September 6-7
Minutes after dawn I wake up and we set off a bit later. Breakfast will be postponed until we come to a convenient spot, which we do around 9 am: drinking water, benches and a roof included--What a lavish life we're living today!
Naturally we are having pasta for breakfast but i couldn't resist the temptation and also bought a small bottle of "Sweet red wine" (as per label), which turned out to be port wine... yikes! Didn't kill our smiles though, as you can see.
Approaching the border to Turkey the military presence on the Greek sides increases, armed guards standing on both sides of the actual border--something you don't see much in EU land. Everybody is very friendly though and we clear immigration and customs without issues: we're in Turkey.
The most immediate change when entering a new country through a land border ist often the road quality. Much to my surprise the road we're on isn't busy and quite comfortable to ride on: we're looking at some km of high quality road, 2 lanes per direction, with a large enough shoulder for bicycles or even small cars and clear of trash. Almost like a motorway, but it's not.
Reaching the Turkish city of Kesan in the afternoon, we're exhausted nevertheless: a couple of days of camping, being chased by mosquitos and robbed of sleep by dogs have taken a toll. We're both in for a rest day in Turkey.
Only we have no clue yet where to stay. When we have a quick bite at a kebap shop, a local quickly comes to help and points us to a few hotels around. He even walks to a place nearby to asking for the price!
After a while of asking around we find a suitable accommodation and get a double room for 60 TL per night at the "Kampüs 22 Pansiyon". Our host speaks no word of English and we communicate mostly through gestures, the picture "translation" book and Google translate. After an hour of waiting and some free chai tea our room is ready. It is not too clean and the shared bath room (no toilet paper, no shower head, bathroom door doesn't lock... ) is amongst the worst I've seen, but at 3.90 EUR per person I'm not gonna ask for a 10% refund: we're getting exactly What we want and are paying for -- a bed and a shower.
The next day I waste no time and run som errands: a local sim card is acquired at one of the dozens of cell phone shops for 69 TL with 4 GB of data (Vodafone).
Next thing I need is a hair cut: for 20 TL I'm paying a visit to the barber who asks the important question:
- "What is your style?"
- "Uuuuh... just make me look nice again! :)"
