Travel in Turkey:

Trip to Turkey, summer 2007

 

Day 1

 

Saturday we leave for a month in a motor home, a journey that will take us to Turkey.

our itinerary will be as follows: crossing the Alps via the Col du Mont Cenis, Italy, in Ancona on board the ferry to Igoumenitsa in Greece, crossing the north to the Turkish border, crossing the Dardanelles Strait, towards the border with Syria we stringers to the north of the Iraqi border, where we go up to Lake Van and then back to center, the Capadoce, the salt lake, Ankara, the northern coast and the Black Sea, crossing the border for Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia, re-Croatia, Slovenia, Italy and back home in France.

for today we ferron step lakeside Col du Mont Cenis, bivouac free, but we are not alone.

 

Day 2

 

Leaving Lake around 9 am, we drive slowly towards Rimini by motorway from Turin, Bologna.

After Rimini, we decide to visit the small republic of San Marino.

San Marino, a town very pleasant and old, is also a tax haven where you can buy détaxe.

After visiting the ancient city walls and we spend the night in the parking planned for the campers at the foot of the ramparts of the city.

Day 3

 

After a night (very) warm up the walls, leaving the small republic by the way schoolchildren in the middle of olive trees that cover the hillsides to the sea

Ancona direction, our port of embarkation for Greece. Under sweltering heat that we stage for lunch in Fano, on the shores of the Adriatic.

We introduce ourselves to boarding to 16 hours when we find Sébastien and Nathalie, a family known Nantaise forum motorhome information, accompanied by their children Hugo and Leah.

After a ride on the boat, everything is small world for the aperitif in our motorhome, come join us another couple of 92, also known on the same forum.

The evening will be late and will be very pleasant, Claude and his wife will leave us on arrival at Igoumenitsa to the tour of Greece, but Sébastien and Nathalie also traveling in Turkey, we will find the evening at the campsite in Meteora.

Tomorrow ......................................... Greece !!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!

Day 4

 

Arrival in Igoumenitsa to 8 hours, we take breakfast on the port that has changed since our last visit in 2003, a station to fill up with diesel, cheaper than in Italy (- 30 cents!) And we take the new highway to reach Ioanina stage who will be our lunch.

Greece has changed a lot since our last visit, the highways are almost completely finished, many cities have "large", the host against less friendly, but we find great pleasure with the beautiful landscapes and Ioanina has kept its charm Ottoman old town on the edge of a beautiful lake, and after a little tour and some shopping in the Turkish quarter, by chance we find our friends Nantais who followed our advice the day before and after lunch we set out again towards the Meteors, camping Vrachos in Kastraki.

Our friends left soon after and we spend the last evening together, children have become inseparable!

 

Day 5

 

After an excellent night and breakfast in common, we take the direction of Meteora and its monasteries "perched"

We make the rounds of various monasteries and visit the one-of Agio Stefanos.

This is a convent of women, such as Roussanos.

The rest of the day will be spent on the road, because we want to reach the Turkish border tomorrow morning.

Landscapes Thessaloniki before interest are large compared to the Peloponnese and from pelicans on Lake Volvi, the rest of the road is not be mentioned.

About 18 hours we dénichons a beautiful beach to Lagos, swimming and BBQ on the program!

Day 6

Very quiet night and swimming before breakfast, we take the road on the Turkish border.

Here we find our friends who have spent the night not far from us! The formalities are quite fast and we leave, our paths are separating, taking them to Istanbul and we descended on the Dardanelles.

The roads where we are "special" great lines, but in a state! nest of chickens, or say "ostriches! "Camping-car is shaking, and he say how they drive!

Across the Sea of Marmara, the Dardanelles Strait

We arrive at Gelibolu or we take the ferry across the Dardanelles, Çanakkale then we cross a very lively city center, this is our first real contact with the Turkish cities, what change in our cities!

We continue with a small road in the direction of Troy, or at least what is left! We will not, it does not worth the trouble.

We push to Assos by a very narrow road but very "colorful" in the small villages we figure of "Martians" little truck camper should venture into these lands.

The arrival on Assos is magnificent, a downhill slope of a cliff, very steep! and cobbles (to avoid if it rains)

We see a sign for a campsite and enter the village, but we are blocked by a bend in the narrow streets, we can turn around that with the help of many villagers, we parked for the night 200 meters up on the cliff.

We will visit the village and dînons on the beach in an excellent restaurant.

