CRAZYJOURNEY REACHES THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA!
Milestone! We finally reach the Mediterranean
After a quick Turkish kebab breakfast, we didn’t stay around this small city for long and got moving towards the Syrian border on a good quality motorway.
Towards the boder, we hit smaller roads and spotted a turtle plodding across the road. We didn’t want him to get squashed so we stopped to have a look and move him to the side of the road. Fintan picked him up and was playing with it when suddenly without Fintan realizing, the turtle took a massive gooey crap all over Fintan’s leg and bare foot. This was the funniest thing we’ve seen in a long time and the look on Fintan’s face when he realized what had happened was priceless!
The turtle shat on Fintan's leg moments after this shot was taken
Continuing towards the border, we were flagged down by Turkish Police who informed Dave through broken English that he had been speeding. We haven’t had a speeding yet on the whole drive and Dave was determined not to pay this one, insisting to the corrupt cops who were demanding an instant cash payment, that we would go to the nearest Police station to pay. The police were not too happy with this as they were obviously looking to pocket the €100 fine and called ahead to the main Syrian border to inform their mates that we were coming and to make sure we paid. We thought we’d get one over them by making a detour to a different border crossing about 100 kms away.
Dave with the two Turkish speeding fines!
During this detour, we decided that since this new border was close to Lebanon, we should try to make it to Beirut tonight rather than Damascus. Luck would have it that on the way to this border, we were done yet again for speeding and after a similar ordeal, we were given another €100 ticket! Refusing to pay the cash payment again, we continued to the border in the mountains overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Spotting this coastline for the first time was a huge milestone for us, highlighting our proximity to Europe and the vast distance we’ve covered on Crazyjourney so far.
Luckily enough, there were no police to be seen at this remote border and after a easy passage through the Turkish side, we escaped into Syria without paying any fines! The Syrian side of the border turned out to be a massive wait because the lazy Syrian border officials had no idea how much to charge us for our Visas. These guys were an absolutely classic bunch who ended up challenging Dave to arm wrestles, demanding we listen to Mariah Carey on their phones and even playing computer games on Fintan’s iPhone!
After paying the exorbitant $50 Visa fees, we eventually we got through and realized it was too late to go towards Lebanon or Damascus, so we travelled to the busy port town of Lattakia. We decided that visiting Lebanon would now be too much of a time constraint and we would also have to pay for 3 Syrian Visas. After a quick kebab, we found a cheap hotel and hit the sack.
Luckily enough, there were no police to be seen at this remote border and after a easy passage through the Turkish side, we escaped into Syria without paying any fines! The Syrian side of the border turned out to be a massive wait because the lazy Syrian border officials had no idea how much to charge us for our Visas. These guys were an absolutely classic bunch who ended up challenging Dave to arm wrestles, demanding we listen to Mariah Carey on their phones and even playing computer games on Fintan’s iPhone!
After paying the exorbitant $50 Visa fees, we eventually we got through and realized it was too late to go towards Lebanon or Damascus, so we travelled to the busy port town of Lattakia. We decided that visiting Lebanon would now be too much of a time constraint and we would also have to pay for 3 Syrian Visas. After a quick kebab, we found a cheap hotel and hit the sack.
DAY 151 ROUTEMAP
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