October 2, 2015
Ipsala to Kesan, and bus to Gelibolu
I was up early and ate a cold breakfast in my room. I went down to the lobby, loaded my bike, connected to Wi-Fi to double check information for today's ride, and took off.
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It was windy again, and the pavement, especially for the first part of the ride, was really bad. The places where the road had been patched were terrible!
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I passed the hotel that I had been told was just a taverna with rooms. It looked to me like a real hotel, and certainly identified itself as a hotel. But it was isolated, with nothing nearby, and didn't look active. It came after a couple of climbs, and I was glad I hadn't tried to reach it yesterday.
I stopped at a gas station and restaurant. There was a flashing sign advertising breakfast, coffee, tea, Nescafe in English and in Turkish. I pulled up in front of the restaurant, with 2 guys from the gas station watching. I waved at them, and they waved back. It wasn't until after I tried the door and found it locked that they indicated to me that it was closed. You would think someone would turn off the flashing sign. I had wanted some hot coffee. In addition to missing it with my in room breakfast, I was cold! This was the first day this trip when my feet were cold riding. Of course, I hadn't prepared for temperatures in the low 50's, and had on some light cotton socks.
There really wasn't anything scenic or interesting during the ride. I was aiming for Kesan, where I would make a turn south to Gelibolu, and then eventually to Bandirma to catch the ferry to Istanbul.
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After I made the turn, I stopped at a BP gas station and asked where to find the bus station, thinking that I wasn't enjoying the ride. The gas station attendant didn't speak much English, but tried very hard to help me out. There were several bus stations in Kesan, as I had found out on line, but it turned out the one to go to Gelibolu was just 100 meters further on! The attendant drew me a map, and showed me that I should take the small road, not the main road I had been riding.
I went on to the bus station. As I arrived, someone asked me where I was going, and I told them Gelibolu. I have never been hustled any where so fast, and I really wasn't sure what was going on. Initially I was concerned that I was being taken advantage of somehow. Before I knew it, and before I had a price, my bike was in the luggage compartment of the bus, and I was being told to "get on, get on". When I got on, I saw that the bus was already quite full. It got rolling as soon as I sat down. So I guess I arrived at about the same time the bus was scheduled to leave.
The bus ride was comfortable. There was tea service with a snack, Wi-Fi, and a video screen on the seat back that I didn't check out. The ride to Gelibolu was less than an hour, and the price was only 15 TL. There was a really big hill in a remote wooded area that I was happy to have missed on my bike.
Gelibolu, aka Gallipoli, is centered around the port. I took a hotel room near the port, got cleaned up, and then wandered around for a bit. I had dinner at a fish restaurant right next to the port. I had a grilled sea bream, I think, and it was fresh and tasty. But I think I need to improve my skills at eating a whole fish. I'm used to having it filleted, and make quite a mess with the whole fish.
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There is a lot of interesting historical stuff not too far away, ancient Troy, and a memorial to the WW1 casualties, and some other things. I'll save them for another trip.
Tomorrow I'll take the ferry across the Dardenelles to Lapseki. Odds are that I'll catch another bus there, headed to Bandirma. If I do that, then I've about finished riding for this trip. Amazing.
Today's ride: 26 km (16 miles)
Total: 3,251 km (2,019 miles)
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