In spite of the fact that there are many Turks living in Amsterdam we know very little about Turkey. We're very excited and hope we it will be better than Bulgaria. At least the road is better then the pot holed tarmac we had to endure at the other side of the border.

In the afternoon we reach Kirklareli. At first sight this town looks like the ones in Romania and Bulgaria. There is a lot of rubbish along the side of the road and the houses look quite worn. Everything changes when we enter the 'sehir merkezi' (town center). The city center is beautiful and there is a thriving street economy going on. Turks are grilling Kebabs and other tasty treats everywhere. For a couple of minutes we're just gazing. It is a totally different world than the ex-communist one we got used to in the last month. We embark on a feeding frenzy that will last all through our time in Turkey.

It is time to try the Turkish words we practiced while in Bulgaria. "Otel nerede?" seems to work and soon we find ourselves in a cheerful hotel room near the city center. The afternoon we spend wandering around town. Immediately we experience the hospitable and outgoing character of the Turks. We are constantly treated to tea and people stop us in the street to ask if they can help us. We have a good feeling about Turkey and happily we fall asleep that evening.

Istanbul is less than 300 kilometers and we should be able to reach it within three days. We are looking forward to reach this gateway to Asia in less then two months cycling. About 80 kilometers before Istanbul we reach what is described in guidebooks as the 'urban sprawl'. The traffic becomes extremely heavy and there is no shoulder to cycle on. We have to walk in the diesel fumes, there is just no place for us on this road. We decide to take a bus from Corlu. It is a rational decision but we still feel quite sad about cheating the last kilometers.

Istanbul is amazing and we immediately fall in love with this majestic city. The Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, the chaos at the Golden Horn, the streetvendors who never seem to sleep and finally our lovely smelly hotel Duru in the Aksaray district of Istanbul. For a few days we do nothing but sleep, eat and enjoy the simple fact of having reached Istanbul. Our only obligation is to get our visa's for Iran and India. It is a big struggle to get up early to reach the consulates before closing time at noon.

It will take eight working days before we can collect the visa's for Iran and India. During those waiting days we we visit the city of Bursa, together with Manon and Harmen, two friends who are spending their holiday in Turkey. Together we have our first Hamam experience. We're very embarrassed of all the dirt the attendants of the Eski Kaplici Hamami are able to rub off of us. Two months of dust and suntan lotion are coming off and it is not a pretty sight.

Back in Istanbul, the evening of september 11th changes everything. Treating ourselves on a another evening of doing nothing but watching television and eating pitless grapes. We look in disbelief at the pictures of the crashing planes into the World Trade Center. The next day it is cloudy and rainy in Istanbul. It fits our somber mood. We feel very strange being a traveler. Shouldn't we be doing 'something' now that the world is in such turmoil?

Like the rest of the world, we spend the next days close to the television, hungry for news. When it becomes clear that America will attack Afghanistan and that Pakistan is very much involved, we realize that this horrible event will have serious implications for our own plans. The fact that Bin Laden is telling Muslims to start killing Americans adds to our apprehension of cycling through Muslim oriented countries. Of course, we are Dutch, but will the difference be noticed?

We have lengthy discussions with Andy, Matt and Adrian, three English cyclists we met in Istanbul. They are heading to Katmandu and also have to pass through Iran and Pakistan. We reach consensus that cycling through Pakistan is out of the question and we are in serious doubt of going into Iran. We're even concerned about our safety as western Europeans in Turkey. It's reassuring that Turkey is a NATO member and that the government is very pro American. More important, however, is the fact that the Turkish people seem to have very little sympathy for the Bin Laden cause and remain without exception very friendly towards us.

We can't really decide what to do but we feel confident that we will be safe in Western Turkey. We take the ferry to Bandirma and decide to head south along the coastline towards the Gallipoli battlefields.