We leave Edirne at noon to vacate the parking space, after a final visit to the Selimiye Mosque. On the way, the squeak coming from the foot of the gallery seems to accentuate, and we try to ask for information on and locate repair workshops for trucks, without much success.

The arrival in the suburbs of Istanbul and what looks like small seaside resorts happens under the grayness, like at the beginning of the journey. After crossing the land strip between the Sea of Marmara and the Aegean Sea, the traffic becomes denser. That’s it, 5 years after our first stay with just Loïc and I at the Sublime Porte, we are back with 3 more heads in tow, and by road instead of using airborne pathways! We pay even more attention in the middle of traffic jams, making a mistake is out of the question, taking the wrong interchange could cost us a lot in terms of kilometers, diesel and nerves!

We end up finding the campsite on Kennedy Caddesi around 8pm, without too many detours. Welcomed by the night guard, we park on a parking lot occupied by 3 campers: a Turkish one, a Spanish one and…a French camper that seems to carry 4 travelers! A few minutes later, we meet the Chapron family, returning from 8 months of travel in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. We do not take long to improvise a small aperitif at home. The kids are thrilled to play with other little travelers their age. Pleasant moment spent sharing and exchanging, we obviously learn a lot more on the practical side and that makes us dream even more about all that remains to be seen!

The next two days will be largely dedicated to the (re)discovery of Istanbul: Grand Bazaar, Sophia (exterior), the Blue Mosque (exterior and interior). Thrilling moment at the time of the call of the Muezzine at sunset…

Back to the campsite around 7pm to prepare the New Year meal we will share with our companions. We borrow the table and chairs of the campsite and improvise a banquet table without a lot of fuss in the hallway of the building. Not the most beautiful, but at least we have room! Gently dislodged 2 hours later by the keeper, and after a moment of anthology where these gentlemen are being summoned by the Big Boss to access the WiFi (which will only work for 30s), we celebrate the passage in 2019 at home, where we will be joined by Colin and Erik, two freshly arrived students from Bulgaria.

After a last glass of champagne and the last exchanges of good tips, we go our separate way not too late, the beginning of Greek and Italian adventures being planned to start at dawn for the Chapron.

For us, the anchor will be weighed in the middle of the afternoon after a shower in Arty, which suffered a bit from the salty roads between Croatia and Serbia, and a last laundry. Still no access to WiFi, that will be our biggest disappointment for this rather expensive campsite (80 TRL).

Next stop: the Bursa region, on the road to Izmir, after passing on the Asian side via the mythical Bosphorus Bridge.