Saturday, 17th of March
After leaving Belgrade through a fog as thick as pea soup, we had a very nice day on the road to Greece. Sunny, 15-20°C… Even a hint of sunburn for Tom!
Serbia and Macedonia were very pleasant to drive through. Even tough these countries are not in the EU, border crossings went smoothly. We didn’t even bother to exchange money, as euros were accepted everywhere.
Tom did get cheated for a few euros in Macedonia though; because we didn’t know the value of the Macedonian dinar, they made us pay about 10% too much for a full tank of gas. Wafa was not amused… Was still a lot cheaper than Belgium, though :p
(Beautiful Macedonian countryside.)
We arrived at our hotel in Greece, just past Thessaloniki, in the evening. It got clouded again, and combined with the deserted, ramshackle air of the town and the crappy food, it made for a rather strange visit to Greece…
(We were thinking of visiting Greece during one of our next holidays, but aren’t so sure anymore after this experience.)
Sunday, 18th of March
We left an hour later than usual, as Wafa had a massive headache and nausea. After a very rainy drive through the north of Greece, we arrived at the Turkish border in the early afternoon.
Crossing the border took us around an hour, and defying a very disgruntled female border guard at the Turkish side of the border. Some very impressive armed soldiers in the no mans land between Greece and Turkey. The tension between these two countries is still rather visible.
(European Turkey. With the exception of Istanbul, all highways in Turkey are this empty.)
(Traffic jam in Istanbul.)
And then, the Turkish roads… to descibe these, a quick comparison with Belgium:
- Just like in Belgium, in Turkey:
- ‘Clignoteurs’ (indicators) are optional on the car. Very expensive option. Not many people have these.
- The right lane of a highway is only for plebians. Turks/Belgians of good standing don’t use these.
- It sometimes feels a bit like driving through Brussels, where you need to have eyes in the back of your head.
- Unlike in Belgium, in Turkey:
- In case of a traffic jam, emergency lanes make for awesome extra driving lanes. So much so, that video control has been installed all over Istanbul to make people stay on the highway itself.
- People drive like maniacs, overtaking on the right, speeding,… This also happens in Belgium, yes, but not on this scale.
- Really, really good highway infrastructure. Roads as smooth as baby bottoms. They have obviously been putting a lot of money into this in recent years.
- Traffic police is everywhere: roadside controls, patrol cars… and some very nice cardboard cutouts! These surely make bad people think twice about breaking the law!
(The high-end version of this ‘patrol car’ would include flashing police lights on the roof, powered by a small solar power panel on the back of the car.)
In short, driving in Turkey so far has been awesome! Whereas Wafa almost had a nervous breakdown driving through Istanbul, Tom is having fun putting his teenage videogame addiction skills to good use. Mad hand-eye coordination, baby.
The plan for the next couple of days is to drive through Turkey, mostly by the Black Sea. Should make for some very nice views!