Wednesday    27.8.2025
142km Total: 5468km  2h 47m Total: 80h 24m
  120km Total: 1740km   2.3km Total: 231.44km

It's a bit difficult to judge when I would have to head to the port as I really couldn't make a fair estimate of how long the border crossing back to the north would be.
I make sure I have an hour and a half margin for a journey that according to Google Maps should take 40 minutes and it turns out to be plenty.

There is basically no queue at all and the Greek Cypriot passport control just waves me through without even looking at my passport.
So I arrive at the port in good time and there I see the signs for Akgünler up on the 2nd floor of a building directly to the left as you enter the port area.

I head up there to collect the tickets and then on to the border control and customs.
For the very first time I could actually see some logic to where I was supposed to go and in which order.

It's a bit weird that the shipping company states that the passengers need to be at the port at least two hours before departure as no one seems to care.
When that time limit had passed, it is still only me and two cars on the quay.
I am definitely starting to suspect that the time on the ticket actually indicates the check-in time (which in that case is the only boat I've ever been on that does that) and not the departure time, because otherwise the timekeeping feels pretty unreasonably off.

Since it was the only place I could get shade, I stood by the stevedores who were sitting by the bow visor.
I don't think even half an hour had passed before one of them took pity on me and said that I could get my "moto" and papers and I could ride on board.
So the Tiger was the first vehicle on the boat. Nice!

It's nice to see that there is still some consideration and kindness left in the world, because standing there on the quay for an hour or so more would have been terrible, even if I had stocked up for the worst and brought four liters of water with me.
The daytime temperature has not been much below 40º (104ºF) during my entire stay, which is very much the reason why I haven't ridden the bike at all since I got here.

Just like on the night ferry, we don't leave anywhere near the scheduled departure time of 2 pm. It's closer to 3:30 before we actually set off.

I don't really know what I was thinking when I booked these crossings, because even though the ferry tickets were quite cheap for these particular crossings I won't have time to get anywhere today since I'm arriving on the mainland very late in the evening (and it will be even later, with this shipping company's rather relaxed attitude to its sailing schedule).
I have therefore booked a room at a hotel in Mersin, just 110 kilometers from the port of Taşucu.

It turns out to be a sensible tactic because we should have arrived at the port at 7pm and it's closer to 10pm (!) before we're actually there.
Once in the port, it's of course the opposite in relation to the departure, which is somewhat geographically inconvenient as that means I'll have to leave the bike at the anonymous customs barracks and walk across half the port area to get to the border police.
It's not just my patience that's wearing thin as a Turk has a total nervous breakdown in the queue and starts wildly screaming at the border police.
I pretty much expected him to get cuffed and taken away because as outburst go it wasn't mild and he clearly managed to annoy the hell out of the police but he eventually calms down after what I can only assume where threats of serious consequences from the police.

Once back at customs with my passport stamped, it's time for a new queue that moves even slower than the last one.
It takes at least five minutes to process each person through customs so it would be an overstatement even claiming it's crawling along, it felt like we where basically at a complete standstill.
My wait is not made any better by the fact that I can't let go of the suspicion that when I finally get to one of the windows they'll claim I should have gotten some paper stamped by some other guy at some other place.
But that suspicion turns out to be unfounded, thank God.
Passport and registration certificate were all that was needed for me to then stand in line through the physical customs inspection (of the bike).
Thankfully, they only do a very rudimentary check of the gear, after which I get a (stamped, of course stamped, every fucking thing need to be stamped) "receipt" which I then show to exit the port.

I don't arrive at the "Royal" in Mersin until after midnight and after the usual routines, with the help of a little pointing, I actually manage to order a kebab from a restaurant opposite the hotel which, amazingly enough, was still open.
It was 1.30AM when I was finally able to get some supper.
I fell asleep quite well after that.

The port of Girne and the lashing on the boat
As I said, it was pretty empty on board when I got to ride on

Surely it's completely obvious to everyone that the two completely anonymous windows at the end of barracks are Turkish customs?

Map of the Girne port

Map of the Taşucu port

Thursday    28.8.2025
518km Total: 5986km  4h 57m Total: 85h 21m
  5.19km Total: 236.63km

A rather unexciting day on the highway.
While I'm sitting at a gas station having a coffee, an old Talbot from the eighties pulls in and surprisingly stops at the natural gas pump.
It was definitely not what I thought it would be refueled with, but it turns out to be a thing here because it's not even the only Talbot, let alone the only veteran vehicle I see "refueled" with gas.

Arriving in Ankara, the city first seem to be leaning in all directions at once.
The hotel itself is located on an incline and also along a four-lane highway, so after first making a completely crazy navigation error, I find myself on a descent from the highway where the hotel is only thirty meters away but from my current position, against the direction of travel.
After checking the GPS and determining that the right way to do it would be a detour of several kilometers, I make the decision to simply do it the wrong way.
I put on my hazard lights and drive against the traffic to the hotel on the shoulder, it honestly doesn't seem like anyone cared much, at least no one made a fuss.
Dafne Hotel turns out to be a real upgrade from the "Royal" in Mersin which wasn't quite as royal as the name suggests.
Not that it was particularly difficult as the room in Mersin smelled like an ashtray and the faucet for the sink wasn't actually fixed to the sink.

