A day rest from riding the bike is what the team needed and was really appreciated by everybody. The last seven days we have spent long hours on the saddle and both the physical and mental fatigue started to show up.
Today lazy day is what we need to recharge the batteries and get ready to complete our journey.
We got up not too early this morning, we are staying at the Kaylon hotel located right on the Bosphorus channel, the forecast calls for a sunny hot day.
Rustem Raptayev and son Alen joined us and together we went on a rental boat navigating the Bosphorus for two hours.
Istanbul sightseeing from the sea is awesome: the Golden horn with the Blue Mosque, the Haya Sophia and the Topkapy Palace landmarks are clearly visible against the city line together with a multitude of others minarets. It is an incredible, fabulous scenario.
Alan became immediately the bikers "grandson" spoiled to death especially by Lorenzo, the bikers grand dad!!
During the afternoon we visited the Bazar where we bought souvenirs. The place was not so busy and it was by far the coolest place in town, Istanbul temperature was 30 degrees with high humidity. From the bazar we move to the Haja Sophia museum. Originally Haja Sophia was a byzantine Christian cathedral till the 1054 when it was converted into a mosque, it became a museum in 1931. The byzantine mosaics, still in good conditions, got our attention.
Next stop to the Blue mosque and after that we run out of steam and after a deserved bier we found ourselves a restaurant close to the hotel for a good Turkish dinner sitting in a terrace in front of the sea.
Today lazy day is what we need to recharge the batteries and get ready to complete our journey.
We got up not too early this morning, we are staying at the Kaylon hotel located right on the Bosphorus channel, the forecast calls for a sunny hot day.
Rustem Raptayev and son Alen joined us and together we went on a rental boat navigating the Bosphorus for two hours.
Istanbul sightseeing from the sea is awesome: the Golden horn with the Blue Mosque, the Haya Sophia and the Topkapy Palace landmarks are clearly visible against the city line together with a multitude of others minarets. It is an incredible, fabulous scenario.
Alan became immediately the bikers "grandson" spoiled to death especially by Lorenzo, the bikers grand dad!!
During the afternoon we visited the Bazar where we bought souvenirs. The place was not so busy and it was by far the coolest place in town, Istanbul temperature was 30 degrees with high humidity. From the bazar we move to the Haja Sophia museum. Originally Haja Sophia was a byzantine Christian cathedral till the 1054 when it was converted into a mosque, it became a museum in 1931. The byzantine mosaics, still in good conditions, got our attention.
Next stop to the Blue mosque and after that we run out of steam and after a deserved bier we found ourselves a restaurant close to the hotel for a good Turkish dinner sitting in a terrace in front of the sea.
Tomorrow we will say good by to Istanbul, get into Greece and a long bit after reach Skopje in Macedonia.
Another long riding day but hopefully not so hot like today. We expect to ride 850 km.
The finish line is getting closer by the days and the team moral and motivation behind this adventure are higher than ever.
The Golden Horn from the sea
Europe and Asia connected by Bagaziçi Bridge
Rustem couldn't resist to swe in the Bosphorus
Let's have an Ice cream
Luca : Thinking to Giulia
Mosaics in Santa Sofia
A cold Guinness in a terrace in Istanbul
The old Istanbul
The Blue Mosque by night
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