Day 8 Back to Azerbaijan

Day 8 June 4, 2007

Tbilisi-Qazax-Ganja

Our train rolled into Tbilisi around 8:00. It had been a very long night and we were still tired, hungry and in need of a restroom. We decided to head to the Old City and find an Irish pub that we thought also served breakfast. After taking many wrong turns and wandering around the city we found it-but it was closed. We opted to go back to the main commercial street and go to the old stand-by with convenient operating hours, predictable menu choices and clean bathrooms, McDonalds. However my bladder was screaming, and luckily on our way we found an open café serving breakfast so we stopped in there for the first course of the day and the toilet facilities.
We continued on to McDonalds for more of the same- and an even nicer restroom where after eating again we could actually ‘freshen up’ which meant brushing our teeth!
We had a bit of time to kill and neither of us wanted our vacation to end. We walked back down the main drag and went into an English Bookstore where we wiled away a couple of hours browsing the over-priced literary selections. We left empty-handed not wanting to pay the prices or weigh down our packs anymore. We finally decided we should start our trek back into Azerbaijan. Wiser this time around, we simply reversed our entrance procedure. We found a mini-bus going to Rustavi- where, despite a slight wrong turn, we ended up at the Red Bridge mini-bus stop in the city center. We claimed the front two seats and in half an hour we were on our way to the border. The border crossing was uneventful. Back in Azerbaijan we found a mini-bus going to Qazax and in no time we were on another mini-bus from Qazax to Ganja. We had claimed the front seat in this mini-bus as well, which was a quite risque because women are unofficially not allowed to sit in the front seat in Azerbaijan. We didn't care and we spent the majority of the ride fighting with the passengers in the back who wanted us to close our window because they were afraid the wind it caused would kill them all. It was over 80 degrees outside, we were NOT shutting the window! Welcome back to Azerbaijan!And to make our welcome home even better, about halfway into the ride the mini-bus broke down and we had to wait for a half an hour or so for a new one to come and take us the rest of the way.

At about 6:30 we finally arrived in Ganja. On our way to my apartment we ran across two of my students. Much as I like them it had been nice to be anonymous for a week. The break from the constant ‘fame’ we have here had been really, really nice and to be plunged back into it was a bit of a shock. We wanted to savor our adventure for just a little longer. Back at my apartment we downloaded the travel pictures and went off to our friend Carol’s for dinner and a recount of our adventures. Our vacation was really over.

