We left Lyon 8.30am for Turin, driving through the imposing Alps. We arrived in Turin at about 3pm, with hardly any toilet breaks in between, so you can well imagine the condition most were in. There was only one question on the mind, where's the toilet? Where we had stopped, waiting to proceed into Turin, there was none in sight, & very quickly the bushes fell prey to the more desperate men.
We were surprised when informed that we were to have police escort all the way into town; 2 officers to 7 vehicles & as observed, these were Italian men in tight uniform. One even obliged us with a smile when we photgraphed him.
In the town square, there was a reception waiting; pizza of course, breadsticks, kebabs, fruits, fresh mozzarella, salad. Right there in the open. The convoy members were mostly famished by then & had no care except helping themselves to the spread all beautifuly laid out. Once again speeches & well wishes followed & then it was off to our cars to continue on towards Milan. While at the square, I was interviewed by Al Jazeera Arabic on the Malaysian experience.
Getting to Milan would've been fairly simple if not for our lead vehicle taking a wrong turn that resulted in us being delayed by nearly 2 hours, arriving at the campsite all drained. We spent the night in our vehicle & it was quite cold.
This morning, its free & easy, given time to get online, do our laundry, charge all our equipments & just plain sleep.
We're leaving Milan this evening at 6pm to get a headstart. Heading towards the ferry crossing for Greece.
It's heart warming to see the convoy welcome and receiving support.
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