Our first impression on this country is very positive, people are a rare kindness and appreciate that we are interested in their country.

After our trip confirm that impression and even far beyond what we envisioned.

Day 7

 

Wake up overlooking the sea and the island of Lesbos, already 9 pm and 35 ° in the shade! we depart for Pergamum, ancient city where the book was invented connected.

We go up to visit the Acropolis under a cloudy sky (we enjoy during the visit)

The Old City consists of the Trojan temple of white marble, the impressive 10,000-seat amphitheater, gymnasium and the Roman Baths

The visit over, we resume the road to Foca on the Aegean coast, where we find a semblance of camping in the middle of olive trees, along a beautiful beach, swimming with mask and snorkel to enjoy the fish in the rocks.

bivouac at Foça

A Turkish family invites us to taste the "turquish raki" and we share the meal and evening with them, night long and watered!

Nice evening with a BBQ and Turkish raki!

Day 8

 

Wake up the sun on the beach, goodbye to our friends with an exchange address for sending pictures and take the direction of Ephesus, by the coast, under a sky always blue and warm lead (45 °)

 

Lunch on the beach at Ephesus, but not swimming, a strong wind sand was lifted.

We reach the historical Greco-Roman and we enduisons sunscreen here sunburn is watching us!

Ephesus is a pure wonder, the site is very well preserved, better than what we saw in Greece, the 25,000-seat amphitheater, the largest in the world, the library, the Roman villa with mosaics and painted murals in perfect condition, everything is beautiful, it really is a place not to be missed!

After 4 hours of access, we take the direction of Pamukkale and its white travertine pools.

We climb above the village to find a bivouac for the night, it's party at the village, and we have a fireworks display within a few hundred meters from the camper.

Day 9

 

9 hours, he is already 36 °, we visit Hierapolis and white pools of Pamukkale.

The site is 3 km walk in the middle of 1000 tombs of the Kingdom of Pergamum, the amphitheater and the agora, to join the famous thermal pools.

The arrival on the site itself is amazing, the contrast between the old and cited white cliff is breathtaking.

It is a unique and magnificent spectacle that awaits us, a cliff of pure white, consisting of a multitude of small ponds overflowing into each other.

We travel the feet in water, travertine being a very mild reverberation requires good sunglasses!

The view of this cliff is impressive, the eyes on the distant plain and the high peaks to nearly 3000 meters, it is also a remarkable and unique, which justifies the trip alone.

We regret to leave this beautiful place in the direction of Isparta, the city of roses.

On the road, we make a lunch break in a myriad of snacks along the major routes and taste our delicious "göeslèmes" types of crepes filled with cheese or spinach, a kebap and yogurt, good and cheap !

Passage by a small salt lake, the wild pass at 1600 meters altitude, to reach where we hope Isparta purchase gasoline rose, the city is the first global center of production for the most famous perfumes.
But we have bad luck, everything is closed, we are Mondays!

As-pis, we continue our journey to Egirdir and its lake.

The arrival on Egirdir, the peninsula on the lake, the water color, everything is beautiful!

After visiting the old city we find a location on the lake for the night. bivouac and barbecue by the lake

 

Day 10

Alarm clock with ducks and drivers' dolmus', which breaks.

Water supply to the fountain in the park and wildlife management Antalya by a small mountain road very tortuous, but with sublime landscapes.
the mountain road, passing through the gorge
The coast from Antalya to Alanya has little interest, it is a succession of hotels, beach complex, in short, is a "tourist factory"

We have lunch in a restaurant on the road to the sea, not very good and expensive, we are in the area most frequented by international tourism, this explains it!

We leave the highway for a scenic road overlooking the Mediterranean, beautiful coves nestled in the heart of the banana plantation
We stop to buy at the roadside, Jérémy enjoying these very ripe fruit!

The passage of the pass, the arrival on Anamur somewhat recalls that on the plain of Almeria, is a sea of plastic greenhouses, by the intensive cultivation is also practiced!

We decide to visit the ancient site of Anamurium then we are to spend the night in the parking lot of a hotel-Autokamp for 5 € per night.

Swimming, fishing and the rest of the evening program.

First accident, crashes jérémy a peak in the foot on the beach, fortunately, it is not deep!

 

Day 11

 

Departing Anamur to Adana, the coastal road is superb, views of creeks, and at sea off the island of Cyprus, but it also turns on a 10,000 pavement in poor condition and narrow, the prudence 's requires!

