2009 Text Archives : from Brussels to Iran

Text #1 :

resting in Istanbul for the second day. Ready to hitchhike the Black Sea region to Samsun, Sinop, Trabzon and higher mountains before reaching Georgia.

Best memories for these last 10 days :

My unexpected meeting with Mathias (ex-Euroclear colleague) at the Meteora.. simply amazing!
The night spent with an Albanian Family, on the road for Macedonia.
Another night with a Rom family.
The very wild Thrace in Greece (North-East).
My meeting with Emma from Australia;
The Greek guy that made a detour of 70km to bring us to the Turkish border.

To be forgotten :

Terrible dog attacks in Macedonian Greece : Emma and I had to jump on a car to escape these scaring wild beasts.. local people provided us with some tips on how to chase them the next time.
The experience of being washed by the rain in Thessaloniki, also while climbing the hills of Thassos.
Hitchhiking the NorthEast of Greece; waiting for hours the average 5 cars/hour nearing Turkey.

Text #2 :

Dear family, dear friends

After a long time spent ın Cappadocia, I finally arrived in Erzurum (North Eastern part of Turkey). I though the journey would have been much faster... though, not considering the high mountains and the very slow trucks bringing me there.
Perched at a 2000m high, Erzurum sounds being the most pleasant place while temperature reaches the 40 everywhere else in the country.

Here are the different places I passed during this 10 days journey :
Istanbul - Ankara - Tuz Gölü (Salin Lake) - Aksaray - Selime - Ihlara (Ihlara Valley) - Derinkuyu - Güzelyurt - Güzelöz - Soğanli - Uşhisar - Urgup - Kayzeri - Üzerlik - Sarioglan - Sivas - Erzincan - Erzurum

Best memories :

- People, people and again people! While hitchhiking Turkey, every single lift means an invitation for restaurant, if not an invitation for dinner or resting during the night as priviledged guest.
I met people living in Belgium, France and Netherlands, going back to motherland for summer months. I've been received there as never before.. It all began when I saw a nice BMW with Belgian plates. These people came from Lommel (be); time for me to make use of Flemish zoals iedereen in Limburg. Heel leuk, vooral in Turkij :) So, they made the detour to their lovely village and brought me with a delicious dinner. After some teas in the main streets, I met these other people from France.. time for me to get the Breakfast the next day. Incredible experience.. and when I tried to pay or simply to share the bills, they got upset with me. I shall not forget these two French tourists who offered me dinner in a first choice restaurant near Urgup. Thank you again for these great times!



- Incredible Cappadocia : every corner, every valley has got its lot of surprises for the visitor. I though there would be much more tourist in the area; not at all. Turkey hasn't seen as few tourists in the for the last 10 years. Causes : i) global crisis ii) July is too hot iii) people concentrate in Antalya/Bodrum/Izmir resorts instead. I won't forget the Ihlara valley, all these places around Urgup, the people I met.. also this dive into a crater lake at 35 degrees.

- Ankara big avenues, parks and mountains all around.. contrasting with the suffocating Istanbul and its 15 million people !

- Great Istanbul (already seen in 2006 though).

Next steps :

Quick tour of Erzurum, then direction Artvin (including one or two Orthodox churches in these high green mountaıns).. before getting to Hopa and Batumi on the Black Sea region.
Afterwards, Jon from UK will join again.. he's the kind guy I met in Croatia/Montenegro, also the one who saved me with a new USB key while mine crashed. Thanks again Jon and see you in Georgia.. for a big trekking in the Svaneti Region (?)

Once in Batumi, I'll have to think about the Azeri Visa.. but there's still a long way before getting there.

Last words :

Thank you again and again for your nice words. I wish you all the best in Brussels or anywhere else. For sure I already miss you all; also places such as "the Houyoux", Falaën and the great summer evenings Brussels may afford.. while not raining :)

Bye bye

Text #3 :

