July 29th, 2010
WE’RE HERE!! We arrived in Istanbul yesterday afternoon after a long and hellish day coming from Tekirdag. About 30km after we left Tekirdag, Caroline suggested that instead of waiting for the traffic to die down on the way to Istanbul and having to spend another night sleeping at a gas station, we should just go for it and finish. (Another reason was to get some good videos of the crazy motorway during rush hour). The traffic wasn’t too bad and we had a great hard shoulder for the first 60km but when the road turned into the main motorway (D-100) about 70km from the city, our shoulder disappeared and the traffic began to get worse. In some sections which were under construction the two lane highway turned into a one lane. Without a shoulder, we were often squished up against a guardrail while busses and trucks screamed by within centimeters of our bikes.
The final day… 50km outside of Istanbul and have yet to hit the traffic
We barely had any breaks during the day because our focus on keeping a straight line combined with the adrenalin made us forget about hunger, thirst and everything else. For the entire day we just kept telling ourselves “don’t swerve or you’ll die!”.
30km from the city, things got really intense. Istanbul is the 5th largest city in the world and the traffic caused by 15 million people is terrifying on a bike. For the last few hours we really felt as though we might die. The road leading into Istanbul is by far the most dangerous we have ever biked on and probably ever will. Two lanes turned into 4, the shoulder disappeared for long sections (and when it reappeared, cars used it as a 5th lane), we felt as though we were being shot at with massive, two-ton bullets. The traffic was going at extremely high speeds and at the entrances and exits to the road the traffic seemed to be merging into each other while we were stuck in the middle. We had many close calls with trucks and busses flying by inches away from our bike. Despite this craziness, Turkish drivers are quite curteous and most of the time gave us quite a bit of space.
The Bosphorus straight: The end of Europe and the end of our journey. 70 days, 6,200km
Finally after 25km of this hell we saw the signs for the airport, turned off the motorway and followed a coastal road and bike path. We rounded the golden horn, saw Asia and the Bosphorous sea, saw Aya Sophia and the Blue mosque sillhouetted in the afternoon sun and eventually found an amazing hostel with a rooftop terrace covered in Persian rugs. With a huge feeling of relief that we survived our most dangerous and final day, we met some great Polish (again!) people and went out to celebrate in this amazing city. Istanbul is definitely one of the most magnificent cities we have ever been in and it is mind blowing how huge it is.
We are finished!! Thanks to everyone who read our blog or kept updated… it really helped to know that people were watching and supporting us when we had our toughest days. We met the most amazing people throughout our journey, experienced incredible acts of kindness from strangers and friends and were able to see that cycling is a great way of transportation. woo hoo! finished! We have about a week to enjoy Istanbul and we will definitely be making the most of this crazy city!
Here are a few stats from the trip:
-6217 km cycled
-average km cycled (including rest days): 88 (105km if you only count the days on the bike)
– Most importantly: carbon emissions used to further our progress: 0
Complete!
Seeking the Steeps 