Istanbul to Canakkale

Posted by Vince on July 3, 2015
Posted in: Turkey.

After our nerve-wracking ride into Istanbul a few days earlier – right into the centre to Taksim Square – we were both keen to have an early departure to try and avoid some of the traffic on our way out.

We were awake around 4:00am, and had the bike loaded and on the road by 5:00am, just as the sky was starting to lighten with the first rays of the false dawn. We crossed the Bospheros Bridge almost completely alone, and could look to the right and see the full moon between the clouds and the bridge stays.

To put some distance between us and Istanbul we stayed on the E80 and made good time towards Golcuk, where we refuelled but couldn’t get a coffee or snack as it wasn’t yet 7am and the adjoining cafe/market was still closed. The servo operator offered us both a glass of Turkish tea however, and we enjoyed sipping that down as we had a short rest.

We pushed on for another hour and then stopped at a cafe that had customers seated outside, enjoying some sticky treats for breakfast, and a hot coffee for me.

Our interim destination for the day was to meet up with another Horizons Unlimited member – Bora Eris – at his tyre shop in Bandirma. Bora has arranged for a pair of new Continental TKC80’s to be waiting for us in Trabzon, and so it was a good opportunity for us to pop in and have a chat on our way through to Canakkale, our evening destination.

Bora and his staff made us very welcome in his shop, and we had a long and pleasant chat – not only about riding and tyres, but Bora spoke to us about his family history – showing us photographs of his father, grand-father and great grand-father, and a special medal his grand-father had received, and also showing us photos of his young daughters and his farm, as he discussed farming techniques he uses for his wheat crop. Bora attended a superbike training school in Istanbul a few years ago so we also chatted about riding techniques – both for racetracks and off-road, all between cups of Turkish tea.

After our long conversation and a few photos we bade Bora farewell and had a quick lunch in town before rejoining the E90 towards Canakkule. By the time we reached Canakkule we’d clocked up 505km for the day, and we were both tired from the early start and the long, uninspiring ride. We had considered stopping a little short but none of the smaller villages we passed through appeared to have a hotel nearby, and by overnighting in Canakkule that would place us just 25km away from the ancient ruins of Troy – our first destination for tomorrow.

We had pinpointed a couple of cheap hotels in Canakkale that offered bike parking via booking.com the previous day, and so we rode to the first place on our list but their bike parking was just the road verge outside, so we looped around the cobble-stoned block again and pulled up at the Hotel Helen Park where we could park in their secure car park off the road.

With the bike unloaded we had a stroll along the foreshore and saw the  Trojan Horse used in the making of the 2004 movie ‘Troy’. We stopped in at a little Italian pasta place for dinner but walked out again without ordering when we found out that they offered almost nothing that was featured on their menu. A pleasant stroll through some of the backstreets led us to a small diner where we enjoyed a simple but tasty dinner. After our long day of riding it was then back to our hotel for sleep as we were both knackered from our day.

Two Continents – Europe and Asia

Posted by Karen on July 2, 2015
Posted in: Turkey.
A very easy start to the day….we had another She Tour booked for this afternoon and didn’t get collected until 1.15pm. So a sleep in until around 8.30am then breakfast at the hotel and catching up on emails etc. Around noon we headed out for lunch in a nearby cafe off Taksim Square. The food was very nice….but a bit too “hot” for me….Vince loved it!. I managed to finally get the mashed potatoe I have been craving for the past few weeks…..yum! Along the way we saw a group of people in Takim Square putting a floral tribute below a statue and there were police with rifles nearby….not sure what was going on but it all seemed fairly tame.
We made our way back to the hotel, freshened up and waited outside for our Guide. Before long we found ourselves back on the bus on the way to the old city, where again we had to change buses and Guides according to our tour (No 5 – Two Continents (Asia and Europe) costing 40 Euro each). The tour normally covers the Beylerbei Palace…the summer residence of the Ottoman Sultantans with original furniture, magnificent gardens with the Harem on the Asian side. But this is closed on Thursdays and is replaced with the Chora Museum….originally a Church then a Mosque and now a Museum. It has very interesting mosaics depicting not only the life of Christ but that of the Virgin Mary also.
We crossed over the Bosphorus River on the Bosphorus suspension bridge (No 1 Bridge) with the crazy traffic and then drove to Camlica Hill, one of the highest points in Istanbul. From there we could see over Istanbul. We had stopped at one of the terrace cafes….and ordered one banana split…..for the tidy sum of 24 TL….Vince said that should have bought us a whole meal in some places….but NOT in Istanbul.
The tour was also schedule to stop at a leather and fur factory, and Vince was concerned we might be pressured into buying his and her matching jackets or something (LOL) but luckily none of the 11 people on the tour wanted to go….so we finished early getting dropped back to our hotel around 4.15…so all in all around 3 hours on tour.
We want to get an early start tomorrow to try to avoid the traffic as best we can….so we planned an early dinner and when we were out we organised a pair of sunglasses for me, as mine got really scratched in our top box. We narrowed it down to a pair of Ray Bans (415 down to 350 TL) and a pair of Red Bull Racing (350 down to 210 TL) ….we settled on the Red Bulls….I’m not sure if they are boys glasses or not….but Vince likes them so that’s fine by me.
Whilst out we saw a large contingent of police with riot shields and rifles along side a water-cannon…we then saw a group of protesters coming towards us….I’m not sure what it was all about but we got out of there quick smart!
We were tempted to see the new Jurassic Park or Terminator movies….but as we wanted an early night we gave it a miss. On the way back to our hotel we saw a large group of people about to break their fast (we are two weeks into Ramadan here). We have seen places set up like this all over Istanbul.
Back at our hotel (Emerald Hotel) we said goodbye to Fatih Yapici (the Front Office Manager)  and thanked him again for all the assistance he has given us. Vince asked if we could take a photo for our blog (we gave him one of our stickers) and he was happy to do so. We would certainly recommend this hotel to anyone wishing to be well looked after in Istanbul. He popped up to our room later with a gift of Turkish Delight and a keyring of the Evil Eye which he explained to Vince (I was in the shower) was to keep us safe on our travels.
So it is an early night for these little black ducks tonight….wish us luck for tomorrow in that CRAZY traffic!

