Muslim or Christian, Mullah or Pope

A friend

15.10.2011 Black-Sea-Coast between Sile and Agva

Chapter one: A week with a Friend

Trygve is having a heart-attack in Kilitbahir

Yesterday at noon I left Trygve in Istanbul. He took the Shuttle to Ataturk-Airport, while I went out of town back to Asia. When we summed up the week we had spent together, we agreed that it had been a success in almost every kind of way. Only the thing we could control the least, the weather, was not quite as good as Trygve, who came from 8 degrees and rain in Bergen, would have hoped. We can at least say that we had a little bit of everything.

The New-Mosque seen from the Anatolian side

As I reported last week, the trip started with sun and a lonely golden beach, and gin-clear water. A visit in Edirne gave us the first taste of kebab and grand mosques, while the Gallipoli-Peninsula and Canakkale told a great war-history. We would have seen the mighty UluDag on our ride to Istanbul, but instead witnessed clouds and natures powers, with the ability to transform lovely gavel-roads into soap-like mud-tracks.  And last, not least – Istanbul, a destination in itself, with History, Religion, two continents and a grand-bazaar.

King Trygve looks for enemy ships on the sea of Marmara

To travel with Trygve was good and trouble-free. Those who know Trygve, know about his energy and will to see and do (and eat) things. One of the things I enjoyed the most was, not having to plan everything by myself. Trygve would be sitting next to me while I was driving, reading in the guide-book and the map and suggesting where to go. None of us had had the time to research much in advance, so we were both very flexible, and went where the road took us.

 Still I got to say that it is good to be alone again. I have leaned to appreciate the quiet. Nature is so much in peace. I won’t be alone for long anyway. Wiebke, a friend of the family will arrive in Antalya on the 29 of this month, and leave from Adana a week later.

Chapter two: The good Muslim

Meeting students from Istanbul's NLA. 

After Mosques and battlefields, beaches sun and rain, it was still the meeting with a group of young Muslims that turned out to be the highlight of our week.

Trygve managed to make me smile on the walls of
the Kilitbahir fort. Photo taken by Trygve

After rushing through the highlights of Istanbul, the Aya-Sofia, the Blue Mosque and the Grand-Bazaar we took the ferry to the Anatolian (Asian) side of Istanbul. We walked along the seaside, and found a nice place to sit and look over to Sultanahmet. While I was still taking pictures, Trygve started to talk to a young man who was sitting there with his friends. This young man turned out to be from Denmark. I guess he heard us talking Norwegian and thus started talking to Trygve.

This young man and his friends were all students of religion, and mainly Islam. They were taking part in a study for people with Turkish background who had lived there lives outside Turkey, so two or three of them were from Germany, one from France, and so on. When we went away from that place, we had been sitting there more than three hours, talking, eating sunflower-seeds and of course smoking water-pipe.

Yellow

While Trygve spent most of the time talking with the Danish fellow, I had a very good talk with one of the German boys. Our main theme was religion, and I got confirmed once and for all, what I have known for a long time. A real Muslim is a good person.

Blue. Note that the pictures are not identical.

What we call a Muslim extremist, isn’t even a Muslim at all. If extremist would mean a person who is “extremely much Muslim”, then he couldn’t do anyone any harm. The great Koran forbids every kind of violence, except if in self-defense, and as soon as an enemy surrenders, you HAVE to take him to your hospital, and treat him as best as you can, and when he is fine again, he can go. Terrorists are a small minority who has leaders that teach Islam terribly wrong. It’s like the “Christians” that have their confirmation only for the sake of tradition and money, and without knowing nor believing the teaching of the bible. Are they Christians? I haven’t traveled a lot in Muslim countries, but what I have seen here in Turkey has been very promising. There is little violence (I haven’t seen any at all), little alcohol and people are reminded of their God five times a day.

So, to conclude for all of you back home, who haven’t had the pleasure of meeting young and welcoming Muslims at the seaside in Istanbul, I got to say that Muslims are no different than Christians. They have a good teaching, and the once who follow it are good people. Among every people there are good and bad once, but if a Muslim is a bad person, it is not because of Islam. It might well be because of the lack of Islam. So lay aside your prejudice. Travel to a Muslim country, and I think you might change their view on Muslims. 

One of the Few

Ohrid

Sleeping giant

Friday 07.10.11 Since Tirana there have been ups and downs. Mainly ups though. It’s almost full-moon, and the nights are beautiful and light. I have enjoyed them by just sitting outside, doing nothing, listening to music, playing some, or smoking my pipe.

It took all Monday to get Wombosi fixed. We had to change the gasket (pakning) between the engine and the turbo. This didn’t take long. After we were finished, and had cleaned the engine we found a little hole in the motor block, which was actually the main leak. 

