Leg 07 - Hungary

Just in case you haven't noticed, this is not quite your standard blog as I'm organising it into legs.  So within a leg, the entries are chronological.  The legs, as seperate posts, come up in reverse chronological order as per a normal blog.  The header date for the post does not therefore represent the latest addition as most entries are edits of a previously dated post.  That's why I put a date against each day in a post, as follows.  All this allows me to update and manage the show, ie fill in the gaps.  Thanks Jayne for that note.

27 Nov 09 (cont)

Nevertheless, the change as soon as we crossed into Hungary was marked. A wealthier and prouder country – our immediate sense is of a more Western country; cleaner and tidier than Romania. The language is harder tho’ as it is not Latin based at all – it has bits of Swedish and Asian languages. Don’t know enough about languages to give you the roots of it – teachers sign language is fairly international tho’.  Afternote: Apparently Finnish (not Swedish) and as we got more used to it there seemed to be an Italian flavour to it as well.

Out into Eger this evening, too late to see any in daylight – our 1st Christmas market was on show and, most importantly our 1st gluhwein. Also our first real rain, so waterprofs out at last; appropiately you may say for a Christmas market, we felt the cold for the first time.  The most significant buildings had some illumination, but we have yet to see a town make the most of itself with night illumination. Most before here, sadly lacking any. It must be linked with the idea of customer service – as in Bulgaria, where the idea of serving a customer was alien, their shop displays were just piles of stuff in a window and their buildings were not lit – presumably the “communist” way of doing business. Hungary is a pleasant change and so much more Western focussed. Eger was fairly quiet, way out of season, and we had our 1st real rain tonight, following some afternoon fog – must get the waterproofs out. It seems pretty and we’ll explore the castle tomorrow before we set off for Lake Balaton. Another mark of Hungary’s international outlook – changed those Bulgarian lira we’d been carrying.

Despite our hotel’s claimed wifi it is not effective in our room so this blog will be yet another day behind.

28 Nov 09
 

We woke to a cold, damp, overcast day with a thick mist and stil trying to rain.  A good wander around the town - confident that we'll get to Lake Balaton later today without difficulty as it's nearly all motorway cruising.  Retrospectively, checked that Eger was where daughter Melanie used to come on her own to advise a local steel mill on HR matters.  Don't think she took time out to sight see - pity as we enjoyed the wander about and crawl over the castle ruins.  Like many of the towns we have visited, Eger has an excellent museum - it's just that museums more than the real artifacts and buidlings 'in the wild' tend to be of a muchness and lose impact when all seen together.  We're struggling enough seperating the towns and cities, but thanks to this blog I'm helped to reinforce my memories and think about where we've been.

 

Set-off for Lake Balaton - the largest lake in mainland Europe and Hungary's playground, tho' out of season now.  Mostly a steady cruise, but that suspect wheel bearing (suspect since Syria) was noisier at the end of the long run - just slightly concerned, tho' we have driven across Western Europe before with a badly failed bearing.  Looks like the rear left as that is a little warmer than the other hubs.  Bearing failures are a pig (can I use that word now?) to identify: there is no obvious looseness; the rythmic rubbing/tyre noise sound reveberates around the car body, so the particular wheel can't be identified and the sound comes and goes.  They tend to be noisier when on the inside of a turn and there is less weight on the suspect wheel. So now you can all identify one, eh ... I'd trust a garage!  On the plus side the the variable nature of the slow puncture (same wheel, since Turkey) is varying to the particularly slow side at the moment.  Still, considering having both looked at in Budapest; with all the stuff in the truck it'll be a time waste as we'll probably have to stay and watch the job. 

 

More interesting matters, Lake Balaton - flat, well of course, but so is the surrounding area except for a few interesting hillocks on the north side.  The sky had cleared progressively and we enjoyed a superb sunset again and super views over the lake, tho' our chosen town of Keszthely was disappointing - got all the old buildings and stuff alright, but - despite their own PR and the LP claims - it was like Blackpool and St Annes-on-Sea off-season - dead.  We arrived with an hour of daylight to play with, but after driving around the outside of the town and not finding our Pension for the night it was almost dark when we did find it.  The worst accom we've had so far - communist era mattresses (at least 20 years old), thought the bed would collapse from all the creaking whenever we moved, hit the pillow and a cloud of asthmatic dust came out of the Hapsburg era foam rubber lumps (did the Hapsburgs have foam rubber(?), they'd have been better off without this stuff), the sheets were too short for the bed and the towels were time-expired ... otherwise a lovely spot except for the lack of heating and no water from the shower in the morning ...  Refused to pay the agreed price in the morning, perhaps not surpisingly a reduction was quickly agreed!  A Trip Advisor entry will be coming their way.  One point of note - had the 'Country Goulash' in the 'pub' last night and the flavours of naturally pruduced food were fantastic - good meat, crisp veg and the best sauerkraut I've ever tasted.

 

29 Nov 09
 

A speedy deparure from this western end of the lake having checked out the internet cafe where we bought  the card last night (non in the pension!), useless as it connects but doesn't give the web connection(!), in hindsight could be a use once card; checked out the local castle/stately home and (for me) the Marzipan Museum (damn, it's closed). Completed the circuit of the lake (a mere 100 miles) - most interesting and cared for towns were towards the eastern end.  Plenty of cycling and walking routes, so should be good in season.

Back on the motorway and off to Budapest.  This has been an aiming point that has kept a little girl with me sane and focussed on our travels.  She will also have a rather significant birthday while we are in the city ...

30 Nov 09

No driving for 3 days hurrah.  It had been heavy rain over night and is still raining.  Off to catch a bus, they stop right outside our hotel which is just a 100 m from the Fisherman's Bastion where all the great view pics are taken looking down on the Pest half of the city.  Post Office for the bus tickets, unusually not the friendliest lady, but it is Monday moning and she seems to be doing the monthly return ...  She's certainly not serving us.  Afer a few days on the road, first stop is a doby (washing for the uninitiated) place reputed to be at the end of the bus line.  A couple of older people are v helpful and we eventually find it - launderette translates to something like "dobrit dira", but that didn't work anyway!  Then someone's eyes light up (despite awful cold) as we're off to the local equivalent of "5th Avenue".  Thanks LP, you got that wrong - the first 300 m of the 2 km road we went to wrong end of had some posh shops.  Anyway. looked around Hero's Square, did a Christmas market (well the gluhwein bit of it), saw some shops (nothing outstanding) and had a great posh lunch.  Ambled back to hotel to chill for an hour and now getting ready for concert in the Opera House - a stunning building ... bye.

The only Opera Housr show that suited our timing was a "jazz/opera fusion" - sounds whacky but worked okay as it was essentially a range of jazz styles with a limited number of songs and some modern ballet.  I liked the improvisation, but Chris was less enamoured.  The best part was being in the stunning Opera House while in use, rather than just buying into the stagnant atmosphere of a guided tour. The big shows (Tannhauser was on on the night of our arrival and another oera on our last night) get booked up early both by locals and all the tour operators.  We were happy with our arrangement.  With doing B and B everywhere we (oops, I) tend to have a large breakfast, we have a late morning coffee and cake and then a late afternoon / early evening meal and often early to bed.  So for evening peformnces we will eat beforehand, this just allows say a drink on our return at the end of the evening ... and so it was on this night, as tomorrow is an important day.