The Istanbul Job……..

Posted by Karen on July 1, 2015
Posted in: Turkey.

After a gorgeous but early (7.15am) breakfast (included in our 70 Euro per night rate – 10 Euro extra to securely park the ANIMAL) at the very welcoming Emerald Hotel (just off Taksim Square) we got ready to be picked up for our half day walking tour of Istanbul – Byzantine Relics with She Tours at 8.15am.

Before we were collected we dropped into a nearby store to pick up some SD cards for our cameras as we have run out (100 TL for a 32 Gig Card). Our Guide collected us and walked us to a nearby bus which took us to the old town across the river where we saw our first glimpse of the biggest Mosque in Istanbul, the Süleymaniye Mosque overlooking the Golden Horn, a striking landmark for the city of Istanbul. A part of the mosque bears resemblance to the Byzantine basilica, especially, the Hagia Sophia (which we saw later as part of our tour). Although we did not go into this Mosque, I have read that in contrast to the imposing size, the interior of the mosque is minimalistic. The striking feature  is the fineİznik tiles in the mihrab. The mosque has four monumental columns, one brought from Baalbek, one from the city of Alexandria, and two from the Byzantine palaces in İstanbul. İbrahim the Drunkard worked on stained-glass panes of the windows. The walls of the mosque are embellished with the verses from the Koran. Like the Blue Mosque, it has reserved spaces for the women in the form of galleries located over the entrance and on the sides. It  is sturdy enough to have survived many earthquakes, without a single crack. We soon arrived outside the walls of the old city,  where we had to change buses and Guides (according to our tour which was No 1) and we set off for the Blue Mosque. From here the rest of the tour was on foot.
At the Blue Mosque we had to line up for about 15 minutes…the guide explained that in about half an hour the line would be so long it would be several hours wait! We passed by the ablution area where they wash themselves before prayer and women had to wear a head scarf (you can wear your own or they loan you one) and those who had uncovered arms and legs had to were other clothing issued (both men and women). Vince and I were relatively prepared in that our off bike gear includes long pants and long sleeved shirts. I had not brought a head scarf so just borrowed one from the Mosque. Vince said I looked very fetching….like a professional! LOL The Blue Mosque (Called Sultanahmet Camii in Turkish) is an historical mosque in Istanbul. It is called the Blue Mosque because of blue tiles surrounding the interior walls and was built between 1609 and 1616, during the rule of Ahmed I. Like many other mosques, it also comprises a tomb of the founder, a madrasa and a hospice. Besides being tourist attraction, it’s also a active mosque, so it’s closed to non worshippers for a half hour or so during the five daily prayers. The best way to see great architecture of the Blue Mosque is to approach it from the Hippodrome. (West side of the mosque)  If you are non-Muslim visitor, you also have to use a different entry and entrance to Muslims….their entrance is from the side and ensures that they are facing Mecca as as they enter. We then saw the Hippodrome of Constantinople (now Istanbul) and capital of the Byzantine Empire, which was the sporting arena (Greek hippos = horse) for horse and chariot racing. Today the square is called Sultanahmet Meydanı (Sultan Ahmet Square) with just a few parts of the original structure remaining. Emperor Constantine brought works for art from all over the empire and set them up as monuments in the middle (spina) of the Hippodrome. One was the Tripod of Pletea (Serpant Column) cast to celebrate the Greek Victory over the Persians in 5th Century BC. It was taken from the Temple of Apollo in Delphi but the golden bowl and three serpent heads went missing…one is now in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. The Obelisk of Thutmose III was cut by silk thread and 21m brought from the Temple of Karnak in Luxor Egypt to the Hippodrome (1489 BC) and has survived 3500 years in excellent condition. The third is the Walled Obelisk which was built in the 10th Century BC by Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus and was covered in golden bronze plaques but in the Crusades these were stolen. Only the core  remains now.
We walked passed the water fountain that was a gift from Austria (Germany) and our Guide explained the reasons that the Turks sided with the Germans during the first World War.
We then arrived at the Hagia Sophia (meaning holy wisdom). It was originally a Church, then became a Mosque and is now a Museum (opened 1 Feb 1935). Famous in particular for its massive dome it is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and was the world’s largest cathedral for nearly a thousand years, until Seville Cathedral was completed in 1520. Hagia Sophia is the second-most visited museum in Turkey, attracting almost 3.3 million visitors annually.From its initial conversion until the construction of the nearby larger Sultan Ahmed Mosque(Blue Mosque of Istanbul) in 1616, it was the principal mosque of Istanbul.
From here we walked 500m down to the Grand Bazzar…it is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 61 covered streets and over 3,000 shops which attract between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily. It is listed No.1 among world’s most-visited tourist attractions with 91,250,000 annual visitors. We could have gone back on the bus to be dropped off at the hotel, but we opted to just do our own thing. We spent about 2 hours looking around and I bought a pair of silver studs, a cotton top, a Hajib that is easy to put on (no pins required) and some Turkish sweets. We stopped for lunch at a stall and got ripped off with a huge “Service Charge” for a couple of Kebabs, a coke and a juice….60 TL ….when Vince questioned it the waiter showed him the menu with fine print….I through Vince was ready to smack him out……another 3 Aussies were about to sit down, but we put them straight as to what had just happened and they got up and walked out with us! Vote with your feet guys!
On the way to the Bazzar we passed a Pandora shop and we bought a little silver teapot charm (in Aust it would be around $30) they charged us 139 TL (A$68) more than double the RRP….absolute robbery!!!!! They must think tourists are dumb! We won’t forget Istanbul in a hurry and we certainly won’t hurry to come back!
We had a bit of an adventure on public transport to get home…..catching the tram for 4TL each to Kapatas and then the funicular (another 4 TL each) up the steep hill to Taksim Square. From there just a short walk to our hotel. Later we went to the Currency Exchange and got some of the notes we no longer need, Kunu, Lek and UAE money, converted into Turkish Lera. We then found a restaurant and had dinner….a cheese platter and pizza with a couple of beers for Vince and scotch and coke for me….this cost 137 TL …..puts my teapot charm into context doesn’t it!!!!!

