Georgia

Gamarjobat from Georgia

      As soon as we crossed into Georgia (easy border crossing this time) we realized how friendly the locals were. They keep trying out their English on us – Hi   how  are  you?  My  name  is …. . But pantomime is still the king of all languages though!!! Actually some of our fellow travellers have a picture book to help communicate –I think it is a great idea.

typical bush camp--waiting for supper

view out the tent door

      The first day we were in for a long truck travel day. It had rained (read poured) all night and all morning. When we stopped for lunch at an old building site – which was a half demolished porch thing (like many left from the post soviet occupation) but it provided cover for the cook group to get everything ready. We were all kind of chilled and feeling grey ourselves. A group of locals arrived with their own homemade wine, brandy, chocolates and some cakes to share with us. As it happens it was a birthday day (for one of our fellow mates on the truck) so we shared the birthday cake with them. After all the booze quickly disappeared with little English, arms waving, pantomime skills used, etc the whole truck was in a much happier frame of mind and off we were down the road again.

without the english, it would be difficult to read where you are going

      Next we drove 7 ½ hours and only covered 138 kms. on the bumpiest road yet! We were really wondering about our destination. We arrived in Mesati late at night, high in the mountains although we didn’t know that because of low cloud coverage. But once the blue sky appeared the next day you realized just what a beautiful area we were in. The snow capped mountains were 360 degrees around the village. The road is being redone in cement as I write but may take at least 10 years to complete because of snow and mud slides etc. but once done it will be the new tourist area – I predict the Banff of Georgia. There is a new ski hill, lots of hiking (the Sunshine girls would love it here) horseback riding etc. they have put in a new airport so one could bypass the road for now. We only had one day of hiking here and then it was back down the same road. My poor bum!!!

rock slide blocking road for a few hours

Russian 6X6 equipment

typical true Georgian style heavy equipment !!

how to repair a telephone post

      We have been bush camping where ever we can. One night we had the police sitting outside our camp as they wanted us to be safe and not have any hazzles. Tourism in Georgia’s  is a high priority right now. The next morning they guided us out thru town to the highway. Later we got a little confused going through a city and got guided again by the local police but this time with the lights going. Wonder what the locals thought?

     After a few bush camps it is always nice to hit the hotel which we did in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, therefore nice hot showers. The first night we headed out for supper with another couple Keith and Sandra. We were trying the local fare when we saw on the menu  Khashi – boiled stomach, hooves and belly with garlic. We figured the garlic wouldn’t be strong enough to help that meal and tried others instead. They eat lots of meat, salty cheese, mushrooms with or without vegetables in dumplings here plus a lot of bread with every meal. Have found lots of takeaway meals sold thru little cubby hole windows everywhere. While in Tbilisi 15 of us had to applying for our Azerbaijan visas – but they have just changed their requirements to start June 01 and told us we couldn’t get them without waiting 2 weeks. Jim (our driver) and Zaza (our guide in Georgia) spent many hours and days doing their best to get us through. The problem is Azerbaijan is quite wealthy in gas and oil and don’t care if we drive through or not. Finally after all of us going and standing outside the embassy and a few higher ups seeing us we were finally granted them but only after two more visits from Jim. If it didn’t happen we were probably going to have to fly over the country – but no worries. Hats off to the two of them!!

     There seem to be lots of beggers in the streets. They keep touching our arm till you look at them but with a simple ‘no’ they are usually gone.

On our next mountainous visit up the Military Highway to Russia (basically a truck route now – but very scenic). We camped about 20 kms from the Russian border (I was ready to go for a visit but gather the visas are really tricky to get). We did hike up the mountain towards Russia but never made it there or we wouldn’t be writing this if we did. As we did this hike we visited the most scenic church Tsminda sameta a 14^th century church. It was located on the crest of the hill with a great view. 

the most scenic church in Georgia

boot skiing after visiting the church

 Driving through this mountain pass was a quite well known Russian get away area with ski hill. But since the Russians left the area in 1989 as in many places, all of their buildings were just emptied and gutted or just quit building the hotels, apartment blocks leaving empty shells etc making the area look quite desolate and forsaken. Georgia is now spending lots of money on rebuilding and tourism. We wish them luck.

