This blog is becoming very seldom. I promise to do better.
The Caucasus has been a blast. I have bored through it like a worm, from Batumi on the Black Sea coast to Svaneti high in the greater mountains, to Kutaisi (city of Medea of Jason and the Argonauts fame), to the cave city of Vardzia, then down into Armenia and several decadent days in Yerevan. Last night I slept on the gentle shores of Lake Sevan, and tonight I am in the wooded hills of Dilijan.
31 May, 2010
17 May, 2010
Day 25: Time flies
Dateline: Georgia - Mestia, in the Caucasus
Fleeing the humidity of coastal Batumi, I rode a drunken marshrutka up a mountainside and found a cool haven where my plans for losing weight have been crushed beneath a deluge of food too good to refuse. In partial compensation I spent hours today marching up down the town hoping to work off some of the kilojoules. I even set out on an ambitious attempt to climb a nearby peak, but proved inadequate to the task.
Aoraki/Mt Cook, NZ's highest mountain, is 3,754 metres high. There are several mountains near me now that top 4,000 metres - one is 4,700 metres. This early in the year, ribbons of snow droop heavily down their flanks and their heads gleam like a collection of old men stooped over a table.
But if you'll excuse me - there is a fire burning in the yard and people having fun around it. Must dash -
Fleeing the humidity of coastal Batumi, I rode a drunken marshrutka up a mountainside and found a cool haven where my plans for losing weight have been crushed beneath a deluge of food too good to refuse. In partial compensation I spent hours today marching up down the town hoping to work off some of the kilojoules. I even set out on an ambitious attempt to climb a nearby peak, but proved inadequate to the task.
Aoraki/Mt Cook, NZ's highest mountain, is 3,754 metres high. There are several mountains near me now that top 4,000 metres - one is 4,700 metres. This early in the year, ribbons of snow droop heavily down their flanks and their heads gleam like a collection of old men stooped over a table.
But if you'll excuse me - there is a fire burning in the yard and people having fun around it. Must dash -
09 May, 2010
Angry not so young Turks
When one chubby middle aged Turk in an otogar hurdles a counter and
goes for another - you just *know* that it's not because they have
just discovered that they are long lost twins!
--
Sent from my mobile device
goes for another - you just *know* that it's not because they have
just discovered that they are long lost twins!
--
Sent from my mobile device
08 May, 2010
Day 17: A Malatya Tapestry *
The hammock days are behind me for now. Yesterday I arrived in Malatya after an overnight bus odyssey from the Mediterranean coast. Today I depart for Erzurum.
Malatya has to be the rudest town in Turkey. From the moment I arrived I have been jostled, cut off, hissed at and treated as a walking wallet. And it's an ugly place. My guidebook says it grows on you – but after 24 hours here the only things growing on me were a film of stale tobacco smoke and a case of deafness from the ridiculously loud loudspeakers on the mosque across the street. So I'm leavıng and, with a choice of spending 10 more hours in Malatya or spending those same hours out at the Otogar (bus station) I opted unhesitatingly for the bus station! I doubt there can be a more devastating condemnation of a place than that its best feature is the departure plaza of its bus station.
Malatya has to be the rudest town in Turkey. From the moment I arrived I have been jostled, cut off, hissed at and treated as a walking wallet. And it's an ugly place. My guidebook says it grows on you – but after 24 hours here the only things growing on me were a film of stale tobacco smoke and a case of deafness from the ridiculously loud loudspeakers on the mosque across the street. So I'm leavıng and, with a choice of spending 10 more hours in Malatya or spending those same hours out at the Otogar (bus station) I opted unhesitatingly for the bus station! I doubt there can be a more devastating condemnation of a place than that its best feature is the departure plaza of its bus station.
02 May, 2010
Day 11: View from a hammock
I've figured out how to blog from email. The world is no longer safe.
I'm lying in a hammock beneath a shady tree, but thinking of getting
up and taking a walk through some atmospheric ruins down to a beach.
It's spring and the weather in Olympos is perfect. Does it get any
better than this?
Day 10: The trees of Olympos
Bodrum to Fethiye to Olympos – I am in full stride, working my way along the bottom left corner of Turkey. I haven't blogged for a while because I haven't had access to a PC. My lodgings usually have wireless internet but I haven't figured out how to post to my blog from the iPaq. Maybe I should just spam everyone in email ...
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