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Eceabat to Istanbul

Posted by Vince on June 30, 2015
Posted in: Turkey.

Tuesday 30th June

Distance travelled today (approx) – 300km.

Refueled the bike in Eceabat, before heading north to Istanbul. The service station attendant offered us a tea but we’d already put our helmets back on so we politely declined and got rolling just after 10:00am. Took the D550 north past Gelibolu (Gallipoli) before veering right and picking up the bumpy D120 back-road to Sarkoy on the coast.

My hope was to pass along the hills called the Tekir Dagi as I’d read that they were the strategic objective of the assault on Gallipoli, and I wasn’t disappointed as the road first ran between the base of the cliffs and the Sea of Marmara, and then it climbed up into the mountains and at times seemed to almost fall off the cliffs into the sea below. Whilst the GPS was telling me that this road was unsealed it was beautifully sealed and an absolute pleasure to ride on.

We passed through a number of sleepy fishing villages before getting into a more coastal holiday region near Tekirdig, and it’s here we joined the dual carriage 110 running toward Istanbul.

I’d intended to stay on the more minor of the major roads but we got sucked onto the main E80 about 20km west of Istanbul and had a roller coaster ride into the this city of 14 million people, most of whom were out driving their cars this afternoon and few if any know how to drive safely. At times I rode down the breakdown lane as this was safer than being on the road, as lane markings mean absolutely fuck-all over here and collecting a motorcycle must score bonus points as some drivers seemed to almost target us deliberately.

The GPS peeled us off the main road and the manic driving abated for a few seconds whilst I was on the off-ramp, before long we were back on another shitmixer of a road, just now we had other things to contend with like trucks being serviced on the road and other obstacles. Again the GPS encouraged me to turn onto a smaller road, and we ended up riding across a confusing array of back streets that defied gravity – they were so steep I couldn’t even contemplate trying to turn the bike up onto them, so I baled out and tried to approach our hotel from another angle.

Finally pulled up outside the hotel as shown by the chequered flag on my GPS, but the hotel name didn’t match up with what we had booked via booking.com that morning and when Karen investigated we found out we were at the wrong address – I’m still learning how to read the way addresses are written here in Turkey. The hotel manager contacted the other property, explained our dilemma (I’d got us lost – just by about 500m – but in this spaghetti road system that’s as good as 500km), and the other hotel kindly cancelled our booking and we lobbed in where I’d pulled up, as quite honestly I’d had enough of the drivers around here and my good nature was wearing a bit thin.

the staff of the Emerald a Hotel helped us carry our gear to our room, and we’ve booked in for three nights – I fought so hard to get here I’m going to stay for a while, plus I need a chance to chill out before I go riding out there again. Parked the bike in a secure, undercover car park across the road, and after a shower and change into our off-bike clothes we walked a few hundred metres up the road to Taksim Square. I recognised this name as it was mentioned in an ABC news article just a few days ago.

