700 km from Serbia to Istanbul in 13 hours. After making my way from Niš (SRB) to the highway which connects Europe to Turkey, I found the suprisingly empty highway. After three hours waitingtime and several downturns I met two georgian car dealers, who drove in a convoy, making their way from Berlin (DE) to Tiflis (GE).One of them who introduced himself as Ati, I could convince to give me a ride after showing my passport and and the promise to practise german with him.
Ati was a proffesional car dealer who flies to Germany once a month, buys approximately 20 cars. 19 of them will be shipped via Rotterdam (NE) to Batumi (GE), With the remaing car he himself drives down to Georgia. 4000 km without any major stop. Our car was a 20 year old Opel Astra. He bought it in Berlin for 200 € with Tüv ;).
By the time we met he was already awake 24 hours, but he seemed in a pretty good shape. When we practiced german, I learned a lot about selling cars. Azerbaijan very good, a lot of money there. Georgia ok. Armenia soso, but just the old cars. Turkey bad because of high customs ;).
Here is a little video from that trip, scenes in following order: Trucks at turkish border waiting for custom control / Making my way from Niš city center to the highway / After getting in the car / Serbia / Bulgaria / Sofia / Truckstop at Turkish boarder / Crossing Bosporus bridge in Istanbul at 4 a.m.
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