1 Dec 09

The birthday girl has a good lie in and today will be chilled in that we will, more than normal, just take the day as it comes.  I have no big presents here for her as we hoped to find something unusual enroute and that has not materialised.  Cards and stuff we normally keep for the evening and when we returned to our hotel last night we dropped in at the Hlton which is 100 m away across our square and booked a window table for dinner in their posh new restaurant.  The position is to die for as it is next to the Fisherman's Bastion.  Daughter Melanie had been giving me rocks for not spoiling my lady with a posh 5* hotel - all with the best of intentions, for Mummy to have a great day.  The way we travel that is rather a waste tho'.  We both resent paying for the upkeep of the swimming pool, sauna, jacuzzi and terrace restaurant etc in a posh hotel when we arrive about 7 in the evening; go out to a bar to eat as we do not need a particularly large meal before sleeping; retire to www and sleep in a dark room; up/shower/breakfast and out to see the sights or move on.  The 5* is meaningless - we are a bit inclined to the US Motel 7 chain motto: "who cares what the room is like when the lights are out".  Well perhaps that's a bit extreme, but you see where we're at.  So, back to Budapest and 'our' birthday, the Burg Hotel was quite ordinary, the staff we're brilliant, good English and helpful and the position was to die for with free street parking outside the front door (important as we are are not that secure on the roofrack).  Staying in the castle walls, we had walked around the castle area on our arrival night and seen all the brilliantly lit sights, so today was off to see the Parliament building and do some shopping ... errm, in the rain again.

We had one of the best guides we can remember around the Parliament, 3rd largest such buildling if I remember correctly, after the Romanian and UK ones.  It is a stunning buliding and well looked after.  It runs on Western lines, but only has 1 house surpisingly.  There are some checks and balances tho' not as strong as a 2 house/chamber system.  They do have a long tradition of rights for the people, so communism must not have sat comfortably with the people at all; their equivalent of our Magna Carta is an only slightly younger document and for the Americans amongst my readers, he enjoyed pointing out that they stopped burning witches several hundred years before the US, who I think he quoted as burning their last in 1632.

Now don't laugh too loudly: this was followed with a bit of shopping.  Would we find the present to remember for the birthday girl - no, but we found a watch for me ...
I did so want to surpirse her tho' so - following an article in the local news, we went for H1N1 injections ... certainly surprised her there.  Yes, apparently more virilant than expected, Hungary had bought in enough for the whole population, so as EU members we went for it.  A little premature - the government supplies weren't out and the free for the over 60s(!) weren't yet available -so we both paid at a private clinic.  What service, done in half an hour with personal advice from the doctor who introduced herself and shook hands, all for £10 each - a bargain.  Wake up UK.  That's one less concern travelling Europe.

Back for a pre-dinner drink and off to the Hilton - superb, service and food, a cracking view and a live pianist ... I won on that one.  An able player; Summertime is difficult; Take Five is even harder; he volunteered the second and we requested the first.

2 Dec 09

We remain a day ahead of our itinerary and had an extra day in Budapest.  Today is a take it as it comes day and as we had 2 days of rain in B'pest it is pleasant to enjoy some blue sky with just a bit of overcast., tho' some mist  An early walk along the Fisherman's Bastion for me before we pack and depart.  The parking was well organised on castle hill - as staying we qualified for a parking ticket which was validated by the hotel.  On deparure we stick this in the machine and away - which machine will that be, oh the one in the other lane.  Have seen another car coming behind, but he's already gone to the other machine, saw him turn - smack.  Oh, so he has changed his mind to our lane and is hidding in my rear quarter, way below the line of vision.  My fault (reversing car) but what a slow prat he was, couldn't have hidden himself better if he was trying.  Must also have been v close as I do nothing quickly in this truck as the vision is terrible.  Thankfully only a crack in a bumper light - new one I fitted in Kuwait for the rear-fog lights which are required in Europe, but all still work.  And he was in the wrong lane anyway!  One of the few points of minor annoyance in Hungary - generally an aware people and a well run country.

We'd seen a Tesco sign as soon as we crossed the border (impressed) and had wanted to drop in just to compare with the UK (you understand (!), also have Ikea and C and A the German chain); this morning we went out of our way to find one - big with a similar layout to a UK Tesco hypermarket, no petrol station (tho' later ones we saw did have - they are all over Hungary).  We chose some local wines for Christmas and a tube of superglue to fix that light lens before the water gets in.  Found a knive blade scrapper as well - why you may ask.  In Kuwait because of the sand blasting that cars get, it is common to cover lights at the front with fablon (adhesive plastic film) to protect them.  Windscreens akso get pitted very quickly, but they are less imporatant as they get broken, chipped and replaced frequently.  Ourt truck's screen has 3 stone chips and a crack which will all go when we replace the screen.  The fablon on the lights tho' has baked on in Kuwait's sun and is now a rigid, hard plastic film bonded to the lights.  This diffuses the light and has turned brown, so our lights are annoying and not very effective.  They will never pass the EU assessment and may need to be replaced, but I just want to have a go at scrapping off the film in case I can save the £250 that new lights will probably cost; it won't be easy as the lens are plastic as well and will want to be scrapped off at the same time!  Where was I, shopping in Tesco - it was successful.

Whenever I have used face masks I have found them to be ineffectual with all the breathed air coming around the side, so it was no surprise when the UK declared that they were of no effect against the swine flue virus ...  Our Budapest doctor advised strongly to wear a mask and we could buy them next door.  The reasoning was that once we were injected our immune systems would be weakened for a couple of weeks while it acted.  We were therefore more susceptible to picking up germs etc, especially when in crowded places.  We decided the Hilton for the birthday meal was not a crowded place and the vaccine would not have taken effect by then - but Tescos ...  We did get the attention for wearing them there - stared at, just as we stare at other such numpties ....

It was midday before we escaped the clutches of B'pest and were off up the Danube to see the 'Bend Towns'.  The bend towns, on a bend in the river, are known for an easy day out from the capital, but as they are in the direction we are travelling we'd left our arrangements open.  I was not convinced that they would be as unique as LP suggested and that was indeed the case.  Szentendre is a pretty town.  It's off-season of course so few people around and many outlets closed; we enjoyed the town and a light lunch overlooking a Danube tributary.  Then we pressed: a castle was given a miss (just been staying in a rather grand one) and on to Esztergom the seat of power for a while in Hungary.  Their 1st king, St Stephen crowned there and very much the point of pigrimmage for Hungarians.  There is a huge church, but little decoration to it, so not fantastically impressive; panoramic views over the Danube were there to be enjoyed.  We twice hit lucky: it was one of the clearest (but cold) days we've had and with an organised visit that had the organist on hand - may not be especially well decorated, but I would like to here a royal fanfare entrance here - a strunningly loud organ with more trumpets than a recall seeing for a long time.

