Author Topic: Travelling from the UK by car...... HELP.....  (Read 7806 times)

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Offline Firo

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Travelling from the UK by car...... HELP.....
« Reply #10 on: June 21, 2011, 14:56:47 PM »
Starman the extra mileage and time for one reason. It's only 25tl to cross the Bosphorus and the fuel costs to drive onto and through Istanbul would be more than that.
« Last Edit: June 21, 2011, 15:01:58 PM by Firo »



Offline starman™

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Travelling from the UK by car...... HELP.....
« Reply #11 on: June 22, 2011, 08:56:03 AM »
Sorry you are wrong. To get to the one car ferry that crosses the Bosphorus you need to drive to Harem near Kadikoy which then the ferry takes you to Sireci. You have the hassle of long queues to get on to the ferry then you have the hassle and slow traffic of driving out of Sirkeci to reach the motorway. Where as if you stay on the TEM (you need to come off it to get to the ferry and then back onto it to get to Bulgaria) you would do the journey I would say 2 hours less and burn less fuel as you would be in 5th gear on the TEM where as not for the ferry. Also the ferry rates are not 25 lira but 6 lira for the car. The FSM bridge going from Asia to Europe is FREE.
Trust me, after living here and driving here for the last 15 years, I think I know what I am talking about.
« Last Edit: June 22, 2011, 10:11:36 AM by starmanâ„¢ »

Offline Firo

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Travelling from the UK by car...... HELP.....
« Reply #12 on: June 22, 2011, 10:20:52 AM »
Trust me....lol
As good as you usually are at giving great info, on this subject you are wrong.....
Have you ever driven from Fethiye to the border crossings? My guess will be No.
You may have driven from Istanbul area to the border crossings but the shortest and quickest route to the border crossings from Fethiye go no where near Istanbul.
The route is from Fethiye to Izmir and then to Canakkale, via the coast road, and then get the ferry at Canakkale or Lapseki (30mins further on from Canakkale) which cost 25tl and take 30 mins and we have never queued....
I'm thinking that the ferry you are on about is just outside Istanbul, and it would take another 2 hours to get there from Canakkale, and by that time has passed we have already crossed and arrived at the border crossing, rather than trying to find our route through Istanbul.
Trust me we have actually done this route 6 times along with many many others who live in the Fethiye area...
« Last Edit: June 22, 2011, 10:21:20 AM by Firo »

Offline starman™

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Travelling from the UK by car...... HELP.....
« Reply #13 on: June 22, 2011, 10:41:43 AM »
quote:
Originally posted by Elsa Padfield
 across the ferry to Greece and visit Istanbul.  Then we plan to drive down to Calis.  Hopefully the middle of September.  We'll then return via Istanbul again, but through Bulgaria, Romania etc....

Has anyone done this, how dangerous is it and how easy is it to negotiate your way through Istanbul



Firo,

The OP did state that they would visit Istanbul for which my information is correct and bang on. Your is wrong. There is no place on the Bosphorus outside Istanbul as the Bosphorus is all in Istanbul. It is physically impossible to cross the Bosphorus without going through Istanbul.

I think you maybe referring to the Dardanelles by Canakkale way but thats like the difference between the irish sea and the english channel.

Here is the link giving details to the ONLY car ferry service to cross the Bosphorus.
http://www.ido.com.tr/en/index.cfm?page=SubPage&kapsam=178&textid=3017&ln=EN

Also here is a picture to better show you that there is no way to cross the Bosphorus without going through Istanbul.


I think that brings this debate to an end I believe.

Offline starman™

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« Reply #14 on: June 22, 2011, 10:50:51 AM »
Also I have driven between the border and the South coast and made the painful drive all the way from UK several times (I have lived here for almost 20 years now and not only in Istanbul but Calis aswell as many other places).
Anyway back to topic as the original poster asked about visiting Istanbul and ways to get around the city (not avoid it completely).

Offline Elsa Padfield

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Travelling from the UK by car...... HELP.....
« Reply #15 on: June 22, 2011, 10:51:51 AM »
We do actually want to visit Istanbul, hopefully on this trip using the car and so would after reading all the information and obviously doing more research, go via TEM and not use a ferry if that's possible. However, we've just had an offer (today)on our house, so the road trip may be postponed until next year possibly (if they come up with a better offer that is).

Offline Firo

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Travelling from the UK by car...... HELP.....
« Reply #16 on: June 22, 2011, 12:15:58 PM »
In my original post there is no mention of crossing the Bosporus so why did you mention it in your reply. I wrongly was confused by your reference to it in your reply.  
I apologise about that mistake but rest assured if this member decides or wants alternatives to get to the border the quickest way then my routes are correct.
If they want to go via Istanbul then your route is no doubt the best.

