I use the weekend curfew to drive out of Istanbul without traffic chaos.
It is not fun. 100 kilometers through dirty industrial and residential areas.
I drive around the Sea of Marmara, along the coast. Sometimes I make a detour over the surrounding hills and always stay on small roads. It rains all the time and the wind is sometimes so violent that I have trouble keeping on the bike. The roads, even the paved ones, are so muddy that I have to wash my bike every day. Nasty November weather.
I meet again Karo us Simon, who have not gone around the Sea of Marmara, but have taken the ferry. We camp one night together.
On Wednesday I cross a pass and change to another weather zone down to the Aegean Sea. The landscape is suddenly Mediterranean. There are olive trees, beach and sea. I choose a route on small roads through the mountains, because the coastal road is heavily traveled. I drive around Izmir and look for a more remote coastal strip.
I have not yet made any progress in further travel planning. First I’m stuck here and will probably have to stay here for some time.
