After an interesting stay at the 5-star Grand Hotel of Karaman, we were woken at around 4:20am by prayers being broadcast on loudspeakers from the local Mosque. Something we have now learned is normal throughout Turkey. We even at one point found prayers being broadcast on a speaker at a petrol station!
We asked the concierge to take some pictures of us outside the hotel. He then wanted a picture of himself with the car. But he didn’t just want one… We spent about 10 minutes taking pictures from different angles, with different filters.
It’s almost like being a celebrity… but it’s not us who’s famous, It’s the car!
Petrol Panic
While dad was packing the car, I (ran!) over to the nearest petrol station to ask for help on finding the right fuels for the car. We knew we needed 98 octane fuel and ideally, no ethanol. Yet all we seemed to find in Turkey was 95 octane with 5% ethanol.
We knew this could damage the engine.
I was looking for petrol additives to help with this or boost the octane.
One of the challenges in Turkey is that our data roaming doesn’t work as we are used to. So I was trying to use google translate on the hotel Wi-Fi, to save the phrases as pictures to show the people at the petrol station.
Having got to the petrol station and the staff repeatedly asking another colleague to help me who might know more… I eventually concluded; they’ve never heard of petrol additives in Turkey.
They just didn’t understand what I was taking about and told me I needed to buy Shell petrol. I (ran again!) to the Shell petrol station, another few hundred yards down the road. We went through the same communication saga, only to be told they also hadn’t heard of petrol additives, and I should only use Shell V Power fuel. They assured me this was 97 octane, despite being labelled as 95. What else could we do?
Our onward journey consisted of stopping at Shell petrol stations wherever we found one, and hoping they sold V Power fuel. Most did, but not all…
I don’t usually take photos of toilets, but at one such Shell station, I felt it was necessary. This really isn’t a shower!
As we went on towards Ankara, and Istanbul, we still had overheating problems. And at one point, decided we needed to stop and check coolant levels. It gave a good opportunity for a driving break, whilst we waited for the engine to cool enough to check coolant levels.
We discovered, or dad did, that the expansion tank had filled up but as the coolant was cooling there was not sufficient vacuum to draw the coolant back up to the radiator and engine. Later we were advised, back in the UK that the expansion tank had a small leak and that the pressure cap was not the correct one.
The Incredible City of Ankara
We were amazed at a number of things in Turkey: one was the quality of the motorways and the incredibly low toll charges. The country had clearly invested massively in its road network infrastructure. This became particularly apparent as we came close to Ankara.
We were surprised that so much of central Anatolia is on a plateau of around 3,000 feet above sea level. Having climbed up this early on the ground level seemed to remain constant for hundreds of miles.
Being aware that Ankara is the capital city and has a population of more than 5million we were nonetheless amazed at the size of the city, the motorway looping around it could easily be compared with the scale of the M25. Only of a much higher quality. We were also shocked to see the scale of development of housing (high-rise and 2 story) and industrial commercial areas. This development seemed to continue for many, many miles. This left us the impression that Turkey has been investing enormous sums in housing its people and creating an infrastructure to support it.
It will be interesting to see how well that inward investment pays off in the coming years.
We stopped for fuel at one service station where a conversation with a lady who taught English enabled us to have a useful conversation with her father. He taught mechanics at a local college and told us that we were right to use Shell V Power only whilst in Turkey
We headed onward to Düzce for our overnight stop and arrived at the Quars Garden Hotel at around 6:45.
We were a little disappointed that the dedicated parking at this hotel was on a main street in the middle of the town and the MG was not going to be the most secure vehicle. We managed to arrange parking right outside the front door under a streetlamp where the receptionist would have a clear view of the car all night. Being cautious the steering lock went on and the batteries isolated and hoped that would be sufficient.
The receptionist recommended a restaurant and we walked into town to find dinner at around 8:30 in the evening, to find that the town was still buzzing. Almost like daytime in the UK.
It was vibrant and welcoming. The people were lovely, but we just could not understand the menu and almost no one spoke English. Very different from the tourist southwest of Turkey. We ended up ordering a cheeseburger and chips – The only thing we could understand on the menu.
And then we found the worst possible news…
There is no beer in Turkish restaurants! At least in this town.
So, our day ended with a couple of Coca Colas and a return to our hotel before a very early start the next day.
Karaman to Duzce. 371 miles covered.