Day 33: Alexandroupoli-Keşan (79 km, 661 ↑)
We left Alexandroupoli early in the morning because, although it was a Saturday, Udo would have to work in the afternoon due to a project go-live. And we wanted to have enough buffer in our schedule, in case the border crossing would take a long time, or there would be any other delays.
Our last kilometres in Greece were a very pleasant ride. First, we could enjoy the sunrise on our ride out of Alexandroupoli. There was very little traffic so early on a Saturday. And then we left the main road and cycled along some small rural roads in a nice, quiet landscape. The only people we met were a goatherd and his flock (or is it a herd of goats?). His dogs were friendly, too.
After around forty-five kilometres and several mosquito bites, we reached the border to Türkiye. We were not sure first which line to pick because there was one for cars and one for busses and motorcycles. We chose the motorcycle lane first, but changed to the car lane after a while, assuming that checking the busses might take longer time. We managed to sneak in front of some cars, too, which we thought was fair because we were slow travellers the rest of the day. The passport control took maybe half an hour. The following customs control seemed to be the longer process. But luckily, one of the customs officers eventually waved at us and signalled that we were allowed to pass the cars. Therefore, the whole process took “only” around one hour. It makes you appreciate the intra EU and Schengen borders, though, when you see how long you have to wait at non-EU borders. Especially, the queue in the other direction, from Türkiye into Greece was more than a kilometre long and for trucks even longer.
The rest of the day, our route planning app Komoot had planned to partly follow the main road and partly use smaller roads. These would have implied a significant detour though. The main road had a wide shoulder and was, although looking like a motorway, allowed for cyclists. Since it was not to busy either, we decided to save some kilometres and simply follow the main road.
Our first town in Türkiye, Keşan, was bigger than expected. For a change, we are staying in a hotel here. While Udo had to work in the afternoon, I strolled through town and over the bazaar. I bought a Galatasaray jersey. Unfortunately, they only had Osimhen, Sané and Gündogan jerseys. So I bought one without a name and number and need to find a shop in Istanbul that can print Ayhan or Kutucu on my jersey.
Today, Sunday, I’m having a day off. Tomorrow is a working day. So we stay here for two more nights and then continue on Tuesday. Despite the size of the town, the restaurant offer is non-satisfying and bars are practically non-existent. But we have Istanbul to look forward to.