Day 7 Eggs and Ferris Wheels

Day 7 June 3, 2007

Yusefeli-Hopa-Sarpi-Batumi

We crawled out of our tree house around 7:30 and went on the hunt for some breakfast. We didn’t have to go too far as the campground provided this meal as well. We ordered more eggs along with some bread and cheese items. The eggs came back a little less than hard-boiled. Not my favorite way to eat an egg but it was better than nothing-or so I thought. Mike was also not a big fan of soft boiled eggs but he slurped his down as well. Then we settled up with the owner and went into town to catch our bus.
We bumped down and up windy roads on our way to Hopa. I enjoyed the scenery while Mike took a little nap. It was pretty hot in the bus despite the attempts at air conditioning but Mike was sweating and looking paler than normal. He clearly wasn’t up to his chipper self. I hoped it was just travel fatigue but after a bit it was clear he was getting worse. Glad I had saved many of our plastic bags I was ready for the inevitable. Once Mike’s stomach had been purged of the egg, he began to feel much better. And the rest of the journey to Hopa was pretty uneventful. We climbed into a densely forested mountain range that runs all along the Black Sea Coast of Turkey. It was apparent that the mountains received quite a lot of rain and indeed it began to precipitate as we gained elevation.
At around 1:00 the bus dropped us off in Hopa. It was a pretty large city so we figured it would be pretty easy to get to the border. We started to walk along the main street in what we hoped was the direction to Georgia. Since we had no more maps or guidebooks we were just guessing. Luckily we guessed correctly and pretty soon a mini-bus stopped and asked us if we were on our way to the border. As we were, we hopped in and continued on.
In sharp contrast to Posof, there were tons of people and all sorts of vehicles trying to cross at Sarpi (or Sarp- depending on if you are speaking Turkish or Georgian-and I can’t remember which one is which!). It seemed that getting to Georgia would be no problem. After being checked and stamped in Turkey, we moved on to Georgia where we were checked and stamped again. We had purchased some Turkish wine for a friend and hoped that it wouldn’t be a problem brining it in. At the baggage searching station we hauled our backpacks onto the table- a little nervous about perhaps having to pay duty on the alcohol. We weren’t really sure about the rules, not being experts in contraband. But we had no need to worry as the bag search was pretty lame. I unzipped my back pack and she didn’t even really look inside. So the wine smuggling was no problem. We gathered up our stuff and made our way to the parking lot where there were several mini-buses waiting too take us to Batumi, a large city part of a semi-autonomous region of Georgia, on the Black Sea. We crammed into the next bus waiting to leave and we were pretty happy with how well our luck was going. Mike was sitting in a seat in front of me and about 10 minutes into the bus-ride he turned around and asks me if I have his camera. A giant wave of panic washed over me!! SHIT!! I didn’t have it and I couldn’t remember if I was supposed to have it. We had been so careful for the whole trip making sure we always had the camera but we had slacked off! This is of course nor ordinary photo taking device! Mike’s camera is probably his most important possession. And this is his second one since coming to Azerbaijan. The first one broke in a freak dropping accident and he had been cameraless for months until he bought this new- 10.4 mega pixel who knows what other bells and whistles it has-off of E-bay- at a not so cheap price- those megapixels cost a bundle! Photography is his hobby and he had taken some incredible pictures from our trip. So the situation was bad, really bad. We discussed our predicament, and no, I wasn’t supposed to have it, but he didn’t have it either. It was not in the bus hiding between seets. Once we were sure that it was not in our possession we knew we had to go back and try to find it. Mike was pretty sure that he had it at the border crossing but may have left it on the bag search table.
We got off at the first stop, walked across the road and waited for a bus going back the other way. We were pretty desperate so we started flagging down anyone we saw going by. Luckily in a few minutes a mini-van with Turkish plates stopped and the guy gave us a lift back to the border. I waited in agony while Mike talked his way back into the border area.
Words cannot express the relief I felt when I saw him five minutes later, walking towards me with a big smile and his camera. I don’t know if I could have picked up the pieces of Mike if he had lost his precious camera!!!
Batumi ho take 2! Back in a crowded mini-bus we were on our way again. The first thing we did once we got into the city was go to the train station and get tickets for that evening’s overnight to Tbilisi. The train didn’t leave until 10 PM (and this time we remembered to set our clocks ahead- so we wouldn'te miss our train!)
We went back into town to get something to eat and walk along the Sea. We gorged ourselves on pizza and khajapuri (A Georgian cheese and bread specialty) and then strolled along the boardwalk. We saw a ferris wheel in the distance and decided to head for that and have a ride to take in the views from above. Along the way we came across a large children’s presentation of sorts. There were pictures children had created hung around this Greek-style performance area and it was clear that they were preparing for some sort of theatrical performance. We hung around for a bit waiting for the show to start. When it became clear they were still a ways away from the opening act we continued on to the Ferris wheel. A pretty long line waited us but it seemed to be moving fairly quickly. We also were delighted to see that it appeared to be for free! There was not a ticket booth in sight! The giant wheel was clearly a new addition to the boardwalk area. It was one of the really slow ones that never stops so you have to time it right and jump in as the other people are jumping out. We sprung in and had a cute little car/bench to ourselves. We were about an hour early for the sunset but we still had amazing views of the Black Sea and Batumi.
After our ride we walked back along the beach (which was pretty rocky) I dipped my feet in the water, there were several people swimming-and we had our swimsuits with us but it wasn’t hot enough to be that inviting. Then we sat and watched the sun sink into the clouds and then the Black Sea.
Once the sun was gone we went back to the stage, where the performance was in full swing. Each of the kids walked out and spoke a little speech into the microphone. I think they were all supposed to be dressed up as various famous people. One guy even brought his German Sheppard and tried to do a little dance routine with him. Another guy was dressed as Elvis and spoke in English. It was very cute. We both agreed that although we had seen many interesting sights during our travels, Batumi was the coolest city we had visited. It was getting late so we decided to make our way to the train station. When we arrived we were very pleased to see a much newer version of the Soviet style trains that we are used to in Azerbaijan.
It was still big and clunky but the compartments were all new and outfitted with T.V.s- which also had a CCTV station so we could see if someone was coming to our room. We also had fun poking our heads out of our little room, trying to see ourselves on camera. Simple minds simple pleasures!
At the second stop we were joined in our compartment by two middle-aged Georgian women- both of whom snored pretty loudly. So we didn’t get much sleep on that night either.

