I have arrived! After almost 2 months travelled, something between 2000 and 3000 kilometres cycled, many nights slept under the stars in seven different countries, last night I arrived at my new home. I have a nice room for myself (well, when I kick the kids out) in a rather fancy apartment on the 17th floor in one of several buildings of the same kind on the northern shore of the Gulf of Izmir. I just wanted you to know that I arrived safely and that I am starting to settle in my new home. I will write more later. Also I will write more about my journey after I had time to let it all sink in, but I still owe you the (quick) recount of my time in Greece. Which must definitely not be left out! Again, no pictures, but the memories of amazing sunsets and beaches. Just think of the most tacky picture you remember of Greece - this is what most of my time there looked like!

Funnily, the last 5 days of my journey were also the only ones where I actually got to know strangers. This started as I boarded the ferry in Venice: there was a guy who worked for the ship company, basically making sure the trucks were parked properly. He saw that I was travelling on my own and he told me to meet him later. It should have been about 36 hours on the ferry from Venice to Patras. Because of the fog the departure was delayed and so it ended up being almost 40. So any company was fine. It was also funny to notice that there were only very few people on the ferry. It seems like the farther the distance, the fewer people are to be found on a ferry. Which probably makes sense, knowing that most people would rather take the plane but it is very strange when the ship that takes you from Denmark to Gothenburg is bigger than the one that takes you from Venice to Patras. But whatever. So, I found a place to leave my stuff and a quiet corner to sleep on the floor. I already wrote about the other passengers in my last blog, so will not bore you with stories about them. But as I was walking around to see the rest of the ship, I ran into that guy again. I had forgotten his name. He was Greek and his English was medium good. But he was nice and we hung out and chatted, which was nice. He had to deal with all his colleagues talking about him sitting with that girl. I didn't. I felt a little bit bad for him. But the atmosphere on the ship was very different from the other ferries I had been on. Because there were so few passengers and many of them were truck drivers who went that way frequently, many people knew each other and after the first 24 hours the whole ship crew certainly knew the faces of all the people who were sleeping outside on the deck, as they kept passing them. So it was all kind of familiar and later one other crew member also talked to me. It was all very relaxed and nice and that way the 40 hours passed quicker.
My plan had been to take a room in Patras after arrival at it was supposed to be at 9pm. But since it ended up being past midnight that we actually left the ship I felt it was not worth trying to find a hotel room at that time. I probably could have but it was not likely to be easy. And I had gotten so used to sleeping whereever that I didn't care much any more. However, I followed instructions given by that guy I met on the ferry who clearly knew the way by car only. I almost ended up on the highway in the middle of the night, so instead of looking for a nice place to sleep I just stopped right there and slept under a tree in the grass right in front of a shopping center. It didn't really matter as there was not that much left of the night. I just checked very roughly for the presence of scorpions or dog s*** before I put down my sleeping bag. The next morning the 5 minutes of free internet that the shopping centre was providing was enough for me to find out on google maps where I was and where I needed to go. After that it was all very easy as there were only two roads: the new highway and the road I cycled on. The were marked (in English) as "Athina with tolls" and "Athina without tolls". So that was easy enough. And once I was on that road, I literally just had to follow it for 200 km to get to Pireus, where the ferry for Turkey left. It was quite annoying that, for the first 50 km or so, there was construction going on on the highway, so the road I was taking was full of construction trucks. Because other than them, the road was really very quiet and perfect for cycling. Also the greeks were quite good in passing cyclists - but it was certainly easier seeing that there was normally really not a lot of traffic. I even saw several other people cycling with lots of luggage but they all went the opposite way - clearly, I had an advantage there, as the whole time in Greece it was quite windy and I had the wind in my back all the time. Honestly, until Greece if there was wind at all throughout the whole tour, it had always been in my face but it was never hard. In Greece it was quite strong wind most of the time and then it was always in my back. Also, I should say: after Denmark it never rained again when I was trying to sleep outside, and I can say it now that I arrived, I never had any problem with my bicycle. No flat tire, no nothing. So, seeing that, I was really very, very lucky all in all!
