Eastern Thrace

Drivers should be aware that all place names on highway signs are written in Turkish, as elsewhere in Turkey. These include the place names out of Turkey, too, no matter how different their Turkish names are from their native or English counterparts. Some such as Burgaz or Sofya are close enough to their native/English spellings, as if there just have been a spelling error on the sign, but what is Yunanistan? And which direction on Earth is Greece? Don’t get your eyes weary by looking for ‘Greece’ or ‘Bulgaria’ on the signs, here is a short list of what you should look for instead and what you will see commonly on the roads towards the border Turkish names written in italics, English names in paranthesis: Yunanistan Greece, Batı Trakya Western Thrace, Gümülcine Komotini, Dedeağaç Alexandroupolis, Selanik Thessaloniki, Bulgaristan Bulgaria, Burgaz Burgas, Sofya Sofia… And hudut, which you will see frequently on signs counting down the distance as well as on the directional signs, means ‘border’. One hint: All place names out of Turkey, as well as the names of the border posts, are written over a yellow or brown band on otherwise normally blue or green highway signs but keep in mind that the same yellow or brown signs are also used for places of historical and/or touristical interest, too.