Day 198 Hatta Rock Pools - Al Aqr

Triathlon day! We started the day with a training run followed some swimming in the rock pools. Before getting on the bicycles we even trained our goat-fighting skills as a very mean one tried to steal our breakfast (does this make it a quadrathlon ?) ! Around noon we finally started cycling back through Africa into the Emirates. The african roads made us very hungry, so we stopped at an Indian-run cafeteria in Hatta. From there it was an easy cycle to Oman: downhill and with massive tailwind. There were several checkpoints on the way: one to get Emirates exit stamp, one I don't know what for, one for getting the Omani visa (expensive: 40€ single entry / 100€ multiple entry!), and yet another one I don't know what for. From there we rolled down to the Indian ocean, the setting sun in our back. We just had time enough to find a camp spot on the beach. There was some road construction going on and the beach was very dirty - full of plastic waste (I am not sure if the waste came from the local people or from the sea). But it was a beach: sand, palmtrees, sea and stuff.
When we tried to prepare dinner we both ran out of gas - time to forget about that hightech cooking equipment and apply some real fire making skills (successful, of course!).

Day 052 Свиленград - Ελλασ - Edirne

1 Day, 3 Alphabets, 3 Languages, 3 Countries, 1 Happy Ending. Started in Svilengrad, Bulgaria - went through Greece - and ended up in Edirne, Turkey. Of course it was only a very small part of Greece I went through. All this time I followed a huge almost empty highway with perfect surface and wide shoulders for cycling. So ticking Greece off the list is not the only good reason to  this way to the busy direct Svilengrad-Edirne highway. I only passed through two greek villages, so I cannot say that I have seen much of the country. Eventually I entered Turkey, yeay! It is a huge country - it took me 7 weeks to get here and this is about the time I am planning to stay here! When driving into Edirne it already looks very Oriental - the most  striking feature being one of the biggest mosques in Turkey. That is were I met up with my couchsurfing host Orçun. Together we cycled to the modern outskirts where he lives in a place which is just perfect: there is a piano in the flat and a pool in the courtyard. I spent a wonderful first evening in Turkey with Orçun and some of his friends - including dinner and drinks in a beautiful place, very interesting and very helpful conversation and a guitar playing session til late at night, yeah!

Day 024 Komárom - Sárisáp

I found my peace with the Slovakian Weather Makers. I dared to give Slovakia another try so I crossed Danube this morning, a decision which was considerably influence by the outlook to ride the flat slovakian bank and look at the beautiful hungarian hills instead of riding through the latter. Though it was cloudy and pretty cold it stayed dry most of the time, so it was a great ride. On the way I passed by a monument remembering the peace between the German/Hungarian King and the Turks in 1606 - the main feature of the monument were 6 bells so I simply had to try them out. As later with leaving Slovakia I also left both Euro-zone and Kofola-zone I had to use my last chance for spending the first on the latter at a decently placed boat-restaurant on the Danube. When I was still riding on the slovakian bank but already saw the huge impressive basilica of Esztergom (largest church in Hungary) a short but heavy rain started - grmpf, the Slovakian Weather Guys seemingly did not want to let me go without that. Anyway, it forced me to spend my very last Euro in a long while for a delicious hot chocolate, so everything turned out perfectly fine. Once I had crossed Danube into Hungary again I first had some trouble finding the way but finally made it safely to the charming village of Sárisáp located in a lush mountain valley. There my host, Mrs. Urbanics welcomed me with overwhelming hospitality. I got to know to her mother and one of her daughters (who kindly translated between Hungarian and German) along with her husband. I am again and again amazed, how openly and warmly people welcome a dusty sweaty cycling stranger at their home, even if there is no common language. I wish I would know (and could pronounce) more Hungarian words than Köszönöm (thank you) to properly show my gratitude.