Turkey.....Anyone ridden a GS around the Med Coast/lived there.

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Tranman

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Fresh back from Romania and Bulgaria. Whilst in Bulgaria saw a sign saying Istanbul 331 clicks away. Got the brain cell twitching. Anyone ridden around the southern coast i.e Fethiye, Bodrum, Antalya? What's best, the jaunt through Eastern Europe or down to Italy and catch a ferry? Anyone lived/or living in Turkey with useful advice.

Her's hoping........and dreaming of turqoise seas in December.

Ta much,

Dicky
 
Beklemek beklenmedik...kismet

I worked in Izmir for a while back in the mid-eighties. I was going through a planes, trains and automobiles phase; so no two-wheeled or off-road adventures. The hospitality, climate and general ambience were superb. I was paradigm shifting every day and satyring up all night on raki, coffee of the gods and balaclava clad belly dancers. (Sorry I'm in typo reminiscing heaven here---my spelling has gone all wobbly.) Only the Italians know how to really live as well. Well OK the Greeks know how to live pretty well to, but I'm not trying to start a bush war. (ahem!)

The one thing I do remember was that death on the roads existed as a pretty everyday sort of thing. The bigger artics all had Allah korusun printed across the windscreen...allah look after me. Most of the indiginous non-mercedes type cars were made out of the composite waste stuff that british environmental services used to make the municipal dustbins out of at that time...you know ; that sort of tar,rag and plastic mache stuff. They would explode on impact with anything bigger than a catseye and the passengers would mostly just die horribly. Things are probably much better now
 

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No helmets were worn at any time...

...balaclava or otherwise.

The belly dancers were all very respectable, clad most decently and the coffee always came with those nice little sugary nutcakes called bakhlava . The police were all nice too and if they would let you leave your hat in their cloakroom sometimes. I must have just gotten all confused over that business with the tickets....?
 
Watch out for the Dolmush (sic?) ...maddest minibus drivers bar NONE!!!

Never ridden there but i sailed out of Bodrum for a couple of years..very nice place, keep away from the tourists and you're fine.....

There's a travel advisory out on Turkey at the moment tho,,,check with the FO.

Ps there's more history in Turkey than there is in Greece and most of it is unspoilt.....fantastic place.
 
alexeft said:
More history in Turkey than Greece????

:comfort
Click to expand...
Deep breaths now, relax :comfort

Tranman, i would suggest the ''down to Italy and catch a ferry'' route. Seems you've already seen/ridden through eastern europe. Avoiding the sh**ty roads and multiple border-crossings will keep you fresh and ready for the bimble through the coast. December will be a tad wet and rather calm but i guess you'll be here for the scenery and the roads, so no worries. Especially the part from bodrum to antalya will be great. Calm roads through the pine forests with the sea on your right all the way 'till Antalya. And lots of nice twisties may i add. I wouldn't expect much roadworks etc as they start getting the roads ready for the tourist season only from march or april forwards.
Don't know the duration you have in mind but guessing you will ride all the way from cesme to antalya, i would suggest a week or thereabaouts should be the way to go. And shorter and you'll be just pushing through it, missing much of it. Any longer and you might find it's too ''calm'' in December. No visas required for U.K nationals. Fellow tossers of this parish; L and expatinistanbul can also fill you in i guess. A nice thread over in advrider from another Brit actually living down in the southern coast, should give you a great deal of info about those parts: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=374143&highlight=turkey
 
Get out there, it's great, we did it back in 2006, OK we were on an RT, and next Friday, 4th Sept 09, we will still be on the RT, this time doing, southern Greece inc, Zante.

If you go Ancona to Ingoumenitsa, the new motorway road is open Egnatia Odos....fast but you miss a lot of the tight and twisties, and dead dogs and donkeys:augie

http://www.egnatia.eu/page/default.asp?la=2&id=32

We have a page about it on our webshite http://www.rtrider.co.uk/turkey_06.htm

Check your insurance does Turkey, the ASIA side too:rob

We did the north then to Ankara and over Central Anatolia, which was awesome.

http://www.allaboutturkey.com/index.htm

Really helpful website, as is http://www.ommriders.com/, e-mailed them and got loads of advice.


All the best George and Kathy:beerjug:
 
celcius said:
Deep breaths now, relax :comfort

Tranman, i would suggest the ''down to Italy and catch a ferry'' route. Seems you've already seen/ridden through eastern europe. Avoiding the sh**ty roads and multiple border-crossings will keep you fresh and ready for the bimble through the coast. December will be a tad wet and rather calm but i guess you'll be here for the scenery and the roads, so no worries. Especially the part from bodrum to antalya will be great. Calm roads through the pine forests with the sea on your right all the way 'till Antalya. And lots of nice twisties may i add. I wouldn't expect much roadworks etc as they start getting the roads ready for the tourist season only from march or april forwards.
Don't know the duration you have in mind but guessing you will ride all the way from cesme to antalya, i would suggest a week or thereabaouts should be the way to go. And shorter and you'll be just pushing through it, missing much of it. Any longer and you might find it's too ''calm'' in December. No visas required for U.K nationals. Fellow tossers of this parish; L and expatinistanbul can also fill you in i guess. A nice thread over in advrider from another Brit actually living down in the southern coast, should give you a great deal of info about those parts: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=374143&highlight=turkey
Click to expand...

Hey. that's my Advrider thread that is! Sold up in Blighty and been here for nearly five years. Loving it.

Cheers,

Dickyb
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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