4 May, Iznik to Yenişehir, 26km
Uslu Hotel 70TL (breakfast included)
This morning we paid a quick visit to a section of Roman road excavated some metres beneath the streets of Iznik and a late-14th century bathhouse, the Murat Hamami, beautiful on the outside, less so on the inside. Shortly after passing through the southern gate in the original city wall, we stared curiously over the wall of the Kirgizlar tomb with its distinctly Asian statue, where a group of men were watching the slaughtering of a goat. Then, in a mist-gentle drizzle, we set out to conquer the mountain pass that lies between Iznik and Yenişehir. Almost immediately we were forced from our saddles by an incline too steep for us to manage, and so, pushing our increasingly heavy bikes, we walked the nine or so km to the top. Walked through green hills, both natural and cultivated, befriending the dogs of workers encountered en route and revelling in birdsong though not in our growing exhaustion. Then whooped our way down t’other side to find a good hotel just outside our price range.
Iznik bus-stop complete with library
Iznik Murat Hamami (baths)
Iznik Roman road
Between Iznik and Yenişehir
Between Iznik and Yenişehir