Time for an assessment - we look like being 2 days ahead of plan and with a choice of routes to cross the border to Bucharest.  The more direct to Bucharest was a bit too long to arrive comfortably to find accommodation in a capital city.  Plan B via Sopron and to cross the border via Austria to Bucharest tomorrow was the favourite.  What a delightful town Sopron turned out to be, except it was bitterly cold.  The truck also developed an annoying warning beep whenever I started it!  No warning lights tho'.  Often referred to as little Prague, Sopron nestles up in the NW corner of Hungary; another circular town within its old walls the pedestrianised area is a delight to wander around.  This was capped with a good quality hotel - shame we didn't have time to explore the 400 year old wine cellar.  The hotel was a mere youth at 300 years old.  Having decided it was a one nighter (yet again), we had time to walk about in the evening and following morning but no time to linger.  Yes, enjoying the quality beverages as we travel is not easy; all the European countries (except Bulgaria) we have passed thro'so far have a zero tolerance attitude to drinking and driving (only marginally better than the Middle East some would say) and this will continue until Germany.  This only leaves the short evenings to sample the produce - best I press-on then ... The produce is steadily improving as we progress.

3 Dec 09

Early breakfast as have limited time - have to load parking machine from 0800 for the max of 3 hrs.  Town walk and away.  It is low cloud, even on the church spires - an awful, cold, gray day and poor for viewing anything.  That annoying beep still there on start-up - that will be the below 3 degrees ice warning then - it is cold.  Worked that out while also working out how to reset the truck's clock - another Mitsubishi idiosyncrasy.  Had to ask the time in back in Eger castle - that was why no-one else was in breakfast that morning then ...  Two hrs is enough,off to the Austrian border.  Not as easy as you might think for what should be a 50 mile shortcut.  Is Austria in the EU; can't remember, it is 15 years since we were there; will we have the Green Card faff again - we have no info 'cos it was not in the primary plan and our E Europe LP doesn't cover it.  www tells us it is EU, so no significant border checks expected.  Does it have a motorway tax, yes we think so, but don't want to pay that for just 20 miles of motorway.  So finally, no Green Card faff, but a bit of a faff to avoid the motorways which are tolled/taxed.  It is so gray and we climb to all of 800ft altitude which nearly puts us in cloud, that Austria is not worth lingering in for any sights, there are no sights to be seen.  What does smack us in the face is the clean tidy and wealthy appearance which we had forgotten.  Shame it only lasted 50 miles ...

Apologies for all those of you who were content that we were doing 13 countries and had remembered all the flags - this will make it 14 ...

Leg 06 - Romania

22 Nov 09 (cont)

Another slow day, over 4 hrs to do 102 miles including a directions faff in Bucarest. Though nearly 2 hrs was spent in Bucarest and we needed the sat-nav again. Romania's police were as keen as Bulgaria's to catch motorists, it remains to be seen whether they are as anti-tourist.

First snapshot view - a more industrious people with a care and regard for their environment. They have a spacial awareness, which makes them quick on the roads and a general awareness which lets them appreciate what others require and so give good service. These are all refreshing attitudes.

Eventuallly found the Golden Tulip Hotel, using the sat-nav and driving the correct road 3 times.  I say that 'cos their web agent's map was wrong!  It's on the best street in town and most places are walkable.  Need a leg stretch, so a good walk downtown in the evening finds us the student bar area - all v bohemian with shishas in action.  It's an active town, but not busy (thankfully, with it being Sunday).  Retire to a welcome Italian meal and red sleeping draft.

23 Nov 09

Wake early as usual.  Today will explore Bucarest, famous for outstanding museums and the 2nd largest building in the World after the Pentagon - amongst other bits and pieces.

But not before I do some blogging.  Hurrah - I am now up to date with enough pics for all the blogs.  So, for you enthgusiasts with enough time (sic) all previous blogs are now updated and up to date.  Time to go and enjoy this thing ...

Mme, it all becomes a blurrr .....

3 days later shoe-horning a blog script in and I'm a day adrift ... so where were we then?

Right - sorted my life.  Bucarest was a good walk about and I mean a good walk about.  You remember I said that the House of Parliaments building was large - we came out to find a contemporary art gallery and it was just around the building.  Halfway around became obvious that we were walking not around the building but the surrounding grounds - all I could do to get Chris to complete the hike.  Okay, so we get to the gallery ... I knew I should have read those instructions in LP ... today will be the one day its closed, arghhh ...  So with a 2 mile hike already buttoned - where's the nearest tube station - 2 miles away ...

Despite all this we enjoyed Bucharest - nice late lunch at the Hilton made everything better.  Very French except the wine.  We're trying all the local beers and wines - some leave a little to be desired, but all qualify as 'interesting'.  The city has a lot of history to show off, some has not been well looked after in the communist years and there is also a present day lack of interest, witness a lot of graffiti over even the oldest buidlings.  It is one of those old European capitals (mostly beginning with a B) that I've wanted to visit for a long time.  We retired to www at the hotel and then wandered out for another Italian that evening, just around the corner so quite convenient. Early to bed (tired!) and ...

24 Nov 09

the lost day (unfairly):  an early start to Brasov.  Not that early - bless the EU, there are so many road works here that no road runs smoothly.  With a wrong turn and stationary traffic at a couple of points, it took 2 hours to escape Bucarest on the right road.  Well that's what we thought, until an hour later we intercepted the new motorway we should have been on.  Oh and needed to put air in that slow puncture, it needs it every 2/3 days - unique in these parts, the garages do not have air lines, we had to find a tyre place called a vulcanisaire.  That is after my Chinese electric tyre pump got hot and went phut, (not a great success this device - did remind me of when I was using it in Kuwait and a local walked past, are these good he asked, oh yes said I).  Brasov, the 2nd city to see in Romania; we arrived early enough to enjoy the town in daylight.  Rather a classic European town with a large central square, delightful surrounding buildings, a town fortified wall and a history of working associations such as carpenters, weavers, belt makers - UK's old towns such as York have similar guilds.  Afternoon, dinner out and the following morning for another walkabout was v relaxing.  Even the police were friendly - especially when telling me that parking in the no vehicle town square next to his police car was not acceptable and no it was not the parking area for our hotel - he he!

A proud town and cared for.  Interestingly, for a Romanian town, the town was Hungarian occupied and the Romanian 'ghetto' was outside the city walls with a seperate town gate for entry.  Was - well a couple of hundred years ago - things have move on.

25 Nov 09

A long drive today up to the rural areas; our replanned route.  Towns progressed to steadily more rural/basic/religious.  We tend to get stared at, but the crusty face is broken nearly everytime we smile and wave back.  David Attenborough would have something to say about that. The devotion to christianity is impressive in these parts.  Sights which flashed past but did not have time to be photographed:  graveyards full of flowers and 'happy memorials', new churches (how to spend new found wealth?), oxen drawn carts and the mix of cultures from Romany through to Asian origins.

Even saw a traffic accident, at night - one of the many unlit horse-drawn carts had been rammed amidships as it tried to make a turn across the road - cart upsidedown, horse put down and driver (?) whisked away in the ambulance.

Lying in a pension bed in the depths of Southern Bucovina, Romania – we saw a couple of old monasteries today and lots of “rural scenes” – I’m writing this in a Word document and just thought I’d check for any internet and this place is wireless! No security – fairly standard in all but mid to upper quality hotels. So it’s the sort of place that wants cash up front, in case you do a runner, and when you try to pay by card they accept cards (as per the sticker on the front door) but it’s always for something else, not what you are trying to pay for now! She was miffed when I said that she’d taken all my cash earlier ... but after some thought offered to take Euros in cash. They are in Europe not the Euro Zone, but they take Euros as daily currency (tourist areas); Bulgaria was similar. And how is this for neighbourliness: Romania will not change Bulgarian currency – we’ve tried many banks and exchange offices, and the answer is always no. T’would be interesting to try the reverse. Perhaps the Romanians have the same view of Bulgaria that I do! Even in Bucarest capital of Romania and only 40 miles from the border with Bulgaria, no-one wanted to know Bulgarian scrungits (lira).

