20 August, 2011
merCAN put me on another mini bus headed for Taksim Square with instruction on how to get back to Sultanahmet. It always sounds easy when someone tells you.
Another longer than expected journey but this time I arrived back in Europe via a bridge. It was most spectacular and the ride was just as I had prepared myself for before embarking. I’d never heard a van engine rev so high for so long. I bet the driver was bitterly disappointed by the rev limiter, all the time thinking about how he could disable this safety feature before his next shift.
On arrival at Taksim Square I had a general idea of the direction I needed to head but it was easy. Just follow the many thousands walking along Istiklal Cadessi.
According to Wikipedia the English translation is Independence Avenue and is an elegant pedestrian street approximately 3km long visited by nearly three million people in a single day over the course of weekends.
This I can believe. It was 10pm and absolutely teeming with people. All the way from Taksim Square to the Gatala Tower.
It was an enjoyable walk. May as well continue walking all the way back to the hotel – make P proud, even though my pace was not quite breakneck speed.
I made it back to the hotel around 11:20pm.
What an extraordinary day on my Turkey motorcycle tour. Here’s what a I saw on my walk back to the hotel.