     We generate a lot of local interest as we drive through and stop at different local markets. I think we are probably their top sales for the day as we restock the truck with food daily. Still difficult finding the food – still can’t find baking powder for Russell to make pancakes. I can’t tell you how many stores, bazaars, corner somethings we have looked in! Plus I don’t know how to pantomime that one!!! It took 6 shops and half a day just to find some hard candies and then it seemed they were everywhere.  Our cook groups are giving some good competition but sometimes arriving at the campsite late at night is tricky. One meal we bought frozen dumplings but couldn’t eat them that night so tried to cook them the next one – but now they were thawed and a mess but after reshaping and playing a little they turned out great. Or the predinner wine helped a little!! We have stayed in 2 home stays which has been great. They ;have been like B&B’s. Some even sell their own bulk wine. Georgia was the first known place in history to make wine. They make an amber wine which is white wine that sits in the primary for 1 – 6 months with the skins and stems. It seems this wine has 6 -7 times the antioxidents of red wine! See I am getting healthier all the time!

moving slow signs along the main highway sheep goats cows

many, many scenic churches

Stalin museum, Georgia's claim to history

Sylvia standing next to Joseph Stalin

Will  write again catch you next country!

Russell and Sylvia

Merhaba from Turkiye

    As we drove into Turkey with a 5+ hour wait at the border – so the officials could figure out if we were a truck or a bus and then do the appropriate paper work. We ended up with some spare time to do our reading about Turkey and Istanbul. It has the most pedestrian accidents and deaths of any of the European countries. Now after walking here I can understand the statistics!!! There is no patience or slowing down for man, woman, or vehicle. But when we did a boat trip(cruise of the Bosphorus) we realized that meant the boats / ships as well. We were also told that Canadians had to pay 3 times what others did for an entry visa. I wonder how many Turkish people come to Canada.

    Jim, our driver (from Cranbrook, England) tried to drive the truck as close as possible to our hostel       ( called the Orient, where the owners ugly sister does belly-dancing on Thursday night in the roof top bar) as it ended up being quite late at night. Which meant he was driving through a rabbit warren of little roads where we got stuck between a truck and a bus going the opposite way, might have been us on a one way the wrong way. With lots of yelling, arms waiving, a ton of instructions from every bystander – one industrious vender  seeing a good chance went up to Jim and offered him a hair cut after he got out of this mess ( and he did get his hair cut ). Only in Turkey!!!

                                          car ralley ending in Jordan but started in Germany - saw them on the road and                              in Istanbul for a party night near us over 300 cars

     Lots of markets everywhere in Istanbul but the largest is the Grand Bazaar – 4400 shops, 2195 workshops, 18 fountains, 12 warehouses, 12 mosques, 61 streets, 1 school and visited by 500,000 people everyday. There is also the spice market ( also called the Egyptian market) – which we just loved. Tried many of different kinds of Turkish Delight and loved them all. We didn’t realize how good these were till we tried some others from different cities. We also got to try or smell all the different  spices cleverly arranged.  What a delightful aroma!!! Also tried the Turkish pastries (totally different  from Portugal) many made with honey, pistachios  and lord knows what else. Had 6 of us, out for morning, going one of those and one of those and… then cut them up to try a piece of each with some Turkish coffee or apple tea (was pleasantly surprised with the apple tea – it tasted really good).

beautifully arranged spices

it's really Turkish Delight - their candy

      Touts on the streets seem very friendly and fun.’ Excuse me, where are you from – let me help you spend your money!’  One pointed to Russell’s beard ‘maybe tomorrow’ as we walked past his barber shop! You need to have the right frame of mind when dealing with them and then you don’t get up-tight when they try to get you to buy the wares. The restauranters  are more difficult to deal with and are far more pushy When in the market streets once you hit one store selling pots and pans you hit 20 or a whole street of just pots and pans or underwear (buyers mainly ladies in their black burkas  buying the daintiest of unmentionables in all colours except black). One street had touts selling only cell phones – 20 -30people  in a row with each holding 8 -10 cell phones  (if you lost one lately it might be for sale here!!) Of course Viagra and cialis is for sale on most street corners as well.

couldn't see a place to try them on - only males seem to sell them!!

