As expected the weather turned to custard as soon as I left home and I was riding through rain all the way to Munich. I ended up paying a heavy McCafe toll, hitting quite a few of them along the way for apple pie and coffee. In one of them the very nice old cleaning lady mopped up the wet trail I left across the store and kept mopping up the water puddle around a very apologetic me.

Just South of Munich the sky cleared for the first time and I could see the Alps.

My destination for today was a buddy’s place near Garmisch. The picture below is the view from his living room window.

The next day I had a good look around the lovely village of Eschenlohe.

Later that day we went to Munich for a party with some folks I went snowboarding with a few years ago. Only my first stop and I already got “stuck” for an extra day

My buddy in Eschenlohe convinced me to spend an extra day in the Dolomites instead of pressing on directly to Venice. A look at the map sold me on the plan: lots of twisty mountain roads and plenty of campgrounds. I quickly made a ferry reservation from Venice to Igoumentisa for two days later before I left his place.

I set out in beautiful sunshine, which lasted until I crossed the border to Italy.

Luckily, I had dry roads again when I reached the higher altitudes in the Dolomites.

I started to realize that it might actually be a bit early for the camping season. The ski lifts that were still running were a clue. I left my all season sleeping bag as well as my winter gloves at home in a last minute weight saving effort. I asked my trusty Zumo how long it would take all the way to Venice and it told me that I could make it in daylight. It then send me on some very twisty mountain roads, including a 2300m pass. Traffic so far had been very light, but until I hit the highway again closer to the coast I only saw a handful of cars going in the other direction and no one going my way. The drivers of the cars I saw looked at me in disbelief. The roads were dry and and with my heated grips I wasn’t cold at all. So, no worries and I had all those turns to myself.

With all that sow around I kept thinking of ways to bring a snowboard on a motorbike. I was really tempted to rent some gear and put in some turns.

After a bit of highway and more country roads I reached Punto Sabbioni, across the lagune from Venice, just around sunset.

This was my first time in Venice and I wasn’t sure what to expect, except of hordes of other tourists. Yes, the place is not for people who don’t like crowds but it was well worth coming here. Just a bit away from St Marc’s square you can have the place practically to yourself and Venice invites you to just head down a narrow alley and explore. It is fascinating in all its beauty and ugliness at the same time and a perfect place for people watching. I had a blast for two days and it didn’t even blow the budget.

I took the ferry from Venice to Igoumentisa in Greece to save some time on my way down. We ended up having four bikes on the ferry, two V-Stroms, one GS, and my Ten. We were told to park between the loading ramps at the very back of the ferry. No tie down points at all and the bikes were really close to each other, practically touching. When I asked I was told that they’ll be fine. With mixed feelings about this I went upstairs to my cabin.

I spent the evening in the company of German and Dutch retirees, who made the crossing with their camper vans, and Greek truck drivers. I had a chance to play bingo but decided against it. My only bingo experience is of the South Pole extreme, full impact bingo kind and I didn’t want to get into trouble. I opted to watch a bloody action flick in one of the lounges instead. After a good night’s sleep I watched a Rambo movie in the morning before it was time to disembark. Somehow Greek ferry companies don’t have the same qualms when it comes to movie selection and some of the kids enjoyed the bloodfest.

The bikes were fine and I drove off as soon as the doors opened.

I let the Zumo pick a secondary road through the mountains north of Igoumentisa. It was a fantastic ride. No cars on the road, just the odd cow, sheep, or dog. When I passed through a small village with a couple of restaurants I decided to stop for a late lunch. My question for a menu was answered with a grand tour of the kitchen. It then turned out that Mama spoke German and all was well after a nice meal and a Cafe Frappe.

Just at the start of the road I saw a guy on a smallish, probably 125cc bike with a ton of luggage and a small puppy peeking over the handlebar. This guy was obviously on a longer trip and I would have loved to talk to him. We exchanged greetings but unfortunately he didn’t stop. In fact, he looked pretty miserable. I would soon find out why. As I headed up the pass I soon find myself in thick fog. There was plenty of snow at side of the road too and the temps were way down. Time to crank up the heated grips again.

