hi all,

we are planning a ride from saudi-jordan-syria-turkey-cyprus-egypt-saudi in the winter of 2009 (oct/Nov) and we are facing a problem.

Turkey-Cyprus : we are planning to take one of the ferries from Turkey to the turkish side of Cyprus, then cross over to the greek side of cyprus, spend a few day. I know that relations and not exactly hunky-dory between these two sides, but border crossings are atleast possible, so we plan to do it and explore cyprus a bit.
could any of you turkish/cyprite/greeks advise us about this leg ??


Cyprus - Egypt : Then we want to catch a ferry from the greek side of cyprus to any of the ports (alexandria/port said) in Egypt. Problem is, i'm unable to find any ferry operators who are currently operating this route.

can anybody provide any inputs about bike transport / ferry service from cyprus/turkey to egypt ?

tia
cheers

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Youtube-KTM 530Exc RTW/2 ride

I am not absolutely sure but currently there are not any ferries going to Egypt.

Have you checked Home Page Grimaldi Freighter-cruises, they have scheduled cruises for Egypt and Israel, although i think disembarkation at the Egypt port is not possible. Is better to contact them by phone to make sure.
I hope this information will help you.

Happy travels

hi Tia

I'm living in South Cyprus at the moment and planning a trans-Africa trip, leaving in October. The hardest part so far seems to be getting from Cyprus to anywhere in North Africa. Without shipping the bike separately anyway.

Crossing between south and north on Cyprus is pretty relaxed these days. So long as you have valid passports and your docs for entering the north side are in order then you should be ok. I'm not 100% on that though. Certainly crossing from south to north and back is very easy, but it may be a bit trickier having come via Turkey. You'll also need to buy insurance when you cross. Min duration is usually 1 month so can be pricy just for a day or 2.

As for ferries onward to Egypt. To the best of my knowledge there are none. Certainly none that will also take your bikes. I've heard rumours that it's possible to get passage on a freigther from Cyprus to Egypt for both yourself and bike, but all enquiries so far have gone nowhere.

At the moment I'm considering trying my luck from South Cyprus > North Cyprus > Turkey > Rhodes > Egypt/Tunisia/Crete/Piraeus. To Rhodes is fine, but that still leaves me just about as stranded as before

I'll post any progress on the HUBB. If you hear anything pls let me know.

thx
chris

hey there,

unfortunately, due to the issues of carnet & bike transport to Egypt, we have dropped it from our ride plan for now. We will do Egypt sometime later.

good luck to you.

cheers
Vicky

__________________
FB-KTM 530Exc RTW/2 ride
Youtube-KTM 530Exc RTW/2 ride

Thanks. Looks like I'm going to have to head either all the way to Italy>Tunisia, or round through Syria/Jordan. Both pretty good options despite the extra miles. Anyway, happy travels. c