We glued/silicone it, something that didn’t take  too much time either, but to wait for the silicon to get dry took the rest of the day, so it was 5 pm when I left Vasilis garage. The sad thing was that as a consequence of the long reparation, I missed Berat. The day at Vasilis was nice enough. There was another customer there, and us two customers, and the two mechanics went to the across the street- restaurant and had some spaghetti, and we took apart an accident Land-Rover.

There are not only nice churches in Ohrid

From Albania I went straight to Ohrid, which was good. Surely a must see, in Macedonia, but Macedonia was not the country that inspired me the most. For me it was mainly driving. As for Bulgaria, I got to say what a lovely country. It’s sad that I had so little time here. I have been driving and driving these two days here. The landscape is so beautiful. It’s not breathtaking and extreme, but hilly forests, small rivers and now in autumn the forests are so colored. Bulgaria has a lot of mixed forests, something that makes it shine in all tones of green, red and yellow  

Everydaylife 1 - Shower

Everydaylife 2 - Dinner

Yesterday (Thursday) ended badly. First I got caught in a police trap, and had to pay 45 lv (23 Euro), and then, as I was looking for a place to camp, my steering got heavy. I pulled over, checked the tires, before I noticed that red fluid was flooding from under the hood. It was obviously servo-fluid, but why was it flooding out. After some time I found the error. At that time it was already dark, so I decided to wait to the morning doing nothing. I went to bed with fear of another day at the garage, and not reaching my appointment with Trygve in Burgas on Saturday Morning. I had called Pat in Germany and confirmed that if I continued driving, I would ruin the servo-engine (if it was not already broken). I had also called the ADAC, and confirmed that they could get me to the nearest garage free of charge.

This morning I got up before 6, and started to work with the problem. First I removed some parts, to get better access, and believe it or not, it was just to take out a bolt, and the pipe in it, put a small gasket in place, and fix the bolt firmly again. A quarter to seven, I was on the road.

Everydaylife 3 - Filling up the water-supply

Red tree, blue sky

The stars are so beautiful. If you get up at three or four a clock in the morning, when the moon has gone down, they still light up the night. A Bulgarian hiker said, when I mentioned the beauty of an alley, where every tree had a different color: “these are the things we take for granted” he said. It’s so true. When one walks the same streets every day, one gets so blind to the beauty. Bergen attracts so many tourists for its beauty, and we who live there forget to see it. Some mornings at Troldhaugen were just breathtaking. When the morning-sun was reflected in the mirror of the water, or when the light drizzle fell down on the same dead calm sea, and everything was quiet and peaceful.

Monument on the Sipka-Pass

I encourage you all to get up from your books and screens every once in a while, and just put it all aside, and go out, if just for some minutes and enjoy what God has put right outside your door, and really see it.

Monday 10.10.2011 So, I didn’t get time to post what I wrote the other day, and now we are already in Eceabat in Turkey. Meeting up with Trygve wasn’t a problem. I got to Burgas in time, and Trygves aircraft was just some minutes delayed. The first day was wonderful, and we camped on a beautiful beach. The last two days have been nice enough, but heavy rain has made Turkey look more like Bergen then Turkey (except for the mosques). 

Not a bad place to have all by oneself

At the campfire

In a world of magnets and miracles

On the fortification above Kotor

Man, time is running. Today is the second October, and it’s less than a week until I’m to be in Burgas. Why am I only in Tirana? Well there are two reasons. Firstly Montenegro was so amazingly beautiful that I just had to spend some time there. Secondly Wombosi has started to show Land-Rover skills…

View from the road to mt. Lovcen

So if you’re thinking about a short holyday- Say, you have only 4 or 5 days to spend, but really would like to get abroad, here is where you’re going. Montenegro has it all. You have plenty of beaches, and perfect water temperature. Kotor is a lovely city, and does not stand back from any of the Croatian old cities I visited. The ride to and through mt. Lovcen NP is one of the greatest I have ever had, and the monument on the top would be a nice place to sleep under the open sky. In the evening you’d have the sunset, and in the morning you just turn your head 180 degrees without moving, and you’d see the sunrise. So what makes me say Montenegro is perfect for the short holiday? Mainly, these things (historic towns, Beaches and mountains) lie only some kilometers from each other. For proper Europeans you don’t have to think about money. Montenegro has the Euro, so you can easily compare prices without being Einstein. And lastly, the tourist rush has not come here quite yet (if you avoid July and August, says my guidebook). I had a magnificent time in Montenegro. I had blue skies and around 25 degrees. I did the bay of Kotor, with Kotor itself being the highlight, mt.Lovcen NP, 2 hours of beach-time at Sveti Stefan, and fixing an alternator, and all of this in only two days.

