peejay Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 Hi; Had an email from Don today, he left for Turkey on Boxing Day and is now lounging around on a site near Kusadasi, lucky bugger. He asked me to pass on the following information which will definately be of use if anyone intends to travel to Turkey in the motorhome this year....... EGNATIA ODOS (The Northern Greek motorway) A2 E90 January 2010 The A2 (E90) motorway from Igoumenitsa to the Turkish border near Ipsala is fully open except for one bridge that has a 400 metre detour. The total distance is about 420 miles we do it in two days and then have a couple of nights at the municipal campsite at Alexandroupoli (€18 per night). Stopping places on the motorway are few and far between, the only service area we saw was 94 miles from Igoumenitsa; it is accessable from both carriageways. There were also fuel stations marked off the motorway. We went through two toll booths but both were unmanned. The only toll we paid was €2 near the start of the Thessaloniki Ring road. TURKEY UPDATE JANUARY 2010 Ipsala Border crossing. The first kiosk you come to when entering the border complex you just present your passports. We then drive into the main complex and park in front of the duty free building, in there are two banks, ATM's, currency exchange counter and an insurance office for those who have no Green Card. We priced a Green Card for three months and they quoted £136 for third party cover. You will see about four or five lanes with the first kiosk marked "passports". Don't go down the lane until you have got your visa from the main building on the left, enter the building, turn left and the visa counter is on the right. The visa costs £10. Once you have your visa drive to the passport control kiosk, here they record your details again. Once that's completed drive to the other end of the lane which is the customs kiosk. Here they will need your V5C (registration document), Green Card and drivers passport. The customs sometimes check the van but in our case they are mostly interested in our back box. Once you have finished there you drive out of the main complex and present all your documents to the last kiosk, where they are all checked once again. Then you're free to go. This year (Jan 7th) we completed all the procedures in about 20 minutes, bearing in mind this was winter time and we were the only ones going through at the time. The Turks have really got there act together, we can only assume they are trying to pull themselves into line with the EU. Note. The registration document and a Manual GREEN CARD are required to enter Turkey. Make sure the Green Card covers Asian Turkey as some insurers only cover European Turkey also the cover is fully comp and not just third party. They will not accept a photo copy of any of your documents, they must be the originals. A point worth remembering is the vehicle details are entered on the driver's passport and under normal circumstances the driver will not be able to leave Turkey without the vehicle. Make sure you have Travel or Vehicle Insurance that will cover the Duty/Customs Bond if you are taken ill and have to fly home or the vehicle is written off in an accident. Wild camping is not a problem in Turkey we have spent four winters there and never had a problem. The days of a cheap holiday in Turkey are long gone. Using an exchange rate of TL2.4 to the £Sterling the latest approximate fuel prices per litre are:- Diesel £1.30 Petrol £1.54 LPG £0.83 The rural areas of Turkey are policed by the Jandarma (Military police) they set up road blocks but usually wave you through when they see you are a tourist. Don't under any circumstances park or camp in the vicinity of a Jandarma Post they will move you on, the posts are marked with plenty of white paint, large Turkish flags and soldiers with guns. The coastal posts are usually situated in very picturesque spots and it is very tempting to park/camp near them just for the views. We have always found the Jandarma to be very correct and polite. The rank and file are conscripts the officers and NCO's are usually the only ones who speak English. They also have a traffic division. The town/city police (Blue uniforms) are usually a scruffy lot compared to the Jandarma. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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