The only common ground we’ve seen so far is that the EU has bought new roads for these countries, indeed, any quality road hereabouts we wait and eventually an EU notice board appears. All other roads are past their use by date.

Today was a hard day’s drive on our replan from Brasov to Southern Bucovina; we lost an interesting drive, but reduced the mileage to a manageable level. Tomorrow, up to Maramures should replace the interesting landscape we’ve missed. We only just made it up here before night and saw our two monastries in the dusk, the second strictly in the dark, but a nun put the lights on for us – having checked that we were catholic ... had to ask her in French. English is little spoken except by the youngsters. I am surprised by how many words are similar to French in Romanian – they shop in a “magazin” and “Jandarms” police the streets.

Today, I noted was the middle day of our travels and we are in the middle one of the 13 countries we will travel through. Our replan will probably put us 2 days ahead of our schedule – at least one of those we’ll take in Budapest.

26 Nov 09

Our first frost - Jack (Frost) was all over the loevly misty countryside.  From our pension we had an early start – language difficulties produced sandwiches made by the night security guard, rather than the access to the breakfast facilities we had expected. As it turned out breakfast wasn’t on offer until about 9 whereas we were away by 8. The facilities were locked up – reminded me of military messes where it is all locked up to stop the food being knicked overnight. Security guards are a regular thing around here - indeed everywhere. In cities, any significant facility has one. We have paused outside banks and been asked to move along. Surprisingly, here in the countryside, a pension on its own, needs a guard.

We soon turned off onto the country road – leading to the Middle Ages, or at least an area claimed to not have changed since then – the first few miles up the road were as expected, with country communities maintaining old-fashioned standards. They blessed themselves with the sign of the cross as they walked/cycled past the church; women knitted in the street as they watched the World go by, oxen drew the carts full of hay and women toiled in the fields. Every house has a well for its fresh water ... well it’s not quite the Middle Ages. The oxen cart driver’s are on their mobile phones, there is a dis-proportionate number of Mercedes/BMWs around and the building material stores have grown beyond recognition and are all in new buildings. We have caught the area on the change, another couple of years and it will be nothing like the Middle Ages except for the friendly attitudes. The locals remain essentially poor and cling to their religion and old standards. Despite the poverty, the new money, whether from taxes, tourist income or brought in from earnings elsewhere is spent on a new church before anything else. The roads are poorly maintained and there are few services, but old churches are refurbished and there are more new churches than there are probably people to fill them. This is a strange contrast with the UK where we change our churches into gymnasiums and pubs. It is a level of religious activity akin to what we’ve seen in the Middle East.

The best and most old/authentic area today was to the South of Maramures, away from the LP claimed best bits. The best bits are changing fast and must have a busy ski season which brings a lot of money in.

Sighetu Marmatiei is our chosen place of recidence for the night - a border town only 2 km from Urkraine - it has all the busle and mix of people that you would expect.  Rather shabby, so we have a little difficulty finding an acceptable spot to lie down, helped by George the foreman/manager who is refurbishing his mate's rundown 'local' hotel.  He kindly advises us that it is the best food in town and sets about denigrating everwhere else he thinks we will be looking.  If he hadn't been a Tottenham Hotspur supporter from 20 yeras ago I might have believed him.  He set us up with some drinks in his mate's bar (English was an unknown language) - v friendly, but we found a place he had not done down.  Nice little hotel, but opposite the town gaol and recent communist political prison.

27 Nov 09

The last 2 days and today we’ve seen lovely scenery and countryside. Yesterday we took our time driving and so too today, after we'd toured the prison which is an education vehicle for the locals, including children, about the communist era. Today we had just one brief stop in Romania and then the border and on to Eger , Hungary – the supposed second spot to go to after Budapest in the country.

The Romanian people have been friendly and helpful – a complete contrast to Bulgaria. We’ve experienced none of the hassle and be difficult to tourists attitude. They are politer on the roads, give way to others and have an awareness of those around them and their surroundings – that spatial awareness. Despite their frequent poverty, they have a pride in themselves, their environment and their country – qualities not much seen on our journeys.

Nevertheless, the change as soon as we crossed into Hungary was marked.

Leg 05 - Bulgaria - Into Europe and the EU (with a bribe!)

18 Nov 09 (cont)

Well, Bulgaria has some surprises to offer. At the border, all the usual are looked at, then, for the first time as its Europe – “Green Card” please – yes their English is good here. That’s not a problem, in the back of the truck – this is the 3rd party compulsory insurance for Europe that came by e-mail last week. Up to now we have used the Middle Eastern equivalent the “Orange Card” which is part and parcel of the vehicle tryptique, plus cheap insurance that we’ve purchased at each border. “This is a photocopy, I need the original”.  That is all I have, sent by e-mail last week. It’s from London, Lloyds of London. “Yes, but anyone could print this on a computer”. Yes I understand, but that is all I have. We to and fro for 5 min – “You have 2 choices – go back or you may be able to buy insurance here, but it will be expensive, maybe $500”. That is too expensive, I will have to go back.  I am not confrontational, I discuss. We to and fro a bit more. “Wait”.  He discusses with his mate then comes and takes me over to an on site insurance office.  A German compnay - $500 is for European registerd cars – Middle Eastern sit over the $1000 mark. My man is very pensive and I sense there may be a chink in the armour.  He enquiries how long we are in Bulgaria – 5 days – that is my only opportunity I see to get some PR in. Yes, its a shame, if we have to go back we’ll miss 2 days at least and we were looking foward to seeing your Bulgaria.  He remains pensive – “Where do you go next?” Romania, we drive back to the UK. He disappears back into his office, then out again. "You can go back, or you can make a present and arrange for the original Green Card to be sent to you in your hotel." Okay, cracked it. At the point of bribe, I am given the choice of how much this present is to be. I’d decided that our last Turkish Lira will be offered as a starter, they will be able to spend it easily. So £16 in TL was presented and we are through.  An expensive border as we'd only just paid our Turkish speeding fine at customs.

Driving in ex-Communist countries – I don’t know anything about this, except that they were very good at state control. So until I know the ropes we’ll just do the speed limit. We don’t want to rush anyway because all the road signs are in a different, illegible scribble. The speed limits are also low – 50kph towns, 90 open roads and 120 motorways. No sooner than Chris has asked why we are going going so slowly – “Its not like you to obey the speed limits” and I have finished such explanation than we are stopped! Policeman leaps out and flags us down. Are you “Turkish?” No English. Beckoned to his car where his partner is sitting. “You were speeding”. No. Shown meter reading 89. This was an out of town highway, a wide road to become half of a motorway, but the other carriageway is not yet complete. They do have varying speed limits and so far every ‘danger’ area has been limited, so every junction and every bend has been down to 60, 50 or even 40. There are no dangers on this stretch and it is open and almost straight. “You were speeding – 89”. No, this is a 90 limit. “No 60” So why was every other car doing 95?  I am waved off.  Perhaps they expected a Turk to just pay up, or weren’t used to a robust defence. I may be reserved at times, but I’ll hold my ground! So 30 min into Bulgaria (a European frontier as I was reminded at the border) and I’ve paid a bribe (only the second in my lfe) and rebuffed a fraudulent speeding offence. Well that initiated some cynical comments as we pressed on ... particularly obeying every speed limit. How can people drive at 40kph? Our cruise control even refused on a couple of occasions. To cover the 110miles total ... including the border ... took us 4½ hrs!!! Chris has just pointed out that we have 210miles to do tomorrow – we'll never make it.  I suspect I’ll get bored enough to speed. In that 4½ hrs tho’ we overtook one vehicle – a tractor. We were a hinderance, indeed a danger at times ‘cos of the responses of a minority of other drivers. More frightening was the fact that most locals were cowed into doing these stupid limits as well.

