3rd week: Istanbul, Stuck in the Sand@midnight, Safranbolu, Chilling @ Turkish Coast of the Black Sea

Our ıttınary

[Susanne] Slowly slowly we are getting into the travelers modus. It is a kind of metamorphosis, from “I need a shower every day and a new shirt” to “Wow, 3 liters of semi-warm water are enough to make me feel clean!” J

I am writing this right after sunset while listening to a Turkish traditional band playing for a wedding at Çakrazat the Black Sea.

Since our last post we have been travelling from Bulgaria to Turkey. On the Bulgarian side we passed beautiful bay of Sozopol(staying in yacht harbor; Emma was admired just as the million-dollar-boats ;)) and the Natural Park ‘Strandzha’that used to be the former green line of the Ostblock wıth ıts tragıc past and present (check also our Trip-Story No.2: Crossing the Borders of the former Iron Curtain).

Taking a bath in the river of formerly danagerous border area of the Iron Curtain 

Paul found a place to sit ;)

Kids playing on the rocks of Sozopol - wondeful evening.

Campground where Susanne where staying
for vacation in the Summer of 1989 (!)

Port of Sozopol: Kids exploring the sealife between teh yachts

Port of Sozopol: Emma next to the boats.
She receıved at least as şuch attentıon ;)

Port of Sozopol: Cleaning little Pauli

Port of Sozopol: Johann taking a shower

Port of Sozopol: Susanne reading the
Treasure Island (by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Rising sun over Sozopol

First thing in the morning: Building sand castles on the beach of Sozopol

Old Bulgarian tradition: Public Death Notices
(reminds us of Serbia where we have seen it before)

We went swimming in a mountain river. Paul happy throwing stones in the water, sometimes at us. Before passing the border we decided to take a full load of diesel, since the price seemed good. So Torsten and Johann started to unload all diesel jerry cans from the top box of the truck until they formed a nice line in front of the car. 

Getting some dıesel at the last petrol station in Bulgaria

The people from this gas station in the middle of nowhere (MalkoTarnovo) looked at us very interested. When they understood that we were on our way to Turkey they started to tell us in Bulgarian that passing the border with so much diesel would not be a good idea.  Luckily Torsten’s Russian helped us out and we decided to put the jerry cans back on the car; keeping us busy for a while….

1st sign with direction Istanbul

The Turkish border went pretty smooth. We needed to buy a car insurance since our insurance policy does not cover Turkey. All of us got a stamp in our passports and after a short inside check of the car we were allowed to drive on. Turkey welcomes us with newly built four-lanes-highways, mountains that have to get out of the way for the roads. We stop at a little town after some 50 km to get some money and to buy an internet SIM card so we can feed our blog. After dinner on a beautiful hill Oak-trees we decide to drive on the same evening to get the last 100 km to Istanbul done at night, hoping to avoid heavy traffic. 

Stoping on a hill top with Oak-trees for dinner 

With the help of Goolge-Translate we managed to buy a high-way-Toll for Emma and approached the Metropolis. Around 50 km away from Istanbul we get stuck in the first traffic jam and when we pass the Bosporus Bridge around midnight it is fast bumper to bumper driving. No idea how traffic must be at a regular Monday morning… What an amazing- stunning- fast growing- never-sleeping city! Construction works everywhere, tens of thousands of workers must be busy in this city.

Lot’s of Aaas&Ooos until we arrived at Kadikoy a part of Istanbul on the Asian side to park the truck on a parking close to a metro station. 

Emma on teh car-parking, where we had stayed for the night

From our visit two years ago we remember that ferries go from here directly to the old town, so we can avoid driving in the touristic zones and at the same time enjoy a ferry across the Bosporus. Around 1 a.m. we finally fall asleep. My sleep only lasted until around 3.30 a.m. when the Muezzin of the Mosque next to our car starts to call for prayer at sunrise. I am fully awake but the rest of the bunch is not disturbed at all and in the morning they declare that I must have dreamed the singing… The parking people are a bit excited when they see our car in the morning, but with the help of someone passing by things are solved quickly.  Something we will experience more often after that: No English spoken here. It is really difficult to get into a conversation, even young people either do not speak English or they only know a couple of words. We did not expect that …. We will be more successful with German later on our trip when we pass regions at the Black Sea where a lot of Gastarbeiter came from.

We take the Metro to Kadikoy with impressingly (for someone living in Brussels) clean, light and huge stations. The ferry takes us across the Bosporus to Sultanahmet. On the ferry we enjoy some breakfast with sweet bread and tea that is being served on the ferry. I am dreaming a bit, what if this would be my way to work every morning, as it is for most of the other people being with us on the ferry.

Breakfast on the ferry-boat over the Bosporus 

[Tosten continuing …] We visited the old Grand Bazar, the fascinating Hagia Sophia and after Lunch the Basilica Cisterns. 

Grand Bazar: Spices everywhere 

Grand Bazar: Antonia rolling wine leaves with rice

Hagia Sopia: View over teh roof-tops

Hagia Sophia: Impossible to describe - simply impressive!

Hagia Sophia: Paul loves the floor

Hagia Sophia: Paul fascinated by the cat 

Basilica Water Cisterns

I tell the story of the Osman Conquest of Istanbul in 1453, which Johann and Antonia listen with great interest. Even with the heat we all enjoyed this sneak view of the historical center of Istanbul before crossing the Bosporus back to the Asian side of Istanbul, where we catch some food for dinner enjoying the scene. 