The hotel isn't particularly centrally located but it should be possible to find a restaurant somewhere nearby, right? It is Türkiyes capitol after all.
Not exactly it turns out, as to begin with it was basically a matter of life and death trying to cross the motorway.
There was a pedestrian crossing with a button but when it turned red not a single car stopped.
Trying to cross there would no doubt have gotten me killed.
So I had to walk couple of hundred meters in the wrong direction to find a crossing that wouldn't be the end of me.
All in all it was an hour's walk before I found a restaurant and I wasn't picky as it was the very first one I found.

Thanks to helpful staff and Google Translate, I manage to order chicken with fries and it wasn't bad at all.
After booking the next hotel (Berr Hotel) in Istanbul while I'm drinking a beer for dessert, I pick up the phone and realise that as the crow flies I'm 2-300 meters from the hotel but Google's walking route to actually get there on foot meant a three and a half kilometer walk!
This city is not made for pedestrians, that's damn clear.
Despite feeling like the laziest person in the world, I actually took a Taxi back to the hotel, hands down the shortest taxi ride I've ever taken.
Including a tip, it cost about four euros.

While I was sitting on the outdoor terrace sipping my beer, I was actually freezing at the end.
The temperature is down to 22º (72ºF).
A most welcome change but I'm fascinated that I've gradually lowered the average temperature by almost 10º per day in two very reasonable daily mileages.

The KGM system has a webpage where you can check your registration number to see if you have any outstanding payments, which I have checked regularly.
And it is only now, after a week or so on Turkish highways, that I have actually been caught by a camera.
The debt was the equivalent of four euros, so it can't really say they've outdone themselves with fines.

Gas-powered Talbot.

A city gate in Ankara

Friday    29.8.2025
451km Total: 6437km  5h 16m Total: 90h 37m
  6.91km Total: 243.54km

Another day on the highway where the only interesting thing that happened was that I was harassed by drug addicts when I stopped for lunch.
I would have liked to have had a different calling card as I definitely think I interact plenty with that particular clientele at work.
For some reason these idiots wanted me to understand that they were Kurds from Iraqi Kurdistan and not Turks.
It was honorable that they did not want to tarnish the reputation of the host country because it was not Kurdistan's loss that those guys chose to emigrate.
This time we never got to the part of the relationship where I was supposed to give them money as I was quite clear that we were not going to become friends despite their best efforts.

Once in Istanbul the city traffic is just as horrible as you'd think, not the worst I have encountered but definitely in the top tier.
All the other motorbikes I see are riding in a lane that is actually reserved for emergency vehicles but since I don't know the legal status of it, I'm keeping my cool and riding along with the cars.
I skipped the EuroAsia tunnel and took the ferry across the Bosphorus instead.
I have no idea how much the tunnel costs, but the ferry fare was a bargain at €1.5.

On the ferry I get into conversation with a couple of gentlemen so I take the opportunity to ask if it's really legal for two-wheelers to ride in the emergency lane.
Yes, it is, he answers quickly, but after a while it turns out that it's not in fact legal at all (just as I thought).
It's just that no one really does anything about it and the cameras that covers the lanes only take pictures from the front thus not registering motorcycle licence plates.
I still think it's a bit humorous and I know it's a pretty sweeping generalisation drawing a conclusion based on one person's judgement, but I wonder if that's not a bit of the Turkish mentality.
If no one catches you doing it, it's basically legal.
I realise it's bit like the pot calling the kettle black here because I've definitely lived by that principle quite mercilessly myself on the highway.
Amazingly, motorcycles are supposed to drive slower than other traffic, so when cars are allowed to drive 120kph, bikes are supposed to fight with buses and trucks at 100.
The lorries don't seem to have any speed limiters here and they free-roll downhill, so a truck with a trailer at 100kph or more is commonplace here and I will never put myself in a situation where I might get overtaken by lorries.
At least that's my stupid excuse why I've basically not driven a single meter of highway in this country at the legal speed.
I've driven past countless traffic police officers parked along the highway so far who don't seem to care in the slightest, which should make it (in principle) legal by Turkish standards?

I check into the hotel and am immediately offered to park my bike in the garage, which I had already researched that they had one, but it turned out to be much smaller than I thought, so I appreciated the gesture.
Especially since they didn't charge for it at all.
There might have been room for half a dozen cars at the most being a little creative with the parking so there wasn't a lot of parking space for a hotel with 100 rooms.

I explore the surrounding area, which includes a local market, before having supper at a local version of KFC (ChiciWiki).

The ferry across the Bosphorus

I was pleasantly surprised that the hotel room in Istanbul was like a small apartment. Considering how much time I would be spending there as things turn out it was a stroke of luck.

Evening walk in the area around the hotel

I didn't sleep very well that first night considering that this spectacle was going on outside the hotel until four in the morning.