Saturday 30th January - Ankara to Istanbul

We drove 490km today and all but the last few on motorway, although we were a bit shocked at our toll bill, 13.5 Turkish Lira. OK, that’s about £5.50, but only having paid 3.5TL and 2TL the previous days we were a bit surprised; maybe we got classed as a truck today and a car yesterday?  We have 11TL left in the kitty to make it through Turkey without having to get out any cash; so far hotels and fuel have been paid by Mr. Visa (I calculated we were going to run out of fuel before Istanbul so begrudgingly had to put some diesel in at £1.18/litre, although I did get a free cup of tea and the Land Rover got a jet wash).

Anne spent most of the day complaining about Turkish drivers’ inability to pick a lane and stick to it; we’re not sure if it’s because they don’t like to be overtaken, or are just hedging their bets.  Also, if you’re ever driving in Turkey and you want to change lanes or pull out, never indicate as it gives the driver behind enough time to speed up and close the gap.

It took a bit longer than we hoped to make it to our hotel - the Hanedan (where we stayed the last time we were in Istanbul); we seem to have lost our good karma re city driving.  We didn’t do too badly given Istanbul’s horrendous traffic, but it took a couple of side-street explorations until we found the correct road which took us straight to Sultanahmet, after which we were on familiar territory.

We ventured out into the darkness to a nearby supermarket to get some provisions to see us through until we get back to the UK, and then to a restaurant to satisfy Anne’s burger craving (which must mean she’s on the mend).  We also got to see the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya one last time, both of which were looking particularly good in the slight fog/smog haze that descended tonight.

We’re a bit worried about the Greek leg of our journey as the farmers there have been blockading some border crossings and major roads for the last couple of weeks, protesting over subsidies (or lack thereof).  It’s hard to get many details, but it seems to be mainly aimed at truck drivers and the border with Bulgaria, although other border crossings have been affected and the motorway around Thessaloniki has been blocked, as has the port of Igoumenitsa in the past week.  There was meant to have been a meeting today between the government and strike leaders, and some reports say that many of the blockades have been lifted, at least temporarily.  It was lucky that Anne caught a short report on BBC World News otherwise we wouldn’t have known, and now we’ve factored in an extra half day for Greece, hoping it will be enough time in case we run into any tractors (not literally).