Eastern Europe

So here it is. We finally made it to Egypt but here is the blog updated up to Turkey. We hope you guys are enjoying the ride and the pics at the very least.....


Descending down from the Alps into Slovenia and eventually the Mediterranean country of Croatia was awesome!  The weather was just about perfect, the sun was setting on the steep, alpines with the random occasional castle just popping up to say hello.  



Random castles!  It's like a Disney movie.  It was a bit cold, but considering it was the Alps in December, I don't think we have much to complain about. The border crossings were a joke.  Way too easy.  Something just feels wrong doing a border crossing without at least one bribe.  I'd heard a lot of good things about Croatia over the years so I wanted to put in at least a solid week there.  And I know a week doesn't sound like much but you've got to remember this whole time we're racing visa expiration deadlines and optimal weather deadlines for Africa.  And there turned out to be one very specific visa deadline Rien and I overlooked that ended up changing the course of our trip.  But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

We rode up into Zegrab, Croatia at night after eating some interesting road stew. We asked the local taxi driver where a hostel was and started riding for the city center.  The streets were getting more and more crowded with people with fewer and fewer cars until it was like one of the German Christmas markets where the streets are blocked off and just reserved for people... and in this case two big, muddy F800's.  We were kinda lost so we figured that gave us dumb-American-passage rights.  We ended up at Trg Ban Jelacic, the main square with hundreds of people everywhere...and our two bikes on the sidewalks.  Dirty looks everywhere.  Fortunately we found the hostel right around the corner...not a very typical hostel but welcoming. Unfortunately, we don't have any cool pics of Zagreb, but Rien and I LOVED it!  I'm for sure coming back with my party hat some day down the road.  

Rien:  We went out the first night and met some cool people. I lost Nate and ended up in an abandon warehouse that turns into a Discotec 4 times a year. Graffiti everywhere, crazy Dj's, and the best part was the name. The "SLAUGHTER HOUSE".

Nate:  Rien disappeared, but I met a cool girl who gave me a tour of the entire cobble-stone old town until sun up.  This place is beautiful.  

We spent some days there enjoying the food and drink and eventually headed on to the coast. 

Shamanologue 1:

At a fork in a little country road somewhere in the farming valleys of Croatia...

Rien:  Dude should we go right or left?

Nate:  Hmm not sure.

Rien:  The left might lead to a highway or something...

Nate:  Might.

Rien:  ....well, I think the ocean is that way... so maybe we go right...?

Nate:  No, I think the ocean is that way.

Rien:  Yeah, probably right.

Nate:  Look at that chicken.  Just hanging out... clucking around.... let's go left.

Rien:  Why didn't we get that map?

Nate:  NO way!  It was like ten Euro!!!  Besides I've got GPS (Though we still haven't bothered setting them up yet.).

Rien:  Yeah that's been a real help.

Nate:  Don't be racist against my Garmin.

We went left and ended up finding the water falls of Plitvice Jezera an hour down the road. 

Rien:  It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. A beautiful 15 lake, waterfall, blue dream with a feng shui ambiance. It was supposed to rain and we came late in the day in winter so a place that should be crowed all the time was magically deserted. Words cant describe so I can only post some pictures to try and convey the magic.

We made a bunch of them small so it fits better. You can click on any one and it will take you to a slide show.

We finally made ourselves leave after darkness started taking over.  Even then it was difficult to leave such a serene place.

We headed down the road, riding at night in some drizzle. We always promise ourselves we won't ride at night but we always end up doing it. We stopped hungry and cold and had some delicious cevapccici (seasoned beef ) with some kaymak (very good type of cream cheese).  We got a good's night's rest and continued on the next day. We got a little lost somewhere on the border before Bosnia, but found some good country roads to ride on.

Here are some cool dirt bikers we met along the way. It seems my German came in handy for getting directions

   

 Nate had his first drop. Look at Mad Maxine all growd up.  This little drop gave us an idea of how our Metal Mule side boxes would react.  It kinda just ripped off; which at first had us a little upset with the quality of the box fastener but giving it a second thought it's better to have it rip off and stay generally in good shape than stay rigidly mounted and end up completely gnarled.

