KIROVABAD - AZERBAIJAN - 297 KM (TOTAL 4718 KM)

Made to Azerbaijan, after a 2 hours wait at the border. Decided to play dumb at any request of 'tips' and 'gifts' and from now onward we are pretending to speak only Italian. So far it worked, we were even sent off by a soldier, telling us that IT IS important to learn a foreign language to travel!

We stopped in what might have been the only vineyard in the whole country - a producer 300 km north of Baku, which gave us two bottles of a surprisingly rich Shiraz - and Loris can vouch for that. We did thank them with a few rounds of Grappa.

Stopping over in Kirovabad, staying in this grand hotel with a slight CCCP flavour.

GORI – GEORGIA 441 km (total 4421 km)

Entered Georgia after a 2 hours wait at the border, not too bad considering that the separate queue for trucks was 8 km long. Despite all the efforts, we did not manage to reach Tbilisi. Continuous rain, a million cows resting in the middle lane, local driving habits and lack of signs played a major role in it. Ok, we also stopped to sample a few local wines…



Tomorrow we are going to try to make it as close as possible to Baku, getting ready to catch the ever-elusive ferry to Turkmenistan.

RIZE – TURKEY 350 km (total 3980 km)

First mechanical problem of the rally (broken gas cable does not count, as it was well before the official start). This morning poor R4 was sputtering and coughing, so had to stop at the Renault dealership, just outside Persembe, Koi Otomomotiv. They were simply the kindest people ever. Problem was at the end due to low-grade fuel, but they checked it, retuned it, test drove it, all for free. They even invited us for lunch and got us two hats, two stickers and two car fresheners as a sponsorship deal ;-)
Thank you guys!

Moved on to a monastery outside Rize for a cultural stop and a bit of wet-and-mud driving.

Tomorrow, to please the Resident Enologist/Driver, we will try to make it to South East of Georgia, smack in the wine-making region.

PERSEMBE – TURKEY 356 km (total 3630 km)

We stopped for lunch just after Samsun, and the local barber was telling us that in the last few days there have been plenty of other Mongol Rally teams passing by. To prove the point, two arrived and parked next to us the very same minute. Had lunch together, exchanged a few tips and stories (and discovered that you CAN travel to Mongolia just using the atlas you had in school), tried to take them to a beach nearby but we got hopelessly lost, so can’t blame them if they went on. Spent the rest of the day, well, by the beach.

SIDOP – TURKEY 147 km (total 3274 km)

Another shameless short trip – a quick drive in the morning to reach this beautiful town on a peninsula. Lunch of fried anchovies and meze, and the whole afternoon on the beach, drinking beer, munching peanuts and playing briscola. It is Sunday after all. But tomorrow we are going back to serious business, have to cover at least 400 km.

INEBOLU – TURKEY 271 km (total 3127 km)

First stop along the Black Sea – and first real taste of the 10,0000 km ahead, a five hours stretch of pot holes and winding, narrow lanes. Arrived completely exhausted, sleeping over in the only available place for the night, a summer camp of a local school.

SAFRANBOLU - TURKEY 432 km (total 2856 km)

We are moving east in Turkey – one hamam at the time. Reached Safranbolu, city of saffron – and a pristine Ottoman city. As we realized all our Stans visas are starting much later than our expected arrival date in the area, we decided to spend some extra days (obviously by the sea) here in Turkey. Tent still untouched (staying in a restored house here), anyone interest in purchasing a new-in-box Coleman, 3 pax?

ISTANBUL – TURKEY 0 km (total 2424 km)

Ok, ok, we got the message. We are leaving in this precise moment and going back on the road as all the other teams. We promise this is the first and last 2-days stop. But we could not miss it Istanbul, right, with all the mosques, markets and cool cafes?

ISTANBUL – TURKEY 209 km (total 2424 km)

Reached Istanbul after one of the shortest legs of the Mongol Rally – ever.
Went straight to Cagaloglu Hamami, a traditional Turkish bath in town. Stunning location for sure, well worth the stop. We have no intention whatsoever to leave this place in the next 24 hours (or more). Tonight checking out the local spots, starting with Reina.
(Loris is complaining as he had already blown the whole monthly budget...)