Heaps of people were walking around the square – it’s obviously a popular place for both tourists and locals alike. We had a cheap but enjoyable and filling dinner in a restaurant just around the corner from the square, and Karen bought some small Turkish sweets as a ‘thank you’ for the hotel staff who helped us out this afternoon.

We’ve booked onto a 1/2 day walking tour of the ‘Byzantian Relics’ tomorrow morning, and will see some fascinating sights including the Blue Mosque and the Grand Bazaar, so check back tomorrow and see how our exploration of Istanbul worked out 🙂

Gallipoli, Turkey

Posted by Vince on June 29, 2015
Posted in: Turkey.

Monday 29th June

Approx distance ridden today – 150km.

Karen and I had a pleasant breakfast at our Gune Hotel (I had Nutella on the freshest of breads whilst Karen had the traditional village breakfast featuring olives, cheeses and salamis), and then we went for a walk around the nearby markets to see the market life. It was fascinating watching the fruit and vegetable merchants hand-polishing each and every tomatoe with a cloth. We went to buy some bananas and cherries from the kind man who’d given is some bananas yesterday afternoon and we shared a cup of tea with him, but when we went to pay for our fruit he declined our offered money.

After loading the bike and a final farewell to Aladdin and the fruit seller – we’d given Aladdin our growing collection of loose change in the hope he may be inspired to travel or maybe just collect coins – we headed back to the D550 and south toward Gallipoli.

As it was approaching lunchtime I turned west off the main road and headed down a bumpy backroad to a coastal fishing & holiday village, and we pulled up at a little shady restaurant overlooking the beach. We got chatting to two young couples on holiday from their jobs in Istanbul – they are heading towards Greece, both of the guys ride bikes, and one guy said that the GSA is his dream bike, so we had a lot to chat about. Karen and I shared a delicious lunch of roast chicken and salad – the vegetables in the salads here in Turkey are so fresh it’s as if they have just been picked, and as we started to gear up to leave the young couples walked over and insisted on a round of photos with the bike.

After heading further down the main D550 towards Eceabat and a couple of false starts we found our way west, heading out to Anzac Cove. Without a detailed map and unable to read the Turkish signs it wasn’t easy to find our way there.

We stopped first at an area where I could see some large maps and informative panels, and from there I could get my bearings. We remounted and rode slowly up the coast to Anzac Cove – a narrow strip of beach that looks so peaceful. A bit further up the coast we stopped at the large comemorative site and read the placards there. We’d been leap-frogging one of the many tour coaches a few times and the coach driver gave me a large scale fold-out map of the area – a thoughtful gesture and one really appreciated.

I was quite surprised by the number of tourists and tour coaches – it appears to be a booming industry. The coaches and coach drivers were all local but they sported some Australian names – Crowded House Tours, RSL Tours, True Blue Tours etc – marketing for a purpose I guess.

We rode up to Lone Pine Cemetary, and had a contemplative walk around. One grave was marked with the inscription “He has changed his faded coat of brown for a shawl of white.” This soldier was 20 years old.

Karen was a bit incensed that no Australian flags were flying anywhere  – the only Australian flag we saw was inside the memorial tomb at Lone Pine, and this was a contrast to the war graves and memorials we had seen France and Belgium as they were flying German flags alongside their own flags.

We continued along the one-way road and stopped at a memorial featuring a gigantic Turkish soldier, and we had a welcome drink of cold water from one of the stalls nearby as we were cooking in the hot afternoon sun.

We bade farewell to Anzac Cove and headed back to the eastern side of the peninsula. Low on fuel I headed south to Eceabat, then suggested that we stay there for the night, rather than ride north as I’d originally intended. We cruised slowly through the dusty town and arrived at the ferry port, overlooked by the Grand Eceabat Hotel.

Karen arranged a room for the night and secure parking for the bike, and then after a shower and change of clothes we walked around the block and then along the beachfront, which was all restaurants and souvenir shops. Some of the restaurants had quite tacky names I thought – I wouldn’t dine at ‘Restaurant 1915’ on the simple principle of things.

Across the road and overlooking the beach was a chilling sculpture – a life size replica of the trenches, with statues of Turkish and Anzac  troops facing off against each other just metres away. Next to this huge sculpture, complete with bomb casings, was a large diorama of the peninsula, showing the location of the battlefields, cemeteries, and resting places of ships sunk off the coast. Overlooking these two features was a massive sculpture of perhaps a dozen Turkish soldiers, towering up and over the dioramas, and busts of the Turkish military leaders who led the defence. Turkish military pride runs deep around here, judging by the signs we’ve seen. At the same time, it was humbling to see the number of Australians and New Zealanders who have made the pilgrimage to Anzac Cove, and their pride was no less palpable.

 

 

Devin (Bulgaria) to Uzunkopru (Turkey)

Posted by Karen on June 28, 2015
Posted in: Bulgaria, Turkey.