A pause on the bathing beach Kokipos is welcome.

We find pleasure highway after 400 km of corners and we drive well to the junction for Syria where we reach the sea, we find a restaurant in Botas tesisieri who invites us to spend the night on his land we dinner at home with excellent sea bream for a fee.

Day 12

 

The night was hot and humid, the fault in the "marine", and we take towards the east along the border with Syria.

We make a break "çay on the motorway and take the opportunity to wash the motorhome, the father and son 2 we do it very well for less than 10 €, then we continue with a brand new highway to Urfa where we take the direction of the Ataturk Dam on the Euphrates.

We do a lot of diesel and the owner invites us to take tea in his office, the home of the Turks is still surprising! and not that commercial!

After crossing the Euphrates River and Lakes Dam Nemrut Dagi direction that we hope to reach for the sun

Katha after we leave the highway, a billboard proclaims the summit to 15 km.

Yes, mais15 kms a very difficult road, slope between 12% at the beginning and ending at about 20% of hairpin turns, precipices impressive, all this without walls or sliding, the motorhome goes to 2nd , sometimes en1ère

here is still 12%

After ¾ of an hour of this paved road we reach the terminus, the starting point of the trail that ends up climbing the mound.

The memorabilia dealer invites us to spend the night on the small platform gendarmerie post, we gladly accept!

We take the opportunity to buy some souvenirs and take tea, we discuss a time with Belgian tourists who tell us that we are the French first encountered the past 3 weeks.

They are also very surprised that a vehicle like ours can do the climb in this way, and when we say we are going to bed at the top they take us for outright crazy!

Departure for the ascent of Nemrut by a large stone path, altitude arises (2150 m) but once at the summit a spectacular sight: a mound 75 meters high, made of stacked stone, big as a fist , which contains the tombs of King Antiochus 1, like the Egyptian pyramids, to the east a terrace with the remains of a temple and statues of the king surrounded by the gods of the time, but their heads are dropped ground following the earthquake, and were seen to walk stelae.

In this regard the plaza encompasses the plain of the Euphrates and Tigris, an incredible panorama towards Iraq, not so far away as the crow flies, Syria and nearest large lakes due to dam the Euphrates.
Is the temple, the statues with the heads at their feet
the plain with lakes and off Iraq and Syria

the path around the mound to the north and provides access to the western terrace, and there are also the head dropped, but they are in a better condition than the East.

The show is great, 5000 miles from France, but we do not regret it!

How at that time have been erected at this altitude such a monument? mystery, like the pyramids of Egypt, what have you?

Perhaps one day the studies on the sites will provide some answers!

You understand that we have been overwhelmed by this site, certainly a unique moment in a life!

We descend to the camper for lunch and spend the night alone on this mythical site.

 

Day 13

 

The sun rises, our feet to the plains of Mesopotamia, a Turkish family is preparing to climb to the summit and wish us good morning, initiate the conversation in English and it is difficult that we abrégeons this meeting, the discussion can last for hours !
Nemrut farewell!

The descent is carefully, almost 10 kms in 1st, otherwise we would have more quickly and the brakes are deep precipices! we take breakfast at the lake and direction Cappadocia!

 

Many mountain roads are often narrow, with many passes to almost 2000 meters, lunch in a restaurant where the source is directly in front of the terrace, succulent kebabs and salad Turkey, Malatya apricots (the capital of the world of dried apricot!) for less than € 8, extra!

The road continues through high desert plateau interspersed with green valleys.
Through large cultivated cereal steppes which are drawn in very long lines to 4 lines.

Too straight, too easy to drive fast! and poof! radar, 7 km / h too, though I drove a little less than 110, but for the policeman a motorhome is a mini-bus! therefore limited to 80! Despite my protests the Pandora want nothing to do, and j'écope a PV of 166 pounds (80 €) to pay immediately in cash during this time, all passing rolls blithely above the limit!

It is late and time to find a place for the night, we find after Pinarbassi, along a river.

Day 14

 

Survey early night after a very cool and calm, we will resume the direction of Kayseri, we must find a bank to make the change (the PV of the day having seriously undermined our latest books!) We also want to visit the Bazaar.

Hardly have we found a parking space, we badelato by a "nice" that we propose to lead us to a bank to make change, but the banks that do not change, it guides us to the bazaar where are exchange offices.

The rate is good and without commission, our new friend offers to guide us in the old bazaar in explaining the history and preparation of wool, Kayseri is the capital of the carpet.

