Stage Tour I: from Munich to Cypres - Entries for: Cyprus
27° | cloudy | km 433
Border-broad: "No Way"
on 2012-11-02 in Cyprus
We woke up on the deck of the ship with Cyprus in sight! It was difficult to process how far we had come. Trying to grasp the experiences and adventures we had encountered was hard to say the least.
After paying 25 TL each again for harbour taxes we had to get insurance for also 25 TL for 3 days. When we got off the ferry, the first thing we noticed was that we had to drive on the left lane! We got some parts from a nice Honda dealer close to the Border to south Cyprus. He even cut our too long chain so it would fit our bikes form now on. Everything was going really well and we were excited to go to the south.
Once we found the right border and not the one just for UN diplomats we were on our way of entering South Cyprus when suddenly on the last Checkpoint (Customs) a woman started asking us all sorts of questions about our plans in south Cyprus. Since we were reentering EU territory with European passports and BIKES we were telling her the truth about our plans. We just didn't expect any problems.
Oh how wrong we were!!! All she had to say to us was "No Way"! ... After much discussion with her and two other customs officers it turned out that there wouldn't be a problem with us crossing the borders, but our "illegally imported" bikes (because they came from the occupied north) were not allowed to stay in the south for more than a week or two. We noticed that the other two customs officers were really confused as well and basically wanted to let us pass. But the bossy woman had no understanding of our predicament and so she didn't give us any other possibility than to enter with a short term agreement that stated we had until Sunday to leave south Cyprus again otherwise they would be searching for the bikes and put however was keeping them into jail.
You can imagine how upset we were when we arrived in the 88km distant village of Lemesos. We had no idea what to do and we had not eaten since last night. Since Denis arranged a meeting with an acquaintance from Germany we hoped that he could maybe help us out. We also wanted to leave our bikes with friends of his. He told us to meet him at the "Le Village" hotel in Lemesos and he also already made arrangements for us to stay there.
Shortly after we arrived a large Landrover pulled over next to us. Out of it stepped a British guy who would turn out to be our savior in distress. He told us when he saw our plates he knew we probably came from the north and since he had some experience with the local rules he knew that we were fucked! He immediately started calling friends of his and tried to find a solution for us. Denis' friend also tried talking to the local police, but the overall consent was that we're screwed.
The British guy had 2 options for us. Either we cross illegally during morning prayer with the possibility of getting shot or at least put into prison. Or we would could try a British crossing further in the east, where the customs officers might not be as strict.
We still had not eaten anything and because we were meeting Denis' friend soon there was still no time. We talked to Denis' friend and he told us his friends would not be willing to keep our bikes with the danger of getting arrested which we of course understood fully. At 16:30 we decided to get some food because we could not really think clearly anymore. We were still not sure if we should try the British border since it was quite a long way and in no way certain that it would bring us to a solution.
We ate at McDonalds since we did not really care about any Greek food at the moment... Soon we decided not to go since it was dark already and we were really exhausted. Just about 5 minutes later we decided differently because we figured we would not have a good night's sleep if we had not tried everything. While leaving, another biker pulled over and told us we must visit their local biker joint where they were having a party tonight. Like we haven't had enough this day!
We arrived at the same border. When we let the woman sign our documents that stated we left the south side, she was even cheeky enough to ask what we were going to do now. We told her unanimously "No Idea" and took off. The customs officers at the north side were quite confused by all the stamps in our passports, but when we told them we just wanted to pass they said "Oh ok no problem! Off you go!".
On our way to the north eastern border, we were clocked from the front at least 3 times and Basti almost ran over a stray dog on the road. When we finally got to the border we decided to get our stories straight before we crossed since we didn't want to mention that we boarded the north harbour.
The British officers surely saw right through our excuses, but to our relief and surprise they decided to talk to us more about football(soccer) than about the troubles we were in. After a couple of jokes about FC Bayern we were allowed to pass. We weren't 100% certain yet if we passed all controls so when we took a short break in the border zone no one really knew if we should celebrate or not.
After the brake Denis drove off in front of us and decided to ride on the right side of the road. After what felt like a dangerously long time and much of honking, flashing and gesticulating we were able to remind him that we had to go on the left side. He was very lucky that no car came his way! When we hit the main road and the highway we were sure that we had made it! The relief was huge and we decided on the spot to go to the biker party to celebrate!
After a couple of beers and some shots we followed our new biker friend Stelvio home to our apparently very well know transient hotel "Le Village".
After paying 25 TL each again for harbour taxes we had to get insurance for also 25 TL for 3 days. When we got off the ferry, the first thing we noticed was that we had to drive on the left lane! We got some parts from a nice Honda dealer close to the Border to south Cyprus. He even cut our too long chain so it would fit our bikes form now on. Everything was going really well and we were excited to go to the south.
Once we found the right border and not the one just for UN diplomats we were on our way of entering South Cyprus when suddenly on the last Checkpoint (Customs) a woman started asking us all sorts of questions about our plans in south Cyprus. Since we were reentering EU territory with European passports and BIKES we were telling her the truth about our plans. We just didn't expect any problems.
Oh how wrong we were!!! All she had to say to us was "No Way"! ... After much discussion with her and two other customs officers it turned out that there wouldn't be a problem with us crossing the borders, but our "illegally imported" bikes (because they came from the occupied north) were not allowed to stay in the south for more than a week or two. We noticed that the other two customs officers were really confused as well and basically wanted to let us pass. But the bossy woman had no understanding of our predicament and so she didn't give us any other possibility than to enter with a short term agreement that stated we had until Sunday to leave south Cyprus again otherwise they would be searching for the bikes and put however was keeping them into jail.
