempt to force the straits was an utter disaster leaving no other option

[PaulinBont]

Worth going to Gallipoli just to read the inscription written by Ataturk (commanded the Turkish forces, and later became the rule who modernised the country) on the memorial which was put up by the Turks to commemorate the defeated invading forces.


https://journals.worldnomads.com/stowaw ... oes-that-s

We could do with a modern Ataturk or two...can anyone recommend a decent biography of him?

I too had a lump in my throat reading the inscription; very magnanimous indeed. It's a shame that the current leadership is taking the country away from a secular path towards a more Islamic direction- something Kemal Ataturk was against

[zimtim]

Worth going to Gallipoli just to read the inscription written by Ataturk (commanded the Turkish forces, and later became the rule who modernised the country) on the memorial which was put up by the Turks to commemorate the defeated invading forces.


https://journals.worldnomads.com/stowaw ... oes-that-s

We could do with a modern Ataturk or two...can anyone recommend a decent biography of him?

Thanks You reminded me of a trip I took in 1988 nearly 8 months touring Europe and ended up spending the last two months actually in Turkey splitting my time between the Black sea and the sea of Marmaris before we over landed our way back to the UK at the end of the tourist season, we earned a bit of money helping one of the yacht charter companies getting all their boats out of the water defouling and cleaning everything, for the yacht to spend winter out on dry dock.
When I got back to UK I had nearly twenty rolls of film (Pre digital Kiddies) to be processed when i got them done each one was nearly totally useless only 1-2 photos on each roll, so have only ended up with around 15 decent photos of the whole trip. Could never work out what went wrong as my camera was nicked in the grand bazaar in Istanbul.

[nethen1]

Total commercial post but I can ship your bikes to and from Bulgaria, saving you loads of bike time and probably some money too?
www.bulgariabikeshipping.com