Offline starman™

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« Reply #17 on: June 22, 2011, 12:41:17 PM »
quote:
Originally posted by Firo

Starman the extra mileage and time for one reason. It's only 25tl to cross the Bosphorus and the fuel costs to drive onto and through Istanbul would be more than that.



I think it all started when Daffodil said it was 25 lira to cross the bosphorus and then you said it aswell.
I was just wondering if somebody got ripped off by paying 25 lira when it could be for free. (please note that it does cost 3 lira to cross the bridge from Europe to Asia)

Offline Pompeylil

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Travelling from the UK by car...... HELP.....
« Reply #18 on: June 26, 2011, 22:43:40 PM »
Hi we did this trip last August and planning to do it again this August.  Travelled with 2 girls (10 and 13 years)  went into Turkey via Hungary, Roumania and Bulgaria.  Went home via Greece (car ferry to Italy) and through Austria into Germany and back again via the Channel Tunnel.
The roads through southern Europe are in a somewhat state of disrepair.  The roads through Romania were the worst with the pot holes being the size of dustbin lids!
The drive through Romania was the worst day, due to the roadworks where they are updating the roads.  The road along the gorge along side the Danube was under serious re-construction with stop and go boards.  All the locals were jumping the stop boards and it became a bottle neck!  It took us 8 hours that day to just travel 200 miles.

Going home via Greece we prebooked our car ferry from Igominitsa to Brindisi (even though our friends did say just turn up).  In hindsight we should have just turned up.  The roads through Greece were good almost motorway all the way with some fantastic tunnels.  We got to the ferry port in good time but then had to wait almost 16 hours to board the booked ferry.  If we had just turned up then we could have jumped on the next one!

Italy motorways are very expensive, burned as much diesel as we did toll fees!  

Day 1 - Waterlooville - Ravensburg 688 miles (via euro tunnel)
Day 2 - Ravensburg - into Austria, (90 miles) purchased a 10 day vignette (road tax), crossed into Hungary 290 miles
Stayed overnight southern most town Szeged.
Day 3 - up very early to do Romania in a one hit.  (advised to do this by Bulgarian friends)  Crossed over at Calafat  258 miles from the hotel.  1453 miles from Hampshire so far.

Arrived at Sofia, Bulgaria worn out.  417 miles on the day,
Day 4 - left Sofia and crossed into our beloved Turkey at lunchtime so far 1804 miles from home. 192 on the day.
Crossed at Cannakale 341 miles on the day.  23 lira to cross.
Over night at Ayvalik 2067 miles from Hampshire.  454 miles on the day.
Day 5 arrived at Ciftlik after 46 driving hours total miles from home 2355.
The journey down took 4 and a half days.  We know it can be done in less time but as I say we travelled with our daughters and always made sure that we had good hotels to stay in overnight and 4 good stops on the day to refresh our legs.  We never drove in the dark.
What a feeling it was though when we crossed into Turkey.

Travelling home

Ciftlik to Andro (spilt a cup tea and can't read the town name) was just over the Greek border.  Spent a night in hotel lovely walk along the front.

Arrived Igominitsa at 3pm had to wait till 7am following day for ferry - could have paid more to get on earlier ferry - decided not to and spent the day in the town and then sleeping!
Car ferry to Brindisi (via Corfu) was lovely.  Had pre booked aircraft type seats.   Hardly used them, spent the day on deck watching the sea and the dolphins.
Now I stopped keeping a diary as I took ill and slept for 48 hrs.  The journey home was a total of 5 days including the car ferry and the delay waiting for it.
But we enjoyed it so much we are doing it again this August - even our girls are up for it - so it can't be that bad.
We have a good size car and they were comfortable in the back.
We froze some bottled water and each day as it defrosted we added orange to it for fluids.
Few moments when we fell out with each other - but overall its a good experience.
This time we will avoid Romania, but still do a similar route.
We did 5850 miles in total, this did included driving up into Seki and doing several other long days whilst we had the use of the car.

The boot space is already full - its a good time to bring out heavy objects and items for the Animal Aid and Childrens Charities.
Good Luck - if we are doing it again - it can't be that bad.
I have the names and numbers of all the hotels we stayed at in the diary - I can post them if anyone wants them.
We had a rough idea of where we wanted to get to each night and at 5pm if we had not reached our target made a point of coming off the motorways and finding a bed.


« Last Edit: June 26, 2011, 22:46:31 PM by Pompeylil »

Offline ovacik2

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Travelling from the UK by car...... HELP.....
« Reply #19 on: June 27, 2011, 07:39:55 AM »
Good post and most helpful Pompeylil. Thanks.




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