Depart Thessaloniki for Istanbul 4th Oct
After visiting the Mercedes agent we leave Thessaloniki. At first the countryside was fairly flat and only moderately fertile, though with mountains behind. This, we are told, is the heart of the tobacco growing country. Soon we pass two large lakes. Are either of them reservoirs for Thessaloniki? Then we are back beside the sea again. Shortly before we cross the River Strymonas (Struma in Bulgaria) near Amphipolis we see a sad-looking bear walking behind a caravan full of people being towed by a horse. After lunch, when I was driving, I had to dodge boxes falling from an empty box lorry. After the second one was loosed in my path the driver noticed and stopped. Next we saw a "high revving" ox cart, though I don't think it's our first. I suspect we saw one or two in Yugoslavia. In Kavala there is a superb aqueduct of Roman origin but rebuilt by the Ottomans in the 16th century.
We saw our first "bird" in "baggies" and Roger made a remark to the effect that they looked as though they had been "fouled". Before the sun set on a very pleasant, if rather windy day we photographed one of the anniversary signs. This was to commemorate 21 April, 1967, the day when the army colonels overthrew the government resulting in seven years of dictatorship for Greece. We drove through Alexandroupolis and decided to stop at the next café to use loose change. We pulled off the road into the village of Feres and had an ouzo, a baklava and Roger bought more mince. Pleasant little place. It got dark before we reached the border, so we didn't see anything of Turkey on the way to Istanbul.
Turkey
We had to fill in forms for Greeks and Turks. The Greeks had us standing in the cold whereas the Turks carried out the operation indoors. Then we had to change money. Well first the change office was shut. We threatened to sleep on floor (no petrol). Then a man was found and for 270 Drax (£4) we got 63.18 Turkish lire, instead of about 100. We were ripped off, nearly 30/- down the drain. Brian is smoking cigarettes again because he's broken his pipe. Feeble excuse! I am still going to have my Turkish puzzle rings. The number of wasps here is amazing. Then we bought some Shell (1.12 lire/litre or 9d/L!) and a map of Turkey.
From the border to the BP Mo Camp the only two remarkable incidents were nearly "collecting" a few sheep (Brian driving on dipped headlights, often at 120 km/hr), and being stopped momentarily by a sort of roadblock that we didn't understand at all. We had no trouble finding the BP Mo Camp - about 15km west of Istanbul (probably near present day Mall of Istanbul). It is rather fine and very expensive (21 lire). We stopped and found tenting ground, cooked on their facilities, which are handy (sort of LPG with tables and sinks, though what happens at rush hour I've no idea). It was about 10:30 when we got here and 11:30 when we ate and still others were cooking. Afterwards we were hailed by some boozed Canadians (including an Irishman, Gerry, and an Englishman). The birds Maureen (delicious) and Doreen gave us coffee and it was 1:30 before we went to bed.
