Day 11 Turkey - Drive to Georgia - Batumi

So, today started shortly after 07:00 with some tinkering in front of the hotel in Samsun... To minimize the temperature problems of the past few days, I removed the coolant thermostat and placed my own imported refrigerator container from my homeland to catch the water... It should be no big deal.

In theory, it goes like this: two screws off, lift the flange, remove the thermostat, half a liter of water drains and is properly caught, quickly reattach the flange and screw it in. And then top up the little bit of water, done.

In practice, it's roughly similar, only that when lifting the flange, the gasket comes out and a large amount of water drains away before putting it back in the right place. By the way, most of the water runs past the specially placed container, of course. So I cleaned the road right away. Now I know why they gave me an industrial pack of kitchen paper at the church mission in North Macedonia and wouldn't be dissuaded. Eventually, everything makes sense...

Well, that actually solved the temperature problem, I should have done it days ago. Next time...

It feels like it's running somewhat normal again, but I didn't need much power while leisurely driving along the coast.

During a stop, it turned out that the engine is pushing out more oil at the dipstick and filling opening. It's no longer just a few drops per day, the oil consumption has increased measurably in the last few days. Not a good sign...

So, I immediately got a bib for the filling tube and a catch container for the dipstick, it's working for now and has two advantages. The oil leakage is measurable and I'm not polluting the environment...

Otherwise, things went well today, the main road from Samsun to Georgia mostly runs along the coast and is fairly flat. The roads are mostly three-lane, and swimming along at 70/80, you make good progress.

On the side, we encountered the lost twin of the camper van, the years haven't passed by it either.

At some point, we stopped at a gas station. Here, I noticed that the gas station attendant speaks excellent English. That's very rare in Turkey, most of the population has zero foreign language skills. So I just asked him about it. He's actually a grammar teacher. Due to political disagreements between him and the government, he's banned from teaching and has to earn a living as a gas station attendant. Somehow, his opinion on world politics seemed quite close to mine, and I wouldn't consider myself a total extremist. Strange world, freedom of speech doesn't seem to apply here. But I've heard similar things about this country from other sources before.

By evening, we got closer to the Georgian border. For many many kilometers, there were hundreds of trucks with license plates from Kazakhstan, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Ukraine, and other unknown to me, waiting to cross the border. No idea how many days it will take for the truckers to get through.

Arriving at the border, the Turkish customs officer ('CÜMRÜK' is written on their dark green shirts, I can't stand it anymore) first tried to force my American travelmate to walk across the border on foot without luggage and wait for me on the other side. But when my travelmate insisted on taking his huge backpack (one never knows), he abandoned his plan. Otherwise, the officer briefly looked into the car, this time nothing was rummaged through, and there was no transfer of ownership.

We were sorted into a line for passport control, where in front of us, there was a German motorcycle travel group of about 10 people with their fully equipped latest-model BMW motorcycles and pretty much all conceivable luggage systems that are expensive. I had noticed the motorcyclists hours earlier, as they overtook us quite quickly on the road and later got caught in a police check. And then it was waiting time. The motorcyclists were running back and forth, discussing excitedly. Later I found out that they were denied exit because they still had to pay fines. Look at that, the Turkish network works.

Eventually, it was our turn. With a serious face, I was told that I also cannot leave, as there is an outstanding toll bill for the transporter that needs to be paid first. Wherever that might have been, no idea, there was always a starting station and a final station for payment. The price surprised me. It amounted to a whopping 5 Turkish Lira, which is equivalent to about 30 cents. Even the border guard had to smile at that. After a short wait, I settled it and finally drove to the Georgian border station.

There, we had a quick and friendly pre-check, during which all documents were preliminarily checked. For the first time on the trip, we were asked to present a COVID vaccination proof or PCR test. I had something, my travelmate didn't. And then things went very fast. If you have nothing, you go directly back to Turkey and can come back when you have something or choose to stay away, no discussion, no exceptions. And so, the American was immediately sent back. We agreed that he would follow when he has a PCR test done. And then it was my turn for the actual border control. There, I had to explain in detail to the border guard who spoke good English that the digits 04 and 08 in the seasonal license plate have nothing to do with export and that I will take the car back. Well, for now, it's just a statement of intent... Then he wanted to know the color of the car. What can I say, the first one, the last one, all of them, the majority, or simply multilayered?

Apparently, everything was accurately recorded, and then I was finally allowed onto Georgian soil. There was a bustling atmosphere, it reminded me of a bazaar. Immediately, an older gentleman who spoke good English approached me and asked if I needed car insurance. In Georgia, unlike the information on the German liability and the green card, insurance is not accepted. I knew that and had already taken out an insurance online for around 10 euros for 15 days during the waiting time at the border.

He then showed me where I could buy a data SIM card and exchange money. He probably receives a donation from the operator of the exchange office for his trouble, but he did a really good job, getting me a parking spot right in front of the exchange office, etc. The exchange rate was okay despite being close to the border, the SIM card cost about 20 euros for 30 days of unlimited internet and the seller even set it up for me in my phone. Real service, it immediately made me feel much better.

And so, I immediately looked for a cheap hotel in Batumi online. Arriving there around 9:45 PM local time, I took a nighttime stroll and had dinner at a sort of kiosk. For the first time, I encountered people here who didn't speak English. Luckily, they spoke Russian, thanks to the many years of learning Russian in school, I didn't starve.

Batumi is very beautiful, the beach where I was had only butter-bread stones... And how big some of them were, wow.

It was an exhausting and exciting day, I finally arrived in Georgia, one of the main destinations of this trip.

Today, I covered 553 kilometers.