After a “village” breakfast at the Devin Spa Hotel (included in our room rate of 42.50 Euro) we packed up the ANIMAL and hit the road. We had originally planned to head north for about 550km to Motocamp….where well known HU member, Doug Wathke, and his Bulgarian girlfriend, Polly, have set up MotoCamp Bulgaria which is a hotel, café and campsite for bikers and the first of its kind in Eastern Europe. It is located in the small village of Idilevo at the foot of the beautiful Stara Planina mountain.  However, when we worked things out it was going to be a big ask to get there and back to the Turkish boarder in the timeframes we needed due to our Green Card Insurance for Europe running out….and Vince had heard about huge delays at the border which further compounded the problem….we decided not to chance it. We sent our apologies to Polly, who had already booked us in…..maybe next time! More info can be found at http://www.motosapiens.org/motocamp/

So we just gunned it for the border instead…..which was about 4 hours to cover about 300km. Sure enough the border was packed……there was at least 5 km of trucks backed up….people were out of their now stationary vehicles…..the car line was not quite so bad….maybe about 2 km or so…..but a group of patched up bikers from Turkey were weaving their way through the traffic and so the ANIMAL tagged along…. we were lined up about 5 or cars back before we knew it….Brilliant. I dismounted and got our paperwork together……Turkey is the first place where we need to get our Carnet du Passage completed and stamped. The passport and customs people from Bulgaria were no problem…just stamping passports and waving us through customs ……then onto the Turkey boarder. Again a little bit of a wait….but nothing tragic…passports stamped but customs were not keen to deal with our carnet…..I insisted that it was important and we needed it done….I had even filled it all in for them ……all I wanted was a signature and a stamp….eventually they sent us to another building….and the girls there were nice…..Vince had warned me that our rego papers were out of date (the renewal had happened on line and we don’t have the actual current documents)….so I did some distraction talking to the girls asking them if they had been busy and saying what a lovely country they must have since so many people are lined up to come in etc….they softened and smiled and told me about some places I must go see……and luckily the expired date was not detected……everything in order…..a sticker with a barcode was put onto the ANIMAL and as we passed through the final customs inspection point we were scanned and sent on our way. I was pretty pleased with myself…..as borders can be difficult and stressful…and as we travel further East…..more complicated. All up it took us about an hour and a half…..brilliant! Vince was really chuffed with how things went as well….he says I’m just the bomb! It will be his turn to do all this when we get to Iran and Pakistan….as they won’t want to deal with a woman…..so it will be all up to him!

Now in Turkey, we then did a further 200km to arrive at Uzunkopri for the night, stopping enroute at Edrine for lunch. We were sitting at a little cafe when another biker arrived…..he was passing through on his way home (he is Croatian but lives in Germany)….saw the ANIMAL and had to stop and say hello. He was a highly entertaining fellow called Mato. He chatted to us at length about his many travels and made us a gift of a sticker for the ANIMAL, as well as a Croatian flag sticker. We gave him a 2 up adventures sticker which he immediately put onto his own bike. He was a lot of fun.

In Uzunkopri we stopped at the first hotel we saw…. the Gunes Hotel….at the tidy sum of 100 TL (Turkish Lera)….we had three single beds to choose from in a very old and shabby room, overlooking the markets frequented by scavenging dogs and cats. The ANIMAL was parked in the alley beside the hotel which the owner assured us was safe! (Despite our concerns she was still there, unharmed in the morning.)

After freshening up we took a short walk through the streets and market where we met a young boy, with a long unpronounceable name, whom we have nicknamed “Aladin”. He was helping in a stall with a man….who we established was not his father….and when I asked to take his photo it became almost a family snapshot. The shop owner gave Vince and I a banana each….they were really yummy. No one could speak English and we of course can’t speak Turkish…..but none the less it was a lovely interaction. We told him, as best we could, that we would come back in the morning and buy some cherries to take with us.

We found a small cafe and Vince had dinner…..I shared a little of it….as my tummy was still not that great, and I didn’t want to upset it more….what I did eat was delicious….the food in Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey is all fantastic….so fresh and tasty….it makes me question the quality of what we get back home.

We had an early night, as Vince was in quite a bit of pain from the long ride today….tomorrow should be a shorter day.

We’re going on a Bear Hunt….the Invisible Bulgarian Brown Bear Hunt!

Posted by Karen on June 27, 2015
Posted in: Bulgaria.

Not really…..no actual “hunting” even though our Guides were from the Hunting and Fisheries Association….just a Bear Observation Tour in the Mountains outside of Devin (Bulgaria)….but more about that a little later!