Day 6 Erzurum and Raging Rivers

Day 6 June 2, 2007

Erzurum-Yusefeli

This was the first day were we didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to catch a bus somewhere so we slept in until about 8:00. We then tried to successfully operate the shower which managed to get every surface in the bathroom soaked while the person who needed cleaning stayed dry. Amazing really. We also switched on the T.V. to see if we could decipher any of the Turkish news. We were astounded to find out (we think, at least-our Turkish not being so stellar!) that the night before 4 people had died in a terrorist bombing in Bingoel!!! Glad we got out of there in one piece!!
We checked out of the hotel and found out when the buses to Yusieeli were leaving that afternoon. We had some time so we walked around town a bit looking for breakfast- especially egg dishes of sorts. After being directed to 4 or 5 different cafes-none of which had eggs but many had soups (soup seemed to be the breakfast dish of choice in Erzurum) we finally found a fast-food type place that had pizza and burgers and breakfast. So Mike got a pizza and I had a breakfast menu- and then we found out that the DID serve eggs so Mike got his eggs as well.
After stuffing our faces- it had been a while since our last real meal- we set about walking around Erzurum. We went up to yet another fortress; this one had a clock tower. We admired the views and came down as a thunderstorm was rolling in. Then we walked around the Jewelry market and then decided to look for the ticket office for the bus.
We arrived around 12:30 and were happy to find out that a bus was leaving at 1:00. We got our ticket and made it to the station on time.
Curious as to the route we would be taking I dug around for the map we had purchased the day before and low and behold I had lost this one, too. Probably I left it in our hotel room. Traveling blind yet again- we headed to Yusefeli. Luckily we already knew where we wanted to stay.
The ride to Yusefeli was the prettiest ride we took in Turkey. We rode along roaring rivers and amazing rock formations and through narrow mountain passes, getting more and more excited about the prospects of whitewater rafting which was to be the next day’s adventure! We arrived in Yusefeli around 5:00. We first needed to find out when buses were leaving for Hopa the next day. Unfortunately the only direct bus was at 9:00 AM. This could put a damper on our rafting plans! We figured before we made a decision we would find our place to stay and inquire about rafting. Also in town we found three guys from Israel hoping to do some trekking in the mountains. One of them spoke pretty good English and none of them spoke Turkish so we banded together to find our lodging for the night.
We had read that one of the rafting headquarters also had a camping/pension with tree houses. A bit out of town and directly on the banks of the raging river we found Green Piece (yes that is how it is spelled!!) campground. We talked to the proprietor- a really friendly gentleman-who spoke great English- well the best we’d heard the whole trip. Unfortunately we found out that the water was TOO high for rafting. He was willing to take professionals but not amateurs. We were a bit disappointed but our hearts were not set on it. We had figured it would be a long shot. And now we could make the 9:00 bus the next morning and get to Georgia the next day in time to catch the night train to Tbilisi.
Once the rafting issue was settled we pondered our lodging options; a room or a tree house? We took the tree house even though the owner said it could be chilly. It was just too much of a novelty to pass up!
We settled our things in our little home amongst the leaves and walked back into town. We looked for postcards and then checked our email and decided to go back to the campground for dinner as the other options in town didn’t look so appealing. We took a walk past the campground on the road that went along the river. It became very clear why we weren’t going to raft the next day. The water had washed out parts of the road and the rapids were relentless. We saw large trees being churned up in the rocks. Not a fun place to be if you happened to fall out of your raft!. Back at the campground we had a nice dinner and settled into our tree house. Unfortunately we choose the one next to the street light so it was bright as day for most of the night. And the whole structure was a little wobbly so anyone tossing and turning in their sleep simulated small earthquakes. Needless to say I did not get much sleep. But it was still really cool.

Turkey Trip Day 5 Akhdamar Island

Day 5 June 1, 2007

Van –Tatvan -Bingoel -Erzurum

We woke up around 6:30 got repacked and went down to the lobby to meet the Belgians. A little after 7:30 they came down and we headed for the minibus to a town not far from the ferry dock. The driver said he would take us the rest of the way to the boat for no extra charge!