It was all worth it. Plovdiv, despite its unattractive name, is a delightful old town. With history from before the b****y Romans and narrow winding streets it was a pleasure to wander around ... once we’d found how to get into the old castle area that our hotel was hidden in. This will be the fifth time we have driven this road ... I didn’t mind the old roads where the tyres are rubbing the kerb on both sides(!), but the bollards stumped me ... bollards to you as well.

Late lunch in our hotel – delightful welcome sparkling pop – the most coverted restaurant in town – please keep our sparkling rose bottle for dinner ... Dinner included live jazz, a good improvising quartet, who did a masterful version of Summertime my bestest favourite. If this blog goes out of focus it’s the local Cab Sav that is to blame ... not me ...

PS. For those intrepid readers still with me - a substantial, but not complete update and tidy has affected all the legs since Leg 01. Enjoy.  In reality we are first night in Bulgaria and with probably the last good internet for 3 or 4 days.

19 Nov 09

How wrong could I be – good internet again. There’s a reason for this. Courtesy of the awfully slow roads in Bulgaria, it took us all day to do little today.

Driving here is similar to the UK 50 years ago – and yes I do remember! Average speeds are approx 30 mph. To speed things up we changed our route and took a longer, but faster motorway one. As we expect, we get lost every now and then and today it was Sofia which cost us an hour extra. That negated the time we’d saved by going by motorway. So in total to cover a planned 120 miles took 4½ hrs! Replan required. We binned the furthest monastry and dramatic mountains to drive back in the direction of Sofia. We’ll find a hotel on the road or Sofia’s outskirts – we thought. After cruising Sofia’s sprawling outskirts in the rush hour for 2 hrs and getting nowhere ... Signage awful, I’d been reading handheld GPS and inputting to Google Earth to find where we were lost to! A slow process! I wonder if the sat-nav in the netbook will be any good yet. Earlier checks had shown few roads this far east in Europe. Turkey had non. I’d thought we would need old EU countries before it would be useful, but no – brilliant (in Sofia the capital that is – as I discover tomorrow!). Being an old fashioned real navigator I’ve only played with sat-navs occasionally, but am now sold on them. Sofia coverage was good, we went straight to an LP hotel buried in little suburbs, but stayed in one just a couple of blocks away. Exhausted – just had a v sound sleep – a couple of pints sleeping draft helped tho’ Today’s replan, will cut out Belogradchik Rocks, we’ll wander Sofia and drive straight to the NE. A day saved in this process will give much easier driving and generate an extra day in sowewhere much more appealling like Budapest.

Received a text from Graham Whitehead yesterday – v supportive thank you. Tells me reading this blog is like listening to me telling the tale. That is great news as it is the feel I wanted to give, though it may make it a little verbose. Any other comments willingly received.

So, who is Mountin Goat – a Welshman or you can’t spell? The jag pic suggests my old mate Pete – confess.

20 Nov 09

This morning’s wander around Sofia v satisfying, clear blue sky and we were out before most as the shops don’t open until 10 or 11. The graffiti, rubbish and desolation of abandoned buildings and the like disappoint us. The graffiti is new, the rest we have seen continuously on this journey. Perhaps what surprises us most is that Bulgaria is in the EU, yet few signs of that are evident – only fast cars and EU financed roads (only the good ones) are seen.

Right, so that you are quite clear where I am coming from but may never go again – Bulgaria (as it shows in it’s public face) is the most tiresome and obnoxious country I have ever been to and that includes nearly 60 countries. I have not been stopped this often since I was a student, then it was just once or twice a week, here we average once a day. So you remember the bribe to get in and the bogus speeding accusation. Well every, and I think I mean every, town has a police check (a car and 2/3 policemen) at the first hidden bend/pull-in with a radar gun. They leap out with a little red/white wand to flag you down – no that’s wrong ... to flag US down. That’s the standard, but the border to Plovdiv (2 days ago) had a greater number of police check points. In fact the very first we saw was 2 miles from the border and flagged down a lorry to check his paperwork – I do wonder what the guy imagined they did at the border with immigration, customs and vehicle checks ... Today leaving Sofia – how can they pack in so many check points and still have business to spread around? – less than every 2 miles there was a check, and that was only on our side of the road. Yes, you’ve already guessed, we got stopped. Typical of the attitude – "You don’t speak Bulgarian" (spoken in scribble). As if I ever wish to speak a language from this backwater. “I speak 4 languages (rattles off 4 related local languages) but you only speak one”. (I have no desire to extend this exchange by trying to communicate in French). The monologue continues in scribble as we have no recognised common language and fills more than 5 minutes (a standard police annoyance technique – to waste your time). Though I cannot speak Bulgarian, apparently I can understand the section in their Highway Code which states that you should always drive with lights on. (Interestingly their Highway Code looks remarkably like ours (in the UK) – is that what the Cambridge Five (Burgess and his mates) were passing on as seccrets? You can tell I was bored with this waste of 10 min of my life. Politely advising me that “Sir we always drive with lights on in Bulgaria, will you please switch yours on” – I wish – requires a 10 min time waste and a check of all my documentation – “International Driving Licence?” – body language and speach to suggest that this is not acceptable – “home country licence?” “Yes that’s right.” (Well actually both are right!) And to finish off I need to be told what others have been fined for such heinous crimes. This place has not grown up from communism yet. Oh, and if you are wondering, yes we clocked another before the day was out. No. It was not for falling asleep at the wheel because 40 kph (25 mph) is soooo boring. I don’t know what it was for. Perhaps they were bored and we were the next vehicle. Certainly we were doing 50 kph – correct for a town – it was night (no the gits don’t stop at night) – perhaps we just look interesting. No even I don’t buy that one. Gut feeling – if they can turn a dollar with little hassle they will go for it. Tonight, as I lowered the window (first one to get to the car before I was out) and said Good evening, his jaw just sagged a little. A scan of the roofrack and interior told him we would be hard work. “Documents” Now apparently, the International Driving Licence is enough.

For any Bulgarian readers (but more relevantly Ivan and Sam following us from Kuwait), how you imagine that any tourist would wish to visit your police state (worse even than Saudi Arabia or Syria) when the focus seems to be abbrasive one-upmanship, hassling tourists and to slow even the best roads (normally paid for by my EU taxes) to a crawl such that no more than one tourist sight can be seen in a day, is beyond me. Sadly, and we’ve never said this before, we will probably never be back. This is not reflected in individuals we meet, for the second time we have had a friendly taxi driver take us (cost free) to our hotel, in Veliko Tarnovo, tonight.

I think I’ve said enough – I am just saddened.  If you drive here, any flash of a light, however slight is indication of a police check ahead.

