Life and Times of David: 13th August - Istanbul anyone? (Bulgaria to Turkey)

Felix laughing at us, stuck in the Bulgarian forest

I love waking up on the beach. It is always good. Although a bit disconcerting at times when you awake to see people who have evidently been sun baking for quite some time, only meters from you in your sleeping bag. Also, a swim in the ocean is almost as good as a shower. So, we all had a good swim and a lie in the sun. Very nice and relaxing. After that we also went for a coffee, later start than we wanted, especially considering we wanted to go all the way to Istanbul. We headed down the Bulgarian coast, very scenic. One driver was an Irish guy who confidently informed us it was impossible to hitch to Istanbul in the time we had left. He was starting to look pretty on the money, as he dropped us of at a pre-border check (it’s actually possible to walk to turkey through the forest from this point), the volume of traffic dropped substantially. To the point where we could really count the time between cars passing. After some time, we managed to get an Bulgarian couple to stop and take us. The road wound around and through the forest in a charming manner. However, the forest did have a somewhat brooding air. This was mainly given by the fairly numerous permanent gypsie camps which dotted the roadside, obscured to varying degrees by the trees. They looked at us as we passed, not entirely without interest. I felt a bit like a time traveler, as this scene would scarcely have changed over the centuries, just our car replaced by a horse drawn carriage. Anyways, we were dropped off at a fork in the road, 10km from the Turkish border. We were well and truly in the countryside. The only sounds were the clucking of hens and the occasional bark of a dog. If the traffic earlier was low in frequency, it was practically non-existent here. I think 3 cars passed us in 30 minutes. So, we decided to start walking. It was 4.30 in the afternoon and I wasn’t feeling to confident. We heard a car coming, it turned out to be a brightly painted van. With 2 French drivers. With 2 seats. Heading directly to Istanbul (still a border crossing and 300km away). Sweet! That was such a huge relief to get that lift, because otherwise we were sleeping in the forest and not making Istanbul, that much was for sure. So, after eventually passing through the border crossing, not getting the right stamps, getting the stamps but forgetting to get the stamp for the car, then getting that and finally we were on the road. I was feeling pretty damn good. We got to the outskirts of Istanbul without too many problems and so by now I should have known better. Somehow, we slipped off the highway and actually started heading out of Istanbul. Only Felix noticed (his sense of direction keen as ever) and it actually took a fair bit of convincing to get the frenchies to turn around. By this time we were quite lost. We stopped to ask direction eventually and a Turkish guy said “Follow me and I will show you the way” and so we got led onto the right road. Turkish people are awesome. So, its super late and we finally get to the hostel area. But all are full or want like 15 euros. Eventually, we all decided to sleep in the van. So, the 4 of us headed back to the van. I somehow managed to get to sleep, although Hudini would have envied my contortions and I was also hampered by my own powerful scent, which had been building since I was in Moldova (my last shower)...