Day 11 - Visiting Asia and celebrating New Year

Our plan for today was to take a ferry to the other side of Bosphorus where starts Asia. We find out that the ferries are the best way of getting around the city and it cost only 1.3 TY to go to Uskudar. Besides few mosques there were not any historical sights. Agnieszka told me that her guide book says that it was a very strategic part of the city and it was all destroyed during numerous wars. We walk toward the big bridge which connects Europe with Asia. There were many nice residential buildings and beautiful views. We sat at the Bosphorus which connects the Black see and the Marmara and watched the big ships to go from one sea to the other. Since it was the last day of 2006 Diana had a nice idea to write down our experiences and habits we did not want to bring it to the new year and through it to the water. It was a nice ritual.
We walked back to the harbor and looked for something to eat. Finally we found restaurant where we had tomato soup. The next boat was leaving in 30 min so we went to explore the local market. There were many strange looking sweets. After we tasted them we bought some. We took the ferry back but find out that it was going only to the other side and so we have decided to walk back. The streets were again very peaceful and clean. Our place was still few kilometers away so we took the very modern tram back. After a small feast in our mobile home we went out to celebrate the New Year. We walk down the main bridge. The streets were quite empty and there were mostly tourists. At midnight we opened our 1/2 l red wine and had our New Year toast. The city was again very peaceful, there were only a few fireworks at the Taxim. We crossed the bridge and went to see what is happening at Taksim. There were more local people walking down the main street. There were mainly young man. It was a very different experience of the New Year, no drunken people, now noisy and scary fireworks. Just peaceful walk. Since I came to Istanbul I felt that the people here are very friendly and peaceful and the whole city is very clean. Something I would not expect in the sixteen million metropolis. On the way home we stopped at the Jazz club which we discovered the night before. Close to our home met our friend Sunay in front of his restaurant. We went to bed at 3:30 am.

Day 10 - Sadam is dead, Taksim and dervish ceremony

It is another nice sunny day and we decided to explore the other side called Taksim. Diana had her shoes polished and the shoe cleaner told us that Sadam Husain was executed in the morning. I felt that it is not too good and it might create some problems on our Middle East journey. We did not have breakfast so our first stop was at the "Burek Salon" where we had a very good cheese and potato burek. We spoke to a man who told us that he has retired from military. He has visited and liked all of our countries. We crossed the Galata bridge and walk up the small hilly street to the Galata tower. After a bit of sight seeing we went to the Sufi museum and met there with our friend. It was the official place used for the Sufi ceremonies and the atmosphere was much better than at the train station. We were again curious what will happen. This time there were 10 dervishes and one master. Some of them were also older. When they started to spin it created again a very mystical atmosphere.
After the show we went to the Taksim square. The atmosphere was quite different than in Sultanahmet, I finally felt that Im in a bigger city and used my Czech expression " tady to zije ". There were many local people walking down the main street. We stopped at Ara cafe named after a famous Turkish photographer Ara Guler. His office is right next door and there were many of his photographs in the cafe. We also looked at his pictures of Istanbul in the book. The Taksim square was quite alive with live music and video and laser show. But it felt again quite peaceful. We took the ride back with an old tram. On our way back we stopped and made some pictures with fisherman at the bridge. We were quite hungry and stopped again at the "Burek salon". The man was happy to see us again and gave us free burek. Stuffed and happy we went to sleep around midnight.

Day 9 - Cleaning oil and dervish show

It was a very nice sunny day, but I was a bit nervous that I could not filter the oil I got in Sofia. Agnieszka and Diana went for sight seeing and I decided to stay and take care of our fuel. I connected again the hoses and find out that the pump was working OK. I was happy and started to filter the oil. It took me almost 6 hours to clean all 140 l. After I finished this messy job I took shower and went for dinner with Agnieszka and Diana. After the dinner we were going to see the turkish mystic music and dance dervish show. It was at the famous orient express train station. It look very touristic and the plastic chairs inside a large waiting room look a bit cheap for a 30 TY ticket. After a few songs the dervish ceremony started. First they laid down several lam skins and than five mostly young men came in covered in black. Despite their youth their faces revieled something mystical. After some time they took out the black covers and started to spin around. There was something very mystical in the whole ceremony. I took several pictures and recorded the music. After the show we met one of the dancers. He told us the he started when he was about 14th and that the dervish ceremony is part of the Sufi religion and he Invited us for the official ceremony at the Sufi museum next day. On the way back I took few night picture of the mosques.