Dear all,

Hard to describe the last weeks with words! Even more than in Turkey, Georgian people have opened their doors to me.. That impressed me a lot. Quick example: when I arrived in Batumi, it rained so much I had to take refuge under the first roof I found on my way. People saw me and invited me for dinner.. dinner then turned into local drinks tastings, which again turned into invitation to sleep in a private house.. meaning that the guy gave me his keys for 12 hours !! He told me I could make shopping around, use the washing machine, etc. So at the end, I only had to call him to give the keys back.. Amazing guy (see second picture of Batumi, the guy on the left).
Afterwards, the same occurred.. not occasionally but on every night till Tbilisi! Simply looking at people or making hitchhiking led again to an invitation to celebrate and sleep.
This great attitude of local people also had unwanted consequences on my journey timing. Example : One day I woke up in the morning telling myself "go ahead, Diego.. you can't spend any extra day at this place".. translated into "I was on the road, ready to hitchhike as from 8AM".. then, first guy nearly forced me to have drink and was upset on me when politely declining the offer.. So, again I found myself in hard situation, so early in the day.
Here is the summary of a typical day hitchhiking Georgia :
7.30AM : Wake up
8.30AM : on the road, ready to hitchhike
8.45AM : first people stopped and suggested to bring me further
9.00AM : first coffee pause with local friends in neighbouring village
10.00AM : on the road again
10.30AM : second coffee pause in the next village
11.00AM : on the road again (only 35km from starting point)
12.00AM : lunch pause; and impossible for me to keep the bill at my expenses.
.. so, it was 1.00PM shortly afterwards and only 45km further, pfooo
The same occurred with the next cars, giving me the opportunity (.. or obligation) to eat 1, 2, 3 or even 4 times a day without word saying!

Other experiences : passing the Artvin city in North East Turkey from West to East meant passing from dry mountain climate to the wettest climate of the entire region! They call it Sub Tropical or Semi Tropical.. It covers mainly the far North of Turkey and Adjara semi autonomous region of Georgia. People told we it's due to the predominant winds blowing from the Black Sea and transforming into rain while being stopped by the 3000m mountains. In this rainy places, don't be surprised to see huge thea fields (looking more like Darjeeling in India than anywhere else in Turkey).. also in Adjara : Kiwi trees, wineyards, banana trees, citrus trees and other bizarre plants I don't know anything about.. Without forgetting marijuana along a river, really! Those interested, I may send the picture, not the plant itself.. sorry :)

Not hard in this environment to find the best food ever had in whole "Eastern Europe" + Turkey.. The best : raviolis filled in with meat and perfect vegetables with what nature has the best to offer : coriander ! Adjaran bread made with lots of cheese and broken egg is not that bad neither.. great for people walking in the mountains, less for people staying at home watching TV (millions of calories certified).

Before closing the chapter about food.. I think not talking about local wine may is punished by Georgian law, so let's go for it!
Georgian, as France, Italy and other regions in the world has a culture of wine : usually the white and the red wine.. But as a major difference with other countries, nearly all people know someone producing wine in Georgia, meaning wine is very popular and drunk by anyone above the age of 18. People also have caves to keep wine in a safe place. Instead of bottles, they use containers.. very big ones ! For the rest, they drink it, that's all what I've seen so far. Any occasions are a pretext for drinking, also including tourist passing in the area, obviously!

What else to tell.. oh yes, huge rains have led to massive landslides in the Adjara. I've taken some videos of that (I'll try to post them later in here). Roads have been destroyed in the area.. and parts of the mountains have collapsed at some places, covering roads. Thus, I had to wait extra days in the region before moving from Khulo to Akhalsikhe (Adjara). At one moment, I was afraid seeing our truck driving out in a river, before realizing the river was the road.. simply destroyed the day before. Also, we broke a tire due to the big stones there.. Speed was limited to a maximum 15km/hour in this non ending hell.

Also I forgot to tell about this huge US Navy warship that arrived in the port of Batumi.. That was the main attraction for local people! Posing for a photo with this particular background. Big Russia is never far away as people always talk about the recent wars in Abkhazia and South Ossetia leading to loss of territories.. and even more sad : the impossibility for displaced people to go back home in these territories.
In this context, the presence of such warship reminds us the US hasn't said his last word..

At this moment, I'm still in Tbilisi, enjoying local life and meeting people around.
I planned to go to Kazbegi via the so called "Military Highway", one of the most impressive road ever build in the Soviet times, passing dozens of tunnels, valleys and 4000m high mountains to link Vladikavkaz in Russia to Tbilissi.. This said, heavy rains awaited for the coming days will limit the interest of such visit. Then I may go for Armenia a bit earlier.
Oh yes, first I planned to go for Iran, then forgetting about it due to heavy strikes in Teheran and serious problems.
The thing is, I also had to forget about the option for Azerbaijan due to the impossibility to get a visa without a very expensive "invitation" and long lasting procedure.. also considering the no more existing consulate of Turkmenistan in Baku... So, after careful consideration, I decided to go for Iran, avoiding any gathering in Teheran, only going there to apply for Uzbek and Turkmen transit visa. Instead, I'm considering visiting Azerbaijan region of Iran, high mountains, old volcanoes, Tabriz city, wild birds reserves around the Caspian sea and salt lakes (amongst others :).