On the way we were chatting about our travel plans and I wanted to look at the map in our travel guide. I searched through my bag and realized that I did not have it with me. I had left it either in the hotel or at the restaurant the night before. So now we were without maps and information for the rest of our trip. Luckily we were over halfway done and I still had all the Georgian alphabet and phrases for when we were back in Georgia. I was pretty mad at myself for leaving it, but we would get by somehow without it.
In a little over an hour we reached the ferry port just as a boat was leaving. We jumped on with a large Turkish family going on a picnic and were charged a more than reasonable fair. At least the price was much less than we had anticipated spending. Akhdamar Island is famous for an ancient Armenian Church perched on the rocky island about 3Km out in Lake Van. There were great views of the surrounding mountains and landscape. We hiked up some of the rocks to get some better photos of the church. The Turkish family invited us to have tea with them we refused, knowing how long a ‘tea break’ lasts. This was going to be a long travel day so we didn’t want to get ‘stuck’ on the island.
After an hour or so we got back on a ferry returning to the mainland. This one was packed with a Turkish tour group from Izmir- which is on the western coast of Turkey. It was a group of mostly female teachers dressed very European in sharp contrast to the women in Eastern Turkey. Before heading back to port the captain took a swing around the whole island which afforded us even better views of the mountains and church. Back on the docks we began the process of flagging down a bus to Tatvan, the next town with a bus station, and from there on to Erzurum. We hailed one bus going to what I first thought was Erzurum. We talked to the ticket/porter and he named an outrageous price. I asked how many kilometers it was and he said 1800, which I thought was way, too many- and then I realized that the bus was going to Izmir not Erzurum. Talking with the teachers on the boat I had gotten the names confused and realizing we didn’t want to go all the way to Izmir we let the bus continue on its way. Then of course I stupidly realized that, we still could have gotten on because it was probably going through Tatvan. I already had two travel strikes against me today and it was only 11.00!!! Thankfully Mike didn’t hold it against me!
Luckily about 10 minutes later ANOTHER bus heading to Izmir drove by and they agreed to take us to Tatvan for 10 Lira a person. We rode in style for the next hour and a half!! The buses in Turkey are WONDERFUL!!- comfortable, clean, free water, air conditioning, quiet!!! Paradise on wheels.
We rolled into Tatvan, a small little community on Lave Van, around 12.30. At the ticket office we asked for transportation to Erzurum and were dismayed to find out that there were no more buses heading there that day. We then asked where the next closest city was and if there was a bus going there. The men named a town, which didn’t sound familiar- and since I’d lost our maps we had no way of knowing if this was a good decision. We thanked them and then headed off to look for a map of Turkey. At a bookshop we found what we were looking for- and realized that the town they named was not really where we wanted to go. It was too small and unlikely that there would be transportation to Erzurum from there- and if we got stuck there, the overnight options would be sparser. We found another city that looked promising and back at the ticket office asked if there were buses to Bingoel. Thankfully there was one at 2 so we bought a ticket and then went to eat ice cream. The irony of course was that we had already been offered two opportunities to go to Erzurum and now that we finally wanted to go there- we couldn’t! At 2:00 or so we headed to the bus station outside of town and then boarded another luxury liner heading to Istanbul. We finally got on the road around 3:00. And bumping through constructions sites and over mountain passes and after stopping in every town on the way-5 hours later, we finally reached Bingoel- or more accurately the fork in the road before Bingoel where it turns off to Erzurum. Mike and I disembarked here and decided to poke around trying to find a way to continue to Erzurum. I ran over to a ticket office across the street and found out that there was a bus leaving for Erzurum at 10:00 that evening. It was only 7:00 so we figured we would see if we could find something else in the meantime but if not we would use that option. After sitting on the curb for 45 minutes finally a guy in a small commercial vehicle of sorts offered to take us to Erzurum. We gleefully hopped in and were on our way.
The ride continued to be very windy and bumpy. We did get to watch some cool lightening storms. Our driver also informed us that only a few months ago, this road was where the ‘terrorists’ (most likely PKK factions) shot at the cars going by. We both wondered if the flashes in the sky were really lightening! After a slight delay at yet another military checkpoint we arrived in Erzurum around 10:00. The Belgian couple had given us the name of a decent hotel and our driver knew where it was- Erzurum is the largest city in Eastern Turkey. Settled in our hotel room we went straight to bed.

