Thursday 
28.8.2025
518km Total: 5986km 
4h 57m Total: 85h 21m
5.19km Total: 236.63km 
A rather unexciting day on the highway.
While I'm sitting at a gas station having a coffee, an old Talbot from the eighties pulls in and surprisingly stops at the natural gas pump.
It was definitely not what I thought it would be refueled with, but it turns out to be a thing here because it's not even the only Talbot, let alone the only veteran vehicle I see "refueled" with gas.
Arriving in Ankara, the city first seem to be leaning in all directions at once.
The hotel itself is located on an incline and also along a four-lane highway, so after first making a completely crazy navigation error, I find myself on a descent from the highway where the hotel is only thirty meters away but from my current position, against the direction of travel.
After checking the GPS and determining that the right way to do it would be a detour of several kilometers, I make the decision to simply do it the wrong way.
I put on my hazard lights and drive against the traffic to the hotel on the shoulder, it honestly doesn't seem like anyone cared much, at least no one made a fuss.
Dafne Hotel turns out to be a real upgrade from the "Royal" in Mersin which wasn't quite as royal as the name suggests.
Not that it was particularly difficult as the room in Mersin smelled like an ashtray and the faucet for the sink wasn't actually fixed to the sink.
The hotel isn't particularly centrally located but it should be possible to find a restaurant somewhere nearby, right? It is Türkiyes capitol after all.
Not exactly it turns out, as to begin with it was basically a matter of life and death trying to cross the motorway.
There was a pedestrian crossing with a button but when it turned red not a single car stopped.
Trying to cross there would no doubt have gotten me killed.
So I had to walk couple of hundred meters in the wrong direction to find a crossing that wouldn't be the end of me.
All in all it was an hour's walk before I found a restaurant and I wasn't picky as it was the very first one I found.
Thanks to helpful staff and Google Translate, I manage to order chicken with fries and it wasn't bad at all.
After booking the next hotel (Berr Hotel) in Istanbul while I'm drinking a beer for dessert, I pick up the phone and realise that as the crow flies I'm 2-300 meters from the hotel but Google's walking route to actually get there on foot meant a three and a half kilometer walk!
This city is not made for pedestrians, that's damn clear.
Despite feeling like the laziest person in the world, I actually took a Taxi back to the hotel, hands down the shortest taxi ride I've ever taken.
Including a tip, it cost about four euros.
While I was sitting on the outdoor terrace sipping my beer, I was actually freezing at the end.
The temperature is down to 22º (72ºF).
A most welcome change but I'm fascinated that I've gradually lowered the average temperature by almost 10º per day in two very reasonable daily mileages.
The KGM system has a webpage where you can check your registration number to see if you have any outstanding payments, which I have checked regularly.
And it is only now, after a week or so on Turkish highways, that I have actually been caught by a camera.
The debt was the equivalent of four euros, so it can't really say they've outdone themselves with fines.
Gas-powered Talbot.
A city gate in Ankara
