Day 18: Greece, Turkey, and the Slipper Connoisseu

Day 18: Greece, Turkey, and the Slipper Connoisseur

Plovdiv → Edirne, Turkey | The Furthest Ever

Breakfast at the hotel started with a small adventure. The bikes had spent the night parked in the restaurant area, which the staff found more amusing than concerning. When PJ asked for gluten free bread, someone disappeared to the shop and came back with a full loaf of delicious fresh bread. PJ felt too grateful to leave any of it. He left very little of it. 🍞

Course set for the Turkish border, with no firm plan beyond seeing how far we could get. On the way a new type of road kill, snakes, check out that picture. First stop: Gym Buddies, a healthy food place that let us charge while we ate. Adem was, once again, adopted by the owner within minutes. This particular owner had a passion for Japanese swords, knives, and an extensive collection of related stories. PJ disappeared into his calls. Adem tried to do the same, but every gap between calls brought the owner straight back to his table with another chapter. Adem eventually wrote the man a glowing review, partly out of genuine appreciation and partly as a diplomatic strategy to buy himself enough time to finish his emails. The pattern of Adem attracting people with very specific and enthusiastic interests continues. We have no explanation. It just keeps happening. ⚔️

Thanks to what we are calling our brilliant charging strategy, which mostly means Eco mode and a lot of patience, we made it all the way to Edirne without stopping to charge again. The furthest we have ever ridden in a single day. The legs were aware of this.
On the way: Greece. A proper Schengen border, which meant no queue, no drama, and not even a proper welcome sign. Just a line on the road and suddenly: Greece. We had never planned to go through Greece. It was a bonus country, and we will take it. 🇬🇷

Then: Turkey. Adem had a plan. Border crossings mean military guards, and military guards appreciate snacks. We stocked up properly: Oreo, chips, Coca Cola, and assorted extras, because that is simply how these things are done. We loaded up the bags, got thoroughly attacked by mosquitoes in the process, and rode to the border.

The border was empty. One person on the Greek side, one person on the Turkish side, a handful of travellers, and absolutely no military reception committee to speak of. The entire snack collection came with us to the hotel instead. PJ is currently working through the chips and cola. He accepts this as his fate. We did manage a proper flag photo at the border, mosquitoes and all. 🇹🇷

Edirne delivered a good restaurant, almost. They had gluten free options for PJ. They had vegetarian options for PJ. The overlap between these two categories turned out to be empty. PJ took his anti-gluten pill, ordered bread, and ate it under the increasingly disillusioned gaze of a waiter who had clearly decided that gluten free people were more trouble than they were worth. We sympathise with him. 🍞💊

The hotel was a hit, particularly for one of us. Adem discovered the slippers. Hotel slippers are, it turns out, something Adem takes seriously. Very seriously. There was inspection. There was testing. There was quiet but genuine satisfaction. If you ever need a professional assessment of hotel slipper quality, you know who to call. 🥿

Turkey. 250 to 280 kilometres to Istanbul. We can almost see it from here.
Sleep well. 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♂️Read more