After travelling the length and breadth of Europe, last winter we joined a group to go to Libya; we were very happy and delighted with this country with its deserts, salt lakes, towns and villages; we had already visited Morocco on African soil, but the Libyans, with their kindness and hospitality, won us over. This preamble is to explain our thirst for adventure beyond Europe's borders, in countries not yet reached by mass tourism. Through the internet I set about looking for other motorhomers for a trip to these unknown countries; among the first I found a group that was going to Iran in the spring, but after initial contact we ruled it out: it was too close to the previous trip to Libya and, what's more, it was very expensive as it was organised by an agency-magazine in the motorhome sector.
Then, through the Traiano Camper Club of Benevento, I heard about a group who, after visiting Iran last year, wanted to extend the trip as far as Samarkand in Uzbekistan; I contacted the group leader, who sent me the rough itinerary, the cost for the organisation, including visas, the guides for the various countries, parking at the various hotels with electrical hook-up and the supply of electricity (Iran, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan), quoted at 1,850.00 euros per crew; we agreed to meet at Porto Recanati at the Bellamare campsite on 2 June, and in the meantime I sent confirmation with 50% of the total. MEETING: The Bellamare campsite is very nice and welcoming; we arrived the day before, the crew from Aosta got there before us and we soon make friends. At departure a welcome surprise: the stay at the campsite was paid for by the crew from Osimo.
CREWS: There are 12 of us in motorhomes from 9 different regions, the average age is 64, the oldest crew is the one we already knew: they are both 76, there are two crews from Piedmont who were with us in Libya, and the last crew was added even though it took us over the agreed number (10+1) because they are doctors, very useful for the group. LOGISTICAL PROBLEMS: The group leader lists the various problems for us: logistics, borders, water and fuel supplies. DOCUMENTS: he lists the various documents needed to obtain the visas: passports, 8 passport photos (the women will need to have 3 photos taken with a veil on their heads), filling in various forms and a photocopy of the vehicle registration document with the full list of accessories (radio-CB-stereo-PC), tyre make and size, engine number.
All of this is fairly complicated because the embassies are not all in Italy: for Iran in Rome, for Turkmenistan in Paris and for Uzbekistan in Vienna. CARNET de PASSAGE en DOUANE: Each crew will have to arrange a bank guarantee for two or three times the commercial value depending on the age of the vehicle, and through the ACI have issued the document we'll need to cross the Iranian border. My vehicle was valued, on a friendly basis, at 10,000.00 euros, a figure doubled because the vehicle is 6 years old; at the ACI I paid 180.00 euros and at the bank (Friuladria) 60.00 euros of fixed charge plus 359.01 euros for the one-year guarantee (interest at 1.80%); on my return, presenting the documents duly signed by the various customs offices on entry and exit, I will be refunded the unused months.
LICENCE: In these countries an international driving permit is compulsory; to get one at an agency I paid 50.00 euros. SPARE PARTS: The group leader advises us to equip ourselves with various spare parts, filters, various belts, top-up oil, mounted wheels in addition to the spare, inner tubes and an extra gas cylinder; I also provided myself with a reconditioned starter motor (120.00 euros). MEDICINES: The two doctors will send us a list of medicines that may be useful, and they will obtain drugs for extreme cases, to be available to everyone. CLOTHING: Besides the headscarf, the women will have to wear long, loose clothes with long sleeves, so as to cover their figures; Tina, my wife, got two outfits at a Moroccan shop in Udine.
Men will not be able to wear shorts; the group leader advises wearing long-sleeved shirts, though on tv I've seen them wearing short-sleeved shirts and polo shirts instead. All of this only for Iran; in the other two countries you dress however you like. MAPS and GUIDES: through the internet I found some Lonely Planet guides ( Guide to Iran at 23.50 euros Guide to Central Asia at 28.00 euros and some Freytag & Berndt maps ( - Central Asia scale 1:1,750,000 at 9.80 euros - Iran and neighbouring countries scale 1:2,000,000 at 9.80 euros bought the lot in a bookshop in Udine. FERRIES: Ventourisi Line company, all motorhomes will be accepted from 5 to 7 m. (some, including mine, are over 7 m.) at the price of 156 euros (Bari-Igoumenitsa and return), boarding on 4 September at 20.00. 30% to be paid to the company at once for the booking.
