Changes

==Hitching in==

From Taksim Square in European side of Istanbul, catch bus #129T (''Taksim-KozyatağıÜst Bostancı''). This is, unlike many like all other city busses crossing the Bosphorus Bridge, is a singledouble-ticket line and will cost you around 1.50 3 TL (~€ 0EUR 1.7050/~US$ 1.102). Get off at the leaf-clover interchange named ''Bostancı Köprüsü'', close to its last stop, recognizable by big ''Bostancı'' and ''İçerenköy'' signs there. You are now on D100 highway. Walk past the interchange until you see a safe shoulder down the road a couple hundred metres away. Start hitching there ready with a [[Signs|sign]] saying at least ‘[[Gebze]]’, it’ll make you more visible and look like a total hitchhiker. Drivers around here seem to have some concerns about sharing their car with a stranger and looking like a total hitchhiker seems to somewhat ease their anxiety. However, there are also many minibuses heading for Gebze on this road, so hiding your sign when they are passing by and shaking your head both sides when its headlights flash (to ask whether you’d like a ride … for a fee) may prevent some of the unwanted attention. Expect to wait at least 30 minutes until you are offered a lift. Morning hours (approx. between 6:30-8:30) are best since the road is congested at that time and vehicles move slowly, which lets the drivers to think more about taking you in. Beware of the motorcycles by the way, which sometimes illegally drive inside the shoulder and literally skim you over. From the Asian side, you can take the Kadıköy-Kartal metro to its last stop, the Kartal interchange. The exit of the metro stop is right on the D100 highway, and there's a good place for cars on the direction of Gebze to stop. This spot is much closer to Gebze than Bostancı, so you'll have better chances of getting drivers who are going in that direction.

Once you are near Gebze, you are more likely to be dropped off on the highway, out of the city centre. Ask your driver to drop you off as near to Eskihisar as possible. At some part of the road, you’ll notice signs for Eskihisar, complete with a diagram for the ferry. Once on that corner of the road, you are about 30 minutes away from the ferry quay on foot. There is a bus stop not far from the highway off Istasyon Cd/Eskihisar Feribot Yolu that will take you to the ferry for TL 2.30, Eskihisar is clearly written at the top of the bus sign.

This option is currently not working, the suburbian train is out of use COMPLEATLY now.((Another cheap way (involving payment) to reach Eskihisar from Istanbul may be to take a suburban train (''banliyö treni'') from Haydarpaşa Station near Kadıköy, the main district of Istanbul on Asian side (To get to Kadıköy from European side, you can take ferries from Eminönü near Sultanahmet; Karaköy near Beyoğlu/Galata; or Beşiktaş near Taksim. They all cost 1.40 TL/person). Suburban train costs around 1.50 TL/pessenger. Ride it until Gebze, the last station on its route. However Gebze ''the station'' is not exactly located in Gebze ''the city centre'' (about 3-4 km inbetween), so don’t confuse each other. Then, once you are in Gebze station, you are again about 30 min of walk away from Eskihisar jetty. Ask around for the way there.))