But to go on: so there were several small tourist villages all along the way. The all looked very quiet and many restaurants seemed to be closed as it was low season (I later learned that at least some might have permanently closed more for the economic crisis than the low season). But in general there were not a lot of people. For me it was clear that I would sleep on the beach that night - where else could I possibly sleep. I had really wanted to spend some money in Greece and actually sleep in hotels, because I know the country needs money and I am happy to give at least a little bit, but there was no way I would sleep with a roof over my head there. I went to eat in a restaurant instead and spent money there.
Oh, I should also mention: these last 4 days were different in many ways from all the time before because the only ferry to Chios I could find would leave on Thursday evening, meaning that I had four days for just over 200 km. A distance that I would normally easily cover in two days. So this means that I had a lot of time and in fact it was 4 days of holidays really. And well deserved holidays too, so it was all good. But that also meant that my rhythm changed quite a bit. So it was the early afternoon when I found a marvellous place where I decided I would want to spend the night. I cycled only into the next village to find a place to have dinner but it was still to early for dinner, so I just sat at the beach and looked at the waves of the sea. I did not want to swim as I wouldn't have the chance to shower, but also the waves were so high it would have been difficult anyways. But I hadn't sat there for long when a voice behind me said "can I offer you something?" in English. I wasn't sure at first, that it was me who was being addressed but I turned around slowly, looking confused after which she asked me if I spoke English. And that is how I started to talk to a lovely Dutch woman who has a house there with her husband, as one of her daughters had married a Greek man and was living close to there and since they can afford it, they bought a house by the sea in Greece. And she saw that I was travelling on my own and just offered me something to drink and to use her toilet. She also offered me a shower, but actually I had bathed in a river earlier that day so I declined. (In fact, I need to write about the river: because on the way I crossed several big river beds but only few actually had small streams flowing through them. Which showed clearly how dry the area was. But I found one that had a stream that was a little bit bigger and it had little dams built in it, so under one of the dams a little pool had formed, that water was constantly flowing through, falling down from about 1 m height. Since it was a very hot day and I was very sweaty and hadn't showered in several days, this was my little paradise for lunch time: the pool was my private little hot spring (only that it was cold, which was the good thing about it), which I sat in just to cool down and relax. And the water running over the dam was my shower. So I had my prvate spa right there. That was really cool!) Ok, so, she gave me water and yoghurt, which I happily accepted. I also filled up all my other water bottles at her house, and we sat on her terrace, just across the road from the beach and chatted. She was really nice and we had a great chat. She told me things about Greece that reminded me of Mexico. In fact, a lot of things about Greece reminded me of Mexico. Among which the dust and the dry heat, the garbage next to the road and the many places by the road side where you could buy trash food (chips, cookies and cold drinks with lots of sugar), but also the open kindness of people, the endless supply of delicious pastries and the fact that rules are not actually there to be followed (talking about red lights, speed limits etc. at least).
I was reminded even more of Mexico when I finally left the Dutch woman and went to have dinner in the only restaurant in the village. I asked for the menu (in English, I remembered some more Greek words over the days and I was also very glad I could at least read the letters but it was not enough to talk, really) and was told what kind of dishes there were (rather than being given a paper that said it. The only vegetarian choice was Greek salad, which was fine for me, as I wasn't really hungry anyways, I just wanted to eat in order to avoid getting hungry after everything was closed. I ate and afterwards one of the two old men, who were then the only other guests, offered me a room. I kind of lied, as I said, I already had one. In fact, I didn't really lie, as I knew exactly where I was going to sleep and I wasn't going to trade that place for any other. It was a very good night, really. I sat and watched the waves until it was so dark I had to climb down the rock that I was sitting on before it got any darker, otherwise it would have gotten too dangerous and I laid down on the beach and looked at the stars instead. For the first time - with the help of a little book I had bought in Austria - I could identify all the star signs that were visible to me, which was very nice. I am getting really good at it now! (Well, I was, I don't think there is much hope of ever seeing any stars over Izmir, although I haven't checked, I was too tired yesterday to still go out). I also enjoyed not being in a hurry in the morning as I woke up, so I went back to sit on my rock and look at the waves some more and then I finally left.
