Off to the Dardanelles

We had a barbecue last night and feasted on chicken and kofte and the mosquitoes feasted on us. The local cats sadly only got the bones. They are very skinny and hungry looking. This little one in the picture would have robbed the meat off the grill had we not defended it. The mozzies meanwhile ate my lower limbs and I didn't really notice it till this evening when I removed my boots to investigate a tingling sensation….the little ba%^&%ds have eaten me to the bone.



I said good-bye to Peter & Filiz this morning all clean and laundered (except for my jacket….Fliz says it still pongs) and hit the road north, hoping for Bulgaria but not really expecting to get there. The bit just north of Izmir was miserable, wall to wall trucks, buses, HGVs and roadworks. I decided to get off the main route and go through the mountains on the smaller roads. This was much slower but far more enjoyable.


I passed Bergama which is the site of the ancient Greek city Pergamon. The city sits on a promontory overlooking the modern city and I rode up to the top and parked up. I decided then that walking round in 35C for a couple of hours was not for me so I bailed….I am a heathen I realise but I couldn't deal with the thought of marching round the rubble in that heat. One of the stall holders approached me and we got chatting bikes. Turns out he is starting his final year at University studying english. His mate decided het wanted to anoint my bike with a turkish flag sticker so I let him in th interests of international relations.

I kept going on the small roads and passed this field with one lone man (supervising) and a gang of women doing the actual work. I held up the camera and asked if I could take a picture. They gave the thumbs up and than started calling me over to them. For some reason, I didn't have my 'say yes' hat on and looking back I am sorry I didn't. I just took the pictures and kept going. Plonker.

The going was quite slow over some quite small roads. Occasionally, the carriageway was 'improved' by a liberal soak in tar and chippings (a recipe we know and love in Ireland as well) which had liquified in the heat and made for some interesting cornering. The scenery was nice but not spectacular all the way to Canakkale on the Dardanelles strait and I decided to call it a day at 730pm.





Canakkale is where the shortest ferries to europe cross….just 800m away and is close(ish) to the site of Troy, of the wooden horse fame. They have a replica of the horse made for the film on the seafront. As this is an unplanned stop, I am running low on Turkish Lire and dont want to give the banks the pleasure of ripping me off for taking my money out abroad,  I dined on a Doner kebab for 2TL and it was good!….that's about a Euro….I will miss the excellent cheap food when I leave tomorrow.






The Route
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