Day 4 Castles and Cats

Day 4 May 31, 2007

Igdir-Dogubayzit-Van

Another easy rise and shine at 5:00! We packed everything up and headed out the door, inadvertently waking the desk clerk. Igdir was already bustling about at this early hour so we had plenty of help getting to the right mini-bus. Once we had our seats secured, although we refused the first offering, the mini-bus driver bought us some tea- a very hospitable gesture even though Mike and I have drunk enough tea to last us a lifetime!
The drive to Dogubayzit was very beautiful, with even more impressive views of snow capped Mt. Ararat. We arrived in town an hour and a half later. We contemplated our next move. The major sight in Dogubayazit is the Ishak Pasha Sarayi- a large ruin of an ancient palace about 6 KM outside of town in the foothills. Since it didn’t open until 8:30 we thought we’d get a little morning exercise and walk.
Meandering through town trying to find the road, we were both impressed with the very large military presence in the community. Schools and apartment buildings on many of the streets had armed military guards. We strolled past a base with a large fleet of tanks and other military vehicles. Also in sharp contrast to the other cities, was that here the vast majority of the women wore head scarves. I felt quite out of place with my hair exposed so I put on my hat. A short distance out of town we saw the palace in the distance and were a bit dismayed at how far we would have to walk with all of our stuff. We decided to stop and ponder the possibilities over a little ‘breakfast’ consisting of day-old bread with honey and Coke.
We chose to keep walking but hail the next mini-bus that was going in that direction. Not long after we were back on the road, we flagged down a small bus. When we opened the doors we were greeted by an energetic group of teenagers on a class trip to the palace. We had found the party van! They were absolutely thrilled to give us a ride and they drilled us with questions. At the palace we said our thanks and good-byes but some of the kids joined us on our tour and even gave us small gifts. They were so cute. What was so interesting to both Mike and I was how different they were from teens in Azerbaijan. Most of the group had boyfriends and girlfriends and there was no embarrassment or secrecy. They held hands and acted like young couples would in the United States. We were a bit amazed.
The palace was beautiful. The location reminded me of an Eastern version of Neuschwanstein-of course with COMPLETELY different architectural styles. On a clearer day I’m sure the views of Mt. Ararat would have been beautiful but our luck with the weather wasn’t so good and it started to rain right as we arrived. We wandered through the different rooms followed by our little fan club, taking many pictures along the way.
After purchasing a few postcards we decided to take a walk up to a small restaurant on a bluff overlooking the palace for some prime photo ops. The kids walked with us up the hill but refused to join us for some cokes in the restaurant. We said our final good-byes and they joined up with the rest of their group which was climbing the cliffs behind a mosque and fortress. We thought briefly about joining them for the climb but we had full backpacks and were not up for the exertion.
Our next challenge was finding a way back into town. We decided to walk back to the small parking lot next to the palace and try to catch a ride with the next group going back to Dogubayazit. We sat on the curb looking pathetic, made friends with a puppy and about a half an hour later or so a small group in a mini–bus was pulling out of the parking lot. We flagged them down and they agreed to take us back to town. It was a group of surveyors who were heading to Erzurum. They tried to convince us to go with them all the way –since we were planning on heading there eventually. However we wanted to stick with our itinerary so we just had them drop us off downtown near other mini-buses.
We found the mini-bus that was going to Van our end destination for the day. We had about an hour before it left at 12 so we wandered around the town, found some homemade ice cream and then got back to the bus stop ready for departure.
On the bus we met a young guy from France who had been traveling for 6 months. He had just come from Iran and said it was the friendliest, mot hospitable country he had been too. He had been biking from Singapore and was making his way through Asia and the Middle East.
We reached Van in a couple of hours- driving with in sight of the Iranian border for much or the way, and stopping at a couple of military checkpoints. What was interesting is that only the men in the van were patted down and had their luggage searched. Women apparently are not a threat or considered capable of acts of violence.
We found our hotel with no problem and after we had settled in and were heading out to do some sight-seeing we met a guy who worked as a kind of tour guide. He was taking a Belgian couple to see the famous Van cats and later on to Van castle for sunset views. He offered to take us too- the price being what we wanted to pay for his services. A few minutes before Mike had mentioned wanting to see some of the cats on the street. I had read that they were so rare and valuable that I didn’t think we would see them just walking around town. And according to this tour guide the cats had all been collected and taken to the University for research because they were getting sick and dying for no apparent reason. These cats are unique in that they have a genetic mutation and they are all white and with one blue eye and one yellow eye. Now some were being born with two blue eyes and it seems like these ‘mutants’ are the ones getting sick. So now scientists are trying to figure out what is killing the cats. So they are all in the ‘Keddi Evi’ or Cat House on the Van University campus. At 4.00 we all drove out there to see these interesting creatures. There were hundreds of beautiful white cats living in a big house- they had two gardens with play areas and inside quarters as well. We spent a good hour playing with them through the bars and trying to get good pictures. They were really cute but sad at the same time. Their eyes were pretty amazing, too.
After the kitty photo shoot our guide drove us to the base of Van castle and gave us some directions on how to get up to the top. He dropped us off at some shrine of sorts and there was a ‘back’ way to the castle so we wouldn’t have to pay the entrance fee. I think the tour guide thought he was doing us a favor but I just felt like an ugly tourist walking through this holy place and disturbing the women who were there. A couple of small boys led the 4 of us up the hill and we finally reached the castle but our small guides continued to ‘help’ us on our tour. Finally Mike gave one of them a lira and they left us to explore on our own.
Van castle is a huge ruin overlooking the former old Van city which was part of Armenia at one point. All that is left of the city is a couple of towers and lots of holes where the houses had been. The whole thing was destroyed during World War II. At the top of the fortress there were great views of Lake Van which is a huge body of water- one of the largest at such a high altitude. The lake is so alkaline that you can wash clothes in it without detergent and its kind of slimy. We were too early for the sunset but we had a little snack and then headed back to town. But we arranged with the Belgian couple to meet early to go together to Akhdamar Island the next day to help reduce the costs. We had read that the ferry prices were dependent upon the number of passengers so we figured we were better off to go together.
When we reached the road we started looking for some means of transportation back into Van. We caught a ride with a group of boys on some kind of joy ride and were very thankful when they finally dropped us off close to town where we got a bus downtown. By this time we were pretty hungry so we walked around trying to find a place to eat. Van was a pretty big city so we thought our options would be pretty good. It was Mike’s turn to pick a restaurant because he was the more particular of the two of us. We stumbled upon a Koefte restaurant- these are a kind of Turkish meat balls- and they also had hamburgers and French fries. The prices seemed pretty good so we decided to give it a go. Unfortunately a hamburger was defined a bit differently in this restaurant, but the fries were good. Also eating there was a group of Southern Azerbaijanis. Southern Azerbaijan is in the northern part of Iran- there are about 30 million ethnic Azeris living there. We talked briefly about the history and declined the invitation to join them for their meal, too. We had finished and were pretty exhausted so we walked back to the hotel and fell into bed.

Turkey Trip Day 3 Ani and Kars

Day 3 May 30, 2007
Aradahan-Kars-Igdir

We had NO problem waking up the next morning! We were up at 5:00. Not only did the prayer calls keep us up but, because of our easterly position in the time zone, the sun rose much earlier. We were easily on time for our 7:00 mini-bus to Kars.
On the way we noticed an interesting 'landmark' on the hillside, that we would see numorous times throughout the rest of our journey. On the side of a hill was the crescent moon and star symbol found on the Turkish flag as well as some kind of quote or anouncement of the military post that was in the region. As we were in what is considered by some as 'Kurdistan' I can only imagine that these Turkish symbols were 'gentle' reminders of what official country we all were in. Very interesting....
We got into town around 8:30 and set about trying to find the tourist office and a way to get to Ani. Ani is the ancient and now ruined Armenian capital and the major ‘tourist’ attraction for anyone going to Kars. We were also on the hunt for Lira- Turkish currency. Unlike Azerbaijan or Georgia there were no shady money exchange shops on every street corner. We actually had to find a real bank! We quickly figured out that the banks didn’t open until 9. So we found the tourist office first and discovered that our only option to get to Ani was to hire a taxi ourselves as they didn’t organize any tours. By that time the banks were open so we loaded up on Lira and food and found a taxi to take us the 40 km to Ani.