You can imagine how upset we were when we arrived in the 88km distant village of Lemesos. We had no idea what to do and we had not eaten since last night. Since Denis arranged a meeting with an acquaintance from Germany we hoped that he could maybe help us out. We also wanted to leave our bikes with friends of his. He told us to meet him at the "Le Village" hotel in Lemesos and he also already made arrangements for us to stay there.
Shortly after we arrived a large Landrover pulled over next to us. Out of it stepped a British guy who would turn out to be our savior in distress. He told us when he saw our plates he knew we probably came from the north and since he had some experience with the local rules he knew that we were fucked! He immediately started calling friends of his and tried to find a solution for us. Denis' friend also tried talking to the local police, but the overall consent was that we're screwed.
The British guy had 2 options for us. Either we cross illegally during morning prayer with the possibility of getting shot or at least put into prison. Or we would could try a British crossing further in the east, where the customs officers might not be as strict.
We still had not eaten anything and because we were meeting Denis' friend soon there was still no time. We talked to Denis' friend and he told us his friends would not be willing to keep our bikes with the danger of getting arrested which we of course understood fully. At 16:30 we decided to get some food because we could not really think clearly anymore. We were still not sure if we should try the British border since it was quite a long way and in no way certain that it would bring us to a solution.
We ate at McDonalds since we did not really care about any Greek food at the moment... Soon we decided not to go since it was dark already and we were really exhausted. Just about 5 minutes later we decided differently because we figured we would not have a good night's sleep if we had not tried everything. While leaving, another biker pulled over and told us we must visit their local biker joint where they were having a party tonight. Like we haven't had enough this day!
We arrived at the same border. When we let the woman sign our documents that stated we left the south side, she was even cheeky enough to ask what we were going to do now. We told her unanimously "No Idea" and took off. The customs officers at the north side were quite confused by all the stamps in our passports, but when we told them we just wanted to pass they said "Oh ok no problem! Off you go!".
On our way to the north eastern border, we were clocked from the front at least 3 times and Basti almost ran over a stray dog on the road. When we finally got to the border we decided to get our stories straight before we crossed since we didn't want to mention that we boarded the north harbour.
The British officers surely saw right through our excuses, but to our relief and surprise they decided to talk to us more about football(soccer) than about the troubles we were in. After a couple of jokes about FC Bayern we were allowed to pass. We weren't 100% certain yet if we passed all controls so when we took a short break in the border zone no one really knew if we should celebrate or not.
After the brake Denis drove off in front of us and decided to ride on the right side of the road. After what felt like a dangerously long time and much of honking, flashing and gesticulating we were able to remind him that we had to go on the left side. He was very lucky that no car came his way! When we hit the main road and the highway we were sure that we had made it! The relief was huge and we decided on the spot to go to the biker party to celebrate!
After a couple of beers and some shots we followed our new biker friend Stelvio home to our apparently very well know transient hotel "Le Village".
24° | sunny | km 20
Goodbye Cyprus
on 2012-11-04 in Cyprus
We slept incredibly well that night. We still had some preparations to take care of but at first we wanted to take a swim in the ocean. Basti made arrangements to meet the Brit to tell him the good news and eventually arrange a place to leave our bikes over the winter.
We all went for breakfast, but before it arrived Basti had to leave to meet the Brit. Denis and Fabi ate their plates and shared Bastis and went to the beach for a swim. It felt great! Basti arrived shortly after and we spent some more time on the beach. It was not the cleanest beach we had been to, but it was fine. Later on we agreed to meet up with the Brit to go to a Guy Fawkes day celebration with fireworks and a huge bonfire.
We went to dinner with our new British friends. The food was great and we had a lot of fun, so much that we decided it's too early to go home so we went out to an Irish pub to celebrate some more.
The next day Fabi went on a journey with the local biker club to one of the members' houses for some great food and self-made snaps. He was surprised when the group of 20 or so motorcycles blocked red traffic lights and highway exits so that everyone could stay together. Sadly, he had to leave early because he had to meet up with the others to deposit their bikes for the winter.
We safely stored our bikes at the British guy's house and he even made arrangements for a taxi ride so we took him out for a little offroad journey around the countryside which we all enjoyed very much.
The Taxi drove us to the airport just in time and with a weird gut feeling we left Cyprus and our bikes to head back home.
We all went for breakfast, but before it arrived Basti had to leave to meet the Brit. Denis and Fabi ate their plates and shared Bastis and went to the beach for a swim. It felt great! Basti arrived shortly after and we spent some more time on the beach. It was not the cleanest beach we had been to, but it was fine. Later on we agreed to meet up with the Brit to go to a Guy Fawkes day celebration with fireworks and a huge bonfire.
We went to dinner with our new British friends. The food was great and we had a lot of fun, so much that we decided it's too early to go home so we went out to an Irish pub to celebrate some more.
The next day Fabi went on a journey with the local biker club to one of the members' houses for some great food and self-made snaps. He was surprised when the group of 20 or so motorcycles blocked red traffic lights and highway exits so that everyone could stay together. Sadly, he had to leave early because he had to meet up with the others to deposit their bikes for the winter.
We safely stored our bikes at the British guy's house and he even made arrangements for a taxi ride so we took him out for a little offroad journey around the countryside which we all enjoyed very much.
The Taxi drove us to the airport just in time and with a weird gut feeling we left Cyprus and our bikes to head back home.