After our walk around Sofia, Koprivshtitsa was our other event today.  Enroute we had the truck washed - a thorough job and a ray of sunshine for Bulgaria (tho' not us), the guy who did it was sharp enough to notice a half flat tyre.  Well down and well picked up, something to keep an eye on; it turned out to be a slow but variable puncture over the ensuing days.  Koprivshtitsa, just 20 min off our route, is a quaint village with tourist anticipated money going in. Made pretty with quality refurbished buildings (houses, shops and hotels),it has a stream running through, a series of hump-backed bridges and that quiet timeless atmosphere that is so relaxing (off season mind). I should say that we have not seen any other village like it and no village buildings painted in such tourist pastels – but it is a lovely spot and with beautiful surrounding countryside and walks it could fill the best part of a week.

That relaxation and a wrong turn delayed us enough that the second event today was missed – sunset on the national memorial sight of Shipka Pass. If I remember, this was the site of a Russian-Ottoman Turkish battle that saved the day. The view in the early evening was stunning. We are now ensconced, with a sleeping draft in Veliko Tarnovo – the hotel’s a lovely old building, we have a suite over-looking the valley, and the dinner was enough for 6. Generally the price gives away the quantity of food – here we need to halve the figures.

PS. If you see a Bulgarian with an umbrella – don’t stand-still in a bus queue. (For those not read-up on the Bulgarian secret-police, see me after)

PPS.  I almost forgot, just to finish off this police state - they block Skype type internet services, just like that other police state Syria.

21 Nov 09

A day to chill in Veliko Tarnovo, almost - a jammed cubby hole in the truck needs a hefty screwdriver to force it open.  (Surprising for a Japanese car, I don't expect silly things like this to fail, but it's the second time it's happened.)  As we are down at the bottom of the valley near the river, it is a long walk up windy alleyways to get to the main and shopping streets.  We first search for and eventually find the bridge over to the art gallery in a narrow ox-bow of the river.  It's a communist era show of pictures - gosh they are unusual.  There appears to have been a limited range of subjects: religious with a focus on hell and fiendishly horrific faces of anguish or crowd scenes of life under communism with the most miserable faces possible.  You might think this unusual, but we had not seen a single person smile in Bulgaria, let alone laugh until dinner last night.  They must have been on a good wine.  Then to the shops, but lunch first.  An LP recommended cafe presents itself at the ideal time, it is well positioned, outside and popular.  If only our waitress had any interest in earning the wage she presumed to take home at the end of each day.  I'm never impressed when someone tries to remember my complete order - we were halfway down the order list before a correct item arrived.  Someone close to me is saying, don't you ruin my lunch by making a show ... This has almost capped off Bulgaria, but there is just one (I promise) more thing ...

Since the Green card bribe incident, have been chasing the UK agent to DHL an original Green Card to us.  For a mere £66 DHL claim to be able to deliver within 3 days - 3 days, are they using a local pony and trap?  After a squabble about there being no postcode for Veliko Tarnovo, (Bulgaria doesn't do postcodes) and they can't guarantee Friday delivery without a postcode, the package doesn't get into Bulgaria until Saturday morning (would appear that the postcode isn't that relevant then) and - the clincher - DHL in Bulgaria is closed for Saturday and Sunday.  I may have the wrong idea, but I don't think DHL will be retaining my £66!  Well, we are not hanging around waiting for a Green Card, as you may have noticed we are not too enamoured with the place.

22 Nov 09

Veliko Tarnovo is an attractive old town with significant development going on.  Our hotel is most attractive, as is the street of similar old buildings.  It is lively and has character.  This morning we will visit the citadel, a large hilltop with enclosed town, just away from the modern town centre before pressing on to the border a day early than originally planned.  Various money grabbers are around the citadel, but we escape unscathed.  There was also a market researcher - comments on your visit - no thank you.  On reflection - our visit today or to Bulgaria - "Bulgaria" - give me one of those surveys now ...

So off to the border, the potential for a Green card faff concerns us but comes to nought.  Not the slightest interest is shown.  To my enquiry as to whether we can have a passport stamp - "No, Europe now" - he says with a smile (Yes a SMILE).  But I lied - there is just one final nail in the coffin - to get out of Bulgaria there is another tax - non-EU vehicle tax of 6 ... Bulgarian Lira you would expect, especially as it is for non-EU vehicles and Bulgaria is not in the Euro zone ... er no, we'll take that only in Euros thank you.

We definitely won't be back - Clint, go elsewhere.

Another slow day, over 4 hrs to do 102 miles including a directions faff in Bucarest.

Leg 04 - Turkey

9 Nov 09 (cont)

So what will Turkey offer, is it to be like Syria in these parts.

Just as we are mulling these questions, well I am, Chris is asleep already after her disturbed night before, and a rock thrown by a kid at the roadside thumps into the side of the truck!...

PS. Websites no longer blocked so will try to tidy-up the blog tonight in Cappadocia. Still behind with Saudi/Jordan stuff but getting on. This Aleppo hotel is wireless in most parts but not our room!!! so ...

PPS.  For those intrepid readers still with me - a substantial, but not complete update and tidy has affected all the legs since Leg 01.  Enjoy  In reality we are first night in Bulgaria and with probably the last good internet for 3 or 4 days.

It was just a short run into Antakya, Turkey (Antioch as it was known in biblical and such times).  The freedom and cosmopolitan atmosphere is welcoming.  The stone throwing seems to be out of character and I wonder if it was from that disadvantaged section of the Turkish population, the Kurds.  They and the Druze influenced locals seem to be rather gypsy like in this neck of the woods and not well regarded.  The hotel shows a good example of industriousness - knackered at the end of the day, while manoeuvring outside I manage to tear off several pieces of best marble step at the front of the hotel.  many apologies and I disappear for a beer, hoping that I won't be charged.  A beer and a tidy-up and we are off into town for a knees-up, well not quite, but the important thing is that you could!  What do I note - not only is the rubble from the steps glued back into place, the cracks are filled and the filler painted to match the marble ... now where would you get that?  Certainly not in the Middle East that we know; not even in the UK.  (I am doing this finish off while sunning on the balcony for our last night in Bulgaria)  Certainly not in anywhere since Turkey either.  Antioch was time to gather our wits and just do a liuttle tourism.

10 Nov 09

The little was this morning - we walked to the Museum, it is well managed and presented, and shows some stunning mosaic flooring from the local Roman villas.  As ever you are tripping over bits of column and stone carvings.  We were mixed up in the local Rememberance parade on the way there - it commemorates Ataturks death and they wear orange ribbon.  Ataturk stands for "Father of the Turks" an assumed name which marks the fact that he was instrumental in creating the present day state.  We will meet him again as he was also instrumental in defeating the allies at Gallipoli. A stroll by the river, then a pack and we went to St Pierre's church just out of town (unplanned) as it is claimed to be the first ever cathedral - its a cave with all the usual additions to allow the limitation of view and so the right to charge tourists.

We needed to relax, but also know that it will be a hard day's drive - 330 miles to Cappadocia.  Had hoped to just take breaks at a couple of interesting points, but missed the turn for Snake castle which looked stunning and we binned Adana and Tarsus.  It was still a long drive, the early night fall giving us a long time on country roads in the dark with little to navigate by.  All the advice to not drive at night in Turkey is well grounded - poor roads, poor lighting, unlit vehicles and the death wishes of most other drivers are enough to put any sane person off trying it.  Not for the first time did a gut feeling and stopping for a slight shadow ahead save our bacon.  Without pilot standard eyes many would struggle or travel so slowly that it's not worth it.

