Introduction

Hi travellers, bikers and everybody who's dreaming about travel!

...friends and not so friends call me Mike, I'm from Augsburg, Germany and 39 years young.

I'm riding a 1981 Moto Guzzi G5 (like California). Engine and gear box are just 2 years old and a little modified. It has 1100 cc and a little bit more power now. For this trip I only put an offroad tire on the rear. The rest is more or less standard (or what has changed in 15 years I'm riding the bike now. Guzzi owners mostly need to ...work on their bikes... and so escape from their wives).

And - only for this story - I've learned English.

Mike and Rosi

Germany to Turkey

I started on the 23.Sept.00 morning in Augsburg to reach Venice in the evening.

By ferry I went in two and a half days to Izmir, Turkey. This ferry leaves only on Saturday evenings 10pm and costs in a 4-bed-cabin incl. the bike ca. 270$ US. I met Tim from Scotland (on a 500cc Enfield India) and we decided to travel together.

After arrival in Izmir it need more than one hour to leave the port. The Turkish immigration and customs is a story on it's own. Nothing is sign-posted in English, and nobody really knows the sequence of the welcome procedure. If you travel through the country they charge you ca. 22 $US so called transit fee. Be very careful driving on two wheels in Izmir. The roads have been like soap and very slippery.

We spend one week in the nice village Kas on the Mediterranean See. Via Antalya and Alanya we followed the Mediterranean coast direction east (in middle and northern Turkey it was raining already).

After Alanya it's a fantastic postcard view and the road has a lot of bends. Normally ideal for motorcycle riding, but the bends are mostly very slippery with oil and stuff from the tires, so it's only half the fun. Beware also of Turkish drivers. They are not sure on which side to go so they use both. And one more bad thing, the hole strip from Antalya to Adana is the region of the Krauts. Everything is also sign posted in German. I had the feeling of being still at home.

From Adana we took the highway (new, very good condition and no traffic) to Gazianthep. But look early for Petrol, there are not many stations or it's sign posted and there is only empty space. Was a nice experience breaking down 2 km before the next station. The road from Gazianthep to Sanli Urfa is the diesel-lorry-race-track from Turkey to Iraq. Hell of traffic, oil and deep lorry tracks in/on the road. It's greatest fun with a Jet helmet (open helmet).

In Urfa we met a Swiss girl coming from Iran. She told us to cross the border in Esendere, close to Hakkari in the Kurdish region. So we did. Via Diabakyr, Tatvan and Van we went through a very nice, quiet mountain area. But don't dream, or one of the huge sheep dogs will bite you from your bike. These bastards come from the side of the road straight to the bike and try to get you.

Close to the border are lots of checkpoints, police and some other specialists. Sometimes they offer you also drugs. But there was never any trouble.

Next - Iran