Day 8 - 1st day in Istanbul - mosque and Hamam

We were woken up around 5 am with a very loud sound - it was the morning call of the Muezin for the 1st prayer. Since we were sleeping next to the mosque the speakers were very loud. After the breakfast we went to explore the Sultanahmet. There was a small bazar right next to our parking lot and the Blue mosque. It was just before the prayer, but we were allowed to come in and it was also possible to take pictures. We took off our shoes and the girls covered their head with scarf, they borrowed at the entrance. It was very peaceful. There were about 50 men preparing for the prayer. Agnieszka and Diana sit also in front but before the prayer they were asked to go to the women section. The prayer was quite short about 15 min. I found the whole atmosphere peaceful and the Turks very friendly. Everybody is asking were we are from and when they find out that Diana is from Bulgaria they say - "komshu" (neighbor) and are even more friendly. Turks and Bulgarians like each other.
After the Blue mosque we went to the main street exchanged some money (100 USD - 140 TL). We were getting hungry and started to look for some small burek restaurant. We took some smaller roads with less tourist. It was also not too crowded. Diana was told her fortune by a pigeon. He told her that she will understand more islam. We found a small local restaurant and had a nice "corba" pice soup and bread and cheese. The local man were very friendly. We went back to the main street and after a short time entered the famous "Great Bazzar". The guidebook says that there are 4000 shops. I was hoping to find a 24V battery charger for my oil pump, but it was mainly goods for tourists - gold, rugs, cloths, lamps, perfumes - nothing too exiting for us so we bough only a natural sugar free apple tea.
The next stop was at the Beyazit mosque. There was a nice light and I took few pictures. It was around 6 and we went to find the famous 16 century Cemberlitas Hamam (turkish bath). I was quite curious to experience the ultimate turkish relaxation place. It cost 24 TL and included bath and massage. The men end girls were separated. I was taken upstairs where I got my private dressing room and towels. After entering the bath I was laid down on a big hot marble stone and they poured hot water over me. There were about 30 men. I was observing what was happening there trying to figure out what will be the next. After some time of heating on the stone, I was puled to the edge and man started to scrub my whole body. After the scrubbing which was very pleasant he put on me soap and started to wash and massage my body. After I was all washed I sat up and he washed and massaged my head and poured water over me. It was very nice. After some time of relaxing I went back to the hot stone. I was laying and imagining that it was the same experience for many men for almost 500 years.
I stayed there for almost 3 hours getting hot and cooling down with hot water. When I finished the girls were already relaxing outside in the main room. After this very refreshing experience we went to our "Ducato" hotel and fall a sleep.

Day 7 - Leaving Sofia to Istanbul

It took a bit longer to to pack all things. We left Sofia around 2 PM. It was only 550 km to Istanbul and the roads were very good - mostly freeways. We arrived to the borders at Kapitan Andreevo around 5 PM. It was almost empty. The only visa we need to get to Turkey was for Agnieszka, it cost 10 Euro. Turkish customs were very friendly and did not check the car. I think it will be a bit funny to explain what do I need for the 140 l of old oil. From the borders there was a 200 km of a very good freeway all the way to Istanbul and it cost only 5.50 Euro. We had a short stop at the parking place before Istanbul. I cleaned the toilet and Agniszka made very good soup. We came to Istanbul around 8 pm. I could not imagine how it will be possible to drive in 16 million city (more people than the whole former Czechoslovakia) so I was a bit afraid of the traffic. I was very happy to find out that my new GPS software (Pocket Finder 6) has a detailed map of the city and that there was less traffic than in Prague and very good roads. We stopped at Taksim (the modern city center) and decided to look for some nice place to stay in Sultanahmet. We found a guarded parking lot right next to the Blue mosque - one of the most famous mosques in Istanbul. I managed to get connected to the electricity and felt it will be a safe place to stay. We took a walk in the neighborhood, stopped at a cafe and met there Sunay. Diana and Agnieszka were reading "Snow", a book by Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel price winner and they were very happy that he is coming from Kars where the story of the book takes pace. I felt Istanbul will be a very interesting place to explore. We went to bed around midnight.

Technorati Tags: ecojourney

Day 6 - Filtering oil

It is nice and relaxing at Dianas' place. It is exactly what we needed a little rest before we hit the road. I tried to filter the used oil I got from Ann. There were twelve 5l plastic jars with oil which I could not fit to my tanks. There has been some improvements on my mobile filter so I was hoping it will be piece of cake to make the filtering. I managed to plug my van to 220 V at a nearby vegetable store. I turned on the heater and connected the pump. Transferring the oil worked ok but when I switched to filtering the pump could not pull in the oil. It was quite cold and I was afraid that the oil would be frozen. I tried to pump my spare biodiesel and it was working OK, but the filtering still did not worked. The guy who made my filter told me that the pump needs 24 volts to have more pressure. I went to look for a 24 V battery charger but could not find any open store. I took out the filter and brought it to my bathroom and took out the 1 micron filter and cleaned the 1st filter. When I connected everything again it was the same and it was not transferring either. I emptied the last barrel with 30 l of filtered oil to the main tank and purred the dirty oil from the plastic bottles to the empty tank and cleaned all the mess. I hope I can @$ volt battery charger and connect it to the pump. We are planning to leave in the morning to Istanbul and stay there for the New Year. Diana is coming with us and she will come back to Sofia from Istanbul.