The group leader will make a single payment; we will pay that sum along with the balance of the trip fee in July. THE CATS: One of our problems is the cats; we have two, they have always been with us on every trip, now they're getting old: Schizzo is 14 and Principessa 18, we don't feel up to putting them through a trip like this, we're thinking of putting them in a cattery in a nearby village; it will cost us about 800.00 euros, but there's no getting around it, especially as they warn us that at the borders they could refuse animals even for no reason, and that settles it for us. RENDEZVOUS: The starting point is Benevento; for various reasons we can't be there, we'll meet at the boarding in Bari. They inform us that two crews, for different reasons, are pulling out of the trip; I'm sorry for them, but on a long journey like this it's better to be a limited number
In the morning a trip to the bank to collect the pensions, then dropping the cats off at the cattery much to our regret. Dual carriageway to Portogruaro, motorway to Venice, then the Romea road.
Transfer day alternating between the SS Adriatica and the motorway
Transfer day following the SS 16 Adriatica
In the morning we reached the port, around midday all the other participants arrived, 18.00 boarding in open deck, settling in and hooking up to the electricity, night sailing
Arrival and disembarkation at 9, immediately on the road towards Turkey along the E90 still under construction, some stretches finished others to be finished in future years, so the route alternates between motorway with 2 or 3 lanes and narrow roads with many hairpin bends. On leaving the port we take the wrong road and head towards the city instead of the motorway, then at Ioannina instead of turning left before the town we go through the town centre on narrow, crowded streets, misinterpreting a sign that prohibited access to vehicles over 35 quintals, we skip the last stretch of motorway by taking the old road. Now we are in a nice car park by the sea, unfortunately tomorrow morning we won't be able to enjoy the beach and the sea because we'll be getting up early to head to the Turkish border, hoping not to waste too much time.
On leaving the car park we mistakenly go in the opposite direction from the motorway. At the Greek border no problem, at the Turkish one it took three hours: various paperwork and endless waits, luckily there wasn't much traffic, in August who knows!!!!
CONTINUES ON "Samarkand 2005" PART TWO
Continued from "Samarcanda 2005" Part Eight
After refueling at 7:20 we set off; it's all good road. There are still some stretches of dirt road, but no longer like on the way there with deep potholes. No. 4 occasionally stops to take photos, but there are only three of us and it doesn't bother us much. At Kirikkale, still heading toward Ankara, we stopped for the night at a small gas station, and after refueling we park in a corner of the lot. While I'm taking a shower, we hear a knock: it's the manager, who brings us a tray of small glasses with hot tea. Amazed by such kindness, we thank him and enjoy the tea all together. Off to bed early; tomorrow we'd like to cover a good number of kilometers.
Departure at 7:00, back on the highway. There are no construction sites; there's still the old road with asphalt to be fixed, with dips and cracks, but we travel quickly. The Istanbul bypass is flowing smoothly; it's not the rush hour we found on the way there. You pay at three points for a total of TL 6,500,000. Driving the Istanbul ring road, I realize it's not the one we took on the way there — so then the much-feared inner ring road that we absolutely were not supposed to take: we took it!!!!……. No. 1 has struck again. On the last stretch of highway, No. 2 exits at the wrong toll booth; we'll find him again at the town where we'd decided to stop. Now we're stopped for the night on a promontory with the camper fronts facing the sea; it's a splendid view. Tomorrow, 120 km away, is Ipsala, the Turkish/Greek border.
We're in a nice little town 20 km from Trikala, parked next to mountains of freshly picked cotton. Today's road was good — some stretches of highway and normal roads. Today too there were toll stretches, for a total of €8.00. Today, after lunch, we left No. 2 and No. 4 and continued on our own. They intended to visit part of Chalkidiki; we intend to reach Igoumenitsa as soon as possible to board. The thought of our kitty dying makes us suffer; those who don't have animals can't understand.
Today's road was all hairpin turns, not much highway; they're building it with lots of tunnels. At Igoumenitsa we reach the port and see the ship Siren docked, the same one that brought us on the way there. We ask around and are told she's departing at 19:00 today rather than 24:00 tomorrow; for moving the reservation we paid €38.00. Unfortunately we won't be able to say goodbye to the rest of the company; there'll be another opportunity. We depart 45 minutes late. On the ship we saw crew No. 5 again; they split from the group because they were tired of traveling — the initial program was over and staying to visit Greece too was superfluous. Night at sea.
