Day 11_12
We stay in Burgas, but not just for tourism… today is a big day! We have to receive our passports! China finally granted us our visas (someday I’ll write about how we got the Chinese Visas)!!! Those are really BIG NEWS, because it seemed impossible few days ago! We were stuck in Bulgaria. Without passports we cannot enter to Turkey (that’s because we are going with our own motorbike, if not you can enter with your identity document and the visa).
In the morning we go to the PODA protected area between Burga’s lakes to see some birds; yesterday we saw a pelican band flying and we expect to see some more! The guy there it’s surprise to see us there (like… what are you doing here? You want to see birds?!). He is friendly and explains everything about this area and its birds, we spend there a good and relaxing time there until a storm comes… we have to go without seeing pelicans! (but I see an Ibis above us on the road!).
When we arrive to the hotel, they have an envelope for us… YESSSS our passports! That means that tomorrow we can cross to Turkey! That’s great!
We stay at the hotel almost the rest of the day because again there is a big storm, lightning are happening in front of us, the car’s alarm are sounding and people screaming, it’s a little bit crazy! When stops we go to the city center, it’s nice to walk there, we have something light to dinner and we go to the hotel to sleep. Tomorrow it’ll be a big day!
We have to get up early next day, we read somewhere that we can stay one or two hours at the border, and also it will be a long ride day.
We are just an hour and a half away from the border, so we don’t stop before we reach there. Everything it’s easier as thought! To be in Turkey takes 30 minutes, 2 passport controls, and one baggage control, that’s it! That’s because we are entering through a less used border in the forest, good choice!
We are riding almost alone on the road when suddenly starts raining (again?!), a few kilometers later we stop to put our “rain clothes”, and we continue our way to Istanbul. We have lunch at a restaurant near the highway, and it is tasty! Then, another super storm starts, lucky that we are under a roof this one it’s tough!
When it goes, we start riding again, but some kilometers later the superbig storm catches us. Lot of water + Trucks + Highway + Motorbike it’s a scary combination, but Tià manages to get us out of the storm safely; we don’t have time to search a place to rest when we see us in the middle of the Istanbul’s traffic.
I can’t explain how it is… just imagine the craziest chaos ever and transform it into a traffic jam. We spend more than an hour to arrive to the hotel, and it was just a few km away!The hotel it’s in the city center. The crew is friendly and they help us to fins a place for the motorbike… maybe it’s a little unorthodox but it works!
We have dinner near the hotel (first kebab!) and then we go for a little walk, suddenly we find Ayasofya and the Blue Mosque, what an impressive view! We haven’t seen a lot, but we already love this city!
