Istanbul 2005

First try

After work Igor and Sašo picked me up with old Opel Vectra and we were on our way to Sarajevo. We were around Zagreb when we called Mirza to tell him we are going to visit him. Well, that call was a surprise. He didn’t live anym ore in Sarajevo, he moved to Turkey but we are still welcome. We stopped at gas station to think over a new plan. We said why not, lets go to Istanbul! We checked with Mirza if we need visa, he said he as Bosniac doesn’t need it, so that was it.

This quite prolonged our trip. We got stopped over by police n Croatia, paid fine for lights and belt. Next stop was on highway in Serbia, we had to go off highway change money and pay, some police woman wouldnt take Euro. We stopped in Pirot at truck stop to eat pleskavica, a cockroach fell from the ceiling to table, we just flicked it off and continued eating. Crosiing boarder with Bolgaria was on bad road. Also in Bolgaria we were stopped by police during the night, paid something and moved on. In the morning we were in Plovdiv, quick stop over.

From there we moved to Bolgarian border paid for swine flu cleansing. We arrived at Turkish boarder (gate to Europe), biggest I saw so far. We passed OK first gate and second they told us we need visa. It was needed since Slovenia implemented visas for Turkish citizens. We tried to talk to them but after 1 hour one passport got red stamp, second got green stamp and third got nothing. We tried some more persuading, got into some arguing, but some guy from Sandžak that was translating to us said to cool off. We returned to Plovdiv and tried to obtain visa but consulat was already closed for the weekend. So we moved to Alexandropolis in Greece, stayed there over night. Next day it was time to go home. On our way we stopped in Niš and visited Ćele kula. And from ther some more driving on highway.

Second try

Few weeks later we got ourselves a visa and drove again the same path to Turkey. He was staying in Ayvalik now. So after border wemoved south and crossed Dardanele at Cankale by ferry. See there was ful of jellyfish. Few more hours before we arrived to his place. After shower iwent to bed and other guys went out for a drink or two.

Next morning we moved to Istanbul. We drove to Bandirma and than crossed Sea of Marmara with ferry. When we arrived to Istanbul some of Mirza friends joined us, bad guys, limos, bodyguards … We went to hotel Bosna, it was closed but they opened just for us. There were food, drinks, women. At one point Mirza broke chair by accident.

And one point during the night party finished and we moved towards home. When we arrived to Turkish border they put us on side and left us waiting were we fell asleep. They woke us up after half an hour and checkd our bags. We arrived to Bolgarian border early in the morning. Customs officer told us he has just half an hour before he finshed his shift. It is not enough time for us, so we should go for a coffee and return later. When we returned we were sent to garage, there they checked car, take of filter, checked reservoar, … After two hours they put everything back and one guy asked us for tissue for his hands. Exiting Bolgaria was not a problem.

On entering Serbia we got older officer. When he saw that we are from Slovenia he wanted to talk. Explained that he worked in Yugoslavia at Šentilj and he has there bastard son. After longer chat we said goodbys and his last remark was”Pa fantje brez vragolij” meaning boys stay out of trobles. On exiting Srbia we got young officer, he checked rusty Vectra with screw driver, widening rusted holes. Croatian guys were more modern, they had camera with light on flexible stick and they would put it in many holes in the car. On entering Slovenia we chose small border crossing

Summary

It two prolonged weekends we made more than 6.000 km. All of that was driven just by Igor, me and Sašo didn’t have licence then. Longest leg was returning from Istanbul, he was behind the wheel 28 hours. We saw some new places, beside Istanbul Alexandroplois, Plovdiv, Niš. Experienced some crazy moments, met some people old and new. Probaly I wouldn’t do it now. But young and stupid we had a lot of luck.