To my surprise i have a working internet connection - i was expecting to be offline for a week as the sim-card i bought in Kirklareli 2.5 weeks ago failed to register with the network last week. This happened because telephones in Turkey are required to be registered to a person for prolonged use. The Turkcell-employees in Kirklareli had told me this was not necessary for a data-only card but they where obviously wrong. But it looks like the registration-process got through a lot quicker than i was told in the Istanbul-shop.

Jeff, my host in Istanbul, escorted me for a few kilometers on my way out of the city - since we didn't start before noon, it took a while till i found a place to fully pressurize my new tire and we had to wait for the ferry to Kadiköy it was already one hour before sunset when we finally departed(Jeff had also provided me with homemade all-american hamburgers for the day, delicious! :-)). One hour before sunset and i was still very much in the city. I had seen a hill from the shore with what looked like unobstructed wilderness on top. After climbing the hill - with a fantastic view across the Bosporus and the Marmara sea - and nearly circumenventing it, it was clear that the whole huge hilltop was the backyard of a very wealthy homeowner, who had built a huge iron fence around my campingspot :-/ Luckily i found another, a bit smaller and more obstructed place with flat ground between the other expensive villas on the hill.