We arrived around 10:30 and with the help of our driver, bargained for student prices. We spent the next two and a half hours wandering around the amazing ruins of Ani. It was built between 900 and 1100 AD and was a major stop on the Silk Road as the gateway to the Anatolia peninsula from the far East. The population at its height was a booming 100,000. However with the advent of the shipping trade the overland trade routes were discontinued and the cities that had sprung up along them died out. Now all that is left is a handful of ruins,mostly old churches, scattered about a wide open field within throwing distance of the Armenian border. What struck me the most was how massive these buildings had been and now nature is slowly reclaiming them. Ozymandias by Shelly springs to my mind. The exact opposite impressed Mike, he was more amazed at the craftsmanship and precision of the buildings for the time period and how buildings built today are not nearly as well-constructed.
Some of the structures were off limits, one of which was the citadel perched on a hill with a tempting elevated view of the city. Despite a warning sign in Turkish we decided to clamber up to the fortress. To be fair the warning wasn’t real clear as to exactly where we weren’t supposed to go. And we figured if they really wanted to keep us out they should have put up a fence! However we learned later that there was a good reason for visitors to stay away. Because of the conflict with Armenia there was a risk of landmines in the restricted areas!! Woops!!!

Around 1:00 we headed back to Kars and just as it started to pour our driver dropped us off at the Heydar Aliyev Park in Kars. After noticing this park on a map of the city we HAD to go and visit and take at least one picture. For those of you who have not read some of my previous posts, Heydar Aliyev is the now deceased former president and “savior” of Azerbaijan. He held the country together and restored order after the collapse of the Soviet Union. His son Ilham is now the president, and every regional capital has a Heydar Aliyev museum and park and the whole country is littered with his giant billboards and quotes. Even in Turkey we could not escape his shadow.
After waiting out the storm we walked back into town- purchased some famous Kars honey and then walked up to Kars castle. The top offered great views of the city. I must note here that Kars looks nothing like how I pictured it in Orhan Pamuk’s novel ‘Snow,’ which is a fascinating book. The city was not nearly as barren and cold as depicted but it helped that we were there in late May and not the dead of winter.

After hiking down from the fortress we decided to start to walk to the bus station, where our 5:00 bus was leaving for Igdir. We were between storms and we had time and not a ton of money to spend on a taxi so we decided to walk as far as we could and get a cab from there. About 2/3 of the way to the station we hailed a cab- afraid we would be cutting it close with the bus. We drove maybe a kilometer to the bus station and the meter read 10 Lira!!!! We were in shock. Aside from the heroin smuggler this was our next worst transportation decision. And since it was a metered cab we couldn’t bargain with the fair.

We harped on our misfortune for a bit but then moved on- literally. We got on a really modern bus to Igdir and munched on fresh bread and honey for most of the ride. We also had impressive views of Mt. Ararat as we got closer into town. Igdir was a small city, nothing really outstanding. Lots of people on bicycles. It looked very European. The driver of the bus, who was Kurdish and openly expressed his love for the United States and support for what the U.S. is doing in Kurdish populated northern Iraq,helped to find us a hotel since he highly disapproved of the one from our tourbook. After settling in we gathered travel provisions for the next day and then went to bed. The mini-bus for Dogubayazit, our next destination was leaving at 6:00 the next morning.

Turkey Day 2 Vardzia and border crossings

Day 2 May 29, 2007

Akhaltsikhe, Georgia to Ardahan, Turkey

Having gotten almost no sleep because of the relentless barking of the packs of street dogs, getting up at 7:00 was a piece of cake. We swigged the remains of the previous day's Coke for our morning energy boost and went to the street to meet Levon. At 8:00 there was no sign of him. At 8:15- still no driver. It seemed like our travel luck was finally fading. Finally at 8:20 we walked over to the other taxis at the corner to begin the negotiations again. This is VERY difficult in a language that has NO common alphabet or even sounds like ANY other language on the planet. And sadly neither Mike nor I speak any Russian. But as luck would have it, again- one of the drivers spoke a spattering if German. So we negotiated a deal and headed out of town. We were a little baffled as to why Levon hadn’t shown up. He stood to earn a pretty easy 85 Lari (that’s the Georgian currency- its about $60) We were discussing this in our new cab when I looked at the clock on the dash which read 7:20. I thought, as with most clocks in cars, it probably wasn’t right, but it kind of bothered me especially since Mike had asked me yesterday if we changed time zones. I had kind of laughed and said something to the effect of ‘no, silly- we didn’t change the time when we came to Georgia in the winter!!” So I asked the driver for the time- and it was indeed 7:20. And then we realized the Georgia must not observe daylight savings!!! Now we were in a bit of a sticky situation. Do we keep going and stand Levon up? Do we try to explain the complicated situation to our new driver with our limited communication ability, and leave him without this ‘big job”?? We decided to try to explain everything and go back. We both would have felt really bad all day knowing that we had gone without Levon. So I tactfully tried to explain that we had to turn around because we got the wrong time and that a friend was going to take us at 8:00. After a few minutes the man understood and wasn’t upset at all. He even offered to still take us if Levon didn’t show up.

