17-5-2013

Greece to Turkey

After spending a couple of days relaxing, doing some washing and a bit a maintenance on the camper we set off for Turkey on Tuesday morning. It was only 45kms drive to the border. The border crossing although a bit confusing went well and we were now into Turkey. We did find it odd, as some European countries paid no visa fees at all, our English friends paid 15 euro’s and when we went to pay for our visa it was 45 euros [each]. He took out his book and apparently we were in the same category as Canada and our fee was more, why!!!

At first the road was rough but improved as we went along. Our next hurdle was to buy a roadtoll tax sticker which has a chip in it which automatically lets you through the toll stations. After asking at a few service stations we found one which sold them and after filling in forms and showing our passports and vehicle papers we finally had our sticker. With Clyde at my side it took 35 minutes, as the girl at the counter was slow and talking with her friends rather than serve us.

We hit the highway and the run into Istanbul went smoothly until the traffic had to pass through the toll booths. There are two types of cards to get through the booths and the ones with the other cards had to go left and we went right. Straight after the toll booths the road lead in different directions so the traffic had to jostle to get into the correct lanes. Trucks, buses, cars and motorbikes going in all directions and they were pushing and cutting in from both sides.  Not for the faint hearted but once through the next section the roads quietened a bit and we made our way to the camperstop.

This is a carpark on the foreshore of Istanbul next to a local football club. We share the showers and toilets with the footballers but they are clean and have hot water. When we arrived we were lucky as there was only two places left with a bit of juggling. It had taken us seven and a half hours to leave our site in Greece, go through the border, buy our toll sticker, have lunch and fight our way through the traffic in Istanbul [it was a distance of 300kms].

So now we have the pleasure of exploring the sights of Istanbul, a hustling, bustling city which has a population more than half of the whole of Australia. That and the influx of tourists makes it one of the busiest places we have seen.