2142 km from Batumi to Ohrid in one go + feels like home in Belgrade

So this is the last blog post, our road trip has come to an end and i would love to thank everyone who helped us with organizing the trip in any way. I would also like to thank everyone reading the blog as it’s nice to know people are reading what you are up to. This last post sadly doesn’t have much photos to it as there was not much to see on the way and most of us were too tired to take photos.

We started off in Batumi early in the morning and were soon on the Georgian – Turkish border at Sarpi. The passport control guy was really cool and had loads of fun with us while checking the passports whereas the customs wanted to check our bags but when they saw the huge pile of bags in the back they just let us through. First we stopped at Sumela monastery near trabzon and then drove through the whole of Turkey as we decided to come to Ohrid in one go. We exchanged at the steering wheel while the next driver slept on the middle bench to be ready for his turn.

Our first and only real stop on the way – Sümela Monastery

Early in the morning we crossed into Greece without any problems and then after about 6 hours we came to the Macedonian border here. We stopped in Bitola to have lunch but sadly we chose one of the worst fast food places in history. We quickly went back to the van and drove off to Ohrid where we found cheap accommodation for 8 euro per person. So after about 33 hours and 2150 kilometers we arrived at our final destination for the time being.

Fixing the engine cover into place

We took a swim in lake Ohrid which was very refreshing, had some drinks back at our apartment and then fell to sleep.

Lake Ohrid from our balcony

The next morning we headed towards Belgrade in Serbia. On the way we stopped in Leskovac at restaurant Koliba which was recommended to us by a guy selling stuff on the side of the road, we were right to trust him as the food was amazing and everything was cheap. We continued towards Belgrade where our friend Boris waited for us. We came into his flat early in the evening and made ourselves comfortable. We took out our artillery of vodka and started to drink as time was running fast and we had a reservation at a nearby club. After the whole night of partying around Belgrade we traditionally had pleskavica at Loki, one of the best fast food places in town.

On sunday we went swimming to Ada ciganlija, but were soon on the move to go for lunch. We went to a restaurant called Kalenič which we always go to when visiting Belgrade. After enormous quantities of meat we chilled back at the apartment, went for a drink to the centre and soon fell asleep, we had to go back home to Ljubljana  in the morning.

So we are back home, i finally had some good sleep but still it’s weird to know we’re not driving somewhere tomorrow morning.

All in all it was an amazing trip, we had great times together, met cool people and we can’t say we even had one bad experience. All of the little problems we had turned out to be good or even the best parts of our trip. You realize people all over the world are usually friendly, kind and want to help you out in any situation.

Iranian sweets, slow customs and Georgian Las Vegas

We woke up some in our tent other in the van, all of us not really bursting with energy but at least we soon knew the van is going to be fixed on the same day.

Dzengis came over in the morning and took a look together with the Fiat mechanics but the only solution was to change the whole clutch. While our van was being fixed we went for a swim in the Black sea, the water was quite warm but was as refreshing as ever compared to the sun on the beach. We threw around a frisbee (until losing it underwater) and read magazines/books so the time would move faster. Around noon we went for lunch to Kebabistan 2 again and once again it was delicious. Soon after we arrived they told us the van will be finished by 15:00 so we started to prepare for leaving and were surprised by some tea (cay) which the head of service brought us.

The head of mechanics at Fiat

Once we paid for the new clutch and said bye to everyone we were high on energy and driving towards the Georgian border was fun and loud :). Arriving at the border was a whole new adventure, coming out of the tunnel a policeman said we need to go back via another road where there was a long line of cars and vans waiting to cross. We took the last spot in line just behind a “Samand” car with an Iranian licence plate. The 4 Iranian guys inside came out immediately and we soon became friends taking photos with each other and they brought us some delicious nuts and an amazing sweets with pistachio.

Iranian guys with their car

We were low on diesel as the prices are really high in Turkey (around 1.80euro per liter) so we waited to come into Georgia to fill up the tank, as we didn’t know how much more we have left (our van shows no info after it’s less than 50km until the tank is empty). Because of this we pushed the car in neutral when the line moved (it moved for about 10 cars every 5 minutes), and soon a lot of other cars in the line did the same, we helped the Iranians they helped us and we all had a lot of fun listening to their music, exchanging information etc.

