13.09.09 Serbia to Turkey

After the most horrible coffee,( white coffee is chocolate with milk and black coffee is coffee cake with water on top, they have to learn how to make coffee), we drove towards Turkey for app. 550 km. We hit the border to Bulgaria, this was interesting, first we had to check out of Serbia through 4 different toll and customs booths then into Bulgaria with another 4 booths. Again I was pulled over by the police because they cannot believe an Indian car has arrived here. When they saw the papers were o.k they were very friendly and wished us a safe journey.
Even though Bulgaria is in the EEC we could see that it is the poorest country we have driven through so far. They are either driving old Russian cars or Ladas. We saw horse carriages on the road and run down houses. ”Wow” this is almost like India, the only thing we missed was a few guys pissing by the side of the road. The roads are horrible with potholes and bumps so my kidneys got totally shaken up. Got stopped by the police ( asshole) for speeding. He again starred at our car and gave us a lecture in Bulgarian, I thought he was proposing to Susanne, he then waved us of without a fine. I have never seen so many policemen on the roads in my whole life. I think we must have passed at least 1000. We kept to the speed limits after that, even though it was frustrating. Daniel of course slept through all this. We bypassed Sofia and our roads in the estate are better than these. At every truck stop there are babes standing offering their services, of course I did not get tempted. There must have been as many of these as there are policemen. As you can see it is very difficult to keep my eyes on the road, one eye for the police and one for the ”tourist attraction” . After a bone shattering experience we hit the Turkish border. We had to use all our guts and determination to overtake about 100 trucks parked before the border, with cars and trucks coming towards us. Hit the Bulgarian border control and here again they were wondering what an Indian car is doing in Bulgaria. After checking through at least 4 of these silly border booths we reached the Turkish side. This is enormous, reminds me of an airport with 100 booths side by side. After going through 6 security checks, they at the last one asked us to stop and buy insurance for Turkey. This was o.k. it only costed us 35 Euro, went through customs and yes guys now we are in Turkey the border to Asia. Turkey has the most expensive petrol and diesel in the world, so I am planning to cut down on my beers lets see if that works. Arrived at a small town Edirne, checked into a beautiful hotel, went out and had good Turkish food and saw a beautiful mosque. More news later.

I dag forlod vi Pirot i Serbien efter den værste kaffe jeg længe har smagt. Vi nåede hurtigt frem til den Bulgarske grænse, det tog os lidt tid at komme igennem der, vi skulle igennem mindst 4 kontroller, en pas kontrol, en bilkontrol hvor vi blev vinket ind til siden, de skulle lige tjekke den indiske registrering og have tjek på hvorfor der stod DSV på siden af bilen, men så fik vi også lov til at køre videre til næste kontrol hvor vi fik udleveret et vejskat klistermærke, som vi så endelig kunne betale ved den sidste kontrol post. Bulgarien er som Serbien meget fattigt og nedslidt. Man kan godt se at det er en gammel kommunist stat. Politiet er meget aktivt der, og vi blev stoppet for at have kørt for hurtig, heldigvis slap vi med en påtale på Bulgarsk og så kunne vi køre videre. Men efter det overholdt Michael fartbegrænsningen. Vi mødte godt nok også mange færdselsbetjente hele tiden. Omfartsvejen omkring Sofia er godt nok dårlig, enten er der huller i vejen eller også buler vejbanen op. Den mindede os en del om de indiske veje. Langs hele vejen så vi mange prostituerede som stod og ventede på at blive samlet op. Hele taget er vejen igennem Bulgarien ikke noget at råbe hurra for, det tog os 6 timer at køre de ca 500 km igennem landet. Så nåede vi endelig frem til den Tyrkiske grænse, vi måtte overhale en lang lastbil kø for at nå frem til grænseovergangen. Vi havde regnet med en noget langvarig proces, men faktisk forløb det ret gnidningsløst. Igen var der en 3-4 kontroller for at komme ud af Bulgarien og på den Tyrkiske side måtte vi igen købe forsikring denne gang kostede det dog kun 35 Euro for 3 måneder. Efter alle kontrollerne fandt vi ud af, at vi skulle gå tilbage for at veksle penge, så det gjorde vi, men så var vi også klar til Tyrkiet. Vi kørte til den nærmeste by Edirne, ca. 10 km fra grænsen, her fandt vi et dejligt hotel, og gik så ud for at se på byen, vi fik os noget dejligt tyrkisk mad, kebab platte og var så ude og se byens moske og gågade, der var mange folk på gaden nu hvor det er søndag. I morgen kører vi videre til Istanbul. Vi skal nemlig være der til tirsdag hvor Michaels mor kommer og støder til vores lille rejse.