Potsy's 60th Birthday!

It was only a short run through from Litochiro at the foot of Mount Olympus to the camping site at Velos, so I had my second turn driving.

Most of the way was via the E75 Motorway so was straight going. Most often there is a good size shoulder which we travell along in to allow overtaking. However they all seem to be expert at overtaking us even in narrow conditions. Takes the pressure off us. (The roadside both in Greece and Turkey is kept tidy and free of rubbish, with gardeners more obvious on the outskirts of Istanbul.)

The tolls are outragiously priced at 5.80 e, 2.50 e, and 7.50 e for "4th" grade roads.

Since we left Istanbul we noticed that few fuel stations take Visa. Fuel in Turkey was about $3 yt about $3 AU but in Greece it averages about .90 euro approximately AU$2 (which means it's much cheaper). With us filling up 2 or 3 times a day it's too heavy a drain on the cash so we now ask and if they don't accept Visa we put $20-30 in and drive on. One would take it after checking out passport.

When convoying with Lang we pulled into one such fuelstop. The owner couldn't believe his luck - he had a roll of cash the size of two fists from which he was pulling off change.

Unfortunately each time we would fill up the fuel would pour out of the breather when it got to overfull . We would have to look and yell out as it was going on the ground. There is full service still in all servos. Now Dale has stopped it by plugging off the breather and venting the cap.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TURKEY AND GREECE

Once you leave Turkey behind you realize how you miss the good things. Everything you purchase becomes twice as dear, except petrol. You still get the squat style toilets but you get a rude shock when it hits you that ALL toilet paper must be put in a separate container next to the toilet. It seems no one was prepared for this and it is a hard habit to break! Toilet and shower facilities vary, sometimes and toilets are very ordinary.

Bottles of water in Turkey were only 50 c per 500 ml and got cheaper as you bought larger amounts. Both in Turkey and Greece we noticed people stopping to refill at the natural springs you find all along the roadways.

Navigating your way around Turkey is much simpler than in Greece mainly due to its closer resemblance to the English language, but also to excellent signage. In Greece the names only closely resemble the English version and both the Greek and English version are displayed, but when the town names are at least 10 characters long or more and are in the Greek alphabet its just about impossible.

I had no problem squeezing my way through the busy streets of Velos and out along the seaway to Sikia campground, which was the nicest we have stayed at yet. It was even warm enough for us to take a swim!