     While in Istanbul we toured the Palace – the Harem and Treasury sections. They had an 86 carat diamond on display – the story was it was found in a garbage dump and sold to a jeweler for 3 silver spoons and then made into a ring called the Spoonmakers  Diamond. The Basiica Cistern – nicknamed the sunken palace is a slightly spooky underground cistern – there are 18 of them in varying sizes under Istanbul to store water for the city. The water comes from the mountains up to 75 km away via aquaducts. This one can hold 80,000 m3 of water or a fleet of 16 warships. You will have seen it on the latest James Bond movie with him racing a speed boat through it. ( talk about special effect photography)

/basilica cistern

night life in lights

    Of course we visited a few mosques, seeing how we are in the land of 0430 Call to Prayers. We found the smaller ones the best. We also walked over the bridge to the eastern part of the city and found it very western in comparison and mainly the younger crowd – where old town was tourists and older groupings. It happened to be a Friday and the place was hopping with music in the streets and even the street car had an extra car of musicians. Well Done!!!

    Roads are very good – lots of 4 lane highways, and many tunnels through the mountains. We drove up to Goreme to see all the cave dwellings – carved out of the rock formations. We found it very cold here, even had frost on our tent in the morning. Later realized we were at 4900 feet in elevation. After a 0430 call we were up hot air ballooning up to 1800 meters  above ground level in the air. There were over 70 balloons up in the sky – the sight was unbelievable. We were silently floating over all the cave dwellings in the different rock formations with little farmyards hidden in the box canyons. The pilot was pretty good, in floating up the dry canyons only a few meters above ground level, even chased foxes out of the canyon with the balloon.

Ballooning in Goreme

     Our last stop in Turkey was at the Sumela monastery .We loved the steep walk up and the views of all the waterfalls on the way down. Actually it was just great to be doing walk abouts after sitting in the truck the last two days. I can appreciate the work in building the original monastery but not really my thing.

   Truck stuff – each cook group is now buying the food stuffs for the meals and running into little problems or rather that you just have to be very adaptable to changing the meal plan as to what is available. We have tried buying butter instead we have bought cream cheese or the last try lard!!

    On a menu:  sigara boregi – cigarette flaky pastry. Was not sure what that could be and sorry  we didn’t brave it.

    Found out on our Mother’s Day that different countries celebrate it in different months!! England, Scotland it’s in March but New Zealand and Australia are in May but Father’s Day is September for NZ and Aussie where it’s the same as us in England and Scotland

    Turkey, I always thought was hot, dry, flatish what we have found is cold (still early spring here – trees just starting to bloom) wet, very green and very mountainous. They have a number of ski hills. Now I realize it is the part that we are travelling through but the mountains still have snow on them!! Not much different from home. I believe down south is more what I thought Turkey was.

   We are also in the country of squat toilets now and you should here the females complaining about having  trouble getting positioned right. They are still using tp instead of the water dipper. From our experience  in the far east, the newbees  always had wet pants from their efforts at this process.

   woke up our last morning in Turkey to the tinkling sound of sheep and goats being moved to pasture up the road past our tents. It sounded so musical it was neat.

   Next country is Georgia and hopefully a much quicker border crossing and a little warmer weather. Cheerio till then.

Middle East here we come.