Once we came nearer to the border we got the idea why the line is so long. The turkish customs were working in only one line and their work process was slow as ever. After clearing the Turkish border we moved on towards the Georgian gate and they started to shout at us to stop. We didn’t know what is happening but after a couple of seconds we realized that only the driver stays in the car while others have to walk through a special crossing that runs parallel. The Georgian side is completely new and quite nice, the officers were friendly and finally WE WERE IN GEORGIA. 

The border at Sarpi

Driving towards Batumi was quite bumpy as the road has a lot of holes, dents and cows running around. We soon found a petrol station where we filled up the tank. Afterwards we went in search for the hostel. We tried to find Boombully hostel which is mentioned in Lonely planet but i guess they mixed something up as we were at the adress where it is supposed to be and the telephone number was not working. So we drove around town and got to experience the bad driving of Georgians, the first impressions of it are quite bad. We asked people for hostels using our basic knowledge of russian mixed with serbocroatian and some nice girls told us of a street where there is one (Mazniashvili street). At first we couldn’t find it so i jumped out of the car and asked some guys to show us the way – one of them took it literally and took me into his car while the others drove behind us. Soon after we found Globus Hostel Batumi (https://www.facebook.com/HostelBatumiGlobus), which is really nice and the staff are amazing with their help and kindness.

We made our beds and went to buy some beers, we were soon more happy with the prices than in Turkey as beer was around 80 cents in a small private shop. Other prices were much lower as well, a part of our group were almost ecstatic when they saw a packet of cigarettes costs about 1 euro. We chilled at the backyard of our hostel and met two guys who are cycling to Iran, one of them was from Varazdin in Croatia, so basically our neighbor, we talked until around 1AM, when some of the guys went out to find a party and others went to sleep.

We woke up really late (around noon) as we haven’t had proper sleep for a couple of days. We soon went out of the hostel and found a nice place with khacapuri(a georgian pie usually filled with cheese), we each ordered our own and as the pies started to come to the table we discovered that the size of portions in Georgia truly is huge. We couldn’t eat the whole thing so took some with us for later.

We walked around town for a couple of hours checking out newly built parks the renovated boulevard and the beach. These parts are kept very clean and new hotels and buildings are being built around here. On the other hand you have old apartments blocks that stayed the same from the soviet era and are in really bad state.

Posing near the “Batumi boulevard”

After arriving back to the hostel we still didn’t manage to overcome the fullness from the khacapuri so we just laid on the couches and Nejc somehow managed to arrange the stream for the Tour de France, i never tought i’d be watching it here, and it was even more delightful cause one of the Slovenian riders was doing quite well.

Later in the evening we met a cool german-australian couple who are cycling from Germany to Australia, we talked for quite some time and after meeting all of these cyclists i’m slowly getting really fond of the idea of cycling as you realize how small the world really is. Later on a german guy called Sven joined us, he is hitchhiking across the caucasus and gave us some advice on Armenia and told us of his adventures in Nagorno-Karabakh.

After drinking some Georgian vodka we had a late night snack in the supermarket and then off to bed.

We used our last day to go to the beach, we drove a few kilometers south towards the border at Sarpi. The beach was nice and the water was very clean, we had some fun in the water, chilled and got sunburnt on the beach.

Jenko chilling at the beach

In the evening we decided to go for a typical Georgian meal, Sven also joined us. We had a lot of food everything from salads, saslik, pork and patatoes, a goulash like dish, and everything was delicious although maybe a bit too salty. Our dinner in Batumi

We paid about 8 euro each and couldn’t finish everything that was served. In the evening we met a polish guy at the hostel who was a ex-yugoslavia nostalgic and knew serbocroatian, so we talked for a bit. Later some of the guys went out to party while i opted for bed – according to their report of the kind of clubs which are around Batumi it was a wise decision.

“Sklopka ne dela” / “The clutch is not working”

So we headed out of Istanbul and said bye to the staff of Bahaus hostel-it was about 10am and the first kilometers were flying by fast. But of course the fun didn’t last long – when we came near the bridge over to the Asian side of Istanbul there was a huuuuge traffic jam. All the cars were stopped and all the horns were playing their melodies. We stepped out of the cars and bonded with the drivers of the trucks and vans “parked” around us.

