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For Mediterranean cities such as [[Antalya]], you should also take this eastwards route till [[Adapazari]], then head south via motorway D650 from there.
* '''The walking option'''
While most people would find it more comfortable to take a bus to the outskirts and then start hitchiking from there hitchhiker [[User:Theo]] has, after hitchhiking out of Istanbul 10ish times found that it is actually faster to just find a good piece of highway somewhere close to you stay, get ON the highway and put your thumb up. You are unlikely to wait more than 3 minute before a car stops and the police is very unlikely to give you any trouble.
From Taksim: Walk down Cumhüriyet Caddesi for about 40-50 minutes. It's a big avenue without any real possibility to get lost but if you do manage to get lost you can ask for Cevahir shopping center.
After the 40-50 minute walk (about the time when you pass Cevahir shopping center on your right side) you'll see the highway. This is th spot where the Mercidiköy bridge starts and about 70-80 % of the traffic is bound for the Asian side. When you get to the highway (which is actually about 10 meters over you as it is on a viaduct) you'll see a Mercidiköy busstation to your left. Turn left and then climb onto the highway on one of the small paths leading to the highway.
It's a huge area for cars to stop right opposite to Mercidiköy metro-busstation.
Put your thumb up and DONT take the first ride. Wait for someone who's going atleast past the main intersection in Atesehir (say that you want to go direction Gebze/Izmit on the autoyol).
(Almost no traffic is going further than Gebze from here but get a ride 10-20 km and then find a new one from where the last one dropped you off. As you are unlikely to wait more thn 3-5 minutes its actually very quickly done).
=== South towards [[Yalova]]/[[Bursa]] ===