The monasteries of Perast (bey of Kotor)

Good helpers, Djoko and Toni

Now comes Wombosi. First it was the alternator. I wrote earlier that it made creepy noises, and knew that the bearing was broken, but didn’t do anything about it. On the ride up from Sveti-Stefan I had one of many picture breaks, and the car didn’t start. This wasn’t a problem since I was standing at a hill, and could let it roll backwards, but I understood the problem quickly. A little bit later I saw a police-officer, stopped and asked for the nearest garage, and he told me to go to a place called start, some 17 km. away. I got there and found Start. The garage didn’t exist anymore, but there still was a shop selling car-parts (for german cars) with the name Start, so I pulled over and stopped. Runner of the shop was Toni, who had lived 31 years in Düsseldorf and spoke excellent German. He was very helpful, and first he called an electrician, to verify the problem. The electrician came, measures the battery. It was flat. Then we started the car (with cable) and he measured the alternator, and confirmed that this was the source of the problem. Afterwards Toni called his friend, the mechanic Djoko. We took out the alternator, and were happy to find out that the converter was not broken. Some wire was burned off, the bearing had to be changed, and everything had become loose because I had waited so long with doing anything. Djoko went with the alternator to fix it “African style”, while Tony took me to the local pizzeria. At 9.30 pm the alternator was in place again, and worked (and still does) well.

The church at Teth

The next morning I went early, and headed for Teth (Albania). When I got there I found out that Wombosi suffered from serious oil-loss. I turned the whole (small) village of Teth upside-down, to get some oil, and a bolt, and after two hours, I considered the car ready for the trip to Tirana. Tomorrow I will go to a proper Land-Rover garage to get the problem checked. Oil is still leaking (and I am refilling), so we’ll see what it is tomorrow.

Teth was good, but the road was very poor. This morning I was in Kruja, and If you want to buy souvenirs, that’s the place to go=).

I bought a hat in Zadar! 

Today I should have been in Berat, but since I have to wait for tomorrow with checking the car (today is Sunday), I’ll do Berat tomorrow, if everything goes smoothly with Wombosi. I drop Gjirokaster, and head strait to lake Ohrid on Tuesday. Albania is really Eastern Europe. The traffic is crazy, and the roads at times very bad, but the people are nice, and the weather too. I guess you’ll hear from me again in Burgas.

P.S: I’m not very pleased with this post, but I’m very tired, so bear over with me this time=)

Fat Old Sun

Castello di Miamare

 Another week has passed since I was in Bled, and wrote to you the last time. It’s been a good week, full of exiting places and people. I’d say probably even a little bit too many attractions. I feel that I’m running from one thing to the next, without really taking my time. There are always so many things left undone everywhere I am. I take a glance at the highlights, shoot some pictures, and wrooom, I’m off again.

Trogir

Enough about that. I’m having a good time, the sun is shining, I am healthy and have enough to eat=). From Bled I went via Italy (Castello di Miamare) back to Svlovenia and to Croatia. In Croatia I have now spent 4 days. I have visited Zadar, Trogir, Spit and Korcula. Highlights have been Castello di Miamare, Trogir and Spit.

Split by night

Trogir is a wonderful little town, with narrow streets, old Venetian buildings and of course the Adriatic-Sea. Trogir’s old-town is full of tourist, like any other Croatian old-town, but the beauty of the place does up for it. Split in the contrary is a large town, Croatias second largest, but it’s very lively, and also has a stunning old town. One of the beautiful things about Split is how it manages to be a town for tourists, but still lives its own life. In the old-town, just outside Diocletian’s palace, there’s a lively market, where people sell bread and pastries, fruits and vegetables. Among these sellers, very much used by the locals, you find other sellers who sell typical souvenirs like postcards t-shirts and the like. There, the locals and the tourists blend, without getting into conflict with each other.

In addition to Split being a nice place, I also decided that it was time for a proper shower and a little bit of social life, so I stayed in town that night, in a very recommendable hostel, named Croparadise (green). Croparadise was good, and its customers were lovely. I met an American Lady, a guy from Split called Mustafa and three friends from Slovenia, Jan and two babes. With Mustafa and the latter I spend the whole evening. We sat on the balcony and talked until the clock had passed four in the morning. Mustafa is a sailor, has seen most of the world (including Norway, Germany and Madagascar), and had plenty of stories and experiences to tell us about. Jan and the girls study in Ljubljana, and went home the following day.

Mustafa

Now I am in Mostar, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and from here I’ll go via Kotor in Montenegro to Albania. What I look forward to in Albania is that there are much less tourist, and a better country for freelance-campers like me. Croatia is NOT a good country for freelance-campers. One thing is that freelance-camping is forbidden, the other is that (at least along the coast) everywhere is so full of people and towns, that finding a beautiful place where there in addition are no people is next to impossible. Once I was driven away by the police, but that was in Slovenia, and the policeman was very nice and didn’t even fine me, so I was lucky at that occasion.

Alja (one of Jans girls) and me on the balcony of Croparadise

P.S: This was written before I actually got to Mostar. Now, after I have seen it, I must add it as another Highlight. A Picture from here might come with the next post. 

Fat Old Sun

Korcula

My bedroom

Stonepreacherman in Split

Telegraph road