Ferry to Lapseki, bus to Bandirma: I'm in Asia!

October 4, 2015

I had a really quick breakfast at the hotel before leaving to catch the 8:00 ferry. There are ferries every hour on the hour, and I knew there was a 10:30 bus from Lapseki to Bandirma. The ferry ride is only half an hour, but I wanted some extra time to make sure I found the bus and to make sure the bike would go on okay.

Foot passengers (and bicycle) waiting to board.

I got onto the ferry with no issues. I paid the passenger fare of 3 TL, with no charge for the bike. The trip was mostly unremarkable.

Before we even left the dock, some guy tried to sell me something, perfume I think. I made it clear I was not interested, and then he became chatty. He spoke decent English, so it was okay. He asked me where my husband was. I told him he was at home working, so I could take this trip. He asked me if I go to church often, and then said he goes to the mosque 5 times a day. He believes in Jesus as well as Mohammed, because they are "like this", and showed his forefingers hooked together, like brothers. He kept calling me a rich woman, which I suppose by his standard I am. I wished him a good trip and said good bye.

First view of Lapseki. I didn't see much more than this, as I hopped on a bus quickly.

We arrived in Lapseki and I took a moment to orient myself. The bus terminal is right next to the ferry terminal, as it was in Gelibolu. As I got close to the bus terminal, someone asked me where I was going. There was a minibus going to Bandirma, but I would have had to split my bike. I didn't especially want to, and I thought I would keep them waiting while I dug out the S&S wrench and took things apart, and I knew there would be a full sized bus at 10:30. But it was only 8:30. It turned out there was another big bus at 8:40. I was told it would be 25TL, and that the bike was no problem.

When the bus came, the driver made a fuss about the bike. I took off the front wheel, and he put the bike in the baggage compartment and twisted up the front fender pretty badly. I went and untwisted it, which he didn't like. He indicated that there was a 4 TL charge for the bike. That's one of the unofficial charges, as bikes (like other luggage) are supposed to be free. I got on the bus and took my assigned seat. We got rolling, and the conductor came by and told me 40TL. I showed him the paper from the office with my seat number and 25 TL written on it. He muttered something, went and talked with the driver, and came back and asked for 40 TL. I gave him 30, and that was that. I was angry enough that I would have given him only the 25 TL official fare if I had exact change.

The ride to Bandirma had lots of hills, and lots of road construction. It didn't have much in the way of places to stop and get a cold drink or rest on the bike. I'm glad I didn't ride it. It would have been 2 long days.

When we arrived in Bandirma, it took me a little while to get the front wheel of the bike back on and to get the fender adjusted so that it didn't rub the tire. The fender stays had been pretty severely bent when it was loaded in the bus. But I got things back together, figured out where I was, and left the bus station.

The Bandirma bus station is a little way out of town. I took a round about route down to the port, leaving the busy main road as soon as I could. I went through the outskirts of town, and saw some interest in neighborhoods.

As I got into town, I passed quite a few cafes. I was tempted to stop, but I noticed that every cafe I saw had only men sitting outside. No women at all. As a tourist I can get away with things that locals cannot, but I didn't think it would be a good idea to stop.

Once I got downtown, it was pretty hectic.

I went to the ferry terminal to check the schedule, and to see if I could buy a ticket for tomorrow. The ticket agent didn't understand, so I just got the schedule. There is a ferry to Istanbul at 7:30 a.m. and at 3:30 pm, and a later one. I wanted to get into Istanbul with plenty of daylight to find my hotel, so I'll be taking the early ferry.

I checked into a hotel near the ferry terminal, got cleaned up, and went exploring.

Lots of people out walking. It was a beautiful day, and Sunday as well, so people were out and about.

Turkish baklava. It wasn't dripping honey to the extent that the baklava I had in Greece was.

Today's ride: 8 km (5 miles)
Total: 3,259 km (2,024 miles)

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