Arrival in Goreme, Cappadocia, about 19.30 was stunning.  The road in gives a view over the town and many rocks and caves are illuminated - it certainly wet the appetite.  Sleeping in a cave was also stunning - the heating had been on all day as well so it was cosy - a deluxe bedroom (suites were available) was like a small suite.  The town was quiet and there were few places to eat, but we found a bohemian sort of place and then slept solidly.

11 Nov 09

Modest start and first to the Goreme Museum - a good starting point which gives a feel for the place and emphasises the preponderance of religious caves that were carved out.  Taking a couple of walks out of the LP (Lonely Planets), the first was disappointing and produced none of the promised unusual landscape - had we been spoilt we wondered - or was their idea of unusual something that was different from the rest of the Cappadocia hills?  That would be strange, as most tourists must surely be there for the 'standard' Cappadocia hills which are very unusual.  A conundrum indeed.

Back to enjoy our rock home and the stunning views ... with wifi access ...

If only - I decided to fix the blown circuit on the cigarette lighter.  Having lost it, the only car lighter socket remaining is one I fitted which is not ignition controlled.  If we use that every day, it will only be a matter of time before we stop and forget to unplug it; the coolbox/fridge will flatten the battery and we'll be stuffed.  What a pain - I usually have a high regard for the reliable and straight forward design of Japanese motors - not this one.  Firstly, why they should choose to put a fusible wire in the cigarette socket itself, when the circuit is already fused, is beyond me.  But having done so you might expect ready access to that socket - no the gear shift panels and half the dashboard need to be removed for access - even then the socket is a b******d to get at and the cables are not long enough to allow removal.  The fusible link is not a replaceable unit - so I bypass it - circuit is fused after all.  Oh and to cap it off, the gear shift panel plastic is almost time-expired and cracks - brilliant piece of design!

Best restaurant in town for dinner, we found it this evening - the Orient.

12 Nov 09

Woken for the second morning by the wooshing of gas burners on hot-air balloons.  They only flew in the early morning, before the wind got up, but added a sureal air to the place.  Impressive to be sat on our veranda (on the internet!) with balloons flying literally overhead and looking over such a stunning lanscape ...

Today offers a modest drive (200 mls) to Side a Roman town on a promontary in the Med.  We do want to arrive in time to look around the place tho' and our accom is not confirmed.

Turns out that our LP recommended hotel is closed - that'll be why the Aussi who runs it is not bothering to answer e-mails.  That we discover from talking to locals after we've spent an hour driving the v narrow lanes of the pedestrian precinct area of the old town.  Time and the day draws on; in near desperation and fatigiue we jump into a motel type place just outside the old city walls - it turns out to be well placed for an early morning stroll tomorrow, as it is so close by the amphitheatre and ruined town.  This is the first time we have been cold and sleep with our fleeces on - there is no heating and the hot water doesn't work properly either.  What is yet to come?

Side, pronounced cedar, is an attractive tourist town and warrents a return one day.

13-14 Nov 09

We're approaching the point at which the planned route doesn't work and v conscious of the difficulty of covering the ground so far experienced.  The forward plan fron Kuwait to UK and the back plot from the Denmark ferry (last before Christmas) to Kuwait meet here in Turkey and produced a distance of 810 miles to be covered in 2 days.  Apart from being fatigued, Chris has picked up a bug which is giving her a v sore throat which is developing into a conventional flue.  Aching and lacking interest in the "tour", we are also concerned that she must not develop a temperature - Turkey was the first country to body temperature check us on entry, for the H1N1 virus.  These are all, and each, good reasons to cut chunks out of our itinerary.  We also juidge that this an area that we will return to - it is the popular holiday coast of Turkey and cheap to fly to from the UK.  It is a fantastic coast to hire a yacht on and offers good diving - "we'll be back".  So, not too concerned about missing bits, we set a gruelling drive to get ahead.  Kas, Patara ( a spot we selected and friends John and Silvia recommended for a particular family hotel), Bodrum, Marmaris and Pamukkale, amongst others fall by the wayside.  Sadly a few non-Roman ruins are lost as well - aware of becoming Romaned out I had included other eras whenever possible - Seljuk, Myran, Lycian.  We'd also purchased a guide to the Lycian Way - a walk which stretches from near Olympos to Fethiye - that will have to wait until another day.

What won't though is 1000km overdue oil change - we spot a Mitsubishi garage on the outskirts of Antalya.  How long - about an hour.  Knew it wouldn't - hour and a half.  Consciencious - check parts (I'm loath to immediately offer up the only spare oil filter that I've brought with us), no we only have diesel version oil filters - okay use this one I prepared earlier.  It turns out to be a full service and signed up for half the UK price.  The conscientious lad doing the tyre pressures is most upset when I tell him to re-inflate above his fugures 'cos there's a lot of weight in the truck.  I may also have upset them when I recheck the oil outside - but I would be silly not to.

So, later than desired, but a good tick cleared and we are away.  As if navigation wasn't hard enough, I have been struggling to convert our Google Earth references into degrees and minutes lat & longs and get them printed for easy reference ahead of our route, now on a re-route it is impossible so we are 'making it up as we go along'.  Thankfully we are just about to creep onto our AA European atlas - its a large scale this far east but is an easily accessed reference.  Mugla is our night stop and a business man's 2/3* is our hotel after an ineffective LP faff in town - this hotel is just out of town.  We have cut inland to shorten the route, though night driving on country routes without a detailed map and with the usual hazards is as ever hard work.  In 2 days we only take breaks and the points visited are:

Chimera - natural gas seeps from the ground and is warm enough to self-ignite on contact with the air.  These flames have been burning for millenia.

Selcuk/Ephesus - said to be the best preserved Roman city in the Eastern Med.  I suppose it depends how to choose your words - where does the "Eastern Med" extend to.  It is a compact site and has all the makings of a Roman city.  It is interesting to see such an intimate city and one over undulating terrain, but the old harbour has not been excavated.  We were pleased we saw it and its many statues, but disappointed 'cos it doesn't hold a candle to Palmyra, Syria which is a vast site covering 3 distinct periods and Jerash, Jordan which is not as big as Palmyra, but is also a huge and complete Roman city.

We stayed in Selcuk and enjoyed the market - a short chill out.  The LP accom did not appeal, so we picked a place opposite with an appealling veranda'd room and views to the basilica behind.  We've needed the heat on every night now since Side and our fleeces are well used - it is of course November, but the rapid temperature changes as we go North are noticeable and the clear evenings are distinctly cold.

15 Nov 09

Today was not unusual – a late breakfast (0830) limits us to our start time, oh and Mustapha was late off the starting blocks, so breakfast was in fact 0845. Then some faffing to print the next 2 pages of our itinerary, the lats and longs of our pinpoints, and need to load Excel on to this Turkish computer! Then a print of our Green Card, 3rd party car insurance for Europe which was e-mailed to us yesterday – long story, but insuring a foreign registered car with a reliable UK company is near impossible. Well now we are fully covered – another Lloyds company is covering the fully comp part – we received that as we drove thro’ Saudi. Tho’ the trytique covers an element of insurance, the most important 3rd party cover has been purchased seperately at each border so far. After Turkey, we do not expect that to be the case – tho’ an open mind always helps with these matters!