A quiet night, wake up at 8:00, disembark at 10:00. Once out of the port we try calling with our cell phone, which in Italy has awakened from hibernation. First, the cats' boarding house: good news — Principessa is fine and eating. Reassured, we get back on the highway and stop at the first service area on the BO/PD.
We woke up at 6:00; the traffic didn't let us sleep much. We set off again; there's a lot of fog. At the next rest area I prefer to stop; it's not worth risking it. I'll wait for daylight and for the fog to lift. While waiting, my wife and I look over the photos downloaded to the computer; they still need to be sorted, but seeing them again, even crooked, made us remember the good moments and forget the bad ones. We've agreed with the lady at the boarding house to go pick up the cats before arriving home, even though it's Sunday, a closing day. We arrive early; finally we see our kitties again: as soon as I picked Principessa up she started purring; Schizzo, on the other hand, acted offended — once out of the cage he went around without looking at us. Finally home.
The first thing I notice: the weeds — they've grown everywhere; the lawn, even though our neighbor mowed it once, has tall grass; the roses have grown out of all proportion. Throughout the period of our absence the automatic watering worked, so nothing dried out. Now I have a lot to do………… but first I'll rest.
It was an exhausting and very tiring trip, many mishaps occurred, to me in particular but also to others, no one excluded: 1) water pump, 2) clutch, 3) rollover – clutch pedal – brakes, 4) brake pipe, 5) fuel supply, 7) oil sump, 8) new camper with furniture that was coming off, 9) starter motor – door lock, 10) fuel supply, all problems solved by the good will of the group and by the assistance found even in the most remote villages thanks to our guides who always did their utmost and to them go a heartfelt thanks, mine in particular. Now that it's all over we can take stock: regarding no.
1 we must acknowledge that if it weren't for him, this trip would never have happened and at least for that we must thank him, though certainly it could have been planned differently: done not in 42 days but in 60 (we were all retired with no return issues, in the first draft I had pointed out the long stages: I was assured there would be changes that then I never saw), more rest days, fewer km per day, not travelling at night (if it had been daytime, my accident wouldn't have happened), leaving earlier in the morning and arriving earlier in the evening, every decision about changing the programme should have been discussed by everyone and not just by a few, in any case we knew the itinerary before leaving and so we accepted it, I hope that if another trip is planned, these mistakes will be heeded and acted upon accordingly.
How to dress: contrary to what we had been told at the Porto Recanati gathering, we found that women don't need special clothes, but only a headscarf, a long shirt and non-tight trousers, men must not wear short shorts. What to bring: everyone brought wine and alcohol, salami and cold cuts, Iranian customs didn't check……….in the future who knows!!!!! I, who was dutifully obedient, ran out of wine and salami. Those who had already been to Iran the previous year could have advised us better. Police: in the three countries checkpoints are frequent, but the checks were mostly out of curiosity on the part of the officers and not intrusive. Gas: The two cylinders were more than enough, bearing in mind that at almost all the overnight stops we were hooked up to electricity and the heater was turned on only a few times.
Despite everything, the fatigue, the mishaps and the accidents, the trip: we liked it, we want to forget the bad days and remember the good ones, the magnificent countries we visited, the people we met and why not also the drivers of Tehran. The Traiano Camper Club, in the person of President Michele Arancio, presented all the participants of this wonderful trip with a commemorative plaque, which is proudly displayed on the wall of our living room. In memory and as proof that these trips can be undertaken even with our own vehicles.
TOTAL COST OF THE TRIP
Guides, maps and ID photos 110 Customs duties, passport stamp 417 Visas, hotel parking, guides and bus 1850 Clothes (Tina) 134 Motorway 210 Diesel – gas – petrol for the generator 1330 Camping 34 Ferries 230 Extra trips 531 Carnet de passage en douane 340 Medicines (supply) 115 Entries to various sites and tips 111 Restaurants 159 Camper repairs 55 Souvenirs 155 Groceries 391 Subtotal € 6172 Cat boarding 754 Iveco workshop repair 1020 Bodywork repair 1430 TOTAL € 9376
Unfortunately despite being insured with Kasco, the policy is not valid in Turkmenistan and so I had to pay for all the damage myself. Advice: before leaving make sure you are insured for all damage in the countries you will visit
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