We were in Trigrad overnight and had a late start (Vince wanted to sleep in) followed by our breakfast which we did’t realise was included until Katia (our hostess) had her husband come and fetch us. It was unusual….salami and cheese with Chai tea ….but I am getting a bit better at trying new things now. Katia had taken a shine to me and introduced me to her daughter in law and baby granddaughter (Katerina) who is just 10 months old. We took some photos much to their delight, including some of her with us. We said goodbye like old friends kissing on both cheeks as they do here in Bulgaria, before heading off to the Devils Throat (see link below), a nearby cave. However, no one spoke English and the cave seemed to be closed except to Bus Tour Groups….so we didn’t actually end up going in (http://www.visittobulgaria.com/visit/special_tours/nature/caves/devils_throat_cave)

We then headed directly to Devin, only a short 25km ride where we booked into the Devin Spa Resort (42 Euro for a double with breakfast). Situated in the very heart of a natural phenomenon – the Rhodopean massif, at 710 m above sea level, in the center of the town. The SPA Centre of the hotel combines the unique therapeutic advantages of mineral springs, for which the town is known. I had a hot stone massage whilst I was there and it only cost 29 Euro….very relaxing for my aching muscles after some long ride days. Vince caught up on emails, and then went for a walk into town to chase up some batteries for the SPOT (as they have gone flat after 3 months of daily use).

The Bear Observation Tours have been running for around 6 or 7 years and we are the first Australian’s they have had. Our meeting time was 5.oopm out the front of the hotel and our guides, Danny (who spoke some English and has been a guide for around 10 years) and Vladimere (Guide Leader for about 25 years) were waiting with their beat up Suzuki Vitara that had seen better days. We had already agreed on the price of 150 Lek (about 75 Euro) for the tour in total. I was a bit surprised by the condition of the vehicle but we piled in with Vlad driving, Vince in the front and us girls in the back. Danny’s English was very basic but we asked a few questions about what to expect….it soon became clear that we were ill-prepared. It was a 40 min 4 wheel drive adventure up the mountain, with flashbacks from my recent experience in Albania. Vince was in his element enjoying every minute. Then we had a 20 min SILENT hike up a steep mountain track that eventually disappeared into the scrub…and as we followed our Guides, who were obviously fitter than us, I found myself getting stabbed in the legs with stinging nettles and other jagged plants and of course then it started to rain! Whose bright idea was this one….oh wait a minute MINE!

We eventually came out into a more open clearing but still had a steep climb up to the Hide. I was bursting for the toilet, and so was Vince, but we just had to hold on…..in total for the next 5 hours! Once inside the Hide we had to sit SILENTLY with binoculars (loaned from Danny) looking. From 6.00pm – 8.00pm nothing happened. The most entertainment I got was watching a mosquito bang itself repeatedly against the glass pain in front of me. It would occasionally leave the glass and fly around me….I made a silent deal that if it left me alone it could live….but one bite and it would be squish time! Luckily it left me be…but I found out later it did bite Vince on the finger. Around 8.00 three wild dogs appeared and scavenged around but then left. I was getting really bored and decide to ask to go around 9.00pm if nothing had happened. But as 9.00 approached a male deer (around 9-10 years old) appeared and we watched him for a while…. a female also appeared fleetingly but I only managed to see her running off. Another hour went by and I was at my wits end….I couldn’t really talk to Vince but at 10.00pm managed to get the message that I wanted to go….It was now pitch black and I don’t see well at night (so I could not have seen any bears by then if they had come)….I was highly stressed about 1. getting back along the almost non existent track down the mountain, especially after the rain and on the steep incline and 2. although we hadn’t seen a bear we knew that this was the territory of at least three, a female, adolescent cub and a male ….we might not be able to see them but I still didn’t want to be dinner on the way home! Danny and Vlad had to give us flashlights … as we hadn’t realised we would need any…. it was less arduous physically going downhill….but slippery in places due to the rain….I was so happy to see that clapped-out Suzuki in our flashlights. Another gruelling 4×4 decent down the mountain for 40min with my bladder about to burst….and I had also been having some tummy trouble….so that was a further worry…but we were then happily back outside our hotel. Danny told us as we had not seen the bears they would reduce the price by 100Lek, but Vince and I agreed that that would not be fair….and the proceeds help support the bears….so we actually ended up giving them 160 Lek….as we didn’t have change.

Lesson learnt….when embracing an adventure opportunity…..check out ALL the facts first…..even if there are language barriers…..FIND A WAY so you can BE PREPARED!

Serres (Greece) to Trigrad (Bulgaria)

Posted by Karen on June 26, 2015
Posted in: Bulgaria, Greece.

Noisy guests in our hotel (50 Euros including breakfast) managed to keep me awake most of the night and after breakfast we thought we could get a quick start to the day….only to find that Greece is an hour ahead of Albania, so instead of 8.00am it was already 9.00am. I have had to use two tie down straps to hold my jacket together as the zip is completely buggered. After yesterdays issues with my senna falling off and my braces whipping my neck in the wind because my jacket couldn’t close I thought it best to secure it somehow….Vince says it’s a new line of Adventure Riding Lingerie ….NOT!

It was only about 40km to the Greek border, so after refueling it wasn’t long before the Greek Officials were questioning us…..Vince because he no longer looks like his passport photo (all hair, moustash and beard)….I was also asked to confirm our relationship as married….otherwise all uneventful and we were soon waiting for the other officials to stamp our passports. It was very convenient as one side of the office stamped us out of Greece and the other stamped us into Bulgaria. A short ride later and we were at the Bulgarian Customs, but the saw our Aussie Passports in my hand and just waved us through….no searching for the ANIMAL! Not that we have anything to hide …its just less time consuming not having to unpack and repack panniers, dry bags etc.

