Day 1,427

Selam Türkiye

So this was it, we had ridden to Asia! Turkey is in Asia right? Well, yes and no. We needed to go a bit further, cross the Sea of Marmara before we were actually in Asia, first we had to finish our ride through Europe. 

We left Bulgaria at the border crossing at Lesovo. It was a much quicker crossing out of Bulgaria than getting in as fortunately there was pretty much no one there, and definitely no coach loads or suspected drug runners. Kathy had warned us to look out for the wall separating the countries, and there it was running east and west as far as the eye could see. By the simple chance of being born in the UK we are blessed when it comes to travelling. 

We opted to take a backroad to start with, hillier than the main road, but it was in great condition and, apart from the occasional tractor, we had it all to ourselves.  

We had decided to stay in a hotel for two nights, Tom was exhausted, our recent break of 2 days/3 nights wasn't a rest for him. As usual, he spent the entire time tied to a desk updating the blog and editing films. Our choice, but hard work all the same. Another hotel stay so soon is over budget but after much debating, we recently signed up to buymeacoffee.com as we have had quite a few people keen to treat us as a thankyou for the blog. In the past few days some wonderful friends have donated (big thanks to @Loandhousecourtcottages, Sandy Mc, Ali, Poppy and William S). Their donations together would treat us to a hotel, so thanks so much to you all. 

By late afternoon we reached Edirne and I was pleased to see that we could actually afford two nights in a nice hotel because it had a kettle in the room, so we could make our own coffee! I told Tom, and explained he wasn't to even think about the blog.

We had a lie-in, wandered around, behaved like normal tourists, ate Baklava, visited 2 mosques, one of which, the Selimiye, dominates the skyline, and is considered a masterpiece of Islamic architecture. Unfortunately it is undergoing renovations, outside is all but complete but inside it's a work in progress and we could only see photographs of what lay behind the cordoned off areas.

Not many cycle tourists apparently come here, so we were interviewed by the local newspaper, though we turned down an interview with a TV station. We can say only one word in Turkish, thank you, so I felt it would be a somewhat pointless exercise. 

Edirne has a fascinating history. Close to both the Greek and Bulgarian borders, the city was first called Orestias, after its founder Orestes, but as he is a mythical figure that's a bit of a puzzle. I won’t even attempt to explain exactly who he was, but a hint, his dad destroyed Troy. Think, Helen, Paris, a face that launched a thousand ships etc., oh and he killed his mum! After him came the Romans, with our very own Hadrian developing the town, and it was renamed in his honour, Hadrianopolis, soon shortened to Adrianople. The city lays claim to the most fought over city in the world, its position between Europe and Asia has put it right in the middle of the action. The Ottomans made it their (second) capital before settling on Istanbul/Constantinople. Finally after the end of the first World War, the Allies were deciding just who would get to own it this time round when along came Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and he not only succeeded in getting rid of the Greeks but also the Ottomans too. Ataturk is honoured to this day, and every May 19th, his achievements are remembered with a public holiday. So, as it was May 19th yesterday we didn't get much sleep as everyone was out celebrating.  

After a super relaxing day we hit the road. We had been warned of the famed Turkish hospitality, and sure enough in the first village we came to we were called over to join a few local guys and drink tea. It turned out to be the first of many. Then we had to leave the small backroads and join the highway. However, the Bank Holiday weekend meant traffic was light and the feared highway was easy going. After a wonderful wild camp, yep, the owner of a nearby cafe brought us a cuppa up to the tent, then back on the road. We popped into a shop, chatted to a customer, she went home and returned with a cuppa, then insisted that we go home with her to meet the family and have a Turkish coffee and a cake. Our early finish was no more but we were loving these interactions. Tomorrow we will get a boat to Asia!