Tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn we’ll be on our way again, on the 7am ferry across the Marmara Sea to Bandirma. Goodbye Istanbul, a city we’ve slowly come to feel at home in and know pretty well now that we’ve trekked to many of its corners, trying to hunt down those elusive visas for the next part of our journey.

We only had moderate success in our quest. Iran is now certain, thanks to a very pretty piece of paper in our passports. Syria proved to be more complicated as Germany has stopped issuing the letters the Syrians require to grant a visa, making Friedel’s passport rather useless. Foiled by international politics. We will try our luck at the border instead, where we have a decent chance of getting in according to other travellers.

Pakistan was also a no-go as our visa would expire before we get there but with the fighting in the country at the moment, perhaps it is for the best. We may try again for a Pakistan visa in Tehran but we’re also planning an alternative through Central Asia and hoping for an early spring if we need to set a course for the mountain passes of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

All that is far in the future, however. The next few weeks will take us along the coast of Turkey to some of the world’s great archaeological sites and also hopefully to some beautiful deserted beaches. We are also crossing our fingers for good weather along the coast, now that the autumn chill has definitely started to show here in Istanbul. The wooly sweaters and long lycra will be coming out of our bags sooner rather than later!

Before we run onto the boat, here are a couple videos we’ve had hanging around; one of us going up Greece’s Katara Pass and another of the morning traffic coming into Istanbul.

A few days ago we met Greece’s nicest bar owner and today our paths were lucky enough to cross with what we are sure is the country’s best bike shop. It was pure chance that we happened to stop at a sports store – looking for bike gloves for Andrew – where the owner knew someone who knew someone and a few phone calls later a cheery man called Costas appeared on his motorscooter to lead us to the bike shop. Costas was good friends of the owner of this little shop, tucked a few streets back from the main coastline drag.

We spent a few happy minutes picking out Andrew’s new gloves as well as a few bits and bobs for the journey ahead. When the moment came to pay, we were digging around in our wallet for the money when the owner plucked a 10 euro note out of our hands and declared the bill paid. It was only a fraction of the total and despite our protests he wouldn’t take another cent. Instead, he ran off to get a laptop so we could check our email for free from his shop, then wished us well a few minutes later as we set off for the rest of our journey.

Once again we are humbled by the kindness of others.

After a quick lunch we were soon passing through the farmland that leads from the bustling coastline city of Alexandroupoli to the Turkish border. The headwind that has plagued us for the past two days continued as strongly as ever and we struggled to even get down the hills, let alone up them! It took us over four hours to cover about 40km and the sun was riding low in the sky as we approached the Greek checkpoint. A quick look over the passports and we were on our way, cruising over the bridge between the two countries, smiling at the soldiers and finally reaching the Turkish border post. Our sixteenth country so far! (more…)

Our last full day in Greece ended up being a bit like our first day in the country. Difficult! Several times we really had to ask ourselves why we were going around the world on bicycles??? It truly seemed crazy as we fought on many different fronts.

The wind blew strongly all day in our faces and from side to side, with gusts so strong it was hard to get anywhere without a real effort. Even when we should have been flying down hills we had to pedal. Not that there were many hills to pedal down. The road turned out to be much hillier than we’d anticipated and this too was a blow to our morale.

We’d worked hard yesterday to try and get into Alexandroupoli early and find a few things before we cross into Turkey but by the time we stopped for lunch at a church, listening to the wind howl across the fields of cotton and corn, we realised that wasn’t going to happen. (more…)

Today was a beach day. We woke up by the water in our campsite and finished there as well with supper on the sand as we watched fisherman wade out into the waves. They had lines and hooks but also a long rod which they plunged through the water and into the sand. Maybe trying to catch some kind of crab or clam?

Our first plan was to sleep under the stars on the quiet beach but the mosquitos came out near dusk and put an end to the idea of snoozing outside in just our sleeping bags. Instead we made a last minute dash to an olive grove just up the road which also made a peaceful home for the night. There can’t be many other things like a mosquito which have the ability to annoy people all over the world. We certainly thought the season might be over by now but no such luck!

Earlier in the day we dawdled over small country roads along the Nestos river delta; an area which seems to live on farming and has more bird life than we’ve seen anywhere else in Greece. Herons were out fishing in the marsh waters near the beach and we saw hawks soaring overhead. Beautiful.

The wonderful thing about this little trip of ours is that every day is different. Earlier this week we were in the chaotic city of Thessaloniki and just a short distance down the road we arrived at a relaxing beach house – in a totally different world. The beach house was owned by our new friend Harry, someone we met through the Hospitality Club website. Harry, a Greek who grew up in Germany and will soon be moving to Canada, was a wonderful person to get to know. Over the couple days we spent together we chatted a lot about his upcoming move to Vancouver, really enjoyed his specialty drink – the Pick Me Up, a mix of Bailey’s and coffee – and also swapped quite a bit of music. Harry, we really wish you well for your move to Canada and thank you so much for giving us a home away from home.

It’s visits like this that remind us how lucky we are to have been on the receiving end of so much hospitality over the past year, and how much we will have to return when we get a house one day. Everyone reading this is welcome to come and visit when we’re settled again!

After we left Harry, we cycled along the coast towards the city of Kavala. We didn’t quite make Kavala, stopping instead just outside the city. The coastline really stood out throughout the day with its clear waters, shimmering all colours of blue and teal. Even though it’s late in the season, the temperatures are still quite high during the day and the beaches are far from deserted. Germans especially seem to be out in great numbers.

It was warm enough that we felt the urge to stop midway through our trip for an afternoon frappe, a combination of iced coffee, milk and sugar that is our new addiction. Today we got ours at a little Kantina, or a roadside refreshment stand. They are everywhere here and the one we stopped at had little tables and chairs overlooking the beach. Gorgeous. If we’d had more water on board at the time, we might just have pitched our tent right there for a few days.

Looking at the map, we realise we’ll soon be in Turkey. Just three more days and we’ll be across the border. After spending the best part of the past year exploring Europe, it’s hard to believe we’ll soon be leaving it behind for quite some time to come.