bulgaria - turkey - greece
--- click on picture to enlarge ---
the route.
black sea + bosphorus
after arriving in the black sea around new year, we sailed to burgas, bulgaria,
where i left the boat in a friendly yacht club while i flew home to norway for 2 weeks.
david had to leave for norway, too, to start his civil service.
the trip was not really warm eather.
foto: david cabo
coming from norway, i landed in varna.
here a picture from the bus to burgas. so much about 'sunny beach'!
saliling alone again, dolphins were with me all along the way, here jumping in the sunset.
the black sea coast in the background.
dolphins following me in the bosphorus.
when arriving in a new country in the med, you have to hoist a yellow flagg (Q).
my curtains worked just fine for that purpose.
istanbul, a chaos homing 15 million people.
ships waiting to enter the bosphorus.
a friendly young pelican asking politely for some fish.
traffic on the water in this town is insane.
i felt like a rabbit crossing a highway!
this one might not win the "ugliest-boat-competition", but it must be amongst the top elite.
marmara sea and the dardanelles
vallentine's day 2009.
while i thought of my honey in norway...
... turkey had pepper for me!
the next moment the dingi went around.
approaching the snowy mountains of the dardanells.
the entrance to the harbour of hoskoy.
right before i went aground there.
and in the autumn the turks harvest new huts.
and yet another sunrise.
these moments just are magic for me.
fisherports in turkey (and every other place) are rought, but friendly.
not really for the faintharted with a white plastic boat.
friendly fisher taking my rope.
afterwards they fried fish for me, and said: "travelling with this small boat at sea, you must have a big heart!"
nice compliment.
and finally the first picture that i feel is a bit mediteranean.
momo alongside a fish trawler.
cosy night on anchor.
while i wait for the right weather to sail on, i crowl around the ground taking photos.
the owner of the local cafe/bar/shop, hamid, and a fishermen took me for a trip...
... to a local football match...
the other village won 7:2.
... and to troy!
these stones are thousands of years old! like most stones, actually.
but some are more beautiful than others.
beautiful, but painful.
still beautiful and painful, but in a wider perspective.
the cafe in the harbor in jenikoy, where i spent the windy and cold days.
here with evren, a fisherman.
trawl net.
there is a surprising number of old huge ancors lying around here.
aegean sea and evvio channel to golf og corinth
tired and happy after a quick and beautiful passage over the agean sea from turky to limnos.
the shopping lane in myrnia is crowded in the winter.
of all places greece is the first place where i see more than one man work at the time!
harbor in myrnia.
myrnia.
momo is the only foreign boat in the harbour.
limnos.
a whale...
... and his friend.
amazing morning near the island evvio.
in the northern sporades.
a tiny fisherharbor, and a bottle of red wine on the table.
having this view from yor grave is extravagant.
a pretty sight in evtratios harbor...
...a not so pretty sight in evstratios harbor.
if this one would have known how long i have been sailing alone,
it would have been more careful!
took me over an hour to walk up there..
...but down seemed to be seconds!
who can designe boots so beautiful?
this one seemed to be a bit unlucky in his navigation.
beeing alone at sea...
...does something to you.
khalkis.
here i stayed in the friendly sailclub IOX for a week.
it's greek and means:"i love hairy girls."
the owner of the little shipyard had to work hard to get the fishingboat onto the slip,
because the skipper couldn't handle his boat.
speak, friend, and enter!
it is too much kitsch to write something about freedom here...
...freedom is playing with a camera.
let's call it... food?
found this monkey on a wall in greece.
graffity in corinth.
(h)armless woman in corinth.
corinth port. momo in the background.
the famous corrinth canal. friendly, quick and efficient.
which you can expect for 115 euro!
the beautiful little harbour aias on the island of salamis.
relaxing in the harbour after a hard day sailing. hihi!
nisis trizonia
the beautiful island of trizonia, with snowy peaks on the mainland in the background.
spring is here.
spirit of gaia, not just a warrham-cat, but the catamoran of mr. warrham himself.
we went to the beach to dig up wild leek...
... in the forrest we picket...
...wild, delicious asparagus
and on the way back to the harbor...
... lilli found an almost good kite.
i had visit from my friend anders.
anders is a big man.
the locals had to come and bring food for him...
... so he would not come for them.
trizonias most wanted list.
on the ferry to trizonia.
lilli hopping.
nice greece landscape.
i look at you looking at me looking at you...
they call trizonia the 'flower island'.
luxury problem of a photographer: to see ones reflection on an ant's backside.
pick-a-pooh!
here on trizonia momo found a new owner, the zirkus mir bought her to cross the atlantic in her.
when we signed the contract, they were so happy they jumped!!
turkey
very friendly people. almost without exception. but the paperwork involved coming with a yacht makes it only worth visiting if you want to spend some time there.
i spent 3 days, 250 euro and 3 years of live expectations in istanbul getting the transit logg ready, just to go through a lot of hassle getting the boat out of the country on the other side again.
my advise: (on a passage like i did it) anarchy!! f+ck the paperwork and say you are in transit. if they catch you on land, say you have engine trouble and need a spare part. never again this idiotic turkish burokrates!!
after i cleared out of turkey, i stayed there in a little fisher harbor for another week, travelling the country without papers, it was delightful to know it was illegal!
literature: it did not really help my stay in turkey that i bought the book"tuerkische kueste" by gerd radspieler, because the guy is an idiot, cannot get the coordinates of the harbour right, wrong informations about transitlogg and very badly structured. i mean this in the nicest possible way(:
greece
it was a delight checking in in limnos after turkey, it took 10 minutes, in one office, and costed 15 euro.(because momo is under 10 m)
and i got more lucky with the literature, aswell, "greek waters pilot" by rod heikell is worth every one of its 90 euro!
i am against the eu, a corrupt inefficient burocratic monster, but i do see some pleasant advantages with it now.