Alexandropoulis - Greece - 515 km (total 2215 km)

We are seriously out of the way, Greece was not even contemplated among the organizers' options on the way to Mongolia. But we started our Mongol Rally on a slightly easy note, and so be it. Had a fair share of sampling of retsina and plenty of seafood. Right now stuck in a Greek version of Costa Brava, but really close to Istanbul, will be there in the early afternoon.

KUMANOVO - MACEDONIA - 710km ( total 1580km )

We had sudden cravings for moussaka and ouzo, so we ditched the Bulgarian route and took a detour to Greece instead. Overnight stop nearby Skopje, we are confident of being by the sea sipping retsina by lunch tomorrow.

KUTINA – CROATIA – 539 KM (total 870 km)

At the end we left home well after lunch, but we managed to reach this unknown town somewhere in Croatia just in time for an excellent gulash and beer dinner. Car was simply perfect, not a single problem – and plenty of thumbs-up along the highways!

Tomorrow? A quick blast through Serbia and overnight stop in Sofia.

3, 2, 1 GO!

Rally officially started yesterday, but we are taking our time – stop over at home with L-Sbarra - pictured below, already in Serbia! - for a last round of beers and pork ribs, just to stock up before weeks and weeks of kebab and rice.

Departed Milan bagging two prizes, Best Marco Polo lookalike and Best fund raiser.

Taking off shortly, all the way to Serbia too.

One first step….

18:40 PM

Ok, car spent 4 months at the mechanic shop, and, ok, it is an old car and all – but breaking down after 100 km? We are stuck along the A4, party in Milan has already started and we are trying to figure out what to do with a broken accelerator cable.

Yesterday we spent quite a bit of time getting together a small phrase book in Russian for emergency like this. Quite useless if you are just outside Bergamo.

Loris is working his magic with some sticky tape, will it work?

[after 15 minuted and two roasted hands]

Tape and wire did the trick! One for Loris, zero for R4.

1:00 AM

Met with part of the Italian teams – all driving Pandas – in Milan. Fun night, lot of drinks, lots of encouraging/discouraging words.

3:00 AM

Cable broke again, this time on the highway to Como. No way to fix it, had to resort to call the Automobile Club. Tried to get the car started until 5 am, but nothing to do, left it in the good hands on Mr. Alessandro, who promised to deliver it back by 3 pm today, just in time for departure.

Loris 1 - R4 1

Ready Set Go

The R4 is finally here, finished and ready for first leg of the journey - Milan on Friday for the party and the official launch.

Fully modded with a long list of accessories, plenty of (cheap) stickers, water tanks, jerry cans, and indispensable table and chair set, playing cards, MP3 player, a still empty GPS system, a much-awaited-but-not-yet-delivered satellite phone, a disconnected inverter and much, much more.

Still to be done: a small fan for the Turkmen desert!

Visa VS Visa

With Loris just back from a wine-infused trip to Provence and Dino still somewhere in South East Asia, there are not too many news. So we shall take the chance to spend a word or two on visas, as a memento to any 2009 Mongol Rally wannabe ;-)

Azerbaijan: not as easy as expected, we had to send the passports to the embassy three times until they got it sorted. Visa is for 10 days, and can be requested up to 3 months in advance – no exact entry date.

Turkmenistan: the trickiest of the lot, the elusive visa we do not have - yet. Main problem is that an ordinary entry has a limited duration – 5 days – and it starts from the date stated on it, not your actual entry. At first glance the solution is to apply for a transit visa, which will be pre-approved and picked up at the border. It has again duration of 5 days, but from actual entry. It will also require proof of visa to/from neighboring countries (in our case Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan).

The Mongol Rally organizers offered a visa service, which managed to screw up a few applications– poor Loris is still without his, hopefully will get it by Tuesday.

Another alternative is to apply for a transit visa via a local travel agency, which promises to deliver at the border. It has to be purchased with a tour package, including accommodation, for 400 USD per head.

Uzbekistan: easy, fast, simple. Can be applied months in advance, even more than 3, has validity of 15 days but from an exact entry date.

Kazakhstan: Fairly easy and fast too. Can be done 3 months in advance validity of 21 days – must provide an exact date of entry.

Russia: easy, but as many know quite expensive, with the insurance and all. Exact entry date, validity 31 day.

Mongolia: the easiest of the lot. The honorary consul in Italy has been issuing them very fast, even on the same day. In my case I did apply and got it in Malaysia. Validity 3 months, duration of stay 30 days, no exact entry date.