Bari to Igoumenitsa to Istanbul.

[patzx12]

I am heading ti Sorrento shortly and we were thinking of taking the "long way round" for the return trips.
I see the Turkey trotters took the Bari to Igoumenitsa. Is this the best route ?
What about the ferry Bari to Durres and cut through Albania, seems to be a shorter sailing. What are the pros and cons ?
I had a look at the road from Igoumenitsa to Istanbul on Google earth, this looks like a great 1000kl road, how is it surfaced and speed control?
Return would be head down arse up through the Balkans and stop off at the Nurbergring.
Not sure which bike to use GT or GSA. Both are hot to trot with new tyres.
I would allow 8000km door to door and 3 weeks or so.
We did 4500km in a week recently on the GT in France Spain and it felt like a trip to the shops. Great bike no effort to stay in the saddle all day.
We had a driving average of 100kph door to door.
Re: Istanbul, I will only be there a day or so, what is the best area to get a hotel in ?
Thanks for any advise.

 

[bsogri]

italy greece ferry

us tossers went from ancona to igoumenistas to istanbul, good ferry,

 

[patzx12]

us tossers went from ancona to igoumenistas to istanbul, good ferry,

Thanks.
I will be south of Ancona so I think Bari would be the best option.

 

[ExpatinIstanbul]

The Turkey trotters stayed in an area called Sultanahmet, which is very central to many of the main sights, check their thread for the name.

The GS will suit the roads you'll use in the Balkans and Turkey better. There are a few posts on here that'll give you advice on crossing Turkey's border.

 

[patzx12]

Thanks, I contacted a Greek friend and asked about the route from Igoumenitsa to Istanbul.
This was his response:

[Igoumenitsa is just across from Corfu where I am currently. The drive would involve driving (or riding a motorcycle, in your case) across the northern part of Greece, south of Bulgaria, into Turkey.
The northern part of Greece where Greece meets Bulgaria and Turkey is not the best part of the world. Unless you are sure of where you are going or you have a very reliable guide, I would say it might be best if you looked to ride somewhere else. I would not recommend that you do this route on your own from just maps. There are other better, more stable and safer parts of the world.
It would be a real pain if I have to visit you in some Greek or Turkish prison.]

Has any Tossers done this route ?

 

[Deleted account W]

Has any Tossers done this route ?

Twelve of us.

The mountain roads were great and the main roads fine. Not really sure what your Greek friend is talking about?

 

[patzx12]

The roads cannot be as bad as the roads in the west of Ireland.
Looking at the mountain roads in Google Earth there seem to be a lot of bikers on it.

 

[scud]

I wouldn't listen to your Greek mate! No problem with Northern Greece. Roads have been improved massively due to the investment from the EU

Bari to Igoumenitsa is nice route a la Ancona/Igou. The centre of Bari is very old and an interesting day wandering about.

 

[spot]

I rode igoumenitsa to Istanbul last week. I was on an r1150 rs my lad was on a k1200rs. The via Ignatia motorway will eventualy go from igoumenitsa to istanbul. Hapilly the first 150 or so miles are still not complete. I say happily because the mountain road is one of the best biking roads i have been on. The scent of wild thyme is awesome. its a great road. Istanbul is do able in one day although 2 is better. Apart from the mountains the road is fast, hardly policed free and a realy good road. I had a speed weave on the r/ rs at 125+ in a big beautiful sweeping bend on there somewhere. I think it was the wide tent bag strapped on to the back that caused it.. Both the r and the k handled the road beautifully despite the polished glass tarmac that greece is famous for. The k lost its top box on the last bit in turkey which is not so good as the greek bit. Lost a pannier aswell in bulgaria on the way back. If you do it in two days then a good stopover is on the coast at the end of greece somewhere.

 

[wilbjr21]

Are they Battlewings on the GSA ? If so you'll need to change them - no way they will go that distance at the speeds and loading you're talking about. Mine were evil after 3000miles.

 

[Alex]

Indeed, the road from Ioannina to Thessaloniki is called Egnatia and is under construction. Some parts of it are completed to high quality motorway level and they are unpoliced as mentioned above. This road is incredibly scenic going through the mountains, featuring tunnels and bridges over canyons. A drive for Ioannina to Grevena is an easy 3 hours.

After Metsovo take the side road to Grevena (used to be the only road a year ago, but i'm not sure how far the motorway has progressed). It's one of the best driving roads, going through a fir forest, featuring nice turns and good quality tarmac (an exception for Greece).

