Date: 24 April 2013
Origin: Ipsala, Greece border with TURKEY
Destination: Iranian Embassy Istanbul and then SAU Uygulama Oteli, Sapanka, TURKEY
Approximate Distance: 160 miles from border to Istanbul and then 86 miles to Sapanca (Total around 250 miles)
Approximate Departure: 7 am
Approximate Arrival: 8 pm
The journey was as follows:
Drive from Ipsala, Turkey to Sapanka, Turkey
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This day started with our all night sleepless ordeal at the Greece-Turkey border. We were welcomed by Turkish biggest charity IHH (Ee Ha Ha). After clearing the border at around 7 am, we headed for Istanbul. Turkish roads at the start were disappointing but then they were extremely good, some even better than European roads. IHH held a small ceremony in Istanbul at around 12 pm and then we left for Iranian Embassy as we had to sort out our Iranian visa.
Istanbul was beautiful but very bad busy traffic. We spent the whole day trying to get Iranian Visa. Due to limited time, we were unable to do any sightseeing in Istanbul but as the Iranian embassy was in the city centre so we did get to see a lot of the city. Some of the group members stayed behind to make sure the visa is sorted for all the drivers and we left for Sapanca. This small journey of around 85 miles took us around 6 hours because of extremely bad traffic in Istanbul.
This day was tiring because of sleepless night but got to see beautiful Istanbul and we stayed at a great place in Sapanca and got a very good night rest.
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| Welcome to Turkey |
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| After spending all night at border and no sleep, this view was great to refresh us all |
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| Awful traffic in Istanbul |
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| Spent a lot of time at the Iranian Consulate, Istanbul |
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| Unfortunately this is the closest we were to the Blue Mosque |
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| Nice room! |
Click here for Day 7
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