The views on the bike, as we approached the Bosnian border, were just mind melting.  We were dirt-roading through this neon green, sun-kissed paradise that made keeping your eyes on the road impossible.  Trying to catch it on film just didn't work for me... it was just to large to catch.  

I think it was around this time that we had our big, trip altering dilemma but we still wouldn't discover it until Istanbul...   

We head onward to Bosnia/Herzgonia. Dont ask me why one country has 2 names. I asked a few people and couldnt get a straight answer.  Quick note to anyone thinking about riding Bosnia: Google maps will not display Bosnia when you're looking them up from Croatia.  The two don't get along very well.  This was our first 3rd-world border crossing, but in actuality it was a bit of a let down.  Twenty dollars for insurance and we were on our way.  Twenty minutes tops and a lot of smiles from everybody.

The countryside in Bos was amazing.  The terrain quickly turned into steep rocky cliffs with rivers carving their way through to sharp sapphire lakes.  And of course the occasional 500-year-old castle popping up to say "We're not in Kansas anymore."  I want to come back for a hiking/whitewater rafting vaca one day.  We got to Mostar some time after sundown.  Started hearing that familiar sound of the Islamic prayer call over the loud speakers telling everyone to go get right.  We got some coffee... got a weird vibe in the city and decided to try to cut over the mountain range to try to make into Sarajevo, which turned out to be a bad idea.  It was FREEZING, pitch-black, raining, super windy.... and the cops busted us for speeding in one of the little in-between towns.   We rolled up to Sarajevo looking like two drowned rats.  Apparently this city is full of thieves and robbers.  Every time I'd put my backpack on the ground someone walking by would be like "You better pick that thing right back up or it's gonna walk.".  But I think Sarajevo had a lot of potential...the architecture is impressive and the city just has kind of a chic feel to it.  Seeing the random bullet holes in walls more and more I start getting reminded of Beirut.  Maybe that's why I like Saraj.  It seems like it could follow Beirut's model and I think Beirut's one of the coolest cities in the world.  Third world chic.  Just like I like it.

Rien:  I'm usually pretty open, but Sarajevo was kind of a messed up place. We had to pay to park our bikes in a garage as everyone there told us thieves steal everything there.  We were a little bummed coming into Sarajevo at night because it looked as though it would have been a beautiful ride through the mountains along a river. We were not disappointed as the next day brought similar scenery.

We decided to leave Sarajevo after a bit of walking around as there was not to much to see.

Nate:  Haha, I think a certain somebody was also getting a little froggy to rush to Jordan by New Years to see his girl.

                                          A cup of jo in Sarajevo.

                                       

Things started getting nice and rugged past Sarajevo.  Dirt roads are the norm with a little snow here and there.  Bullet holes in most the older structures.  Then as I'm riding through the snowy pines down this quasi road I come to the mouth of a cave.... the road goes inside.  No lights, pitch black.  Barely wide enough to even turn the bikes around once inside.  This is a first.  I slowly start creeping in.  Even with high beams on it's hard to see past 15 feet.  It just keeps going deeper and further.  I can't help but feel like this is how a blockbuster horror movie would start.  And after about two kilometers of dark, there's a little speck of light in the distance and we finally pop out at the other end of the tunnel.  The other end looked a little more official but we still had to get pics.

We did our typical check-the-map-but-who-really-cares style of navigation on our way to Serbia.  It was such a fun drive.  Heading up over the mountains we found a great view of Serbia down below and we found some kind of small Bosnian cemetery.  Wish I knew what it was all about. 

OK so make a right at the goat farm and a left at the Serbian sign that I can't read?