So at 10 to 8 back in front of the hotel- Levon pulled up in his white Lada and we started our journey to Vardzia for the second time that day. The ride was very beautiful, but extremely bumpy. The road just deteriorated as we got closer to our destination. On the way we stopped to look at a castle on a cliff one of many ruins on and in the bluffs overlooking a river on our route. After two and a half hours we finally reached Vardzia. And it was well worth the ride. It is an immense monastery built into an entire cliff face. Since it was only 10.00 we were the first and only tourists at the sight. We meandered through the chambers, kicking ourselves for not bringing a flashlight- DUH! Oh well... we did the best we could with Mike’s cell phone.

We took one wrong turn and had a brief encounter with some of the residents of the monastery. They weren’t as keen on talking with us so we apologized and continued on our way. There was no guidebook or signs, which I found visually quite appealing but it also hampered our
learning about the site. There was a tour in Russian at two o’clock but that wouldn’t have helped us either. We were left to just imagine what all the rooms were used for. Back it the car, we returned to Akhaltsikhe and then sojourned on to Turkey.

The road to Posof-turkey was also less then ideal. We bounced through an extremely run-down mining village and then past an Armenian memorial that Levon wanted us to photograph because he was Armenian. At around 1:00 we reached the border, said our good-byes to Levon and walked through the gate into the great void between Georgia and Turkey.
All went smoothly until we arrived at the Turkish side. The computers were down. It was going to take about an hour. We also had to get our tourist visas, which was no problem and to our delight, when we looked at the clock on the wall we realized we had gained another hour- the time changed back again in Turkey. So we didn’t really loose an hour at the border. Unfortunately we also learned that there were no more mini-buses from Posof the little Turkish border town, to Kars, our planned final destination for the day. We would have to wait until morning.
Slightly frustrated, especially after having such travel success the day before. We had even talked the previous evening of trying to get ‘ahead’ so we could have more time on the Black Sea. Our hubris was observed by the god of public transportation. It looked like we were stuck for a while at the border and then for even longer in Posof. We asked if there was anything going to a town nearby- Nothing.

Finally our passports were ready and we could leave. And the wheel of fortune swung in the other direction! The only other person crossing into Turkey was a semi-driver who had heard about our problems. He was heading to Ardahan, a pretty big town on the way to Kars and offered us a ride in the cab. We were so excited with our luck!! We might get ahead after all!! And we got to ride in a tractor trailer!!!

It was a good thing he was there because we soon realized, after leaving the border area, that Posof was a NOT within walking distance from the border- it was probably 10km, up hill! When we arrived near Posof we were stopped at the first of MANY military checkpoints we would encounter on our journey. All over the roads in Eastern Turkey-especially Southeastern Turkey- there is a HUGE military presence and periodic road blocks and passport checks. We pulled over, the driver handed over his papers and we handed over our passports. We waited a few minutes and then we were asked to get out of the rig. We were greeted with 4 or 5 men with machine guns relaxed but in ready position. We tried to speak in what I hoped was a Turkified Azeri (the languages are very similar). After some minutes they had us get our bags out of the truck- it looked like we were going to be waiting for a while. We had no idea what was going on.

Then after an hour or so the captain of the whole unit came over to talk with us. Thankfully he spoke good German so I could explain who we were and what we were doing there and he was able to give us a small clue as to what was going on. Apparently there was nothing wrong with us, but there was something wrong with the driver. He assured us that if another transportation opportunity came along we could go on our way. He was very polite and friendly but our passports were still in their possession. So we waited, and we waited, drank tea, and soda ate the last of our food, and waited some more. We made small talk with the other soldiers and we observed all the bustle around the truck. Officials came to inspect. Photos were made. More military with more machine guns showed up and finally the police came and arrested the driver! At around 4:30, after we’d been there for over 3 hours Mike was fed up. He decided that if we didn’t get our passports back by 5 we would call the US embassy in Turkey. I was definitely more for the “lets not agitate the guys with machine guns –approach” but I was sick of sitting around for no apparent reason, as well. The soldiers hanging around with us detected our agitation and not long after we were summonsed to the captains patio where we were given more tea and cookies and a more detailed account of what was going on. The captain was very apologetic and kept repeating that there was no problem with us but with the driver. It turns out they had found heroin in the trailer of the truck!! We had suspected that, especially after we saw the police come and haul the guy off, but we didn’t understand why we weren’t given back our passports.

It must have just been an ‘oversight’ because they again said that there were no more buses out of Posof but we were more than welcome to stay at the military base. This was another exciting twist. We figured it was a good option if nothing else came along. But then another officer offered to flag down every car going by and see if they were heading to Ardahan or Kars. After about a half an hour we got a ride with a group of geologists traveling to Erzurum, the largest city in the region and on our way. We hopped in glad to finally be out of that horrible town!!! In retrospect we were really lucky. We could have been arrested right along with the driver just by association. 1st travel tip of the day: don’t accept rides from strange truckers.

