And we continue a East

Suitably refreshed from our indulgent stop over in Kas we head down to to the town of Alanya for an overnight stop at a hotel almost full of Scandanavians ! . As we head down we pass close to the Greek Island of Rhodes and lots of other Greek Islands off the coast. They are so tantalising close! We continue wind our way round the coast th our next stop which is the city of Mersin. That is very close to where St Paul was born.

With the odd rural scene

We see bananas being being grown everywhere.

And we think this is a refuge camp behind this sentry box. Certainly there was lots of barbed wire , sentry posts and black out screen so you could not see anything from the road.

The road was a mixture of the old.........

And the new..........

And the yet to be finished

There were lots of produce stalls on the side of the road

And it is obviously and important fruit and vegetable area

And over two days we get to the city of Mersin.

We are very close to Cyprus and I suspect that without the heat haze you would be able to see it from our hotel roof.

According to my maps we are just 200 km from the Syria border by road - less in a straight line me thinks! That is close enough thanks! It is all bought into sharp focus when there is an airport type luggage screener at our hotel entrance. We heard the othe day that Turkey has now invaded a Syrian border town. Here we are lounging at the poolside this afternoon at our hotel and there is a war going on just 200 km away ! It is hard to get your head around.

Tomorrow we veer away from border area and head up to the cave dwellings of Cappadocia which is towards the centre of Turkey

Comments

Unknown said…

Dick and Di,
Thanks for bringing the world to us via your Blogs. Such a beautiful world, such beautiful friends. Keep the rubber side down and stay safe. Our love from Florida.

28 August 2016 at 08:39

The last post!

How do you summarise a motorbike trip around the world from Tokyo to Los Angeles?. With difficulty! Well we are not into record setting. But we believe we are the oldest couple in the world to ride a motorbike “ two up” ie with pillion passenger, right round the world on one season Let’s start off with the statistics for the little trip - Total mileage. 34,416 km * No of days travelling 165 No of countries visited 29 Max temp on bike 41 deg C Min temp on bike 0 deg.C No of punctures. One No of breakdowns. One

Chapters 1 and 2

WHY MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURES ? I have always been interested in adventure. Over the years I have climbed mountains, parachuted, had my private pilots licence, dived, sailed and done various adventurous pursuits (with various degrees of success I might add!). Motorcycling has been one of the later activities. Why motorcycles? Firstly it is all a bit easier on the body as one gets a little bit older. This is of course on the assumption that one does not inadvertently part company suddenly with said machine! Secondly, it does also require a bit of brain power - intellect you might say if that does not sound snobby. There is also, to me, an element of "man and machine" about motorcycling. Then if that is not enough justification in itself there is the scenery and the absorption into the landscape you are passing through. On a bike you see much much more than in a car, bus or train. You are aware of nuances in the landscape, you smell the smells and you become more than just

And a volcano stopped us!

What a day. First thing this morning it was off to check the rear tyre of the bike. Oh the relief ! The tyre was rock solid and the same pressure as after fixing yesterday. So it is a pack up and first day on the road today. We get on the way with a just a little bit of nervous excitement. On to the Japanese motorway system we go. And what a delight. The traffic is orderly, calm not going to fast and not too thick. We track right in towards Tokyo itself before bearing West. Yes, there were lots of spaghetti junctions - It looks like The Los Angeles motorway system but it is so much easier (and slower). Japanese politeness really shows thru’. However there were lots of toll booths - we had chopped thru about NZ$50 in the first hour and a half Then we are on to the slow bit and off the motorways. It was about a four hour stop and start crawl thru the urban sprawl of greater Tokyo. However I did find time for some serious reflection - I also saw a hotel called - and I kid you not

Hubbard Motorcycle Adventures

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