Into Turkey, via Greece!

Greetings from Vize, Turkey, a small town 150 kilometres from Istanbul. In less than 48 hours, we will be riding into Istanbul, our final destination. It is hard to grasp that in two more riding days our tour is finished. I can't quite wrap my head around the fact that I have cycled across Europe, crazy!

We arrived in Turkey yesterday afternoon, which was definitely an amazing experience in itself. On our way to Turkey from Bulgaria, we decided to take a detour, through Greece! As Greece was never on our itinerary, it was an especially amazing ride. My pod (riding group for the day) and I entered Greece on a high, excited with our day's adventures which included not one, but two border crossings. Highlights while in Greece included, an amazing lunch, getting lost and getting directions from a cafe full of little old Greek men, none of whom spoke English.

After crossing the Greek/Turkish border, we immediately noticed the difference of the sights and sounds of the land. Colourful, a bit hectic and very obviously Muslim, with the sounds of the call to prayer and Mosques in even the smallest villages. Highlights of yesterday's ride in Turkey included riding in traffic in a busy city (practice for Istanbul) and the amazingly friendly people waving at us, feeding us and helping us find somewhere to sleep.

Today's ride, though beautiful, was a hard one. We fought strong headwinds all day and even riding downhill was hard work. It felt as if an invisible hand was pushing against us all day, whew! Here's hoping for a easier day tomorrow.

Two more sleeps till Istanbul!