An hour and a half later we arrived in the small city of Ardahan. The geologists dropped us off right downtown and wouldn’t accept any money. We found a hotel for a reasonable price across the street from a newly renovated mosque. Starving we found a decent restaurant and then now thoroughly exhausted went straight to bed. Right about 10:00 as we were about to fall asleep we were jolted back into consciousness by the prayer call blasting right in our open window!! We burst out laughing!!! Travel tip number two: when in a Muslim country choose hotels wisely- preferably ones NOT directly across the street from mosques!
We listened to the praises of Allah two more times that night and we were up before dawn to start the next days adventure. All we could do was laugh at ourselves.

Turkey Trip 1

Day 1 May 28,2007

Mingechavir/Ganja, Azerbaijan to Akhaltsike, Georgia

Last week, Mike and I embarked upon a much needed vacation through Eastern Turkey. Our first plan was to go to Istanbul for a week but once we learned how much flights cost we decided to travel overland to the lesser traveled eastern parts of Turkey, passing through Georgia to see some of the historical sights there as well. Our goal was to see as much as possible in 8 days without spending more than $1,000 between the two of us. Needless to say – we had quite an adventure!!!!

On Monday May 28th the journey began- for some a bit earlier than others!! Mike had to first catch a 7:10 AM bus to Ganja from Mingechavir. I rolled out of bed at about that time! Ha ha! I ambled down to the main road into Ganja around 8:30 where I was going to flag down Mike’s bus and hop on and continue with him to Qazax-the last ‘city’ close to the Georgian Border in Northwestern Azerbaijan. We were hoping to find more convenient and less expensive transport (ie. NO TAXIS) into Tbilisi. This had proven to be a problem on our last trip to Georgia. Luckily when we reached Qazax about 2 hours later, there was a mini-bus filled with people ready to head to the border. We squeezed in- made friends with the locals- and bumped and jostled our way to Georgia. About halfway into the ride I heard some mysterious peeping noises coming from what I thought was inside the minibus. I looked out the window for evidence of small winged creatures and saw a family of geese walking down the road but the noise continued after we had passed them. Sure enough at the next mini-bus stop a large older woman got off followed by 20 baby geese which she proceeded to load off the bus by wing and foot.

We navigated the border with no problem and then looked forward to our next challenge- Finding transportation into Tbilisi. The taxi drivers spotted us from a far and immediately swarmed to greet us once we crossed the bridge into Georgia. They were asking incredible prices so we refused. Luckily there was also a minibus charging a much lower fare but it wasn’t going to Tbilisi rather, Rustavi, a smaller city about 12 kilometers outside of Tbilisi. We figured that there would be another minibus into Tbilisi from there and at worse- if there wasn’t, the taxi fare would be much cheaper from there. In Rustavi, the driver dropped us off right where a Tbilisi bound minibus was loading up. We hopped on and continued on to the Georgian capital. Much to our delight- we ended up at the central minibus station, and after asking some drivers, were easily able to find our minibus to Akhaltsike, where we were planning to spend the night.

At about 2:45 the bus left for Akhaltsikhe, a 3 hour journey past Mtskheta- the spiritual capital of Georgia, Gori -the birthplace of Stalin, and Borjomi- famous for its mineral water, skiing and national park.
At about 6:00 we blew into Akhaltsike – a pretty run-down but promising town. The most noteworthy aspect of the town was the weather! It was very blustery pretty upon arrival and getting worse!! With a little help from the locals we found our hotel then we got ready to start our first sight-seeing tour to Sapara- an ancient mountainside monastery.

We could hear thunder grumbling around but nothing too serious. While we were settling in- we were startled by the sound of glass breaking outside and then the power went out. We debated as to whether we should still venture out or not. We opted to go quickly and hope to be back before it started to pour. On the streets there were already several downed trees but undeterred we headed for a taxi and arranged a ride to the monastery tucked away in the hills not far outside of town. Luckily our driver spoke some German so I was able to communicate simple things with him. As you will find out later- German as opposed to English came in much handier in Turkey as well.

After 30 minutes of scrambling up roads intended only for 4 wheel drive vehicles (we were in a husty trusty Lada) we arrived at a beautiful old monastery and fortress in the hills. We asked the driver (Levon) to wait about 30 minutes- (we would have stayed longer but the bad weather was closing in fast) We walked around and clamored up old fortress ruins- looking for the perfect photo shots. We walked down to the largest church, hearing chanting coming from within. I didn’t realize the monastery was still active and was a little nervous about disturbing the monks. We stealthily walked in and upon realizing that we didn’t speak Russian,one of the monks called another over who spoke English and he gave us a brief tour of the complex. There are 10 of them living there and they are almost subsistent- but they do carry cell phones! During Soviet times the monastery was used as a camp for the soviet youth group “the young pioneers” and the little guys had defaced a lot of the ancient frescos. The monks are slowly restoring everything but it all takes money and time. Unfortunately because of the weather we had to cut the visit short. During the taxi ride back we arranged to have Levon take us to Vardzia- the next days adventure. We decided to meet at 8 AM outside the hotel.

Back in town we admired the carnage from the windstorm- fallen trees all over the streets and still no power in most of the downtown area. We hunted down a place to eat- and dined by candlelight! Fitting as we were also celebrating 6 months of coupledom.
Back at the hotel, exhausted we fell into bed.