Good luck / Bad luck
The next target on our amazing and imagination triggering tour was the city of Istanbul, from where we would cross the Bosporus into Asia. For the one hundred and forty-second time however, we were forced to adjust the plan when Mukkes pointed out that the temperature was somewhat to high, using the legendary phrase “Hey, you !@#$, aren’t you gonna watch the temp?!”. Still a bit confused by this brutal choice of words, Henk stopped the car alongside the road to further examine the physical condition of our Doutzen.
This means that Mukkes got himself under the van while Henk stood by and watched. After all, that is what he does best when it comes to cars. Of course he learned a bit when Mukkes found out that a loose water hose was causing the trouble. From this moment, we could do nothing, but wait till the engine cooled down. So we enjoyed ourselves in the middle of Istanbul by playing the guitar and reading a good book, without concerning too much about the enormous pile of traffic passing by.
This was quite a view for the local Turks. Then again, maybe they’re called Istanbuliriani, but we don’t know about that. It seems logical, though. There is an regional name for every citizen, right? So why not for the people of Istanbul? Yeah, answer that. Not much longer after this pointless brainwave we shoved Doutzen on an improvised ramp, in order to cure our van. While working, multiple Turks asked us if they could be of any aid. Well, we have Mukkes, so the answer was easy. But then there was a Turk who told us he also wanted to travel. Before we could properly introduce ourselves, Firat invited us to his home. This proposal was easy to answer, and so it happened that we could stuff our empty bodies with Turkish food not an hour later.
Time flies when you’re having fun, and that’s why it took us a week to leave the former Constantinople. All tough we enjoyed the Turkish hospitality of Firat and his girlfriend Aylin very much, not the entire week was spend by sorrowles festivity and sleeping till noon. No, dear reader, we also drank coffee at the local coffeeshop who donated a perculator to us and we visited the Hagia Sophia. Talking about beautiful, thats a pretty building, man! Boy, oh boy, when you walk around in there you don’t know where to look. According to us, this mixture between a church and a mosque is a real hotspot. When our memory serves us well, we also visited the Dutch consulate, where someone tried to sell us a paper that states that we are Dutch. Well, hello. Isn’t that in our passport? We looked shortly at each other and decided that we would arrange our Visa for Syria at the border. How that will go is unsure, but you’ll read it in a following blog.
Cause of directions from our Turkish hosts, we adjusted our trip. Instead of going inland, we would take the west coast that is know as the ‘crescent moon’. This way, we would cross great parts of Turkey like the Butterflyvalley and the ancient city of Troy. You know, that one with the horse. So, after a week in Istanbul we left to get closer to Syria.
And Minne is still in Greece.
While Henk en Mukkes are having a good time in Istanbul, I’m finishing up some of my businesses in Thessaloniki. Since I resigned from my Greek apartment, Kosta’s garage was promoted to my new living space / office, while Lazaros’ grandma cooked excellent Greek food for me. Naturally, the plan was to travel to the other men only two days later. The only problem is the Greek way of doing business. Phrases as ‘tomorrow’, just wait a moment and it’ll come put your patience to the test. Unlike the Netherlands, where we’re used to internet banking, you have to stand in line for thirty minutes when you want to pay some bills. The economical crisis has also influence in Greece, which made it near impossible to receive cash money from your customers. Therefore the banks introduced the classic ‘I.O.U. (I owe you) note’, which surprisingly enough, can be used as payment.
Luckily, I’m almost finished in Greece and I’ll try to catch up with Doutzen again. Doing a steady 10 km/h it shouldn’t be a problem when travelling with the public transport. Everyday a train leaves for Istanbul at 20.04 and for once I see myself getting a ticket twenty minutes early. Unfortunately, the local railroads decided to drive the train twenty minutes earlier, which forces me to sleep in a bus for 24 hours. Knowing that I’ll meet the boys, Turkey and of course Doutzen, that shouldn’t be a problem…
Tags: broken down, istanbul, turkey
