Except for the very first day of our journey, every day of driving has followed the same routine.

First: Check if Hira is fit enough to travel, and how much.

Second: Check if everything concerning the car is OK.

In Ankara, we had an additional item high up on our list. We needed to do laundry. You see, because of the April weather being a weird combination of snow, rain, sun and strong winds, and the fact that we had been on the road way for over a week, we were running out of fresh clothes to wear. The very first thing we did in Ankara the next day was look for a laundromat. We found one and consistent with our experience of Turkey so far, the staff there was extremely friendly and very helpful to the foreigners. We had plenty of tea while we waited.

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In that time, we made a decision to head north to the Black Sea coast, as we had heard good things about that area of Turkey. As this wasn’t the high season, it should be a beautiful and calm area that is otherwise full of tourists from around the world. We chose the city of Samsun for our next stop. The weather prediction wasn’t great but you know how these apps are. We weren’t going to let a bit of clouds dampen our spirits.

This would also be the first opportunity for us to test the GoPro as dash-cam.

The road east of Ankara was a highway but not the same motorway standard as the one leading to Ankara from Istanbul. Here, we were seeing a different, how to say, culture. While driving remained safe, there were some impatient drivers too. As were there plenty of traffic lights, U-Turns, numerous exits and entries back on the highway. You couldn’t just cruise at maximum allowed speeds for hours at a time as before. It also meant we were seeing the country more closely and you could see the population from their clothes appeared to be somewhat more conservative than those in the West of the country. But they were friendly and helpful, just as before.

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The whole area is simply beautiful and great to drive through the ever changing scenery.

Once we approached Samsun and the Black Sea coast however, the weather took a turn for the worse. It was absolutely lashing down in some places and the wind made its presence felt. It was clearly not yet summer. At this point, we had a decision to make. We could stay at in Samsun and have an early day or make good of poor weather and drive on as much as we could till nightfall and take a hotel wherever we were. This being a popular tourist area, we weren’t worried about finding a room for the night.

We arrived in Ordu just around sunset. The hotel was Hampton by Hilton Ordu. €42 for a room and breakfast, just across the road from the beach.

(Next post has a LOT of pictures 😉 ).