==Ferry= Personal Experiences ===The ferry has a flat fare for cars[[User:Rodzy|Rodzy]]: We hitchhiked from Istanbul to Bursa in May 2012, so it doesn’t really matter whether there is the suburban train from Haydarpasa goes only one person to Pendik (i.e. driver) in it, I don't know if they have some works or it is occupied by ten people when it comes they closed the railways to payment. ThusGebze), the easiest method ferry from Pendik to Yalova costs 13 TL! So we decided to avoid paying for hitchhike from Pendik (not far from the ferry is ferries) to ask drivers whether you can cross Gebze. After 10 minutes we got a car until the toll booth in their Eskihisar jetty, there we tried to hitch a car. You can do this just in the very front of the booth, just before gate. For the drivers guard was more then clear that we would not pay for the fee. Security guards there seem to be relaxed about this, not concerned jeton so he said that if you dodge the payment in this way (However, they may make a real fuss if you simply try we wanted he could let us to walk through pass the booth without buying a token)gate. Once on He opened the other side of the boothgate for us, the car will likely we just walked through and towards to be taken into a seperate queue if the ferry has started to fill up. There you can wish your driver ''bon voyage'' (TurkishIn case: ''iyi yolculuklar''the jeton costs 3, pronounced ''ee-yee yohl-joo-look-laar''5 TL) and walk yourself  [[User:Rovingsnails|Rovingsnails]]: In October 2013 we tried to get the ferry itself: Once you are clear off tain from but there wasn't any. Instead we took the boothunderground to Kartal and hitchhiked from there to Eskihisar. There is not really a good place to pull over at Kartal, no one asks for but with a receipt of a payment, neither when boarding sign we waited less than 5 minutes. We hitchhiked the ferry nor when getting offto Yalova, but Istanbul metro cards can also be used.

If you happen == Ferry ==From here there somehow happens to be on your unlucky daytwo different ferry routes, ferry costs one to Topçular and the second one a few kilometeres from Topçular (for the cost of 2.80 TL00TL/person (~€ 1.30/~US$ 2.10).

Across The ferry has a flat fare for cars, so it doesn’t really matter whether there is only one person (i.e. driver) in it, or it is occupied by ten people when it comes to payment. Thus, the easiest method to avoid paying for the Gulf of Izmit ferry is to ask drivers whether you can cross the Topçular jetty, not much more than a harbour and related buildings reallytoll booth in their car. The highway is You can do this in the very nearfront of the booth, has just before the drivers pay the fee (there usually is a wide shoulder and enough traffichelpful car queue in front of the booths). Security guards there seem to be relaxed about this, so not concerned if you can hitch your dodge the payment in this way forward quickly. The nearest town (However, they may make a real fuss if you simply try to walk through the east is [[Çiftlikköy]], about 15-20 km awaybooth without buying a token). A distance sign Once on the road other side of the booth, the car will likely to be taken into a seperate queue if the ferry has started to Çiftlikköy says [[Yalova]] is only 2 km further awayfill up. There you can wish your driver ''bon voyage'' (Turkish: ''iyi yolculuklar'', but in factpronounced ''ee-yee yohl-joo-look-laar'') and walk yourself to the ferry itself: Once you are clear off the booth, Yalova city centre is at least 7 km away from Çiftlikköy. The ‘2 km’ sign is just some sort no one asks for a receipt of bureaucratical curiositya payment, it seemsneither when boarding the ferry nor when getting off.

If you happen to be on your unlucky day, ferry costs 2.80 TL/person (~EUR 1.30/~US$ 2.10). And if you have one spare fare in your Istanbul metro card it can also be used. Across the Gulf of Izmit is the Topçular jetty, not much more than a harbour and related buildings really. The highway is very near, has a wide shoulder and enough traffic, so you can hitch your way forward quickly. The nearest town to the west is [[Çiftlikköy]], about 15-20 km away. A distance sign on the road to Çiftlikköy says [[Yalova]] is only 2 km further away, but in fact, Yalova city centre is at least 7 km away from Çiftlikköy. The ‘2 km’ sign is just some sort of bureaucratical curiosity, it seems. Other ferry lines plying a similar route depart from Yenikapı (near Sultanahmet in European side of Istanbul), Bostancı (in Asian side), and Pendik (in Asian side, too); all arriving at downtown Yalova. Though they cut down the road to be taken at both ends (no need to go through Gebze/Eskihisar/Topçular), they all require payments for each pessenger, whether in a car or not, and the ridiculous fares of around 12 TL per person (~€ EUR 5.50/~US$ 8.60; and this is for pessengers riding in a car, it’s substantially more for pessengers without a vehicle!) go against the very idea of hitchhiking.At Pendik the fare is 6 lira for a passenger, the ferry takes around 50 minutes.