4th week - Capadoccia and Bush Camps

I enjoyed my time while the Group was away seeing the sights.  They returned hot, bothered and tired. An overdose of scenery on top of at 5.00 a.m. start for ballooning had meant a revolt on the truck and a refusal to go into the carpet shop! The cook group surpassed themselves with a wonderful lentil soup and a chicken and vegetable soup and lovely crusty Turkish bread. The Bat Cave had a roaring fire and a good night's sleep resulted.

Capadoccia

The following morning after porridge and fresh bread most of us lazed around the camp whilst some went into Goreme to shop or have a Turkish Bath. After lunch we had a fairly short drive to our bush camp which although not exactly picturesque with a dead cow somewhere in the vicinity soon became home for the night. Tents were pitched, the cook group swung into action, chairs were put out, a beer was poured and after dinner a big fire was lit. So all was perfect in our world until the thunder and lightning started which was accompanied by a reasonably short sharp downpour. Rain finished some people remained on truck while others went back to fire which had survived the rain.

Bush Camp

CJ on wood duty

The alarm was not necessary the following morning as thunder was the wake up call. Fortunately the rain was elsewhere so apart from a few drops we were able to get everything packed away in the dry. I was my cook duty so melemen and little sausages were on the menu.Melemen is Turkish scrambled egg with onions, tomatoes and peppers. It seemed to go down well. A quick pack up and away as we had a fairly long day’s drive. Shopping was necessary and as an army marches on its stomach an overlanding truck has also consumes a fair amount of food. The little town of Zara had great fruit and vegetable shops and we were able to purchase all the necessities for our lunch and dinner and in addition I bought another blanket and bag to carry all the bedding in. Organisation is gradually happening and I am sure by the end of the bush camping, I will be an expert! Whilst waiting for everyone to return from their various missions in town including several of the men returning with arm full of logs, a little boy came out and served us all with tea and refused to take any money. The Turkish hospitality is legendry and once more it did not fail. If only I could say the same about the toilets which seem to be getting worse the further east we head! After stopping for lunch we made a good bush camp in the hills with views of mountains in the distance with snow on them. Although windy it was not cold and the cook group swung into action to create a Turkish meal of chickpea dip, lentils, aubergine and tomato, fresh mixed salad and then piece de resistance fruit salad with yoghurt and honey straight from the honeycomb. It was good to eat a Turkish meal in Turkey.

Wendy and pide

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Serious cooking

Dismantling camp

Later we piled on to the truck as it was blowing a gale and had a quiz very well organised by Zoe and Susan. The Teachers’ Pets won following by my group BB and the bitches which was made up of Ben, Jim (also known as Bob, hence the BB), Andrea, Wendy and myself. Andrea had been shopping and made the boys wear pink fairy wings and we had little woolen children’s’ hats. Ben looked just like one of Santa’s elves when he put one on.


After a rather disturbed night – loo visit, wind, thunder and rain, the morning was bright and sunny and relieved of cook duty it was an easy pack up and departure. We travelled through high passes and into valleys where the floor of the valley was cultivated and the houses clung to the valley sides. So far on our trip the highest we have reached 2190 metres and there is still plenty of snow on the tops of the mountains. Later in our trip we will reach more than double that height. The truck is quiet with people playing cards at the back and others dozing, reading or sorting out photos on laptops. Travel is so different from when I was in Africa in 1969 when there were no mobiles, digital cameras, computers or internet. This form of travel is quite alien to me being used to finding my own transport from place to place, where I will sleep that night and what I will see. In some respects it is better as the responsibility is shouldered by our leaders and I know that there is no way I could do this trip on my own – I would probably have never got past Georgia – but I do miss the studying of Lonely Planet and working out my own route and itinerary.
 
Our lunch break was broken by two shabbily dressed plain clothed policemen having a sticky beak. They were very polite and told me there was no problem and I gave them a conducted tour of the truck. We stopped in the town of Macka to pick up bread and started climbing towards the Monastery to find a campsite. The Sumer restaurant came into view which combined restaurant, trout farm and camp site and with clean loos and a shower it was perfect for our needs.
 
 

Walking up to Sumela

Aquaduct at Sumela

Sumela Monastry

The following morning we went up to Sumela Monastery. It was a 3 km uphill climb which did nothing for my ankle and I was very relieved to get there. Unfortunately there was a really heavy mist and so the view was non-existent and the Monastery proved to be a bit of a disappointment due to over restoration and hordes of tourists. The frescoes in the little church were good but even better I managed to thumb a lift back down the mountain with a lovely Turkish couple! Back at the campsite in the rain, I went into the restaurant to buy butter. Knowing Turkish proved useful – CJ had bought cheese and the cook group had bought lard! A few of us had dinner of excellent trout and salad in the restaurant that night. No wine however as it was extremely expensive.


The following day we drove past the tea fields near Rize before hitting the border. Tea seems to be grown on every spare bit of land and having enjoyed the tea for so many years it was lovely to see how it actually grows. The border crossing was straight forward only enlivened by a coach nearly running CJ over (not funny) and then proceeding to smash its front mirror on the customs building taking down a couple of tiles. Of course much hand waving and gesticulating followed.

Our hotel in Batumi had a Soviet feel about it – rather dark and gloomy but the water was hot and the bed comfortable. The town itself was pretty dreadful. The roads were mud pits and it was all rather depressing but the people were lovely and friendly and although not much English was spoken, I was able to buy an ankle brace in the chemist by using Turkish and we wrote down the name of the pills we wanted and she looked them up on the computer and gave us the generic brand at half the price. Our evening meal was at what proved to be a rather expensive restaurant but was pretty delicious.

I decided hotel should be renamed Fawlty Towers. The waiter, who was the barman last night, was rushing round like Manuel, there was no milk and the omelette was rather greasy and salty. We were late getting off for what was to prove to be a very long day. Lunch was taken in a very scenic cattle shed complete with cow pats. It was Susan’s birthday and we hadn’t stopped for long when a group of men appeared bringing wine, brandy and chocolate. Several of the girls got propositions of marriage and a right old party ensued. CJ had to move things along as we still had a very long drive ahead of us so the party moved back to the truck and much very unmelodious singing took place for several hours until at about 9.00 p.m. one by one the revellers crashed!

One of the many landslides on the road

On arrival we were allocated out homestays. The single women rather drew the short straw with damp rooms, non flushing toilet and a huge hole in the wash basin but the guest house was warm and comfortable and the food fantastic. I have decided I really like Georgian cooking with the stuffed cheese bread, dumplings filled with meat, spicy garlicy aubergine meze and cornflour and cheese patties along with delicious honey and other delicasies.