Travel Tips

Day 1 - Start line - Budapest, Hungary to Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina
Day 2 - Mostar to Pec (Peje), Kosovo
Day 3 - Pec (Peje) to Ohrid, Macedonia
Day 4 - Ohrid to Lake Belmeken, Bulgaria
Day 5 - Belmeken to Istambul, Turkey
Day 6 - Istambul to Konya, Turkey
Day 7 - Konya to Kizkalesi, Turkey
Day 8 - Kizkalesi to Nemrut Dagi, Turkey
Day 9 - Nemrut Dagi to Gevas, Turkey
Day 10 - Gevas to Akhaltsikhe, Georgia
Day 11 - Akhaltsikhe to Potskho Esteri, Georgia
Day 12 - Potskho Esteri to Kutaisi, Georgia
Day 13 - Kutaisi to Tbilisi, Georgia
Day 14 - Tbilisi to Noyemberyan, Armenia
Day 15 - Noyemberyan to Vank
Day 16 - Vank to Kapan, Armenia
Day 17 - Kapan to Yerevan, Armenia - Finish line

No matter how hard I try, my words are insufficient to praise and describe the wonderful people we encountered in every country through the entire journey.

9 AM, the race is on! A couple of honks to greet the cheering crowd and here we go!
The inflatable start gate symbolizes the wide open window on our expectations while I'm shifting to second gear. The Moskvich has quite some distance to cover for the first day, mostly highway. The steering wheel has a consistent slack which makes it difficult to keep in lane for the next couple of weeks. It doesn't take long to realize that on a smooth, perfectly paved highway, the suggested safe cruising speed can't exceed 85 Km/h (53 mph). The rear of the car is sitting very low under the weight of ourselves and the luggage which is strategically taken in and out with a precise sequence. The leaf springs are working hard already. Nevertheless, we also have two spare wheels underneath along with a toolbag that also contains a bicycle-type manual pump. We have two border crossings today, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. It's dark already and the city lights is all we can see of Sarajevo. We reach Mostar just past midnight. It's a fun day and we're excited to have accomplished all challenges, it doesn't matter if we are the last team to reach the hotel as no team could make it within the deadline. What we did today, that is eating while driving, became the rule for the rest of the race ahead of us. No time for stopping, therefore fuel stops would also serve for personal time and food/beverage sourcing.

Today we drive through Montenegro and enter Kosovo, the youngest country in the world, to reach Pec - now Peje as the local official language is Albanian. The scenery in and around Montenegro's Durmitor National Park is stunning.
The pride of Kosovo's people fills the air and we collectively hope and believe it won't take long for the new country to reach better standards. Our beautiful hotel proves the change is in progress, the nearby pedestrian area teems with locals enjoying loud music and eateries. Even when the power shortage comes in, as the sound of generators keeps the business alive.

Leaving Peje we see several Italian Army peacekeeping force vehicles, too bad I couldn't share a couple of words with my committed fellow citizens.
We learn there are two places to cross into Albania because at first we head towards the wrong one. Today's stage requires extremely careful driving as the mountain roads have sharp unprotected bends overlooking gulches, ravines and precipices. Large rocks and rough terrain bring our Moskvich near the limit for endless hours. Suddenly, a "performance" engine sound notifies us that the whole tailpipe lays a few yards behind. Violent shaking has broke it apart from the muffler box, leaving a good 3-inch hole in it that faces the bottom of the car. After this, not only we could feel the backseat overheating (!!!) but the exhaust fumes pervaded the passenger compartment to pose near-risks of intoxication. From now on we must drive with all windows down. Luckily, the gas tank is not too close to the new heat source. Although the trunk was well packed already, we managed to find more space to take the long tailpipe with us in case it could be later get fixed. It stayed there for the entire journey instead, wrapped in paper and kind of looking as a weapon through future border inspections.
About one third of vehicles in and around Kukes have an Italian license plate and some people even speak my language.
Today's destination is Ohrid, Macedonia, where we stay at a comfortable lakefront large hotel.