We stopped in a small village just after the border called Marino Pole and managed to buy a couple of soft drinks and chocolate bars….the prices were in Lek but they allowed us to use our Euros (2 for the lot) as we didn’t have any local currency.

We rode along the 198 scenic route which took us through to Dospat, but we stopped a little short at a local cafe near Osina to have a toilet break and some lunch…..although the owner spoke little English, we were able to sort out lunch of Mussaka with a delicious yoghurt side. Two serves, drinks and break cost us all of 12.50 Euro …..cheap as chips here! (And afterwards Karen thinks it was actually only 12.50 Lek, so she paid double perhaps).

We continued on towards Teshel, but there were no hotels there, so we headed South to Trigrad, as we saw a sign. This took us through the scenic Trigrad Gorge and past the Dyavolsko Garlo (Devils Throat Cave) and the turn off for Yagodina cave (8km out of Trigrad …part of the Buynovsko Gorge. Much of the traffic involved horse or donkey drawn vehicles….and of course we still had to watch for livestock. The biggest issue was the quality of the roads….Vince says every now and then they build a bit of road around a pot hole in Bulgaria….some of the road had subsided on the mountain side and there were many large cracks and areas where the road was sunken….a good reason never to ride at night!

A local woman flagged us down and tried to encourage us into sleeping in her house for 30 Euro, but we managed to politely fob it off and continued on our way. The hotel we had seen the sign for could only accommodate us for one night and we were hoping for two, so we backtracked to an earlier hotel we had seen ….and they too could only give us one night. Katia (sic) our host spoke no English but took quite a shine to me….she thought I was 16….way too young for Vince (haha)….she is 57 and was keen to know our ages (which we wrote down for her)….another local who spoke some English helped explain. The hotel was lovely and only cost 40 Euro for the night. We had a meal there, with a few drinks and it cost us only 21 Euro for everything.

There is a project supporting Brown Bear Observation out of Devin with a small centre near our hotel….we made contact with the organisers (Danny) and have booked a tour (150 Lek about 75 Euro) for us to hire a Jeep and a Guide and we will go tomorrow around 5.00pm for the Observation …we get to go to the cave and to stay in a hide and watch the bears…..sounds great…we can’t wait!

Himare (Albania) to Serres (Greece)

Posted by Vince on June 25, 2015
Posted in: Albania, Greece.

We woke up early again today, perhaps 05:15am or something like that, so after catching up on a few emails we walked across the road to the beach and had a refreshing swim in the sea, before returning to our beachside apartment and sorting out our packing. It was nice listening to the little village start to wake up and come alive as we sorted out our things. Breakfast was included in our room rate, no choice was given and before long we were presented with a spicy sausage omelette and coffee outside the restaurant below us. Whilst seated outside I watched two guys whiz past on a scooter, the pillion dragging a small swordfish along side him, held on tightly by its pointy nose.

After loading our bike and riding it back through the restaurant and out onto the street, we headed south towards Sarande where we would leave the coast and head inland towards the border crossing into Greece.

The coastal ride south was scenic and enjoyable – the road twisting and turning along the hills overlooking the sparkling sea. Occasionally we’d enter small villages and get squeezed down to a single file road that wound its way around the houses, before opening up as they dropped away behind us. In some places the road dropped down level with the sea, and we could see people fishing off old jetties.

The road climbed up over a range and then dropped down on the inland side, with the temperature rising accordingly and the land looking more barren. The landscape was quite surreal, as if we were looking at an ancient sea floor that had been folded up and twisted on its side. We dropped down to the plain and quickly picked up the main road running south – the SH4, and we followed this out to the border with Greece.

The midday sun was beating down on us as we queued patiently behind a small line of cars waiting to be processed by the Albanian border guards, and after our turn we followed the cars down the road a short distance to the Greek border entry. A couple of tour coaches had already pulled up here and I could see that a Greek customs officer was getting all the passengers to offload their luggage, and was signalling for some items to be taken away with their owners for further inspection.

Whilst this was happening Karen was receiving sightseeing tips and other useful bits of information from the Greek border person processing our passports. At all previous border entries Karen has been able to remain on the bike and hand over the passports and green card, but at this station she needed to alight and go visit a booth adjacent to the line of cars and motorbikes. With a bit off practice we now have a workable system in place – we ride up close to the checkpoint and I stop short, allowing Karen to get off the bike and get our passports and green card out of the top box. She then remounts and we ride up together, sometimes she ends up walking through the boarder, and once we’re through to the other side we stop and replace things back in the top box.

A small cafe just beyond the Greek checkpoint beckoned us for lunch, so we pulled over for a drink and a chance to look over our maps. Karen’s getting really good at not being too sure about what food she’s buying – now she just points to something and orders, and so we both enjoyed a cheese-filled pastry for lunch, and a coke.

