Selcuk to Turgutlu. 95kms

After an ordinary sleep we were up nice and early for 7.30am breakfast.  The breakfast at the Meral Hotel is not good for someone who will ride 95kms. Olives, tomato, cheese, apricots, cereal, bread and coffee.  I suppose it's better than eggs cooked in greasy oil, which turns my stomach inside out.

Our ride today took us from Selcuk and onto the town of Torbili for morning tea.  We stopped at this nice little tea house which once again was full of men. With a nice cup of tea and some cake Len had bought yesterday, we were ready to ride on to our lunch stop.

Once we left Torbili we started to climb for the next 2 hours until we came to a huge mountain in front of us. With the temperature rising we were in for some hard work. I sat at the back of the group and tapped away keeping Peter and Len insight the whole time.  We crested the hill and took a break before plummeting down into the town of Kemalpasa.  

We stopped in town and had some nice grilled chicken and salad for lunch, whilst sitting on the footpath. The traffic this morning has been excellent, and we've had a good safe shoulder to ride on all the time.

After lunch Len navigated our way back to the main highway that would take us directly to the town of Turgutlu our final destination for the day.  Turgutlu is a town of over 120,000 people and might be considered an overnight stopover on the way to Ankara the capital of Turkey.

As soon as we hit the highway the wind had picked up, and it was now in our backs pushing us along at speeds of 40kph.  For the next hour we averaged over 30kph to the outskirts of town.  We headed straight for the Palm City Hotel for Peter to go and fight the hotel manager for a better price.  In the end we have a really nice room with Wifi, fridge, air con and breakfast for 35 Aussie dollars each.  That's about 3 times more expensive than last night but sometimes you have to take what you can.

The above photo was taken by my buddy Len outside the cheapest market in the world. Or at least Kusadasi.

The above photo was taken after the boys insisted I put the hat on as they reckon it would enhance my appearance.  Impossible.

Tomorrow we head to the coastal town of Aliaga and another 95km day.  The good news is, we're getting closer to Istanbul.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.