Last riding day of the tour, what can I say? After riding with almost 30 people on a daily basis for the past 50 days, it will be hard to say goodbye. The ride was pretty short, just over 50 kilometers. At that point we boarded a ferry for an hour long ride into Istanbul and to the Hotel where TDA is putting us up for an evening at the Princess Hotel.
The trip itself was a continuation of the highway that we were on yesterday with more ups and downs. A real treat was in the town of Gokturk where we found the first Starbucks since Vienna! Oh a Granda Latte never tasted so good. Strange, we've been in Turkey for 4 days now and have not found the famed Turkish coffee. Every place we stop for coffee serves us instant Nescafe.
After Gokturk, it is ride through a busy town of Kemerburgaz and through a forest road that climbed and climbed until we dropped down to the ferry was to pick us up and take us to the hotel. The entire group got there before the ferry arrived and we had a chance to celebrate the completion of the ride with dunking of tires and pictures, pictures and more pictures.
The ferry arrived and the riders and staff enjoyed a leisurely ride to about a block from the hotel. We've since packed up our bikes and the group will have one final dinner this evening and that will complete the ride.
It's been wonderful, it's been an adventure and it's expanded my horizons. Calling it a trip of a lifetime would not be an overstatement.
I'm likely to have a couple more posts and when I get home, I'll figure out how to post the photos that I've been having issues with posting. So until then, Happy Biking,
Brian
The trip itself was a continuation of the highway that we were on yesterday with more ups and downs. A real treat was in the town of Gokturk where we found the first Starbucks since Vienna! Oh a Granda Latte never tasted so good. Strange, we've been in Turkey for 4 days now and have not found the famed Turkish coffee. Every place we stop for coffee serves us instant Nescafe.
After Gokturk, it is ride through a busy town of Kemerburgaz and through a forest road that climbed and climbed until we dropped down to the ferry was to pick us up and take us to the hotel. The entire group got there before the ferry arrived and we had a chance to celebrate the completion of the ride with dunking of tires and pictures, pictures and more pictures.
The ferry arrived and the riders and staff enjoyed a leisurely ride to about a block from the hotel. We've since packed up our bikes and the group will have one final dinner this evening and that will complete the ride.
It's been wonderful, it's been an adventure and it's expanded my horizons. Calling it a trip of a lifetime would not be an overstatement.
I'm likely to have a couple more posts and when I get home, I'll figure out how to post the photos that I've been having issues with posting. So until then, Happy Biking,
Brian
