4 days in Istanbul

Hello!

The days in Istanbul were a welcome contrast to the smaller villages and vacation spots of the past week. Surprisingly, we found our hostel in the hustle and bustle of Istanbul's 15 million inhabitants quickly. On the first day, we were able to park directly in front of it conveniently because it was Sunday.

A few hours later, we met Dani and Jakob at the hostel and explored the city together over the next few days. Depending on the neighborhood - often even depending on the side street - we felt like we were in a distant country or in the neighborhood of Berlin! The city is super diverse! There are large market districts where you can wander the many small streets. Here, like in a huge supermarket, there is a "department" for everything you could need. On the other hand, there are quiet neighborhoods with lots of greenery and nice cafes where we could relax afterwards with a game of backgammon. We indulged in many authentic small restaurants and the Turkish cuisine has gained two new fans with us. The 1-liter bottle of Ayran already has its permanent place in our refrigerator!

We simply slept in the parking lot on our last night in Istanbul and got up ambitiously at 4:45 am the next morning and left at 5:00 am to get out of Istanbul before the traffic jam. However, we didn't consider that we had to pay for the big bridge we crossed, namely with an electronic vignette. Unfortunately, we didn't have it yet! We then immediately discovered a station to purchase it - open from 7 am. So we waited and, fittingly with the rush hour traffic, we were able to leave the city. The plan didn't quite work out, but in the end everything went well and we were able to drive on the highway to the Tuz Salt Lake behind Ankara.

It has been a few days since we left Istanbul, so it is shocking for us to hear about the attack this morning!

We are now in Cappadocia and experiencing so much! Everywhere we are warmly welcomed and invited for a cup of tea. The area here is perfect for our life in the VW bus, there are many valleys where we can find really nice places and we can regularly fill up with water at the many water sources.

Goodbye!