Without a map of Greece we pulled together a bit of our Albanian map and a bit of our Bulgarian map to work out a plan. Unfortunately our time is running a bit short so we knew we could only spend two days maximum in Greece – nowhere as much as required, so rather than try and squeeze too much in too short a timeframe we opted to blast through north-west Greece and whiz through Thessaloniki enroute for the border crossing into Bulgaria.

The road improved as soon as we started riding away from the Albanian border, and when we got to the A2 heading east it was fabulous – if you need to do some big miles and still have a scenic view then the A2 is a great choice, as this road wound its way around and through the hills, before dropping down to a valley, only to re-enter more hills. We passed through heaps of tunnels carved in the hills, dropping down from the A2’s 130kmh speed limit to the 100kmh limit in many tunnels, and we had this high speed road all to ourselves for most of the afternoon.

At one stage Karen’s jacket unzipped itself in the wind and so we pulled off the motorway to find a fuel stop, though as I’d misread a sign we ended up cruising a few km down a side road before finding a dusty little servo. I didn’t need any fuel so we just bought a couple of drinks and a packet of wafers from the vending machine inside the small shop, and the owner had to shake and shove the machine to get it to dispense the wafers as they jammed just as they were about to drop. We enjoyed our snack and drinks at a small table outside in the shade, and the servo owner came and offered us a plate of fresh cherries, which we gladly accepted and munched down quickly as they were delicious and refreshing. He couldn’t speak any English and we can’t speak any Greek, but we both thanked him for his kindness and shook his hand, and then we rode away, both of us with crushed hands as he had the strongest handshake I’ve ever felt! The generosity he showed was really touching, and Karen and I chatted about this as we rejoined the A2 and bolted towards Thessaloniki.

Whilst our initial planning – performed months ago now – had identified Thessaloniki as a suitable overnight stop, I was keen to avoid the mayhem of a large city and so used the GPS to plot a course bypassing the city and sending us north towards Serres, the last decent-sized town on the Greek side of the border crossing with Bulgaria. The afternoon wind howled across the flat plain and constantly buffeted us, causing me concern as we were now mixing it up with a fair bit of traffic on our three lanes of road heading east to Thessaloniki.

Most of the traffic took off-ramps that led into the city, whilst we swung north and headed towards Serres. It had been a long day up to this point and Karen would have been happy to have found a hotel nearby, but we had to knock off the last 60km into Serres before the GPS found a hotel nearby for us to check into. Signs pointed to two adjacent hotels, the Alexandra and the Acropoli, and we followed a short road out of town and up a hill to the hotels. The Alexandra looked old and tired and was all boarded up, but just above it on the hill was the four star Acropoli, and for fifty euros we checked in for the evening and unloaded our luggage before riding back into town to find a restaurant for dinner.

We could see a few restaurants on the long main street as we rode along it, but they were all on the other side of the road so we looped back and pulled up outside a suitably Greek-looking restaurant. The owner could speak some English, and we ordered some Greek salads, souvlaki (for Karen) and meatballs (for me). The food was delicious and so fresh. Karen went to pay the bill (20 euro including drinks) and came back with complementary ice creams – the generosity of the Greek people we’ve met today has been lovely.

Back at our hotel it was time for a quick dip in our spa before bed. It had been a long day with approx 500km in distance clocked up – including about 80km of low-speed, technical riding along the coast and hills of Albania and a lot of high-speed riding, and some strong cross-winds to contend with, and we were both a bit worn-out, but the big push today has set us up for an easier day tomorrow as from Serres its now only 40km to Bulgaria. We’ll need to come back another time to explore Greece and do it justice.

Motorways – Albanian Style

Posted by Vince on June 25, 2015
Posted in: Albania.

I feel a bit compelled to describe the SH2 Motorway we rode on yesterday morning from Vore to Durres. This road offered some great safety improvements over the old road that ran alongside it, like the central barriers that seperated the oncoming traffic in an effort to reduce the risk of head-on collisions, but other safety devices have also been installed to improve the drive.

The road has a speed limit of either 90kmh or 100kmh (take your pick unless you’re driving a BMW or Mercedes as then no limits apply apparently). Where servos have been placed on the motorway, instead of having a slip road to exit the motorway, a 60kmh zone applies at the start of the servo apron.

Occasionally we could see overhead pedestrian crossings arching over the motorway, and these often signalled a ‘Dangerous Crossroad’. As we approached these crossings a sign announcing the ‘Dangerous Crossroad could be seen, and the speed limit would drop to 60kmh and then within a few metres 40kmh. A radar attached to a digital display showing your speed and a smiley or sad face would reward or admonish you depending on your detected speed. The central barrier had been removed at these crossroads to allow farm traffic and other vehicles cross the road.

The speed limits change so frequently on the roads here – motorway included – it’s hard to understand the rationale that’s been used to determine how fast you should be driving.

Then again, sitting on the roadway out the front of hotel in Himare under an umbrella enjoying a Tirana beer and watching all the scooter riders zip by without a helmet, and watching the cars roar down the short section of beachside road makes me wonder if road safety is just an afterthought over here …