Day 5 - Relaxing in Sofia

Diana will travel with us to Turkey so we plan to stay in Sofia 2 more days and relax. In the morning we met with our friend Radmila. She was traveling with us on my last Profits of the Alphabet journey. We discussed our new project and what we could do in Bulgaria next year during the Memories festival in Bela Rechka. We took a short walk and visited 2 churches. We spend the rest of the evening relaxing at Dianas' place.

Day 4 - Christmas in Sofia

In the morning I met with my friend Ann and got from her 140 l of used vegetable oil. She gave me the best used oil. She has been collecting used oil in restaurants in Sofia and making a biodiesel. We loaded my wan and I was very happy to have more oil for my next journey to Turkey.
Diana invited us for christmas dinner at her place with her father and sister. It was very nice to spend the christmas with friends. We had 9 dishes (it is Bulgarian tradition to have odd number). The food was all vegetarian and it was very good. It was a very nice and relaxing christmas.

Day 3 - Beograd / Sofia

We got up after 7 to meet Agnieszkas friend Maria and I arranged meeting with Ceca. It was quite cold and snow. There was a lot of traffic and we got to the main train station around 10. Agnieszka went with Maria and went to meet Ceca. It was very nice to see her again. We have travelled together in June through Macedonia. We were making plans for our new project Prophets of the Alphabet and what we could do in Sofia. We left Sofia around 12 and continued our journey to Sofia. We took again the most expensive freeway in Europe - 200 km cost me 45 euro, but it was much faster than taking the small roads. The road to the Bulgarian boarders through the small tunnels was also good and we managed to pass the 10 km truck line before the boarders. Passing the boarder control one week before Bulgaria joins the EU was without any problems, but we still had to pay 5 Euro for car disinfection and 4 Euro for the one week toll road sticker. On the way to sofia I was caught by police. It was the same place as 2 years ago. There was a 50 km sigh than 60 km after some time I felt it is ok and I wend 70 and I was caught. The police man told us that we have to pay 70 leva (35 euro) at the boarder. I told him that we go all the way to Egypt and than I gave him 20 Euro. I also showed him a book from Bela Rechka with our photos and tried to explain that we come here often and that we like it here. Hi was impressed and let us go. We arrived to Sofia around 9 and met with our friend Diana. She invited us o stay at her place.

Day 2 - Budapest / Beograd

We got uppa around 9 and drove to Budapest. My new GPS easily found Katas place. It was very nice to see her and her 2 years old daughter. We saw her 2.5 years ago when we went to our festival in Bela Rechka. It was almost 6 when we left for to Beograd. It is the 3rd time this year this year when Im traveling to Bulgaria. The road to Beograd is quite good. We just had to wait about half and our in the Serbian borders. There were many people traveling home for the holidays. We made it almost to Beograd and spend our 2nd night on the OMW parking lot.

1st day - Leaving to Budapest

After some delays caused by leaking diesel fuel tank and arranging all things for the trip we finally left my parents place.
The tanks are filed with 250 l of used vegetable oil which should get us to Sofia where we will get 150 l from our friends.
On the way to Hungary we stopped in Prague to do a last check of the alarm a I managed to fix my kite thanks Peter. We finally left Prague around 8PM. Our plan was to stop in Budapest and visit Agnieszkas friend Kata. We stopped around 2 AM 20 km outside of Budapest and spend our 1st night at the gas station.

EGYPT 2007

The new Ecojourney on used vegetable oil to Egypt, through Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria, Jordan and back through Libya, Tunis and Italy. This long planned trip through the Middle East and north Africa on vegetable oil is coming to truth. I have visa to Syria, carnet for Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Libya and Tunis. The car has improved filtering system, that can filter used oil directly to the main tank. I can take 250 l of used oil and travel almost 2500 km. This should make it easier to make the whole journey only with vegetable oil. It will be fun to travel on vegetable oil through countries where diesel is cheaper than water.
From Prague to Egypt I will travel with my girlfriend Agnieszka. She will fly back to Poland at the end of January. If I can get the visa to Libya I will travel back through Libya and Tunis. If it is too expensive to pay the guides to cross Libya I will take back the same route through Jordan, Syria and Turkey. Im equipped with a satellite internet and Im planning to publish regular blog from the whole journey. Stay tuned for the stories and experience.