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29th june - 11th july

Overlanding across Afica in our Land Rover Defender: Turkey

Andy Lees
2006-05-14 17:15:02

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border crossing to istanbul - 29th june

the border crossing wasn't as straightforward as we had hoped. despite the advice from our insurance company and from the turkish tourism board in the uk, it appeared we did require a green card after all. no problem, as this could be bought at the border but could any of the officials tell us where? after wandering round the duty free and shopping precinct a couple of times and getting increasingly frustrated we finally found the office and purhased the required third party insurance. customs were happy with a cursory check of the inside of the land rover and then we were on our way. this all took about an hour when it should really have taken ten minutes - i'm sure this will be nothing compared to africa.

istanbul didn't disappoint and nor did the hotel we treated ourselves to. we were staying in the heart of the historical district of sultanahmet, just behind the blue mosque and aghia sophia. we arrived in time to watch the sunset from the roof-top terrace with panoramic views of the istanbul skyline and the glinting shipping lanes of the bosphorous.

whilst searching desperately for a toilet in the commercial centre of instanbul we came across a land rover parts shop. i'm sure if we had been looking for it we never would have found it. a new shock absorber mounting ring was acquired to be fitted at some later date. the owner of the shop told us that he was travelling to the uk on business and asked us if we were from london or cardiff - the two places that he was visiting. we replied essex and he then said 'loughton?'. it transpired he would be staying with his relations in our home town. i hope he likes it!

into asia - 1st july

after navigating our way through the frantic istanbul traffic, we made it across the bosphorous and entered asia. this felt like a milestone on our journey, we were leaving europe behind; ...