The traffic jam

After about two hours we noticed some cars on the left were slowly moving. We somehow managed to communicate with the truck driver on the left to let us pass infront of him and go the lane that was moving. Just before the toll gate everyone started to mask their number plates with duck tape/newspaper or some people simply unscrewed them. We followed the pattern and borrowed some duct tape from a dutch car infront of us.

We slowly moved over the bridge and saw the cars on the right were stuck there for at least a couple of hours – some truck drivers even formed a small improvised field and passed around a football.

Later on the roads were really empty as we drove towards Samsun but nothing interesting happened until our lunch break. We stopped next to a mosque which doubled as a supermarket in the ground floor, next to it there was a nice diner where we had some melemen and kavurmasi, it was tasty and the price was okay.

The landscape in inner Turkey from Istanbul towards Samsun

While eating a young guy with his family tried to communicate with us and asked if we can roll him a cigarette, we did and had great fun with trying to exchane a couple of sentences. We soon started the engine once again and drove through some amazing landscape. One of the highlights on the way was a van that carried 5 people on the roof and there was at least  another 10 or 12  people inside.

Our new friend infront of the mosque/supermarket

As the sun went behind we came close to Samsun and decided to find a place to sleep, we drove to the centre and asked people on the streets for a cheap hotel, nobody really spoke english and we were in search for quite some time, we finally found a guy in a hotel that spoke some english – he had his place booked out but took us to another place up the road and called the owner who was already asleep but came to show us the rooms. We negotiated to all sleep in one room (with 4 beds) for about 8 euro per person, but when he took us to our rooms he gave us 2 (first the price for two rooms was around 14 euro per person). After a tasty durum kebab for dinner we headed for “cay” and coca cola and then we went to bed.

We woke up around 8am, had a shower and went for breakfast, we had some borek and ayran. Afterwards we stopped for a morning cay next to the place where we slept and had a debate about football with the bartender and the owner of the hotel.

While driving to Trabzon and listening to Eyeceeou, Azra, EKV, Victor Wooten and other amazing music suddenly while standing at the traffic light in the suburbs of Trabzon Peter yelled “The clutch is not working” (“Sklopka ne dela”). We pushed the car to the side of the road next to a car wash. Some guys came to help, the one who we really need to mention is Ersen Demirui, he helped us out for about 2 hours and didn’t want any money for it. He called to different mechanics around town and even called a friend with a small truck to pull us to the mechanic. They tied the rope to our axis and then Ersen took the wheel and we safely arrived at the Fiat service. He helped us to arrange everything with the staff, we  were even allowed to park the van at the back of the service and they said we can put up our tents or sleep in the van. Ersen then parted and left us his number to call him the next day – when they started work on the van if we have any problems.

Ersen helping us out right after our clutch went dead

We then went for lunch to a place across the road called “Kebabistan 2” – the food and service was amazing and the prices were low – if anyone gets to spend a night at the backyard of Fiat Trabzon we can recommend it :).

Then we went looking for beer and found an alcohol shop about 200meters  away from our “camp”.

We went back and chilled out at the backyard. I decided to go for a walk by the beach and believe it or not met a turkish guy who lives in the USA for the last 34 years and owns a mechanic shop in New Jersey. He was called Dzengis, we talked for about half an hour and he invited us all for cay later in the evening.

He also offered to help and supervise the work on our car the following day – coincidence worked its wonders on us – breaking the clutch 2kilometers from an official Fiat service and next to a guy who speaks good english wants to help and has mechanical skills – simply amazing.

 The backyard at Fiat service Trabzon, where we spent the night

After the cay with Dzengis we went back to our camp and started drinking the “Bus pure šnops”. The fiery drink kept our conversation alive and the majority of us went to sleep at around 3AM.

Good night.

“Hello my friend”

So we had some well deserved sleep, it was awesome.

After breakfast we started off with some must-do sightseeing, first we went to the blue mosque where the waiting line was long but luckily moving fast. So after removing our shoes and flip flops we’ve set our foot on the “holy carpet” and indulged in the amazing artwork and architecture of the interior.

Me, Marko, Nejc and Peter inside the blue mosque

We’ve then moved on into the grand bazaar where we enjoyed a couple of hours of haggling and shopping, once we got the hold of it the time just flied and the small-talk with the sellers became more and more relaxed and fun.