Bulk booze for sale

      Odyssey gave us this "One of the gladest moments of human life, methinks, is the departure upon a distant journey into unknown lands. Shaking off with one mighty effort the fetters of habit, the leaden weight of routine, the cloak of many cares and the slavery of home, man feels once more happy."  quote by Richard Burton

      We have now left the very western ways and the things that we are more used to. Like Praque, which was very upbeat but western in appearance except for all the old buildings. BudaPest was the same, although I didn't realize it was 3 cities combined into one called Budapest originally called Pestbuda. We took a doubledecker bus throughout and saw many of the sights. It was Easter Sunday - many church services in the big cathedrals with bells ringing. but made it impossible to buy a camera as we had broken ours. Many on the truck had spares so no worries until we can find a replacement.

Jewish memorial along Danube River in Budapest

    Then we entered Romania and we realized the actual truck trip starts here. The highway is gone, along with the smooth roads. The older generation is in traditional dress although not the younger generation. We are driving through mountains and many small towns - which we love. We stopped at Turda to go hiking through a gorge. Lots of limestone caves and many rock climbers on some pretty scraggy peaks. It is the area to climb, some people using chinese style runners and others in full kit with all the proper equipment. We laughted about the name of the town, not something you would brag about coming from. But so nice to be out and about - hiked up a ridge (read crest of a hill) but the view was great. Lots of spring flowers already out although we keep changing seasons here whether we are at the top of mountains or in the valleys. One thing that is in full bloom is Sylvia's hayfever  with all the pollen changes. (Drugs are good)

Hiking in the Turda Gorge

A climber who failed to look up

      We are now called Mamma and Poppa Bear. (Probably because of Russell's tatoo on his shoulder or Canadians live with bears). One night it was getting quite chilly and therefore I got out another layer of warmer clothes out - next thing you knew the word was out the Mamma Bear got out heavier clothing you better bundle up!! second thing we have become known as the oldest swinging couple but that was because we set our tent up under an old swing set - the only level spot around. The rest of the campers set up on the hillside and all ended up at the bottom of their sleeping bag in the tent, they would have rolled out of the tent but the door stopped them.
      In Romania I went looking for the WC but the sign outside one said Barbatl but the second one said Femni so I knew where to go.
    We actually stopped in Sighisoara which was the birth place of Count Dracula.

Sign on Dracula's house

 We saw his birthplace and all the trinkets and momentos that go in that theme. Had a traditional supper of rubbed beans with onion and sausage.  Not Great!!!! Pizza was the meal of choice by most and most restaurants as well.  So we stopped at a hipermarket and got Russell some ice cream for dessert! as he had boiled cabbage and sausage which didn't sit too well. We also ordered cabbage salad which was exactly that sliced cabbage or the red pepper salad was just sliced red peppers with nothing else. Alcohol has been sold in all the grocery stores so far which makes it easy for a team of three (me and two others) to stock the bar on the truck. What I find amazing is just how often we have to do it!!!! Hard to keep up with the younger Irish,  Scots and English travellers.
     New saying for us from the Aussie's on the truck, they call their snowbirds the Grey Nomads.
     Have had a local man shake his finger at me as I tried to take a picture of a horse and cart, oops! the Romanians are a very private people in fact they don't even go by first names unless you are a relative or you have been friends for years. The buildings in the industrial areas are all abandonned since the Soviets have left the region. They provided the work without the pay for many people and they sit empty now. There must have been many more people in the area when they were working because the apartment blocks are also empty, gives you a ghost town feel, and the people you see never smile.

Sylvia's getting her fortune told by a mouse

    We toured a more modern castle along the road. It had lots of men in suits of armorer along with the swords, secret passage ways and beautiful woodwork.Really big and Sylvia said she wouldn't want to clean it and polish the goblets or furniture.

Pele Castle

   Once entering Bulgaria the landscape changes again. The farming is much more organized and richer looking, the houses still poor but most have people in them. They all have gardens to feed themselves and the people just seem much more happier. Bulgrians shake their heads side to side when they say yes /  up and down when they say no - which is quite confusing to us westerners.
    Do love waking up in the tent to the cuckoo birds (and not the clock) but the nightingales were really loud last night and all night long. Plus the bull frogs put in their voice for quite the serenade.
We are still having trouble figuring out blogs and getting internet connections where we are.Ahhh!