Carpets, rugs, carpets you said? By chance we find ourselves in front of the shop of his brother, and believe that you sell it? ... ... ... ... ... ... .. Yes, the carpet!!

We are invited to take tea, we admire beautiful rugs, but much to our vendor we buy anything.

It should be noted that while it is said in English, drive, drive!

We do a tour in the modern bazaar and lunch spot on a kebab.

We leave the city for Cappadocia and erroneously on the road to take, we discover a magnificent caravanserai to INCESU.

We are doing around the place and we are invited by the warden to come and do photos, then offers us tea in her house, which is a piece of the caravanserai

We leave for Zelve troglodyte and museum open.
few kilometers later, we visited another site where we walk in the middle of this beautiful mineral at the heart of which men have dug real cities, with their houses in the chimneys and small chapels decorated with original frescoes, but unfortunately vandalized by the hordes of tourists arriving by bus over!

We stop at Goreme, but we do not visit the city, mass tourism have also made the devastation, we continue to fully Uchizar troglodyte city and better preserved than its neighbor.

We resume our journey towards the great salt lake and we install our bivouac in the desert salt.
alone in the world!

Day 15

 

After a very quiet night we take the direction of Ankara along the shores of the salt lake and a small road map semblant cut by the edges of the lake, we decide to follow it.

But after about thirty kilometers we are blocked by a barrier at the entrance of the extraction plant salt.
The guard just to meet us and says something in Turkish, but we do not understand!

We signaled to wait, and after a phone call, inviting us to enter the plant.

Surprised, we believe that we are still invited to take tea!

Indeed, we will take tea in the principal's office, but we are invited to go to the quarry site to visit and ride on the lake!

It's not every day that french camping car are at the entrance!

Another example of the home country.

no, it does not snow! we drive on the salt!

after this trip in the camper van on the salt lake (no, not speed record!) we start on Ankara, the capital city.

We will not stop in this huge and sprawling city, camping-car would not be very easy to move and parked.

We prefer to join the Black Sea coast to the north and to think step Safranbolu, a city best preserved Ottoman Turkey.

We arrive about 18 hours in Safranbolu, the North is undoubtedly greener and softer (30 °)

after a long search by the small paths, we find a location for the night at the foot of a Roman bridge fully restored and it is cooler! tant mieux
quiet bivouac.

 

Day 16

 

Clock under a sun already present but tolerable, we are in the north and the temperature 10 ° lost. Departure of the Roman bridge to Safranbolu by small roads.

The visit of the old city is really to make beautiful Ottoman-style houses, cobbled lanes leading to the mosque and the bazaar, where we make some purchases of "mouth" (bread, but loukoum saffron, cakes ... .) and some gifts and souvenirs, prices here are very mild and no touts to bother us.

After visiting this beautiful city, we veins to the coast of the Black Sea 120 km away.

The road is nearly all bad in work and the average is very low and we reach the port of Zonguldak after the meal.

Ambiance mining, port and industrial, we are Sunday and all shops are open, there is incredible excitement and as we near the elections, all parties campaigning with great speakers and flags. Here more than elsewhere in the country!

It must be said that in Turkey, each poster and loudly proclaims its political, both in his home on his car and is a true frenzy inconceivable in France, home is a celebration!

Now we pass the Black Sea coast with a great cut, where the beach is less taken over by families who come here to swim and spend the Sunday with a barbecue.

We abandon the idea of spending the night on the beach, they are all filled with garbage and especially broken glass.

We find a small corner at the edge of a river where the boats are moored in the shelter.

Next to us a family fishing and just kindly give us fresh hazelnuts, hazelnuts covering this part of the coast, and upon departure we bring all the fish they are fishing! We reject their offer, claiming that we do not know what to cook, but thanks offer coca and candy for children. Clearly, the kindness of these people has no equal

bivouac in the evening on the waterfront

Day 17

 

After a peaceful night and fresh (no mosquitoes!) We take the road to Istanbul, which we avoid for the same reasons as other large cities.

En route, stop to buy vegetables and fruits throughout the field, fresh and cheap, with the approach of the Sea of Marmara the sky becomes cloudy, but it's always so hot!

We cross without incident Istanbul, a photo of the bridge spanning the Bosphorus, the city and its skyscrapers in the distance, a semblance of Manhattan, and we piquons due south to the shores of the Marmara Sea and its seaside resorts for Stanbouliottes.

We have to leave Asia!