I cycled on the same road for some more hours that day but I knew that the road would leave the sea after not that long so I had no intention of going very far that day. I wanted to still sleep on the shore for one ultimate last time. But first I needed to go shopping in the next village. I went to a bakery and the vendor there talked to me in quite good English, asked me where I came from and when he heard Austria he told me of his visit there something like 20 years ago. He still remembered the names of all the cities he had visited then, which I found quite impressive, considering that I did not even know the name of the place where I had spent the previous night - nor of the place where I was buying his delicious food. I continued on my way until I came to a bigger city but that city had a huge park by the beach with lots of trees and lots of beach, so even though it was a city the park was very quiet and - what was really important that afternoon - it provided a lot of shade. So I decided to spend the whole afternoon and night there. Which was very nice. I even went for a swim. I had to decide between being salty from the sea water or being sweaty. Both seemed to me to be equally bad but the sea water had the huge advantage that, at least while I was in there, it felt refreshing. Also the wind was not so bad and the waves were much lower than the day before so I enjoyed holiday time on the beach.
Then I slept there again and I knew that it would be the last time at least for this year. Now, sleeping outside was not always easy for sure, and many a time I had wished for a bed when I did not have access to one. But there on the beach I felt very sad to know that it would be the last time.
The next day I actually was in a hurry but I didn't know that and also, I just didn't want to leave that place, so I stayed quite a while before I moved on. The road continued easy as it had been until I crossed the Isthmus. I passed through the city of Korinthos, which I am sure has a great history but it also looked to be an extremely cute city. By the Isthmus a sign by the road indicated an archaeological museum. I had started to get very interested in European history (I think I haven't mentioned that), as I passed all the ruins in Austria, Italy and then also in Greece and so I was very interested to go there. I don't have guide books, so I just go to random places when I find them. When I saw the sign, I left the road to go to the archaeological site but there was no other sign after that and I had no clue where I was going so, sadly, no archaeological site there. I must admit, the signage of the two main roads was pretty good but for the rest it was for the most part very bad. Well, I continued my way towards Athens expecting it to be like it was on the Peloponnese where every few kilometres there was a little village and sometimes a bigger village and the bigger villages all had little hotels. Here, on mainland Greece for a long time the road went up and down in steep cliffs and there were no villages whatsoever. I only saw one lonely hotel built right in the cliffs that looked to expensive for my budget plus I didn't really feel like spending the afternoon and night in a place that had nothing but one hotel. So I went on, which was good, actually, because it was still a lot of up and down and I preferred to get that part over with at once. But while during the day I kept hoping for clouds and they didn't come then suddenly they came very fast and it looked like it was going to rain very soon. I saw a city from a little distance and decided I would leave the main road to go into that city to look for a hotel even if it was not a nice place where I was. I went into a café to drink a cold chocolate - which I more than deserved after the past hours of cycling - and to ask the waiter for a hotel. One of his friends knew one in the next village and described the way there. I went there and asked for directions again, and even though all the indications I got seemed to lead me to the same spot, once I got there, I couldn't find a hotel and the old lady who didn't know English but clearly understood my Greek asking for the hotel (one of the few Greek words I actually remembered) and just shaking her head I took for there not being any, or else it being closed. So I moved on to try my luck in the next city. Again, I went into a café to ask for a hotel - this time not taking the time to drink a chocolate because I was worried about the rain and that it might get dark. They then directed me to a village about 10 km further away and told me the name of the hotel. The girls in the café also were very nice and very worried when they learned that I was travelling by bike so I was pretty sure that they would direct me to a place that actually existed - not that I had much of a choice. I mean, I could have slept outside again, of course, but my hair was so bad it really needed to be washed and anyways I really needed internet (I still didn't have the address of my new home by then) and also I had planned to stay two nights in a hotel in Greece and ended up with only one so I wasn't going to skip that last one. So I biked on. At one point I might even have landed on the highway but there was no way to turn off that road then. Either bicycling on the highway is legal in Greece or the road by then was not a highway any more or the Greek are just absolutely useless at putting up road signs because the last intersection had been several km before that and there was no indication there that you might be getting onto a road that only leads onto a highway. Either way, I wasn't going to turn around, I mean, what could happen, really? I knew that the highway turned into a main road around there and that I would have to go on that main road all the way to Piraeus, so if I cycled a few kilometres on it when it still technically was a highway, whatever. Luckily, the first exit that I got to, was the one that I needed to go to: Elefsina. The exit looked like a highway exit, so probably it was the highway, but honestly, the next day I was cycling on that road but then it was not a highway any more and it was literally the same, so...