Listening to the Muezzin infront of Hagia Sophia
Paul amazed that somebody can be louder than him ;)

Lecker Turkish food next door to Hagia Sophia.

Usy taken after an interesting chat/discussion
with two volunteer toursit guides

The shoe maker didn't let Susie pass.
He was right, the shoes definately needed some maintenance 

The ice-cream-man is making fun with Antonia. 

Turkish sweets: they look so great, but taste ... different

We decide to drive some hours to a village Karasu at the Back Sea, so we avoid traffic jams in the morning. Unfortunately the campsite did not exist anymore (or never existed), so we had to find a spot to stay for the night outside of the town.

I ended up in lose sand and Emma was stuck in the darkness. As if this would not be enough I realized that the differential locks could not be activated so one wheel kept spinning, when trying move back on solid ground. We decided it would be better to get out of this, so I started at midnight to unmount the sand ladders and digged them with the spade underneath the rear wheels. Susanne checked surveyed from a safe distance with some lights whether the tire found some grip, while Johann made sure that sleeping Antonia and Paul would be save inside during my attempts. I succeeded with the first try and the endorphins output at the three of us shouted through the night. We put all the tools back to their place and fell asleep, while Emma gave us a save shelter from a heavy sea storm. What a day – what an experience - what an ambience.

Right: sand ladder,w hci we had already digged out
Left: sand ladder which was pushed 2 m in the ground by spinning rear wheels

Next morning we realized that we did not pick the cleanest place, so we did not plan to stay too long. Since the Sea was still pretty rough and the waves pulled with enormous forces back from the steep shore into the water, I decided it would be too dangerous to play in the water. Johann and Antonia found a safe sand plateau to build some sand castles and enjoyed the sphere of the wild waters.

Wild sea with steep beaches.

Save place to build in the sand

Find the differences: Schäfchen, Hammel & Lämmlein busy 

Our next station was Akçakoca, a beautiful authentic village a little further to the East at the shores of the Black Sea. 

Akcakoca: Pauli loves strowing stones
(or watching Johann throwing them)

Akcakoca: Johann enjoying time for himself

Akcakoca: Beautiful resaturant (HAMSI), great view, delicious sea food

Akcakoca: Watching te boat-builders

Akcakoca: Chilling with a nice cup of Turkish Coffee

On the way there we cross the country of Nutella with its endless hazelnut woods, asking us the question, asking us the question which one was first: Nutella or the 10.000 tons – yearly hazelnut production. 

Nutella-Country: 75% of the world-wide hazelnut prodution
comes from the Turkish coast of the Black Sea

We enjoyed a slow day watching the boat builder and enjoying delicious sea food in one of the nice local restaurants with a beautiful view over the bay. We would have stayed there a lot longer, but there was no sand beach around so we decided in the evening hours to go on to Safranbolu, an impressive old town on teh silk road which preserves buildings from the past. The way there was indescribable beautiful. The sunset has fantastically illuminated the wild nature and the contours of the overlapping mountains created an unreal scene. An unforgettable experience.

On the campground, whıch was attached to hotel we found a nıce sıte. We even could use the shower and washıng servıce so the closet got a refıl.Next day we took a walk through the historic city visiting some of the old buildings and enjoying excellent food in the old center. 

old wooden buildings in downtown Sofranbolu

Landmarks dating from the time of the silk road: Old caravansarai in Safranbolu

Enjoying Turkish coffee under the wine rapes in downtown Sofranbolu

Museum in Sofranbolu showing the Turkish life & culture from the past

Bildunterschrift hinzufügen

Everything seems to be historical in Safranbolu, even the water tap.

downtown Safranbolu

Putting back the shoes on after visiting teh old mosque of Safranbolu

marvellous view over Sofranbolu

However the heat became unbearable so we decided to go back to the Sea. 

Some cooling before leaving Sofranbolu

The way there was a heavy challenge for Emma. We had to cross some 1000 m mountain passes on roads which were literally melting in the heat. Many cars did not make this challenge, but although boılıng up to over 100 degrees good old Emma managed it alright. Well done!

impressive engineering achievments vs. insensitive destruction of nature :(

"No worries. Despite the road constrcution,
your house will not be destroyed"

We arrived at Çakraz (close to Amasra), a small village in a bay at the Black Sea, where we wanted to stay for some days to digest the impressions and experience from the past days/weeks. Unfortunately (as we later should find out: fortunately since the campground was also partyground) a low cable at the entrance of the campground did not allow us to enter, so we were looking around for some alternatives and eventually found a nice place on a hill next to a restaurant. Doubtlessly the village has seen better days in the past and the shıny pictures drawn by our lonely planet did not match reality. Nevertheless for us it was the ideal place to slow down, sleep, hıke, dıscover, swim, sand-play and enjoy Turkish Black Sea far off from the beaten tracks (I stopped counting of how often we were asked how we found this place, while being told that we were certainly the only foreign tourists in town). 

Enjoying the beach in Çakraz

....

Hiking around the bay of Çakraz

We climbed the top.

In the evening hours a wedding took place, covering the bay with never ending music (some songs lasted almost an hour), emphasising the marvellous scene created by the dark red sun drowning slowly at the horizon.

Wedding in Çakraz

View over the bay of Çakraz during sunset