Made it back alive!! -- Eastern Europe trip
Well, we made it! As RC reported earlier, we made a trip down through the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungry, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey to Istanbul and then back again via Bulgaria, Macedonia, Greece and the ferry to Italy where we joined the hoards of tourists heading north (the worst part of the trip by far).
We covered about 9,000 km in a little less than three weeks.
The trip went well but was not without its little adventures. In Turkey we blew a rear tyre and had to limp into Istanbul on the space-saver spare.
And I lost count of the number of time we got stopped for speeding by confused police officers.
In general, the road conditions were a little tougher than I had expected (probably because we went a little further off the beaten path than I had originally planned) but security was probably a little better than expected. It is just my personal impression but I felt like security was better in some of the less developed parts of eastern Europe than it was in the more developed areas (Czech more risky than Romania for example).
Travelling in a Turbo felt a little like travelling in a space ship in places like rural Romania. The good thing about being in such a nice car was that everyone paid special attention to security. You were always parked in the best lit, best guarded spot. Border guards were often a little more interested in the vehicle documentation than they would have been with an average car but sadly, not one ever matched up the registration with the VIN. Alas, living with a stolen car in continental Europe would be too easy.
As you can imagine, we never saw another Porsche of any type in Romania and few elsewhere. The biggest surprise was passing another 996 Turbo headed the other way just a few miles from the Romanian border in Hungry.
Otherwise, an uneventful trip. The car now needs servicing and a bunch of warranty attention.
A few car related photos from the trip can be found here:
http://www.986host.com/gallery/FixedWing?&page=4
http://www.986host.com/gallery/FixedWing?&page=5
http://www.986host.com/gallery/FixedWing?&page=6
S.
We covered about 9,000 km in a little less than three weeks.
The trip went well but was not without its little adventures. In Turkey we blew a rear tyre and had to limp into Istanbul on the space-saver spare.
And I lost count of the number of time we got stopped for speeding by confused police officers.
In general, the road conditions were a little tougher than I had expected (probably because we went a little further off the beaten path than I had originally planned) but security was probably a little better than expected. It is just my personal impression but I felt like security was better in some of the less developed parts of eastern Europe than it was in the more developed areas (Czech more risky than Romania for example).
Travelling in a Turbo felt a little like travelling in a space ship in places like rural Romania. The good thing about being in such a nice car was that everyone paid special attention to security. You were always parked in the best lit, best guarded spot. Border guards were often a little more interested in the vehicle documentation than they would have been with an average car but sadly, not one ever matched up the registration with the VIN. Alas, living with a stolen car in continental Europe would be too easy.
As you can imagine, we never saw another Porsche of any type in Romania and few elsewhere. The biggest surprise was passing another 996 Turbo headed the other way just a few miles from the Romanian border in Hungry.
Otherwise, an uneventful trip. The car now needs servicing and a bunch of warranty attention.
A few car related photos from the trip can be found here:
http://www.986host.com/gallery/FixedWing?&page=4
http://www.986host.com/gallery/FixedWing?&page=5
http://www.986host.com/gallery/FixedWing?&page=6
S.