Procedure for the Iranian Visa has been launched, time for me to visit Armenia in between.

For the rest, everything is going exactly as planned, including the budget.. a budget of 100Eur spent during the last 12 days :)

Thank you for the email comments.. I'll try to unlock option for comments on this website as it's blocked as you told me (?)

I wish you all the best !

Diego

Text #4 :

Dear all,

Here are the last news from Georgia and Armenia.
Last days haven't been so easy hitch hiking in Armenia..
Let's start with Georgia first.
When I was in Vardzia, I thought it would take at least an entire day to drive the 250km to Tbilisi.. and most of all, to find these lifts. It was 8 in the evening; I was nearly to find a place to set up the tent..
In a last and desperate attempt, I asked to some people around if they planned to go in the direction of Tbilisi.. even for few km; that would have been great! Lucky me, they were on the departure for Tbilisi! The guy told me something like "I'm fine to bring you there, but you must be ready RIGHT NOW as we won't stay longer here".
Me then : "YES sir! Anything else?" It took me 5min to put my bags in the car and the powerful Mercedes with appreciable air conditioning brought me to Tbilisi.
Once in Tbilisi, I arrived in a great Guest House in the city center. There, I met an Iranian guy; he fled Iran and took his chance for a job in Baku or Tbilisi.. He enjoyed his new freedom in Tbilisi, although he did not expect to find a so poor city in Tbilisi. Teheran has probably much more to offer on an economical point of view.
Indeed, Georgia is still very poor.. and Tbilisi looks like the typical Eastern European city in the 90's with few signs of external investments.
Although, houses have a lot of charm, really.. amazing old and untouched interiors; even the cheapest guest houses are full of precious carpets, paintings, ceiling decorations and old chandeliers.
Yes, Tbilisi must have had a brilliant past. Hard to believe there are still electricity cuttings there (or at least power fluctuations thus creating a techno strobe effect), and not every houses have hot water.
Another big difference with any cities visited before : no wifi in the streets. I only found wifi at the Mc Donalds; Naturally, I took my chance to Skype as much as possible from there.
So, I visited the city with a German guy for two days, enjoying the local food.. mainly ravioli of meat, again and again.
Afterwards, I reached the mountains of Kazbegi. This small city is on a 3 hours drive from Tbilisi. This road is also called the Military Highway, as the USSR managed a quick access to all Caucasus by piercing the mountains with lots of tunnels. The view is impressive from there: a succession of canyons, lakes, old churches and old stone towers. Once in Kazbegi, I found myself in a very isolated place. Kazbegy is only 25km from Vladikavkaz in Russia (Northern Ossetia). However, the main border has been sealed and Georgian soldiers don't let you pass the last bridge before the no man's land zone.
So, if you pass Kazbegi, you'll find this big road with no trafic at all. Despite the recent war, it seems the pass will be opened again as both countries are losing a lot stopping the flow of goods transiting in both directions.
The next day, I decided to climb the Kazbegi as high as possible, considering I had to come back before the end of the day. My GPS told me I made a 1600m return climbing from Kazbegi.. not considering I made a big mistake in the afternoon: I took the wrong valley. I realized it and then turned on the GPS again (due to battery savings).. and indeed, I had a lot more to do. That was terrible as it was already 4.30 in the afternoon. The GPS told me Kazbegi was down, but I had to pass a huge barrier of mountain in between to avoid a big detour. The slope was very soft at the beginning but then turned nearly as a cliff, made of a mix btw grass and stones.
At that moment, I did not stop telling myself it was a BIG BIG mistake.. The path in the mountain was so bad at one point that I took the wrong one.. and it led me to a canyon instead of the expected valley.. this said, both ways looked exactly the same at first glance. I'll never believe that going down means going to safer zones anymore.. that's not true.
In any case, I had my mobile with me with 2 bars of network left, few friends in Georgia and the phone number of Europe Assistance in Antwerp. I also read in the terms and conditions of the EA contract that the coverage includes search by helicopters and all the fees involved.
I started to think it would be a shame finishing the trip in this way : "Gamarjobat; I'm blocked in the mountains, 5.34km from Kazbegi, 85.32°East, 39.24°North, 2635m altitude.. euh, do you have any helicopter around?".
Fortunately, I followed the GPS, made many pauses and finally found the right valley.. with the church (see the photo), about 500m down. So, the GPS told me I was worth at 5.5km from Kazbegi, but 5.5km turns into HELL in these mountains.
A big thank again to my Brother in law who offered me this GPS.. walking at night by following the stars was not for me:)
Anyways, now I forgot to tell you about these funny people from Belarus I met near the Kazbegi glacier. They were even more crazy than me, walking with very light summer shoes. They had such a strange equipement and told me that nothing stops them climbing any mountains. They had jokes about these so called UFO coming from the West, carrying their useless material.
Also, I met 2 french people in the morning.. and we arranged to meet at 7PM in the only restaurant of Kazbegi, if feasible naturally. Fortunately, we met in the evening.
So, I had plenty of time to tell them my bad story.. and they had a lot of fun naturally. They told me there was no big danger; only I would have spent a bad night if things went wrong. Temperatures were indeed at 5° in the night.
Also, there was a great Georgian guy that picked me up from this last monastery to the restaurant .. at the end, we where all together there and the Georgian guy offered us the restaurant (impossible to share the bill, really).
The next day, I came back to Tbilisi and this time, the guest house was crowded with people of any age and from different locations (American living in Hong Kong, two from England, the two French guys from the mountains -I convinced them to join- and a German guy). There were also two ladies, from Spain, Poland and a guy from Turkey.. Most of these beautiful people gathered for dinner and night walks in the city.
We also started to drink some brs.. but the guy from England had a very bad idea: trying to taste a bizarre drink about 70° alcool* from Transnistria, Daghestan or whatever.. and it tasted so bad (see photo of the guy with little bottle).
*I can say I'm really fed up with these Vodka (or even stronger alcohol). These stories of strong alcool continued in Armenia, if not worse than ever before. It always starts with a first shot, then a second, a third, etc.. It's important to be clear as from the very beginning, telling people that you won't drink more than X glasses. First glass is usually raised to the "friendship btw Belgium and Armenia/Georgia", second to "friendship btw the people at the table", third to "love and health".. the last one, if there are survivors is rather freestyle. For me, it was "divine protection against throwing up on the table"!