In any case, as I entered Elefsina, I immediately saw a sign advertising the hotel. I followed it and when I got to a point where I thought it should be and there was no sign of it, I slowed down and a man said something to me. I hesitated first, I didn't know if I wanted to talk to that man but then decided that his help would actually be rather welcome as at that moment the first raindrops fell from the sky. So I asked him for the hotel and he actually walked me there and got me a good price too. On the way we talked and it turned out that he had lived in England and he loved talking to foreigners. He left me at the hotel but he also told me that the place had a long history and showed me the way to the archaeological site there and we agreed to visit it together the next morning. I was very close to Piraeus then so had the whole morning free. This time I really enjoyed the shower - especially getting the salt out of my hair. I went out to have dinner and then checked on the internet to find where I had to go. It was then that I learned I would live on the 17th floor of a tall building right by the sea. It felt very strange. Of course, I had known all the while that I would end up in a big and modern city but it was one thing knowing it to be something in the vague future and another thing knowing it to be happening in two days. I started to get excited and nervous at the same time. After such a long time of being homeless I would finally have a home again and I didn't know how I felt about it. And it was probably the emotions that stopped me from sleeping that night but that made it three in a row: every single time that I slept in a hotel or hostel I barely slept during the whole trip.
In the morning then we went to visit the archaeological site, then I had lunch and then I cycled the remaining 20 or so kilometres to Piraeus. It was not a nice ride, as I said, because it was on a very busy, very big road. The Greek drivers were very respectful and mostly passed me at a good distance but still.
In Piraeus then I just had to find the right ferry to Chios. I spent a short night on the ferry, as it had several stops on other islands throughout the night and our arrival at Chios was at 5 am. I had no expectations whatsoever of Chios, since I literally just went there in order to get on the boat to Cesme. But since I had 3 hours to wait for the first ferry to Cesme that morning, I had time to walk around a bit and unexpectedly found myself - yet again - inside what must be a Medieval castle. The village is really very pretty and so the three hours were spent in a good way. I got on the last ferry boat - really just a little boat this time. You could see Turkey from where I left already - remember, this is the very place where all those refugee boats crossed over only a few months ago - I couldn't help but thinking of that.
And then I arrived on Turkish soil for the first time in my life. Customs there seems to be so used to day tourists that it was a little difficult for me to find my way and to get my tourist visa, so I did not really have the time to actually appreciate the fact that I was finally there. Also, of course, I still had a full day of cycling ahead of me. Maybe I will write more about that cycle ride later. For now, suffice to say that the road was difficult with some hills and in terrible condition, which made it very hard to cycle there after I left the coast that was still very touristy. I was surprised to see signs indicating cycle routes but less surprised at that lack of actual cycle paths or roads. I was also a little bit disappointed that there were not many of the street vendors I had seen in Greece. But I finally found a small supermarket where I could buy some food and had lunch by the sea. From there, I could already see Izmir - and, what's more, with my binoculars I could also already make out the high-rise apartment buildings on the opposite shore that I knew I was headed for. A seaside pedestrian way that you could also cycle on (I didn't know nor care if that was allowed or not) took me all the way into Izmir and most of the way around the gulf to the other side of the gulf. Only, sometimes the cycle path suddenly stopped and then you ended up on 3- or 4-lane roads that were completely packed with Friday afternoon traffic. That was rather terrifying and even more so as I wasn't sure where I was going. I made it, in the end. I arrived and that night I slept very well even with a roof over my head.

Of course, there is much more to be told and I will write again soon but I wanted to post this as soon as possible, just so the people who are not on Facebook know that I successfully completed my journey and happily arrived at my new home.
Best wishes everybody and thanks for supporting me all this time!