Woo hoo! I am happy to report that I am now in Turkey. I crossed the Ottoman border early in the morning and got my multiple entry visa for a mere 20 bucks (the book said it was supposed to cost 100). I stopped in Edirne (formerly Adrianople), in time for the call to prayer coming over the loudspeakers (some of these guys are pretty talented and some could use some singing lessons). Edirne was only 20 or so kilometers from the Bulgarian border and was a calm and quiet introduction to Turkey that allowed me to get situated. Turkey has two currencies floating around right now because they just erased six zeros off the Turkish Lirasi, but it's not that complicated. Edirne is not just a sleepy border town - it has the Selimiye Camii, the finest mosque of the Ottoman empire's most highly regarded architecht - Mimar Sinan - some might say the finest mosque in all Turkey. It dominates the skyline, especially at night when the minarets are glowing. (1-22-05) *

The interior of the Selimiye Camii is just as astounding as the exterior. After some mosque viewing I got something to eat because the previous day's diet had consisted only of candy bars and the last of my smoked-tofu liverwurst substitute - and it was so delicious - Pide, salad, lentil soup, and some sort of coconut and cheese dessert (it was good, really). Turkey = Yummy. (1-22-05) *

A local market in Edirne, Turkey. I got enough Baklava to make a person sick, but I made it through anyway. (1-22-05)

Turkish Thrace seems more Western to me than the last seven countries that I have ridden through - and there is definitely more Western investment. Also the road quality and signage is way better. This collection of billboards was on the D-100 from Edirne to Çhorlu on a warm sunny day of riding. Riding on the bike through Turkey has been great so far - you get lots of honks and waves from friendly Turkish drivers. In Çhorlu the talkative hotel owner sat down to breakfast with me - we could make ourselves mutually understood in German (he had lived in Switzerland for 15 years). He told me about a 50 year old German priest who had passed through months ago on a bike who had come from Germany - the town is right on the overland route, so I am sure it sees its share of cyclists. (1-23-05)

I first caught sight of the Sea of Marmara on the D-100 just outside of Istanbul, which you can see here. (1-24-05)

I was wired for the ride into Istanbul - a city of 16 million. This megalopolis is on a scale that cannot compare to anything that I have encountered on the trip thus far, so I was expecting some crazyness trying to get into the center. Although I was on the smaller highway - the D-100 - about 30 km outside the city limit it turned into an eight-lane monster of blaring truck horns, swerving taxis and everyone else trying to get into the city. But it all worked out. A lot of drivers slowed down to yell out questions about where I was from - after one driver found out I was American he steered along side me for several minutes with the window down telling me about when he had lived in Philly. Istanbul is amazing - I think I may stay here a bit longer than I thought. (1-24-05) *

Istanbul is a gorgeous city with views a plenty - this shot is from the Süleymaniye Camii, the largest mosque in all Istanbul, looking across the Golden Horn to Beyoglu. The skies have been pretty grey here with a fair amount of rain, which gives everything a temperate winter atmosphere. It is sort of like San Francisco in that respect. Dang, why didn't anyone tell me Istanbul would be this great? Don't worry, I forgive you all. (1-25-05)

When I first arrived at the Mavi Guesthouse, the owner told me that there was another American cyclist staying there. When we met later that evening (oh yeah, he totally looks like Vincent Gallo - thanks for sending the article, BTW, Sarah) it was funny because not only was he another American cyclist, but he was from San Francisco, and not only from San Francisco, but from the same neighborhood - the Mission. We had also both started our trips in June. But his trip was way cooler. He has been cycling around for a good deal of the time with a bicycle circus that goes from place to place crashing at friends of friends' places until they have burned their bridges and have to move on - and they occasionally perform for money even though none of them knew how to perform before they joined the wandering bike circus. He learned to juggle ping pong balls out of his mouth for his part of the show - it was pretty impressive. Anyway, he just got an apartment in Istanbul and is going to be sticking around to live here and take some Turkish classes until he starts a graduate physics program at Stanford. (1-25-05) *

The Hagia Sophia (or Aya Sofya, or Sancta Sophia, or the Church of Divine Wisdom) is the flaking paint old fogey of Sultanahmet, the one who could tell a story or two about 15 centuries of New Rome (or Constantinople, or Istanbul). I used to hate the Byzantine Empire, finding it a bit traitorous and, well . . . Byzantine. How stupid is that? Anyway, I am starting to really dig Byzantine art. The reality of the Hagia Sophia, however, did not quite live up to my preconceived notions of its grandeur. It seemed a little junked from its several transformations of character, from its original and intended incarnation as Emporer Justinian's cathedral, to Mehmet the Conqueror's hasty conversion to a mosque, to its present form as a national museum under Attaturk's secularizing policies of the 30's. Lest any of you gentle readers think that I harbor any bias against the Ottoman conquerors, you should know that I had the same reaction when I visited the Mezquita in Cordoba Spain, which was one of the finest mosques in Muslim Spain - until the Catholic Reconquista of the Iberian peninsula. After recapturing Spain, the church authorities turned the Mezquita mosque into a cathedral - thereby turning something uniquely beautiful in the world into something considerably less so. The converted use always seems so snap on and disruptive. But anyway, the Hagia Sophia was under a mess of scaffolding while I was there, which probably contributed to my reaction. (1-25-05)