After more than 310 days roaming around Asia we have arrived in busy and chaotic Istanbul: the gateway to Europe! It marks the end of our Asian adventures....what a trip! We will give you are Stephie-Rai Asian top 10 very soooooon.
Istanbul also marks the beginning of another exciting challenge: we have ditched the rucksacks and the lovely guitar in favour of two touring bikes...yes the plan is to cycle along sections of the Danube River starting in NE Serbia (Negotin and Djerdap National Park) and then onto the 3Bs: Belgrade, Budapest, Bratislava. We will also chill out in beautiful Vienna and then continue westwards along the Danube towards Passau in Germany. We only have five weeks left so I have a feeling that from Germany the bikes will be put on a train to The Netherlands! And then it really really really will be the end of our 12 month break.
Aaaaand what do we think of Istanbul ? Wonderful: It's like a mix of Porto, Barcelona back in the 80s, maybe bits of Rome, the Bay of San Francisco for all the hills it has, and then add some wonderful mosques with their numerous, tall minarets and some stunning sunsets over the Bosphorus and lots of quirky restaurants and bars....yes we are back to drinking some fine wine and proper coffee! And we have discovered every single bike shop in Istanbul....not that many...This city is definitely not bike friendly!
Soooo tomorrow we leave with two new bikes, a tent, two mattresses, a camera and very little else. The guys at the post office loved the guitar..they played some tunes for us and then it was bye-bye guitar- see you sooon in home sweet home !
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