After reaching the Black Sea city of Varna, Bulgaria, we decided to continue our journey on an overnight bus to Istanbul. We decided to "cheat" because we were facing some indeterminant waiting in Istanbul while we acquired visas for onward travel through Russia and Kazakhstan. Plus, we were worried about reaching Kyrgyzstan with enough time to ride over several 3 - 4,000 meter mountain passes before the snow starts to fall. Thus, we took our first shortcut, and faced a new set of logistical challenges - transporting our bikes and all of our stuff!
Amid the astonished looks of the crew at the bus station, we threw our bikes and 10 bags into the luggage compartment of the bus and were off. Arriving in Istanbul after a long night on a noisy bus, we learned that we were way in the outskirts of the city and the only way to get into the old city was on a multi-lane highway. Looking out on a parking lot full of small taxis we wondered how we would ever get there. But, a friendly problem-solver came to our rescue with a nonchalant shrug of the shoulders, saying "Turkish taxi, no problem". And, indeed, it was no problem! They managed to fit us and all of our stuff into a small 4-door car, about the size of a 1980’s Toyota Corolla.
We stayed in the heart of the old city, a supremely touristy, but also quite magical part of the city. From the hill above us we heard the Azan (Muslim call to prayer) ring out from the Blue Mosque and below us we could look out onto the busy sea as barges and cruise ships sailed back and forth. We spent days walking around the city, exploring its ecclectic mixture of old and new, East and West, whilst nibbling on excellent fish sandwiches, delightful mezzes, and, of course, kebap. We spent a day riding a ferry up the Bosphorous River, stopping at a small port town to climb up to a medieval Genoese fortress and take in the spectacular views out to the Black Sea.
We also had the luck to meet some new friends on Couchsurfing , a worldwide online network of travelers who offer one another a place to stay in the spirit of hospitality and cultural exchange. We met our host, Latif, and another of his guests, Richard from France, and spent a couple of days hanging out with them. We met some of Latif’s friends, listened to great music and danced! At home, Latif was an amazingly generous and kind host and we felt so fortunate to meet him and gain a different perspective on life in Istanbul, outside of the tourist zone.
Amidst all the fun and beauty, we were obliged to spend some time acquiring the visas necessary to travel overland through Russia and Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan as we had planned (see “About the trip”). After doing more research, we realized that this trip would be more challenging, expensive and time consuming than we were up for. The primary roadblock was Russia, where, just to get a 5-day transit visa (permission to spend 5 days traveling through the country on your way to another country), one must have a train ticket, plus a visa and hotel reservation for the destination country – Kazakhstan in our case. We had no idea how to buy a Russian train ticket from Turkey, we couldn’t find a travel agency willing to help us, and we ran out of patience for the bureaucracy. So, unfortunately, we abandoned our plan to travel overland and decided to fly to Uzbekistan instead. We figured we'd save up our appetite for chewing through red tape for the effort to get tourist visas for China and Tibet.
So, on the morning of July 16, we brought our boxed up bikes to the airport, wrapped them in about 12 yards of celophane and stuck them on the plane! We had a nice flight on Uzbekistan airways which, luckily for us, has replaced its fleet of old Russian Iljuschins with new Boeings. Ours was a Boeing 737. By the way, if you’re in the market for an old Russian plane, you can buy one on
Uzbekistan Airlines’
website