Europe group posting on GLOBOsapiens

Athens to Cairo?

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si_gates Joined: Apr 05 Points: 8 Posts: 2 Posted: 2006-06-20 15:27:00    Hey guys Im flying to Athens in the summer for 6 weeks, and want to get out of Greece for at least part of the trip. I was thinking about the train to Istanbul, or any possible way of getting from Athens to Cairo. The cheaper the better, but ill consider anything (planes, ferries, even going overland through Turkey, Syria, Jordan etc) So any advice on gettin to Cairo, or Istanbul, or if any of you guys have made trips from Greece to other areas in this part of the world, it would be great! Cheers, Si --- Don't dream your life. Live your dreams. Reply    Reply with quote    Contact si_gates   marianne Premium account Joined: Sep 03 Points: 20248 Posts: 349 Posted: 2006-06-20 16:59:00    Hi Simon, There are buses from Thessaloniki to Istanbul. It is best to board in Thessaloniki because if you join the bus on the way to the border it will be full. There are also companies in Xanthi, Komotini and Alexandroupli. that travel to istanbul. I would not advise you to go just to the border by Greek transport and then continue on Turkish transport. You are allowed to cross the border on foot. You can cross at Kipi, it is 5 km to Ipsala with infrequent buses to Istanbul. It is beter beter is to go to Kesan (25 km), frequent buses to Istanbul. But the problem is that there are not many buses from the Greek border to Kesan. Another crossing is further north: Kastaniés crossing. The border crossing is at Pazarkule in Turkey. This is not a village, only a border crossing. It is 10 minutes by car from the centre of Edirne, but no public transport from the border to Edirne. You could hitch but most cars are full of people and have no space left. From Istanbul it is a long way to Cairo. You will need more than 6 weeks to do this on public transport. You will also need a visa for both Syria and Jordan. I don't know if it is still like this, but when I got my visa for Syria some years ago I had to indicate exactly at what day I would cross the border. In your case this would be difficult to tell. I hope this information is useful. Marianne --- “I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” Robert Louis Stevenson Reply    Reply with quote    Contact marianne   daniserralta Premium account Joined: Aug 02 Points: 11491 Posts: 124 Posted: 2006-06-23 21:00:00    Hi there! Well! In my opinion, and if you have time, the best option is: athens train(or bus) to istambul + trip through turkey and get the Visa there for Syria+ visit Syria+get the Jordan visa at the border+visit Jordan + cross by the Sinai area to Cairo. There's an alternative at the beginning instead of the train to istambul just cross by ferry from athens to Izmir in Turkey from island to island. I don't know if there's a ferry to Egypt from Athens, maybe from turkey to Cyprus and then somewhere else. Hope it helps. Dani! --- The journey is the reward. -- Tao saying Reply    Reply with quote    Contact daniserralta   si_gates Joined: Apr 05 Points: 8 Posts: 2 Posted: 2006-06-27 17:33:00    cheers for the info guys, thats helped a lot. not long till i go now, im counting down the days! Si --- Don't dream your life. Live your dreams. Reply    Reply with quote    Contact si_gates