We tried to wake up early, well we tried. We both still could not digest the fact that we indeed were going to cut short the Turkey stay and will have to reach Trabzon to catch the ferry in time. Whether the ferry will leave tomorrow was still uncertain, but missing the ferry meant we would had to forget about Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan!

Aarti quickly made a list of absolutely "To-Do" things in Istanbul before we started for Trabzon. It wasn't a big list i.e. To visit a Salon and do breakfast in a local restaurant. While she alone was witness to the services offered by the Salon i can vouch for the breakfast, it indeed was great and we did not miss on the dessert (Baklava) and off-course the Turkish tea ;-)

Restaurant was quite close to the hotel, so we got back in, did checkout, moved the stuff into the car, bid good bye to the hotel staff and in no time we were back on the road.

Istanbul is a crowded place, and that soon hit us as we were trying to enter the Asian side of Turkey. After spending few hours to get out soon we were happily cruising at greater speeds, thanks to the smooth and potholes free roads of Turkey.

I barely saw any cops or speed cameras, even the tolls were unmanned and i could see the amount displayed on the digital screen adding up every time we crossed the booth. Good thing is that we never got those bills ;-)Missing cops/speed cameras, smooth roads, and darkness of the night are good enough ingredients for a passionate rider/driver like yours truly to push that accelerator a little harder (if you know what i mean), and by Shiv's grace we managed to reach Trabzon by 3 AM traveling at the speed of 110 MPH ;-) Aarti had by mistake (yes she makes mistakes) booked the hotel in Trabzon on a wrong date, but the staff at Hotel Novotel was kind enough to accommodate us without a fuss.

#Bridge Connecting Europe & Asia

Day 25: Istanbul to Trabzon (Turkey) Non-Stop to board Ferry to Sochi (Russia)