To Amman

It was a fairly easy trip to Amman today since it is only a two hour ride, the delay was mostly at the borders.



We went straight to the Kuwait Embassy and met Mr. Omar Al-Qenae since the Ambassador was back in Kuwait for Ramadhan.We then went to my father's apartment and had "mensef" for Lunch.

To Damascus

Before we left Husain Asked me for some Sun-block lotion, which was surprising since he had never used it during the whole trip. He managed to put too much which got into his eyes while riding, he had to stop several times to wash his eyes, and only got better later in the day.



We knew we had a long and hot day ahead of us so we left early to the "Bab Al-hawa" border crossing where we met two couples on BMW's from Greece going the other direction back home, they had just visited Syria and were asking me about our trip and Kuwait.


We reached Damascus around 6 pm, and I started to feel really tired probably due to dehydration.

To Adana

Our next target was Adana since we wanted to spread out our distances and not ride too much in one day.


Along the way at a tool gate we had to pay an extra toll since I misplaced the ticket and handed in the ferry boarding pass instead. It must be the long riding that is getting to me.


We stopped in Aksaray for lunch and found out that there is a new freeway that recently opened on the way to Adana which made things easier.


We stayed at the Hilton which overlooked the river, and had a good restaurant and secure parking.

To Bolu

Our Target for today was the town of Bulo in Turkey, today we leave the European continent, and enter Asia again. We left at 8:00 am and headed to the Greek Turkish border where the line to enter Greece stretched well past the Turkish side of the border. people were honking their horns in protest to how long it was taking to enter Greece.



We reached Istanbul in the afternoon, and stopped at a rest area for lunch. We also met a Turkish couple who were riding, we also found out that today was the first day of Ramadhan here, where the first day in Kuwait would be tomorrow.


After lunch we headed off to Bolu, and arrived at sundown where we had to take our own bags in to the rooms since the whole staff were having Futoor (breaking their fast).The Hotel staff recognized Ali and let us park our bikes in front of the reception.

To Kavala

We left the ferry at 6:15 am and had breakfast at the port before we headed off to Kavala. As our fellow bikers mentioned the new freeway was complete and not on our GPS which didn't matter much since the signs were everywhere.



About an hour into Greece the whether got cold and we had to put on our jackets for a few hours until it got warmer.



We reached Kavala at 1:00 PM and stayed at a lovely hotel overlooking the town, and Mediterranean. We then went into town for lunch.

Taking the Ferry

Renzo met us this morning and rode with us from Senigallia to Ancona taking the coastal road. We checked in to the ferry and went to the dock to stay inline to enter the ferry. While waiting we met many traveling bikers, and one mentioned that the freeway to Turkey was completed last year which would make our travel much easier.



Once our bikes were parked, and we were established in our cabins we had lunch in the cafeteria. The ferry had a swimming pool, WIFI service, and cell phone service. There was a shop, and a set of coin operated message chairs.



We had dinner at the restaurant and went to bed early since the ferry would arrive in Igoumenitsa around 6:00 am.

To Senigallia

I found out today that Italy and Rome have a holiday that is quite long, the BMW dealer stated that the show room is open but the part department is closed, so I cannot buy what I need to fix the mudguard.

We visited the embassy again, and met the Ambassador Mr. Waleed Al-Khubaizi, and his staff. The Ambassador was kind enough to give us a comment, and directed us to visit L'Aquila on our way to Senigallia where an earthquake struck four months ago.

We left around noon, and stopped in L'Aquila and visited with the head of the Italian Red Cross camp, and found out that there are still 50,000 people living in the camps, some without homes, and others with homes that they are afraid to move back into since they expect that another earthquake this year.

We arrived in Sinigallia around 4:30 pm, and waited for Husain's Friend Mr. Renzo Rocchetti who he met during his ride in 1977, and had kept in touch with but has not seen him in the past 32 years.

Renzo was kind enough to show us the small town of Senigallia and after dinner gave each one of us a medal, and a plaque from the Senigallia Motorcycle Club.