Today is the day that I, Dick Hubbard, 72 years young, ride a fully-laden motorbike right across Istanbul - one of the mega cities of the world. Less dramatically I could merely say we crossed the Bosphorus and moved from Asia to Europe. Take your pick dear reader!
Actually it was a lot better than expected (or feared !). We leave the city of Bolu and hit the main Ankara to Istanbul motorway. It was “interesting “ riding this three lane “go as fast as you can “ motorway. Riding next to the fast lane was a bit like riding alongside a rifle range and hearing the bullets go past next to you. I think some cars were doing 160 km per hour plus and only looked semi in control. My indicators and mirrors worked overtime.
However having got to Istanbul in one piece we found the traffic flowed better than expected. Then we come to the big and highly symbolic bridge
Europe!
And just to prove it there was this fuzzy sign which reads “ welcome to Europe”.
There were all the sights of a big city.
And thus we rode to the city of Edirne on the Greek border. It was Independence day or Victory day as some were calling it. Everyone was in party mode (which means they won the war in 1922 !)
Apparently they closed the border for the day to stop the Greeks from coming over (the Greeks lost the war I think). So no one could cross the border. The result was the next morning when we went to cross there was a queue of cars stretching back for at least a kilometre. Being on the bike we just went to the head of a queue and got waved through.
Then we were at the Greek border control. From what I remember the conversation with the immigration officer went like this-
“ Why are you visiting Greece ?” He asked
“ Because we personally know a Greek goddess “ I replied
“ Really?”
“Yes” I said “ And what’s more she is a direct descendant of the beautiful goddess Athena who was the goddess of wisdom, poetry , art and, interestingly enough, war strategy and .............”
“ What is the name of your friend?”
“ Well Sir, her name is “ Mrs Davies from Arrowtown”
“ Through you go and get out of here!”
And thus the Hubbards arrived in Greece!
And as we travelled down to Thessaloniki one could not help think of all the historical figures who travelled the valleys we were riding through. You certainly feel a sense of history. And alongside us was the sparkling waters of the Mediterranean. It was a good day on the bike.
Tonight we stay in a typical modest Greek Taverna - it is the building on the left lane towards the back of the square. After 6 days straight of riding just over 3000 km from Baku to Thessaloniki we feel it is time for a break and a bit of luxury.
Comments