Distance travelled: 436 miles
The Sea of Marmara
We made an early get away determined to make it to Istanbul for the night to afford us a day off driving the next day. With two nights stay now kindly arranged at the British Consulate we were thrilled that our stay would coincide with Winky and Toffer Beattie, he the British Defence Attaché and both dear friends from our days at Shrivenham.
The drive to Istanbul was fantastic, right up until gridlock some few kilometres from the Bosphorus Bridge crossing the Bosphorus Straits. We had made it to the outskirts of Istanbul by 1715 and then hit superlative commuter traffic. Knowing my husband well, and bearing in mind we had been driving solidly for 8 hours (with a half hour picnic lunch break at a service station – where I was convinced I was being lunched by ticks falling from the over head trees!), I determined we would navigate our way through the back streets away from the congestion and rejoin it closer to the bridge.
We made it back to the bridge within about 45 minutes, moving but squeezing and easing our way through back streets with half of Islam, we then joined the rest of them on the European side and took another hour and 45 minutes, several wrong turns and long tunnels (going in the wrong direction) and then got caught up in a VIP move before finally reaching the British Consulate well and truly after dark!
The British Consulate in Istanbul!
Whitesides on the Road 