Turkey/Türkiye Upwards October 2022

In October myself & five friends will be setting off from Dalaman riding north to Bandirma (ferry then up to Istanbul) over a fortnight with ten days riding. We're taking gravel bikes & have a route of about 560 miles we've put together - Komoot.

It'll be the most exotic place I've been bikepacking so far (previous trips being mainly western Europe), so pretty excited.

Things I'm most looking forward to:

• Seeing ancient ruins - riding past Ephesus & Bergama.
  
• Actual gravel as opposed to the mud-strewn cobbled staircases we call gravel in England.
  
• Biggish climbs (nothing that monster round the Aegean).
  
  

Things I'm least looking forward to:

• Finding suitable food (I'm vegetarian).
  
• Finding bike boxes in Istanbul.
  
• Second half of the route is maybe a bit boring.
  
  

Has anyone been touring around this bit of Turkey before? Any route/general advice/experience welcome!

Edit: for visual interest, my Ritchey which I'll be riding.

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