Zishaan Hayath Ride: Trans-Anatolian Express

Route Map

Three weeks and one full circle of a country that keeps changing its mind about what it is. It leaves Istanbul westward and comes back from the east, and never rides the same road twice.

The first act is the Aegean, and it is mostly ruins and water: the first Ottoman capital at Bursa, Troy above the Dardanelles, the acropolis at Pergamon on its cone of a hill, the library facade at Ephesus, and the white terraces of Pamukkale. Then the D400 takes over — the Lycian corniche, cut into cliffs above water the colour of a swimming pool, past Xanthos and Patara and Myra to Antalya. Eight of the eleven World Heritage sites on this ride are collected before it turns inland.

The second act climbs. Sagalassos on its mountain shelf, the lake at Eğirdir, Rumi's Konya, a Silk Road caravanserai on the way to Cappadocia — which gets a day with the luggage left behind. Then the empty plateau to Sivas, the shifting stone doorways at Divriği, and the Euphrates canyon at Kemaliye, where the Stone Road was cut through the cliff by hand.

The third act is green and wet. Over the Zigana into the Pontic Alps, where steppe turns to rainforest in an hour and Sumela hangs off a cliff. Then west along the Black Sea — Amasya under its rock-cut tombs, the timber town at Safranbolu, and the D010 out of Amasra, the finest riding road in the country, ridden twice because once is not enough. Istanbul at the end, over the Bosphorus, arriving from the opposite side to the one you left on.

Day	Route	Distance	Highlights	Night stay
01	Istanbul	—	Land, collect the bike, and leave it parked. Sultanahmet on foot, the Basilica Cistern, a ferry up the Bosphorus	Istanbul
02	Istanbul → ferry to Yalova → Bursa	150 km	Across the Marmara by boat, then the first Ottoman capital: the Green Mosque, the Grand Mosque's calligraphy, and the village at Cumalıkızık	Bursa
03	Bursa → the Marmara shore → Troy → Çanakkale	300 km	Nine cities stacked on one mound above the Dardanelles, and an evening on the strait where the Gallipoli ferries cross	Çanakkale
04	Çanakkale → Assos → Ayvalık → Bergama	230 km	The temple of Athena on the cliff at Assos looking over to Lesbos, then the Aegean shore road south	Bergama
05	Bergama → Izmir → Selçuk	210 km	Pergamon's acropolis and the steepest theatre in the ancient world, then the Aegean coast to Ephesus's doorstep	Selçuk
06	Ephesus, on foot	60 km	The Library of Celsus and the marble street, the Basilica of St John, and the hill village at Şirince for the evening. Luggage stays put	Selçuk
07	Selçuk → Aphrodisias → Pamukkale	260 km	A stadium for thirty thousand still standing in a field, then the white travertine terraces and Hierapolis above them	Pamukkale
08	Pamukkale → Salda Lake → Fethiye	290 km	Turkey's white-shored crater lake, over the western Taurus, and down to the Mediterranean at Fethiye	Fethiye
09	Fethiye → Xanthos → Patara → Kaş	150 km	The Lycian capital and its pillar tombs, the longest beach on the coast, and the D400 beginning in earnest	Kaş
10	Kaş → Myra → Olympos → Antalya	210 km	Rock-cut tombs above Demre, the eternal flames of the Chimaera at Çıralı, and the corniche into Antalya	Antalya
11	Antalya → Sagalassos → Eğirdir	190 km	Straight up into the Taurus; Roman Sagalassos on its cliff, pine-forest hairpins	Eğirdir
12	Eğirdir → Lake Beyşehir → Konya	220 km	Eşrefoğlu Mosque's Seljuk woodwork, then the steppe opens; evening with Rumi	Konya
13	Konya → Sultanhanı → Ihlara Valley → Göreme	310 km	Silk Road alignment, the 1229 caravanserai, Byzantine cave churches, fairy chimneys at dusk	Göreme
14	Cappadocia loop	50 km	Sunrise balloon, Kaymaklı underground city, crowd-free Soğanlı; luggage-free day	Göreme
15	Göreme → Yozgat plateau → Sivas	270 km	Crisp air, empty sweepers, untouristed Seljuk monuments, high-altitude chill	Sivas
16	Sivas → Divriği → Kemaliye	250 km	The Great Mosque's shifting stone carvings, then the canyon; Stone Road at dusk or dawn, unhurried	Kemaliye
17	Kemaliye → Erzincan → Zigana pass → Sumela → Trabzon	380 km	Steppe dissolves into misty Pontic forest; cliff-pinned Sumela Monastery	Trabzon
18	Trabzon → Amasya	330 km	Inland over the Pontic hills to riverside Ottoman houses beneath rock-cut royal tombs	Amasya
19	Amasya → Safranbolu	380 km	Quiet Anatolian backroads to the great Ottoman timber town; night at Cinci Hanı	Safranbolu
20	Safranbolu → Amasra → D010 to Cide and back	260 km	The riding day: the D010 both ways, luggage left at the hotel; castle-walled harbour night	Amasra
21	Amasra → hazelnut coast → Şile → Istanbul	430 km	Coastal run home, Şile lighthouse for the final photograph, over the Bosphorus	Istanbul

Notes

It is a loop now, which solves the worst thing about the old plan: no one-way drop fee, and the bike goes back to the counter it came from. Istanbul is also the easiest place in the country to hire something decent.

Three weeks is the point, not the price of ambition. The distances look large but only four days pass 350 km, and two days — Cappadocia and Amasra — are ridden without luggage. Ephesus gets a walking day because it deserves one.

Timing is a compromise between two climates. May to mid-June and mid-September to October are the windows: the Aegean and the Lycian coast are punishing in July and August, and the plateau above 1500 m turns cold by late October. The D400 is also at its worst in high summer, when the coach traffic between Fethiye and Antalya is constant.

An Indian licence needs the 1949-convention International Driving Permit alongside it. Ruins keep summer hours, roughly 8 am to 7 pm, and Ephesus and Pamukkale are worth reaching at opening rather than at noon. All tarmac except the Stone Road's rough canyon surface.

Pack a full modular suit. The coast is thirty-five degrees and the Zigana in cloud is single figures, sometimes in the same week. Çatalhöyük, the ninth World Heritage site within reach, sits an hour south of Konya and can be added to day twelve for an early start and a hundred extra kilometres.