Back to Istanbul

Often people think the highlights or adventure are at the amazing sights that you go and see but I have come to realise that for me the best experiences often occur during the travel.

Today we had to drive our rental from Selcuk to Bursa by 12.30pm. So we left early at 6.20am to ensure the 400km trip was possible. Both Sue and I got a bad sleep. Sue because Holly had slept for hours in the afternoon and woke at midnight and I was concerned that I might not wake on time. I had set an online alarm clock but would the computer go into hibernation? I also had Sophia kicking me in the back periodically, must be in training for the English Autumn.

All went well however, and the road was good. No faulty lights and we enjoyed a McD's brunch on the way. 

It can become disconcerting when cars use the double lanes to make corners easier and I avoided buses altogether when corners were approaching. The massive city of Bursa was rather exhilarating. Traffic moves indiscriminately and the rules regarding roundabouts, well there aren't any. Don't hit others and get through as quickly as possible. 

I had had a small incident unmentioned till now when I had been leaving Bursa 4 days ago. We had hired the car 5 minutes earlier and Sue said to me "Look the GPS says it is going to shut down because of the batteries". I glanced down and then back up again to find a car parked in my lane. I slammed on the brakes (which didn't have ABS) and slid just touching the rare right of the car. I parked up and checked the side. A black mark and a very slight dent. The other driver arrived on the scene, said nothing was wrong and hooned off. But the good news to the story was that the rental agent never noticed it. He was still concerned about the disagreement over the empty to empty petrol policy and offered to drop us off at the bus depot. That was all good and my faith in the honesty of Turkish people was restored.

We quickly found a bus mostly full and piled on uncomfortably with all our bags. The driver was leaving as we dragged them on board. One of the passengers obviously noticed our discomfort and grabbed Julia onto her lap.

By the time we got to the ferry we were quite early. We settled into a park and had some food. It was really hot and I almost fell asleep under a tree.

It wasn't long before we were boarding the ferry and rushing towards Istanbul. We arrived there at 5.30pm with the hope of getting a ride from someone from our apartments. There was no one there so after ten minutes we tried to get a taxi. As we were only going a few kms they weren't keen. Luckily one which had just arrived took us and I gave him a sizeable tip as thanks. 

It was 6.30pm by the time we settled back into our apartment. They have moved us into a smaller place but it is cooler. OK the toilet continually runs and never fills and the shower tap is broken and works like a very low bath. They did put the hot water on for us and the TV works.