In which Sid and Doris cross to Greece, finding the Hostaholic in Petra
This was the day we moved from Turkey to Greece. The owner of the Eden Park Resort had shown us the ferry route from Kucukkuyu to Midilli Molivos Lesbos. How many names is it useful to have?
The Turkish port is just down the coast from the resort so we have a late checkout, use the facilities (largely the sea and the loungers), have lunch and leave. Sid and Doris are saluted by several of the Turkish airforce’s F-16 flying past, very close to Greek airspace. HELLOOOO!! WE HAVE A VERY BEEEG ARMY AND AIR FORCE!!!!! NOT LIKE YOOOOUUU!!!!!.
We ride Commando style without the full padded pant thing [thanks for sharing that Sid – D.], so we can sit like normal humans in the port and on the boat. So the holiday distance, how different from the ‘serious getting on’ distances, was 16 kilometres and 98 metres of climb – though Sid’s bike rattles like a nervous butler with a tin tea tray.
In town we trickle along the front looking for a port office, accompanied by children on bikes calling out their cheery greetings. Alas small child, you should have worked harder in your English classes, as the phrase “I speeek Eeengleesh” is not very useful on its own. We are relieved to see a proper customs, passport and ticket office.
The mascots delight to see the border policeman has a tricycle with a basket. As we are prudently (? obsessively?) early we have time to spend the remaining Lira on nourishing pistachio bars in numbers that surprise the till minder.
Doris finds a memorial to all the people required to move in the 1920’s ‘population swaps’, an unhappy-looking family group with the caption “In commemoration of exchanges on both shores”. A few days ago we asked a guide if that part of Turkey had been Greek. No, certainly not, it was just that everyone spoke Greek.
Compared with other times we have crossed this border it was all ‘no fuss Norris’, perhaps because we were checking out two bikes and not a yacht. We got chatting to the customs policeman who said that his steed of choice was this fine tricycle – and rode it in a little circle to prove it. They do not X-ray the bikes though they have all the kit (the bar bag got x-rayed because it was already detached, the bikes and other bags just got wheeled round the scanner), but we are pleased to get a passport stamp from the Passport Policeman who was also doing Bring Your Child To The Cubicle Day. Sid and Doris are just like that. The entire customs operation turned out to wave the ferry away (the tricycle owner is at the top end of the ramp).
The skipper of the ferry is a cyclist and tells us he has a Scott (for non-riders, a proper bike) tucked away somewhere nice and dry below deck. It is a passenger ferry, and very fit people can manhandle laden bikes aboard up un-necessarily steep steps. The Neddies are tied up on deck so they can admire the view. Though Sid warns the Skip not to splash the steeds they do get a bit of salty spray so we wash them down with fresh water on the Greek dock. Again, barely a glance from customs. Maybe if we looked more Syrian?
As we were warned ‘Greek ferries are always late’ so we are a bit behind schedule. We have nowhere booked as we roll into Petra at 8.30pm – bed-time in Turkey but the evening is only just getting started in Greece. Doris starts us off at The Blue Sky Hotel which proves to be a good find. We are immediately introduced to everyone at the bar, joined into a group photo and bought beer before we have even seen the room or stowed the bikes. Our host is large and larger than life. People come back year after year and you can see why.
A fellow guest (“John The Scotsman”) has ridden a naked (for non-riders ‘has no fairing to keep the wind off’) 800cc KTM twin from Glasgow with a small backpack. First day was Glasgow to Folkestone. His clothes have just arrived by courier. That’s epic. We swap tales, routes and plans.
We have a room large enough to put the bikes in, and don’t. There is a pool bar for Blog Central. “The Reef” restaurant has a table by the sea, stuffed zucchini flowers on the menu (a first for us and strongly recommended) and Alpha beer, a first for us … and last. After some careful taste tests between the local beers Fix beer is probably the right answer in Greece.
There is a pleasant amount of hustle, would you like an LED-lit balloon?
Back to the cheerful bar at Blue Sky where we have already decided to have another day of holiday. Busy, busy.