Oh, not to miss - while I'm computer faffing, Chris gets taking to Mustapha who'd been okay but not stunningly on the ball - she mentions that she's a teacher (I've been a teacher as well everywhere we've been - engineering).  Unlike the UK, teachers must still be held in high regard in Turkey, certainly Mustapha did his - he could not do enough for Chris.  Unmoveable the previous day on the room price, this morning he presents a free guide book to Selcuk/Ephesus (indeed a choice of books), a pottery plate (inherited with his father's shop) and 2 carved rock animals for our grand-children.  He's just given us the value of the over-night room!  Amazing generosity, we leave with a chasened view and his parting advice - do 90 kph, police!

So, to the day. Not so far today with Gallipoli as the target, e-mail confirming 2 nights accom arrived last night. Had a brief look around the old part of Selkuc, exploring the back alleys in a truck is always exciting, then off to find Sirince a pretty local village – signage poor and we miss the turn so decide not waste any more time and press on. Have cut out several distant points so Pergamum (Bergama) the site of the largest Roman hospital in the East is the next point, but not to linger – we’re a bit Romaned out (wot more b---dy Roman columns) and wot did the Romans do for us anyway ... (for Monty Python afficionadoes). This proves a good 30 min detour from the through route – on a hill above the town we get a superb view of the Roman city, and Acroplis and fortifications on the hill above, with a theatre in each. A leg stretch and we are off. Now aiming for a lunch stop – will be a bit late but we’ll see how the time goes. I’d better come clean ... we ended up being a bit later still ... first speeding ticket. A fair cop as we say as I’ve been speeding all over the Middle East. Turkey’s limits are clearly defined if you can be sure what is in town, out of town highway or motorway. Rather like the UK there are no reminders, so is the town ring road in or out of town. What is a motorway, is it coded blue, green or orange and when they have multiple numbers what are they? So on an out of town 4-lane highway with central (but flat) reservation, it isn’t a motorway and I should be doing 90kph with a 10% allowance that is 99. Hmme, 115 will not be okay then – 128TL

please at a suitable bank. £45 is not too bad for the first hit, I guess. Ayvalik it is for lunch – slightly touristy harbour, several well positioned restaurants. Local help found us a car park and we settled to an almost French style lunch – well deserved we thought(!). I’ve behaved so far but stretched to a glass of wine before more driving today. We didn’t get away until 3.15 and it’ll be dark in a couple of hours. Cut out some more points and set Gallipoli as the next; sadly, as its always been one of those schoolboy dream spots, having to miss Troy, it was just dark as we passed the turn-off and we have the ferry to Gallipoli to catch.

Enjoyed a stunning sunset enroute – both before a cloud sheet and before terra firma, a double wammy as the politicians say. Find Gallipoli Houses and our host Eric (Belgian) easily from his directions. Nicest place we’ve stayed so far, good food (the Belgians are better than the French) and fine wine – enjoy. The European quality conversation is welcome as well, covering all sorts including our desert travels - Eric shows great interest in our sand ladders (see 7 Sep 09), but as they are the support for all our roofrack kit they are still necessary.  This part of the World is not strong on heating tho’ so we are sleeping in fleeces for the second time.

16 Nov 09

Reasonably early start with 0800 breakfast – what a change, fried not boiled eggs. Clear the suitcase from the truck to re-organise before the European winter. Eric v helpful with detailed maps and guide book of the Gallipoli battlefields. A really chilled day, just wandering a couple of planned sites and some others as we pass. A beach walk, a hill walk and sunset with red wine on a beach after seeing, amongst others, the Lancashire Fusillers and Anzac memorials. The Gallipoli pensinsular is a lovely area, pretty and relaxing. The only other guest at the accom, Gary (Aussi who works for Woolworths – more successful down there than UK!) is staying 6 nights and will enjoy the plentiful walks. Dinner is the usual 4 courses (!) and tonight we have a local small tuna – only the second time we’ve had fish on this adventure – dryer than traditinal tuna, but still good. Ate too much, not the best night’s sleep for me.

17 Nov 09

I’m up at the usual 0600, I never need as much sleep as Chris, and do some internet – e-mails and banking. This morning will be a late departure as we set ourselves up to enter Europe and the cooler weather which we are already experiencing in the evenings. Clear skies are cold and we are leaving room heating on now. We’ll hopefully have more space in the truck when we’ve finished. Though the junk level has dropped a bit behind us, it is still consistently up to the window sills and a bit above, even tho’ I’ve now given away one of our water containers and one petrol container (both of which leaked a little). Today we have a leisurely run up to Edirne with just the town to look at on arrival.

It is a pleasant relaxed drive, tho’ navigating Edirne is not so easy. My navigator has some difficulty as there are far more mosques in reality than the LP (Lonely Planets) map suggests, indeed more mosques per square inch than we’ve seen before. After a run thro’ town and back we eventually find it – we also note that such small towns may appear the same size in map terms as cities we know, but they flash past outside much quicker! It was the first boutique hotel that opened here and sits between the main mosques and the museum, a v good situation. The mosques’ calls to pray have been steadily getting less intrusive as we progress, so we don’t anticipate an early wake-up call here. Nice room with a mix of Art Deco and Baroque furniture. The shower is a walk-in, sit down and have your body pummelled by water jets type – all in best white plastic. Rather like vibrating beds(!), it’s boring and a naff gimmick.

The journey and finding the hotel took longer than anticipated, but we have time to wander the town, drink tea and I drop in for a Turkish haircut. I can see why our ladies do it so much when you get this service. Chris regretted saying she would wait; the guys are funny and threaten me with a heavy metal type spike (if that’s the term), but I come out with a quiff, individually moussed and positioned strands, trimmed eye-brows and fresh aftershave. All this for 4 quid, bargain. Chris not to be left out goes for a street shoe polish – took nearly as long as my haircut and cost ... 80p. Squeezed in a beer in a local cafe, upmarket in that it had outside gas heaters, but positioned in a v old part of town – buildings unchanged in a couple of hundred years. Tucked up in this NW corner of Turkey, european Turkey, it has a european flavour, the language is markedly different from the rest of Turkey (E European) and we feel we are almost there. The market is interesting and we catch an indoor arcade (Victorian era to us) – its open ‘cos the local TV channel is hosting a magazine article there with interviewer etc. Are we TV stars – not sure.

Late and fatigued, we made do with a shawma on the hoof.

18 Nov 09

Not properly up as early as we wanted, but there is only a short drive of 110 miles to Plovdiv in Bulgaria today, with nothing to see enroute. I was on the netbook from 6 again, but showers and a slowish breakfast delayed us. The first time we have not had self-service breakfast – so it was portion controlled, I mentally note that we can expect more of this. But what a day to look forward to – Europe and “civilisation”, as Frenchman was to remark later over lunch. We are off and there is no rush - am not even up to the speed limit, which has remained steadily at 120kph almost everywhere we’ve been. It is foggy tho’; we saw the last of the sea until Denmark yesterday and I did wonder if it was also the last of the sun! Today I’m reminded of those large static low pressure systems that can sit over central Europe for weeks and wonder if we are to see few views as we cross Europe. It’s only 12 miles and we are at the border, the Turkish side is smooth with few checks and a general waving on – so unusual that it catches me out and I dawdle at windows unnecessarily.