From Brussels to the gates of Cappadocia

Goodbye Brussels!

The first kilometres...

On the planned date, surrounded by lots of loved ones who'd come to see us off, we finally took our first turns of the wheel. Our long-awaited first night in the truck: a celebration for the children and the adults alike, all eager to try out this new world…

We quickly had to get used to driving such a big vehicle: slow going on the motorway, noises we hadn't yet identified, managing downhill stretches where the truck picks up speed fast, its size in town… and above all parking close to town centres.

The first discoveries

Once we'd got past the effort of getting the hang of it, the smooth run of the first 15 days was a real reward. Pleasant big cities and capitals dot the route at reasonable distances from one another: Salzburg, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Belgrade, and already Sofia on the edge of Europe… soon Istanbul. So many chances to take breaks full of discoveries. We planned to cross Europe, which is relatively easy to get through, without spending too much time, so as to reach Turkey quickly and stay there longer. At this stage, no hassles linked to border crossings, supply problems or health risks. We've gradually got used to the changes in language, currency, food, and our first time-zone shift.

Logistics

Day-to-day organisation, simple and quick in our comfort zone, has quickly become much more time-consuming. Less space to store lots of things: everything is stacked, piled up, layered… you always have to move something first to reach something else. The single room turns into chaos after just one night with its six occupants… and every day everything has to find its place again, ready to be used the next day. Same story after the 4 hours of daily driving in the front cab… Our tiny fridge doesn't allow for long-term shopping… so every 2 days we have to make sure we stock up on meals that take up little space and little energy.

The children's schoolwork

The "drive, sightsee, tinker, organise" rhythm accompanied us during this first fortnight, but it has already changed since entering Asia Minor. In Turkey we've slowed the pace and now keep to 2-3 hours of driving a day, with the extra time also devoted to the children's schoolwork. Each of them knows what daily work they need to hand in, and an adult helps if they need it… and whoever finishes first gets to choose a tablet while waiting for the others to finish. With a carrot like that, things are going well for now!

Drinking water

To deal with the fact that water is no longer treated in Turkey, we've been filling our containers with spring water, which we use for washing up, washing ourselves and doing laundry (we have a small motorhome washing machine and a jerrycan we put on the roof with the laundry, water and soap). But we're still fairly cautious: for now we filter it by hand, using elbow grease, to get our drinking water container ready (Katadyn filter).

Istanbul

After our first 3,000 km, we reach the magical city of Istanbul. On the first evening we treated ourselves to dinner on a terrace overlooking the Bosphorus, to the sound of the muezzin's call. Over the following days we explored the bazaars, mosques, pastry shops, palaces, hammams and neighbourhood markets, feasting on Turkish delight and baklava just as much as on marvels of architecture and atmosphere. Leaving Istanbul, we were already driving into Asia, heading towards Ankara, and then Cappadocia.

Heading for Asia

We made a quick stop at the Turkmen embassy in Ankara to request 5-day Turkmen transit visas. These visas can only be requested 2 months before entering the country. So we couldn't apply for them before leaving Brussels. We're now waiting for approval from the Turkmen Ministry of Foreign Affairs (an unpredictable process, with a 50% refusal rate and no clear criteria). If we get it, we'll be able to collect the visas in Tehran, Iran. Since we were already in Ankara, we took the opportunity to visit Atatürk's gigantic mausoleum, which also offers a lovely view over this fairly green, spacious capital.

The Turkish people turned out to be extremely welcoming: customers offer the children orange juice in the hammams, people don't just point us in the right direction but walk us there, when we stop for petrol we're served tea, shopkeepers strike up conversation, people ask if we need anything, ...

After driving the last few kilometres through the sunny plains of Anatolia, we now find ourselves at the gates of Cappadocia, where we'll probably stay for a few days.

To be continued...

Here are a few photos from this first part of the trip:

You can also find the Sixglobetruckers on their website.