Talking about Armenia: the day I left Tbilisi, I walked for about 8km to get the main road going South to Armenia.. there, a guy quickly picked me up for the drive.
I arrived at the border and paid the visa.. the policeman was not so happy to see the stamps from Turkey on my passport (long history). Another policeman was not so happy neither: I asked him whether I could change my Euro in here.. he told me "oh..yes, change your Euro with me; I like Euros". Then, naturally, I asked for his exchange rate before comparing with the other bank opposite to him.. he suggested a 360MAD/Eur comparing to the 519MAD/Eur from the bank.. he was furious to see me going away! "Hey man, being a tourist doesn't mean being that stupid though" should I have replied.
Afterwards, no drive, no drive, no drive.. so I walked for maybe 3hours and a 15km with the bags. A guy offered me to sleep in a garage.. that was so dirty but I did it. In addition, there was a power generator that turned on every 30min for 2min of time.. so I woke up all the time as in a nightmare; arghhh.
The day after was the same, at least in the morning : walking and walking again without people stopping..
Then, I met these Australian/English people in a Lada Niva (see photo).. and they helped me a lot reaching these monasteries a dozen km further. Thanks again!
Afterwards, I crossed this industrial zone.. wow; to be honest, I was really curious about this place. There I met a guy from Breda (Netherlands), back to the country for holidays (see photo of the two strong men). They offered me excellent iced coffee, juices and a lift to the other monasteries.. They gave me their number and asked me to call them in case of emergency or simply for afterward restaurant.
Once at this monastery, it was so incredible: I met by accident Vitor, this American guy from Tbilisi

Text #5 :

Dear all,

Here are the news regarding the last days.  Hitch hiking from Brussels has been pretty easy, excepted perhaps the last kms btw central Portugal and Lisbon.  On the 5th of Feb, I left home.  The weather was awful as it uses to be in Belgium at this time of the year.  Fortunately, it wasn't snowing nor freezing anymore.  At 11AM, I was standing on Avenue de Tervueren.  Few minutes afterwards, Steve, an Australian who also used to travel picked me up..  to 2kkm further.  Then, a lady from the neibourhood of my parents helped me for another 45km.  My last drive in Belgium was David, a great guy from the Luxembourg small army; he was back from a mission in Morocco.  We has great technical discussion about weapons in general.