We were all outside packing our bikes up just before 6:30am
ready to strap some tyres on top for our border crossing today. Apparently the
customs people don’t like all the new tyres in the van so we put them on the
bikes as they then don’t question this, then cross the border and then take
them off just as we get just outside of the border compound.
Kevin Saunders lead the short 5 mile group ride down to the
border where we all then took our turn to check out of Greece before going to
check in to Turkey. The whole process is fairly straight forward, just a little
on the slow side, but everyone got through without any issues so that was a
good start to the day. Once we had crossed the Turkish border we stopped to
unload the tyres from our bikes and then stood in the road under the ‘Welcome
to Turkey’ sign to have a group photo taken.
The ride from the border to the hotel in Istanbul was mostly
motorway again and for once David and I were the first to arrive which made us
a little wary that we might have gone to the wrong hotel car park. The car park
attendant assured us we were in the correct place and this was confirmed 10
minutes later when Kevin and a small group of bikes following rode into the
parking area.
Once we got checked in to our rooms, got showered and
changed we were ready for a short walk into town. The local park was packed
with people and I couldn’t work pout if there was something special going on or
whether this was normal for a Sunday afternoon.
We now have a couple of days here in Istanbul so a rest from
riding and a hopefully not so early start so I can have a lie in.
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