Walking the streets around the bazaar

Just before lunch we’ve split into two groups, me and Peter almost jumped into the first kebab shop we saw and the lamb durum was delicious. The best part was the guy who prepared the food, he was full of jokes and pranks what made the meal even more enjoyable.

The master chef just after he “rented” Peters sunglasses.

Later in the evening we met up back at the rooftop bar of our hostel and decided to go out with some other people from the hostel. After a quick dinner we’ve started off with some beers and then decided to introduce the other people with “Šnops” which Nejc recieved as a gift from a friend back in Ljubljana. Šnops worked its wonders and became an immediate hit. We visited a couple of clubs, talked with passing by taxi drivers and most of all had fun. Our discovery of the evening were definitely steamed mussels with rice which are sold on the streets and spiced up with some lemon.

Miha waiting for the next round

We then hired a taxi for 15TL which took us to our hostel. The driver was a Galatasaray supporter who had great fun with us. Good night with some obligatory pre-sleep youtube.

We woke up with a need of a cold cold shower and a greasy kebab. And we got delicious meal at a nice kebab shop about 10 minutes from the hostel. We had “sac kavurna”, “menemen” and tavuk kebabs. We all drank a cup of ayran and our stomach was back to its best.

Sac kavurna, ayran and happy faces

We then went to a place me and Peter discovered yesterday where they sold out of date football jersey fakes for 5TL, it was a good deal as were some new sunglasses for 10TL and boxers for 5TL.

We then visited the spice market which was really crowded so we decided to go for a drink. The tea was good, the coffee was really strong and the chairs were confortable.
After-coffee reflection
After we decided to go over the Galata bridge and walked up the main street. We walked for a long time and our feet almost fell off but on the other hand we had some amazing street food: turkish ice cream, borek, belik ekmek (fish sandwich). We really enjoyed almost every bite so we are all hyped up for our next meal to find out if it’s as good as the ones before.
The “belik ekmek” master

For the way back we decided to take the tram and it was a wise idea as there is quite some way uphill and our feet were on the border of proper function. The tram was really full so the ride wasn’t the most enjoyable but at least there was air-condition.

View from Galata bridge

We are now once again at the rooftop, chilling after watching the end of the Wimbledon finals and drinking some beer. We’ll probably have a laid-back night as we need to wake up early and depart towards the north of Turkey, the road is waiting.

Ps: thanks to all the readers we had a new visit record (138) 🙂

Ljubljana to Istanbul in 20 Hours

So the time has finally arrived. We took off in Ljubljana at around 19:00, local time and first stopped before the croatian border to fill up the car with petrol. We then went through croatia without a stop and passed on into Serbia. The passport and customs control were all a bit cynic about our destination (we told them Istanbul) but we passed on without any problems.

The journey through Serbia was smooth apart from the part around Belgrade where the road is a bit bumpy. We had our first biggest stop around 2am. After that only 3 of us carried on without sleep, Peter the driver who drove non stop from 19h until 7am, Miha and myself. The time flied fast with some classics from The Doors and Pink Floyd.

Peter cleaning the windscreen

Early in the morning we crossed the border into Bulgaria where we filled up the tank once more and were then also repayed for our determination to stay awake with a beautiful sunrise. Our energy soon started to fade away as the road around Sofia got bumpier and bumpier so Peter handed over the steering wheel to Nejc. The sun was getting stronger and stronger and the smell of sweat in the car got worse :).

After some time the sun became a bit annoying

We then batteled over the Bulgarian roads and suddenly we found ourselves in Turkey. We were astonished about how clean the surrounding were and all the appartment buildings were new and the fields were green and full of life.
We then came into the chaotic traffic of Istanbul but with the help of our GPS we managed to find the hostel in no time. We checked in about 20hours after we departed Ljubljana.

We relaxed for a couple of hours and then went into search of a nice and cheap place to eat, which we finally found. I had some delicious meatballs and lentil soup for 10 turkish lira and the “chef” even gave as free tea and cologne (yep perfumed cologne water! 🙂 )

So right now i’m enjoying a well deserved beer at a rooftop bar of our hostel. I need some sleep, i havent had any from thursday morning.

rooftop view

More to follow