Turkey, Serbia, Bulgaria, Camping on the Roadside!

Well, as Rob said in an earlier post, the beauty of having few plans is that you can change them! We had initially intended to head back up through Belgrade, Budapest and then into Romania, but with not having any fixed bookings we can look to the weather and make decisions based on that as well. The weather was really starting to look miserable, so we decided to avoid trying to visit big cities in the rain - we had nearly frozen in Prague and being even later in the season it really wasn't very appealing to go back into the cold, especially having experienced the joy of being warm enough to swim on the coast. So Rob and I have decided to save Hungary, Serbia and Romania for when we do the trans-Siberian to from Beijing to Moscow one day.

So we drove for 2 full days in the rain crossing Serbia and Bulgaria - kids coped beautifully and were incredibly well-behaved considering how cooped up we were and that we were only able to stay in service station rest areas on the highway.

Camping on the roadside has become a necessity as end October saw most campsites closed for the winter. I have to say that although the campervan is great and we have appreciated the ability to be able to freecamp, it really is hard when you can't make a pitstop at a campsite every few days. Laundry is becoming even more difficult. I have just had to accept that I will have to handwash everything in small lots and dry them on the demister on the dashboard while we're driving (a big job with 6 people - am encouraging the boys natural tendency to think that clothes don't need changing more than once every few weeks! - Okay, slight exaggeration, but getting tempted!)

Have finally had to book into a hotel in Istanbul to give ourselves a few days of good long hot showers and to catch up on laundry - have clothes drip-drying all over the bathroom, as there are no laundry facilities, except for typical expensive hotel laundry by the piece. Now we don't want to leave! It's so great to just be able to step out of the door to go to the great little doner kebab restaurant a few doors away, and walk down to the Grand Bazaar.

The Blue Mosque is really amazing, but from outside and inside - see the photos.
We love just walking the streets and being part of the hustle and bustle - it is a very friendly and lively place.

Visited the Tokpapi Palace yesterday and found it fascinating to be able to stand in one place and look at two continents - Europe on the left and Asia on the right. Istanbul is unique in being the only city in the world built on two continents.


Liam's birthday is tomorrow, so he is looking forward to the hotel buffet breakfast as his birthday breakfast and expecting lots of presents, so it is a visit to the Grand Bazaar today.