I rolled into Kastraki at the foot of the Meteora monastaries just before sunset. After setting up my tent and taking off the luggage I went for a great sunset ride around the monastaries.

No cars on the road, just cows

Nice curvy road

Lake near Ioannina

At the begınnıng of the Katara pass road

At the beginning of the road heading up to the Katara pass.

Katara Pass. Pretty nasty but I made it through

The little church on the side of the road was a great spot for a break

All of the monasteries are now linked by roads and can be accessed via steps that have been added in the last century. So, it is just a matter of finding a parking spot between the coaches hauling in the geriatric crowd and climbing up the stairs. Some of the monasteries are really small and some of them are quite big. The main point of interest is usually the basilica with ancient frescoes depicting martyrs being killed in all kinds of gory ways in great detail.

During the day I met a Swiss guy on a KTM Adventure 950. We had a quick chat and he told me that he got soaked the day before and he needed to dry out his stuff. How lucky was I to stay dry! I had a great time exploring the area.

Looking toward Kastraki

Meteora monastaries

My Ten posing in front of one of the monastaries

Modern day cargo delivery

Basilica inside a monastery

Frescoes adorn the walls inside the basilica

Very spooky

I’m glad I don’t have kitchen duty here

Beautiful spot along a dirt road

At the end of a dirt road, after getting past some aggressive sheep dogs, I found yet another monastery

Today I had to cover quite a few kilometers. I left Kastraki in sunny weather, heading in a northeasterly direction towards the Turkish boarder. I took advantage of some sections of the newly built “Olympic” highway, which didn’t get done until after the Olympics and some sections are still under constructions. The highway is so new that they didn’t even have time to finish the toll system. I drove through a brand new toll plaza near a heavily tunneled section that will sure cost serious Euros in the future. Only once, near Thessaloniki did I have to pay the outrageous amount of one Euro. At some point dark clouds moved in and it looked like a serious downpour was about to happen. I got off the highway asap and took an extended lunch break/nap in a simple taverna in a small village near a lake. After I got back on the road I did get a few drops but my clothes were dried out by the time I reached Alexandroupoli just before the Turkish boarder. They also forgot to build any gas station on the highway and one has to get off to get gas. The gas stations can be pretty far off the highway and the exits are pretty far apart or still under construction. That seems to be a very strange system.

Little gorge along the way

Many of these shrines are along the roads

I waited out a thunderstorm

Greek Rittersport imitation. “Quadratisch, praktisch, gut” is catching on in the rest of the world.

The sun is shining again

The Communists still seem to go strong in Greece, calling everyone to the mayday parade.

Quaint little fishing town along the way

A short ride from my campground in Alexandroupoli brought me to the Turkish border. I had heard much about the Turkish bureaucracy and drawn out customs procedure and thus was very pleasantly surprised that it took only 15 minutes. The customs official thought I wasn’t the brightest though. I have a little New Zealand sticker on my bike (I live there) and he pointed out that I am a day late for ANZAC day and the big bike convention on Gallipoli. He didn’t believe me when I told him that I didn’t want to go to either one of these. I also kept trying to push my carnet de passage on him. I had heard that otherwise one has to pay a fee for some other piece of paper. Since I have a carnet for Iran anyway I thought I should use it. Turns out none of this is required. He just entered the details in a computer and put an extra stamp in my passport. No fee at all. I’ll see how it goes when I try to leave.

Countryside near the Turkish border

Another short ride brought me to Gallipoli, where I paid my respect at the NZ monument at the Hill 60 battle site and at ANZAC cove. Workers were busy removing the grandstands from the dawn ceremony the day before. Today the whole area was practically deserted.

Hill 60 New Zealand Monument

ANZAC Cove

Monument with view of ANZAC cove

I took the ferry to Canakkale and continued on to the ancient city of Troja.

I got a room in the village next to Troja, unloaded my bags and went for beautiful sunset ride on the dirt roads in the area.

Countryside near Troja

Later we had dinner at a small restaurant with the owner of the pension and another guest. The owner was a great host and gave a great introduction to Turkish culture and hospitality.