  

We've noticed, and this is a little pointer to anyone doing two-wheel adventure touring, when you get that little post meal coma and keeping your eyes open is tough, the motorcycle gear is padded and warm enough, and the helmet fits just right that you can get of the bike anywhere and just lie down and pass out (That had to be a run-on sentence).  So we just get off the bikes and pass out... anywhere.  We're used to the strange looks by now so viva la siesta.

We pulled into Uzice, Serbia pretty late at night and this is the first city I think I've ever said no one has ANY reason to visit here for tourism.  We met some really nice, cool people who were eager to help us out but this place is shady.  It's got a dense layer of smoke everywhere.  No hostels in the entire city, cus no one comes here and only one hotel...15 floors and each one of them was gutted.  After trying to find a safe place to hide the bikes, like inside the hotel lobby I went out on the town, got told I really shouldn't be there and we left early the next morning.  Belgrade is the place to be in Serbia but we skipped it.  This trip is about Africa for us, so no dallying around.  

http://tinyurl.com/7t9r48o   The red-carpet treatment

Cruising through Serbia is strange.  That same layer of smoke is everywhere.  Thick.  The little towns are very run down and poor, with bullet and mortar rounds peppered everywhere.  It was a tiring ride and, I guess technically, I took us 50 clicks the wrong way toward Kosovo, theoretically.  Haha, the signs were in Serbian!  I don't read Serbian!  We went through these many mazes of roundabouts in one town and then the smoke started clearing.  I was like sweet.  I can do this.  Rolling brown hills... little castle up in the distance... cute little sign that said Kosovon....Kosovon!  That definitely can't be Kososvo.  There's no "N" at the end of Kosovo!  Let's just play this out and see what happens.  Well, yeah Kosovon is Kosovo.  Rien and I checked the map by the river, flipped a U and started back towards the Bulgarian border.  But had we not made that theoretical mistake we would have missed one of my favorite trip mementos.  As we were heading back away from the setting sun I saw a red car on the side of the road covered with these miniature, hand-crafted, oak whiskey barrels.  That was a no-brainer.  So if you wanna see it you've got to be  there for my welcome home party.  

We made the long ride to Sophia, Bulgaria and after 12 hours on the bikes, a mere 20 kilometers away we hit a wall of fog that slowed us down to a near stop. The helmet fogged up and you couldnt see anything. It's always fun when you think you're 20 minutes away from a hot shower and then the fog hits and you're stuck on the road for another hour and a half.  Sophia is a wild wild town.  Way too much fun and we ended up meeting two cool cats who would be the next two members of the Motoshamans Motorcycle Club, dodging chicken buses since 2005.  Shout out to Sir Phillip, an American who's been riding Europe/Asia for the last couple years and actually rode his bike into (and back out of) Iraq a little while back.  As per MMC rules, if you ride a two-wheeler internationally, and are exceedingly cool, you're eligible to join the MMC.  This guy also helped change our way of travel... he's a computer programmer who set us up with maps for our GPS's.  Thanks a lot man.  Watch those chicken buses.  The other cool cool cat was Draco.  A guy who does crazy leather sculpting art in Bulgaria.  http://draganmilev.com/  He's also done his time on two wheels all over the world so we're happy to have him in the club. here is a picture of some of his work.

We stayed 3 days at the Hostel Mostel which Rien and I highly recommend.  And to anyone going through Sophia, the night scene is all about Barabar and this one place that is entirely candle lit... uh, if any of my Bulgarian friends are reading this... what's that place called again?  Lots of history, cool statues and art, and too many cool people.  Shout out to Pippi Longstockings for introducing this Montana boy to heaps of cool new music. Also shout out to Vili for showing me good food and the mountains.

Shamanalogue 2:

While walking down the street to Barabar with a Peace Core worker who was in town to get a chipped tooth fixed:

Peace Core guy:  You'll love Bulgaria.  This place is great!  You'll see these springs on the side of the rode in the mountains.  That's where you want to fill up your water bottles. 

Nate:  Nice.  Uh, what about the tap water?

PCG:  Definately don't want to drink the tap water. 

Nate:  Hmm.  Eh, Already did.

