Chios, Greece
The final bike fix?
29th June - 4th July | 2023
As you might remember, we found the mechanic and the spare parts on Chios (Greek island). The next obstacle was getting a ferry over as it was the festive week of “Eid al-Adha” known here in Turkey as “Kurban Bayrami”. We tried to find ferries on the website www.ferries.gr which was not easy as they suggest the dates and times, THEN you have to fill in ALL your data (2 people, 2 bikes) to get finally the information “Sorry, there is no availability on this ferry). I contacted the company behind it directly and we finally found a free ferry on Sunday night, which means the bike can be done on Monday. Stupidly we didn't book the return ferry as well, as we thought after the festive week is gone, it will be easy to get a return ferry. That was wrong, as we found out 24hrs later. Same story again, trying above for various dates and times and in the end, I contacted www.ferries.gr again directly and we found a place on Thursday early morning. The problem seems to be that it is only a small ferry with a small garage and limited space. However, the wait will soon come to an end! And luckily “our” room at "Hotel Paris Prestige" (www.hotelparisprestige.com) was available all the time :-D
On Sunday morning, during breakfast we asked the receptionist and the fantastic waiter at breakfast, how and where we could get my battery charged, to get me as close as possible to Çesme, still another 85km. They both understood the problem (maybe) but unfortunately didn't have a car. We came to the conclusion we will ask the “polis” station just down the road to see if they could help - and they could! Hallelujah! So we just packed my bike and rolled it over, so we could start the charging progress. They were really nice at the police station and even offered us Çay and cold water.
40mins later we left there and luckily the roads out of Izmir and on to Çesme were pretty free (thanks to being a Sunday and the last day of “Bayrami), so we managed it with that one battery charge all the way to the gate of the ferry port. As we managed that hassle-free we were pretty early there, so we stayed at the ferry company's office. The only thing that was really annoying was, with our check-in, we would have to pay another €12pp ferry port fee - as our tickets were already very expensive; NOTE: they cost each of us as much as the ferry from Barcelona to Italy including a cabin!
Actually, it was good to have the guy guiding us through the ferry port, as we probably would have gotten lost as not very well signposted, or at least it would have taken us much longer to get there. However, it was also good to have the guy as he could translate and explain that my bike needs to be loaded first as it has to be last to come off as we have to make it all manually. It was a tiny ferry, max. the capacity of 2 cars and max. 2 big bikes! No wonder, we were struggling to get free space online!
40mins later we were in Greece, on/in Chios. We decided we will leave my bike in the marina and go on James' bike to the apartment we had booked for that night. So I asked the border control police and she said it would be safe in the parking lot. When she saw our number plate it turned out that she spoke fluent Portuguese as she has lived for 5 years in Lisbon! How lucky is that!! That made the conversation much easier as her Portuguese was much better than her English!
We parked the bike pretty close to one of the military boats and covered it up with the “invisible cloak”. We packed my important belongings onto the luggage of the Yamaha SuperTenere and wedged ourselves on the bike to get to the apartment. We couldn't stop laughing as we were really sandwiched in!
The next morning Ilias, from “Chios Technomoto” (google maps: https://goo.gl/maps/hDQCZvfZ7ozjs41UA) came with his tiny pickup to pick me up and then together in the marina my Schimmelchen. He was super efficient, as he seems to be a very busy man! In his workshop, he showed us again the new part and then he explained what he is going to do, so James and I went back to the seafront to find the office of the ferry company as we wanted to try to change our return tickets to earlier. First, we got sent from office to office along the seafront until we finally were at the right spot, the owner of the ship. They got a free spot on Wednesday morning, which we booked. After that, it was time to finally get some breakfast.
About early lunchtime, we were back at Chios Technomoto and Ilias explained to us what he had done so far and that the battery is now on charge for the next 2 hours.
He also found the hose that the mechanic in Ioannina duct taped as he couldn't get the spare parts. He had the spare part so we changed that too! Wow, that was really impressive! One spare part I can tick off my list now!
At about 15h00 my bike was ready, including a test ride and battery recheck of voltage.
I packed my bike up and off we went to the south towards Pyrgi (famous for its painting/decoration of the houses) and then Mavra Volia Beach, where I went in to cool down my feet!
After a lovely lunch, we went a bit further South to another beach where we found a nice camping spot due to iOverlander. We waited until the majority of people left and then pitched our tent. Just in time before the mosquitos came to attack us!
After a good night's sleep, listening to the rolling waves right next to us, we carried on along the west side of the island, all the way up to the North. Unfortunately, the island is not so big, so by 15h00, we were back in Chios ;-) We passed by the ferry office, just by chance, to see if tonight was already space on the boat, and we were lucky! 16h30 we have to be at the ferry port to get to Çesme tonight! How lucky is that!!
We passed by Ilias to recheck the battery and to thank him once more for finding the time in his busy schedule to look after my bike! I also rang up the Hotel Paris Prestige in Izmir to book the night with them, so that we know already where to go tonight.
The process of leaving Greece was very easy with only a small customs building. For me it was nice that I finally could ride my bike onto the ferry - made things much easier ;-) When we arrived in Çesme, this time we knew where we had to go to get the correct stamps on our passports. All went easy and smooth - on both sides! About one hour later we were at the hotel in Izmir - it was like coming home :-D Unfortunately this time we were not so lucky with our room, but for one night it will do!
Back to mainland Turkey we finally can carry on our travel across to Georgia. In the next blog, you will find out where we are heading next. In the meantime have a nice cold Ayran (Turkish buttermilk drink - very refreshing and nice with meat dishes).
Places | Cities:
TURKEY:
Izmir, Çesme
GREECE:
Chios Island
Driven km | Trip:
Total | Steffi: 10290 km
Information Border Crossings (in June 2023):
All very smooth on both sides in both directions.
Passport, bike documents and green card (bike insurance).
Maintenance | Breakdown:
Replace of the broken rewired stator with another rewired stator.
Replace of the regulator, to be on the safe side as known to be weak on this model of BMW F700GS/F800GS.
Health issues:
./.
Special thanks to:
Ilias from Chios Technomoto (google maps: https://goo.gl/maps/hDQCZvfZ7ozjs41UA) for taking care of my BMW F700GS.