Into Bulgaria, we camp at Lake Belmeken for the night at 2,000 m (6,600 ft) elevation. Very cold there. Needless to say, late arrival in the total darkness to greet the other teams and their bonfires with the "performance" sound. I pitched my tent away from the organizers' area as I felt their party would go on through the night. They just went to sleep when we left in the morning at 5:30 AM with the forever familiar "performance" sound salutations. Too bad we couldn't enjoy this beautiful area with daylight, as we adopted the strategy to leave a few hours ahead of the other teams to pay a visit to Istambul in the afternoon. Good thing the VT Mobile is not too thirsty because the price of gas is U$11 per gallon in Turkey.

Day 5

Smooth drive through Bulgaria up to the Turkish border, where endless lines of waiting trucks take advantage of the narrow road. We have to get around these despite the incoming traffic of German-plated cars heading home, the border location is being renovated and it will certainly improve in the near future. Traffic intensifies when approaching the 10-million people urban area and we find our way to the Otogar - Bus Station. We're still on the European side of the fascinating Bosphorus and the hotel location, although very busy, was chosen for our racing vehicles can spend the night in a guarded parking lot. From here we're a subway plus tram ride away from the beautiful Blue Mosque in city center. Our early arrival proved the right strategy to pay a visit here!

Next stop: Konya and its beautiful mosques and churches, joyful kids at play in the narrow alleys. It's getting warmer and warmer, the VT Mobile keeps purring through the arid Antalya Plateau and asks for the addition of some fresh oil. As we stop for a race challenge, one tire shows signs of deflation and we quickly reach the nearest tire shop. One of the thousands rocks on the long stretches of roads under construction had pierced through the sidewall. The tire guy did a quick, excellent and moderately priced job under the learning eyes of his children as he repaired both the tube and the tire sidewall.

It's going to be beach time in Kizkalesi, today's drive is the shortest of the entire race. It's meant to be a half-day of rest but it's otherwise hands-on for me as the ignition block fails. I connected and routed two electric wires to the dashboard, taping down the external portion of these with patches from a leftover VT sticker. From now on, it's additional fun to start the car with a little spark from the contact wires!
It's way too hot and humid here for our comfort, but at least we can have dinner together with the other teams and share opinions and shortcomings.
Will our mighty Moskvich survive?
On the way to Kizkalesi we opted for a cultural detour and visit the excavations at the Neolithic archaeological site of Çatalhÿoük. If we survive being baked in the car, we may now roast under the scorching sun.

Day 8

It's culture time and we're excited to spend the night at Nemrut Dagi. This Hellenistic UNESCO site dates back to the first century B.C. and features ruins of a temple in front of a man-made king's burial mound. The ruins of statues and the view are stunning, this site is located on the summit of Mt. Nemrut and our camp sits only a few kilometers of road below. The access road to the camp is very steep and our Moskvich overheats until it stops. It takes to wait in the darkness for it to cool down before proceeding and we are happy to rest after another long racing day.

Day 9

As long as this leg develops, it's dark again and we decide to drive past the given destination for today as we want to pull ahead of the others. All over Turkey our phones don't work and we can't communicate with the organizers. Unlike other teams, so far we have always made it to the daily meeting point and we believe it won't be a matter of concern for the organizers if we don't show up. Instead of the southern shore of Lake Van we take the northern route to stop in Çaldiran, near the Iranian border. Our stay for the night is not the best hotel on Earth.

Another early leave. We don't mind getting out of the hotel but we're locked in, we had paid already but we must wake the host up to sneak out. The landscape around us shows nothing but a beautiful, barely inhabited harsh environment. Signs of scattered civilization have the shape of temporary camps. Suddenly, a lush, peaceful valley develops before our eyes as we are getting closer and closer to the massive figure of snow-capped Mount Ararat. After passing only a few yards away from the Armenian border, we head north and reach the border point to enter Georgia. It takes a while to clear the Turkish side alone and move in between two electrified gates. There are no other vehicles in sight and our hopes for the squeaky Georgian gate to open become reality in a matter of seconds. The procedure is here is lengthy. All other teams are hours behind us and we are the first-of-a-kind the border officers are dealing with. These friendly guys take good care of us and one of them even asks to buy our car! Meanwhile, we start leaving the VT cards everywhere through the 4-step procedure. Passport and documents inspection, passport stamping, customs and finally luggage inspection. The best part is handing a stack of VT cards to the customs guy, he accepts to give these out to all other teams to follow! What a good option to confirm that our team is first to cross into Georgia!

- to be continued -