PCG:  Yeah actually I've been doing it this whole time.

Nate:  Nice.   

Getting close to the edge of Europe, our next stop was Istanbul, Turkey.  The long sweeping highway from Soph to Istanbul was immaculate and made for a quick ride.  The rain clouds were chasing us, but the Beemers stayed ahead of them.  German engineering, you can't beat it.  Closing in on Istanbul Rien pulled out some crazy ninja skills.  Though we had the GPS's technically working now we still weren't using them, and we didn't have a map.  Rien knew about a hostel he stayed at before nestled right between Aya Sophia and the Blue Mosque, but he really didn't know how to get to them.  Somehow he navigated the city and after about an hour we ended up right at the door steps of The Orient Hostel.  What I didn't realize was that we were going to discover our big trip blunder in a few days and I'd have to make Istanbul my home for the next three weeks. We dont have any pictures of the boys at the hostel, but we owe some gratitude to them. They really took care of us, helped us the best they could to find a way to ship the bikes and fed us a steady supply of beer as needed. Thanks guys! If anyone out there is heading to Istan go check out Orient Hostel.

Aya Sophia and the Blue Mosque were incredible.  Aya Sophia is a contradiction inside as it's full of ancient Catholic mosaics right next to Islamic insignias.  I've never seen anything in comparison.  We did the normal tourist thing all over this massive city, but both of us were really more focused on prepping for our Syrian crossing.  We researched and found a good route... we figured we could stash enough gas to be able to plow through without needing to make a stop.  Just blow through the entire country in one loooong day.  Cameras are banned in Syria right now so we were just in the process of mailing ours to Jordan when we discovered our problem..... Rien's Syrian visa had already expired and my expiration was coming in a couple days.  We wouldn't be able to get through.  There's no way around, and Getting another visa would be tough from Turkey.  It was a huge disappointment for the both of us.  Syria is basically in a civil war, so I guess it's for the best.  We hope the Syrian people can resolve there issues peacefully and move forward.

So we decided to take a little break, regroup and come up with another plan.  I flew to Jordan to hang out with my amazing girlfriend Salma, Saed, and friends for a couple weeks and Nate stayed in Istan for New Years. It was a great way to recharge. We ate delicious food and I spent some time with family like friends for the Holidays...muy bueno / Hamdallah!!! 

 

We decided shipping the bikes to Egypt would be the quickest/most logical move though it's not quick and definitely not cheap.  Rien and Salma got in touch with a shipping company (It's nice knowing someone who speaks Arabic) and when he got back to Turkey we rode down to the coast town of Izmir to send the girls to sea.  The customs process took 4 obnoxious days with nothing to do but wait and wait more. The word "enshallah" (God willing) is beginning to take on a whole new meaning for us.

And I'd like to give a huge "THANK YOU" to Valerie Szybala in DC for helping with the arduous task of getting our passports pushed through the Sudanese embassy for renewal of those visas, and mailing back to us in Istan in record time.  We couldn't have done it without you.  Thanks Val :P 

 Izmir was fun and I'd say it's the most liberal Islamic city I've seen apart from maybe Beirut.  Here is a pick of our local eatery, the guy spoke German so everything was easy breazy.






But I'll never forget those awful prayer calls!  Five times a day all mosques do a call to prayer over the loud speakers and they never bothered me in the 6 other Islamic countries I've been but here....Our hotel was right next to a mosque and the Muezzin (caller/singer guy) was the biggest high-pitched prema donna I've ever heard.  Like nails on a chalkboard.  Then he'd stop for 30 seconds and you'd be like cool, it's over... and then HAYILAA WOOLAYEELALALA!!!  Ah!  It's not over!  We rode up to Ephesus to explore the ruins for a day.  Kinda cool, but it doesn't compare to the Lebanese ruins.

So we finally sent the bikes off, bussed up to Istan and caught our flight to (drum roll) Africa!

Sorry it took so long and this one is a bit long winded, but we will try and do country by country from here on out.