 

[Shep]

Are they Battlewings on the GSA ? If so you'll need to change them - no way they will go that distance at the speeds and loading you're talking about. Mine were evil after 3000miles.

mmmm I'm still on the Battlewings I fitted to go on the Turkey Trot, they have lasted well and still have a thousand or so miles left on them, i did 1000miles this weekend as well and they are still OK

Shep

 

[Jezza]

I will be riding the road from Igoumenitsa to Istanbul in a little over 4 weeks time. I'm really looking forward to the trip.

You can get an update on how the motorway building is going and which bits are open on www.egnatia.eu

I'll be returning home, south from Istanbul down the coast to Cesme, near Izmir, ferry to Chios, then overnight ferry to Athens for a bit of sightseeing, then ferry from Patra to Ancona.

 

[byker_tr]

i suggest

• you ride gs adv. better suited for balkans and Turkish roads
• get on the boat at Ancona , to Igoumenitsa. less sailing time, less time to travel to ancona than Bari

 

[Jezza]

I got back from an amazing trip to Turkey & Greece at the weekend. The roads can be slippery in the dry and lethal in the wet.

 

[Decster]

I got back from an amazing trip to Turkey & Greece at the weekend. The roads can be slippery in the dry and lethal in the wet.

a ride report perhaps

 

[A Bike that Fits]

I got back from an amazing trip to Turkey & Greece at the weekend. The roads can be slippery in the dry and lethal in the wet.

Hi,

I am thinking of Turkey/Greece in the next few weeks - can you tell me what route you took, and (Aside from the glassy roads) what route you took,

Thanks

 

[Jezza]

can you tell me what route you took,

Try this, Its my plan including hotels and sightseeing locations.

On the road I used a Garmin Zumo 400 and it worked great, but nowhere near enough detail in Turkey on the current European maps, so I bought the extra Turkey Map on-line for about £80, you can get the link on the Garmin site. The additional map was great and got me straight to my hotel in Istanbul.

Have a great trip and take lots of photos, here are mine; http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Jeremy.Melville/IstanbulAthensBikeTrip



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[Jezza]

a ride report perhaps

Check out http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=370804

 

[Nigelrojo]

Brief ride report, Balkans August 08

Just returned from a trip from UK to Istanbul & back on my 1100GS. We took the Optima Express motorail train from Villach to Edirne; I can relate all the stories about that "experience" later if anyone is interested. It took about 2 hours to clear Turkish customs & immigration with the bikes, but that was probably because we were getting off a train with a load of cars.

From Edirne we took the smooth & fast toll motorway to Istanbul, arriving about 11:00 pm. This meant we (by pure fluke) avoided the worst of the Istanbul traffic, which can be horrendous during the day. To find a hotel, we just followed signs for the centre until we hit the city walls, then turned right along them until we hit the seafront, then turned left along the front. As soon as the seafront started bending left towards Seraglio point, we turned left up a hill into town, and found several hotels on what I think was Mustafa Kemal Street. Top tip: pay a bit extra to get a room with AC, as if you have to leave the windows open you'll need earplugs in order to get to sleep...

We left Istanbul at 06:30 am in order to avoid the traffic again, and rode the clockwise loop around the Sea of Marmara, c/w newly acquired stomach bug (we certainly did the "Turkey Trot"...) The roads on this leg were mostly dual carriageways, but with a somewhat lumpy surface (I would definitely take the GS...). It was roasting hot all the way to Gallipoli. The Dardanelles battlefield tour is well worth doing, BTW.

From Gallopoli we went straight to the Greek border along more straight and lumpy dual carriageways. Once inside Greece we followed the suddenly blissfully smooth motorway all the way to Thessaloniki before turning north into Macedonia. Northern Greece is quite crowded; Macedonia seemed empty and very scenic by comparison; reasonably good twisty roads, too. A stop at Lake Ohrid is highly recommended.

Crossing into Albania from Macedonia was no problem, and we followed the road from the border towards Durres. This road was well made but very, very greasy. We turned onto what was shown on the map as another "main" road straight to Tirane, but it turned out to be a bumpy, twisty minor mountain road. The GS handled it well, but my mate following on his R1150R was thrown about a bit. Then the part of my rear footrest that supports the bottom of the pannier sheared off, the pannier flapping up and down. This was cunningly repaired using a piece of Albanian pine tree...

We made it to Tirane and then on up to the Montenegrin border without further problems, but found that most Albanian towns have no road signs whatsoever (the GPS was a great help here). The Albanian/Montenegro border crossing was a godforsaken place, in a sort-of rocky desert next to a swamp, reachable only by several miles of potholed road; but Montengro itself was a pleasant surprise, with reasonably good roads and great mountain scenery. BTW it was still roasting hot all the way through Greece, Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro.