Week 7 - Caspian Sea and onwards

Our short time in Azerbaycan was a real taster and a country I would love to return to. If you think my spelling of the country is strange, it is how it was spelt on our 'Welcome to Azerbaycan' sign so I decided to stick with that. It seems strange that Georgia sandwiched between Turkey and Azerbaycan uses a completely different language, not only spoken but also written but here Turkic is the main language although a lot of Russian is spoken. It is not exactly Turkish as I know it but close enough to be able to make myself understood most of the time except with the rather drunk (or maybe they are always like that) sailors on the Caspian sea.

On Monday morning early we set off for Baku, the capital of Azerbaycan, which is as different as can be from our previous couple of nights. On arrival in the city, Jim took us on a scenic tour of the city which was not intentional but allowed us to see it from every angle. On arrival at our hotel, we dumped our bags as our rooms were not ready and headed out into the city. By a bit of luck, Melissa and I found the Old Town having walked through the new town and marvelled at the designer named shops. The prices were similar to the UK so apart from delicious buns in a little café, our money remained in our purses. The whole place was extremely clean and had been extensively renovated although it was possible in the old town to see how things would have once been. We saw the Castle and the Maiden's Tower and of course there were the usual carpet sales people and a taxi driver who took a shine to Melissa and offered to take her to his country house. The people were very friendly and there was a lovely buzz about the place.

Baku

Library in Baku

Armwrestling???

Maiden's Tower, Baku

In old town of Baku

City Square, Baku

Back at the hotel we discovered that Calypso was booked on a boat to cross the Caspian sea. The downside was that we would have to get up at 2.00 a.m. to get to the docks. After a good hot shower, I went for another wander through town, bought some vodka and supper plus nibbles for the boat and went back to room to do my blog, sort out photos and sleep.


We reached the harbour at 3.00 a.m. and waited and waited. One by one people fell asleep in various places. I scored the front cushion, several people had seats with their legs across the aisle, Jim and Steve were on the roof, Colin was on some wood the other side of the truck, others had pulled out seats from the truck and the cat that had adopted us was curled up Mandy's sleeping bag. At 7.15 a.m. I asked the Customs Officer if we could plug our kettle in the socket in his office which he agreed to so everyone who was awake felt better after a hot drink.

Truck sleeping

Camped at Baku docks

 We continued to wait and eventually eight hours after we should have departed, we went through security (a waste of time as no-one was looking at the X-rays) and passport control and we were on the boat. Walking between customs and the boat, I had one of those B-rated movie moments when the heroine is passing from East to West Germany and expecting a bullet in the back at any moment! Fortunately that did not happen and Colin and Jim came down the gangplank to help me with my bags - what gentlemen.

On board the ship we sat in a seedy looking room and were eventually allocated cabins. I can cope with a lot but the mattresses in the cabins were even beyond my comfort zone but thankfully we had our bed rolls and sleeping bags. Whilst on the subject of seedy things, the toilet was beyond description and although it did not seem possible it got far worse as the day progressed.  At 12.15, after a little nip of vodka, nothing had happened and I dozed off for a while and awoke to find we were underway. The afternoon was spent reading, writing the diary (not a lot to say whilst on the boat) and chatting. After another nip of vodka and another sleep, we went on a water boiling mission which ended up with us in the kitchen trying to persuade the less than friendly women to make us some food. I did get a saucepan so that Sandra could heat up her gluten free meal and CJ arrived and organised that we could have some chicken and bulgur. When it arrived it was tasty and considerably better than pot noodles. After supper and another little nip of Vodka on deck (don’t worry I am not turning into an alcoholic but with the conditions on this boat I needed a little help), I had a brilliant night’s sleep only to be woken by Wendy saying that we had docked and then Svetlana banging on the door telling us to get up.

Some of our group had been drinking up on deck with the crew and were looking worse for wear but I felt great.  After a bit of hanging around, we were off loaded and sat around on the concrete deck. The sun was creeping up in the sky and it was going to get hot. We sat around planning our perfect breakfast. Some wanted burritos, fried bread and bacon, scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, sun dried tomato and avocado. For me a blueberry muffin, a bowl of strawberries with thick yoghurt and a good cup of coffee would have hit the spot. Made a change from the past 24 hours toilet discussions.

After a lot more hanging around, we were processed through customs and into Turkmenistan which meant we could go to the little café and have tea and fried egg and sausage. Just as well I had that as it was the last meal until 8.00 p.m. Whilst we were through, poor Calypso was still stuck on the ship as she could not be moved until the two large train carriages were off loaded which required the shunting trains to come. I had just got out my bed roll and settled down for a nap when I heard the trains coming so foolishly I leapt up and organised myself to depart. However, it was probably another 90 minutes before all the paperwork was done and we were able to leave.

Entering Turkmenistan

What a difference a sea makes! Just that couple of hundred miles across the Caspian and we were in a different world. The world of desert. Not the Lawrence of Arabia desert with golden sand dunes but grey dust barren desert which got in your hair, eyes and ears with the odd camel in the distance or slowly crossing the road in front of us. We had on board our guide, Max, who gave us some of the history and information about Turkmenestan. The road was fairly shocking and the drive rather boring but eventually we reached the town of Balkanavet where our passports were taken in to a hotel so we could be issued with tourist visas. Calypso was then parked, unfortunately near a dead dog which rather tainted the atmosphere (wet wipes up the nose helped to dull the smell), so that we could go to the market. The cook group did their stuff and the rest of us wandered about buying cold water (essential) and some non-essential lollies and biscuits. The market had more than its fair share of flies which put me off buying anything much although I did have a rather delicious meat pastry. Then it was back to the hotel to pick up our passports and a visit to their clean western toilet with hot water, soap and towels – such luxury.

Our camp for the night was in the desert where we had been warned about scorpions and snakes. Slept for the first night with one of the side windows open but I told Melissa that if I woke up with a camel looking through the window that I would scream. Fortunately there were no camels, scorpions or snakes but apparently there had been men and cattle going through the camp but I slept through the whole thing!

First night in Turkmenista

Fuel prices - eat your hearts out!

Lunch spot where we ate our lunch and
washed our feet

Another long drive in the morning which took us to a fresh water bore where we cleaned all the boxes from the truck plus the saucepans and most of us took the opportunity to clean our feet and shoes as well. What a relief as my shoes were getting decidedly pongy. The downside of this location were the biting flies which made life a bit of a misery and reminded me of an Australian bush barbeque.

Back on truck for drive to Ashrabat stopping on way to look at Saparmurat Hajii Mosque with its sky blue domes and then on to the Turkmenbashi Ruby Mosque, the biggest in central Asia which can hold 10,000 people. It was opulent in the manner of a 5-star hotel with gleaming gold and enormous chandeliers. Nearby was the surprisingly modest mausoleum of President Niyazov. This former president has serious issues of grandeur and the whole city is full of enormous statues of him coated in gold paint. The more bling the better! Arriving at our hotel we were pleasantly surprised as the outside and the foyer were quite grand. The rooms were ok and the bathrooms more than functional but my mattress was a bag of nails or escaped springs. Fortunately I had my thermarest with me so I inflated that and put in under my bottom sheet and that solved the problem. A few of us headed off to the Zip Bar where we had a great evening with barbeque chicken and beer.

Saparmurat Hajii

Turkembashi Ruby  Mosque

Door knocker on Turkenbashi Ruby Mosque

The following morning we went by minibus to see the sights. Personally although the whole place is clean and well kept, sterile in fact, and likened by many to Disneyland, I longed for the grimy gritty reality of Istanbul where people actually live. I suppose people do live in Ashrabat although it is hard to see where and the streets are pretty deserted. You can only take so many ostentatious palaces with their gold painted statues of Niyazov. Everywhere was empty apart from us taking photos of everything. It is certainly a photographic place but getting back to my room I deleted many of them. I will be glad to be back in the desert with our bush camps (I think). We visited the Arch of Neutrality, Independence Square and The Palace of Turkmenbashi. We drove past the Earthquake Memorial and the Monument to the Independence of Turkmenestan known as “the plunger” locally and then miles out to another park although we were not really sure why. By then we were mostly over it as it was hot and the mini bus overcrowded.

Independance Square

Me with the heavenly horses in Independence Square

Statue representing one of Turkmenbashi'ssons

ME!

A quick trip to the Russian market did not result in any purchases as the clothes were Primark quality at High Street prices. Back at the hotel I watched Lucy wash her clothes! We have added another topic to our conversations of toilets and food – laundry! My preferred method is to soak in the bath and then tread like grapes which while is does not really get rid of the stains does freshen the whole lot up. Lucy had bought some soap which left her hands like sandpaper but had resulted in clean clothes although they will probably all fall to pieces after another couple of washes.

Colin, Wendy and I headed out in the early evening to have another look around ending up in the Russian market again to buy some supper which we ate back at the hotel accompanied by a few vodkas.
The following morning a group of us headed over to the Russian market for tea and spinach or meat slices. We then went in Calypso to the new Tolkuchka bazaar which had been moved out of the centre of town into a very sanitised white marble series of buildings the size of an airport. The place had absolutely no atmosphere and I knew within two minutes that I was going to hate the place and I did. Apart from a good cheese slice and a cup of tea for lunch I wasn’t tempted to buy anything except a cheap imported Chinese umbrella to conteract the sun. The journey continued through uninspiring desert to a grotty little town where we sat in a teahouse and drank good tea out of chipped cups and looked at a camel grazing on the rubbish dump.

Tea in a teahouse - note the men lounging around - the
women were probably back at the truck slaving away!

Maybe you are by now getting the impression that Turkmenistan is not my favourite place and as things went on this impression did not change. We continued on stopping to look at a large hole with bubbling water on which a large amount of rubbish was floating – cool, not! Then on to a large hole in which mud was bubbling and then another large hole but more of that later. The desert camp was good and Max, our guide, proceeded to cook a great barbeque and then at 9.45 a monster truck came to pick us up and take us to the third hole which was a crater of gas flames. Some people judged it to be the highlight of our trip so far and whilst it was certainly a spectacle, for me it was a just a large man made hole in the ground which was spurting flames and which the Government are now trying to put out so that they can do further gas exploration in the area.

Bushcamp in desert

Sunset at bushcamp

Gas crater

Turkmenistan is certainly a police state and some of our group thought that Max, our guide, worked for the secret police. If he did, he certainly did not have any influence of the traffic police which stopped up frequently. Interestingly enough they have the title of PYGG, very apt I thought.

The following day was more of the same dry dusty desert although the sand was a yellower looking colour and some irrigation had been taking place. When we stopped for lunch, it had clouded over slightly which made the break slightly more bearable. We reached Konye-Urgench where we went to the most extraordinary place to have a shower. It was a very run-down wedding reception place cum disco bar cum shower block cum brothel (maybe). The shower and the tea were good but the men hanging around especially the rather strange one trying to give me a honeycomb not so good. The young ones started dancing in the bar until every young man in the vicinity arrived with movie cameras so they headed back to the truck to escape the attention. A truly weird place where we ended up staying much longer than excepted so that the water tank could be cleaned out and fresh water obtained.

Our planned trip to Nejameddin Kurba Mausoleum was reduced to a drive past with photo opportunity due to the fact that the since it has become a UNESCO World Heritage Site the buildings have been closed for renovation, it was getting late, we were all tired and dusty and wanted to make camp. An excellent dinner of burgers was made by Cook Group 5 who we decided should become permanent cook group but funnily enough they did not agree.

Nejameddin Kurba Mausoleum

So the 7th week finished. What a contrast from the glitz of Baku and Ashrabat to the gritty deserts. Next week’s blog will be a biggy with the towns of Khiva, Samakland and Bukhara. Talk about living the dream.

Week 6 - Monastries, Mountains and mist

A fleet of taxis took us to the Azerbeicani consulate where we sat outside on the steps looking forlorn watched by the Embassy staff. After a short while we all piled back into taxis and headed back to the hotel. No real result but Jim was told that he could return in the afternoon and that they may take our passports. So we had a bonus day in Tblisi which involved eating more icecream – wonderful blackcurrant again for me and shopping for cook day. We decided to make dumplings for our group – well not exactly make them but buy them frozen which would have been fine except that we ended up not cooking that night and by the following night they were looking rather ordinary or as Denis said “there has been a mutant dumpling explosion”. Lunch was a rather tasty hot dog eaten in the park rather ruined for me as a little girl was begging and I just wished I had given it to her. Eventually Jim returned having left the passports and we set off for our bush camp which was a field somewhere out of Tblisi. As we had eaten in town, it was a quick set up and bed.

Picnic in park in Tblisi

Outside church near hotel


  The following morning’s drive took us to Davit Gareja area which has many monastries in it but our destination was Lavra Monastry. The drive there was stunning with the most beautiful hills, pastures, lakes and vipers! The monastry had been founded in the 6th century and carved out of the rock. Over the years it had been ransacked on various occasions and wasn’t used during the soviet occupation but has been renovated and monks are living there again. It is a wonderful complex and so beautiful that even the non-monastry/church enthusiasts were interested. In the complex was a little church with fine paintings. Apparently Zazah, our guide through Georgia, was married and his children christened there. Personally, I love the paintings and never tire of seeing different and new ones. The colours are so vibrant and fresh and create a wonderful atmosphere. The complex was set over three levels and the stairs were carved through the rocks. The monks lived above in little caves, often with balconies, carved into the rocks. The drive back down took rather longer as CJ was doing a Steven Spielberg filming our progress which involved a lot of stopping and starting.

What the well dressed pilgrim wears!



Lavra Monastry



Inside the Church at Lavra Monastry



Lavra Monastry

 

Sighnaghi was reached at 2.30 and as the group was hungry, we all headed off in different directions and found restaurants to satisfy the hunger. The town was highly renovated but had been done well and the restaurant we found was lovely with a little courtyard. The eggplant stuffed with walnut and garlic was absolutely delicious and I will definitely be recreating that back in Australia. After we went to the Pheasant’s Tears which is a winery run by John, an American, who has been living in Georgia for 15 years or so. The wine was produced in the old Georgian tradition and in my opinion was pretty awful. There were a couple of reds towards the end of the tasting that were ok but very expensive. Give me a bottle of Wirra Wirra Church Block any day. I did, however, rather fall in love with the Cha Cha which is a fortified brandy like wine which was delicious and the small bottle I bought will come all the way back to Australia with me. Denis and I serenaded the truck by singing Alice’s Restaurant following by Skippy and Down Among the Gum Trees. Not sure that the singing was greatly appreciated by the majority. We arrived late at camp and cooking in the rain and dark with mutant dumplings was all a bit of an effort. After the clean up it started to rain, thunder, lightening so went to bed and worried about trees falling on tent all night.

Eggplant stuffed with walnuts and garlic - delicious

Enjoying lunch in the courtyard

Wine tasting

Antiques in the winery

Morning came, we had survived the night, the sun was shining and even better I was no longer on cook duty! A very short walk took me to the Dzvelishuamta Monastry which was no longer in use. It was in a lovely location and had a couple of horses grazing in the fields surrounding it. After lunch the thunder and lightning started again so a few of us went down the hill to see the Akhali Shuamta nunnery before the weather set in again. Again there were some lovely pictures but the building itself was nothing exceptional or maybe I am becoming blaze. The walk was good though. It was a good day spent relaxing in the sunshine, reading and writing diary but best of all at 6.00 p.m. Jim arrived back with a clutch of passports in his hand which all bore the Azerbaijani visa. What a relief! The alternative was not a prospect that we had relished as it would have meant flying over Azerbaijani and missing the Kervansarayi at Seki which would have especially disappointed me.

In Monastry

Grazing outside Monastry

Nunnery

Awoke to hear heavy rain which made pack up a bit of a pain. The tents were really wet and everything was muddy but once in the truck it was a short drive to our homestay in Telavi where we were greeted with beautifully clean dry rooms and a bathroom reminiscent of the Taj Mahal! The town did not have a lot to see but Melissa and I had a good pizza and met two Germans who were doing a similar trip to us but in private cars. They were as interested in our trip as we were in theirs and they headed off to find Calypso while we went and explored the fortress which was nothing but some walls, the museum being closed because of Independence Day. The younger members of our party had been expecting parties in the street but there were no visible means of celebration that we could see. However, a party did ensue back at the Homestay and after dinner which was very good Georgian food – soup, interesting mezes and salad a fair amount of wine was consumed and the revels went on till the early hours. For me the lure of the comfy warm bed was too much and a good night’s sleep was had despite the noise.

In the market





Telavi Streetscape

Grevi Church - interesting
scaffolding especially for
William!

After a rather stodgy breakfast of cheese rolls, cheese bread and excellent yoghurt, went into town to see the market. Lots of interesting food but with no money there was no temptation. Our bush camp was reached via a quick trip to Grevi Church.

Camp set up was quick and for the first time on this trip it was really hot so had to sit under the cook awning to get out of the sun. As the day progressed the mosquitoes made their first appearance on the trip and most of us got some interesting bites in interesting places.  Such are the joys of bush toilets!  The bush toilets at this camp was in a particularly nasty spot along a boggy track (no pun intended).  I was just wandering down that way when a man appeared carrying a large axe.  Needless to say I scuttled back to camp quick time and hid behind a large man.  Never one to be a hero.  The man turned out not to be an axe murderer but a wood collector but still you can never be too careful.  Shortly after his appearance two other men with ponies and carts came charging through and so once more brave I asked if I could take a photo.  They were rather bemused to find us camping on their usual track and even more bemused that I would want to photograph them.

Gathering wood

It was a very wet night and as we had to be away early lots of soggy tent packing up had to take place. It was a short drive to the border and just as we were approaching it there was a sign saying "Azerbaycan border - Good luck! We hoped luck would not prove necessary and in fact the crossing was relatively straight forward. CJ exercised, once more, people power and we all stood at the border with our resigned camp dog faces and pretty soon someone with lots of stars and stripes on his shoulders came and took our passports away and shortly after that we paraded one by one through a very seedy looking office although the official was very friendly and wanted to talk football with anyone who was interested. For me it was particularly interesting as I could read all the signs. The Turkish spoken here is not exactly the same as in Turkey but close enough to be recognisable. Getting Calypso through took a little longer but before too long we were on the road to Seki and the Kervansarayi which was our destination for the night.

The Kervansarayi was a wonderful old building but the rooms could have done with a little renovation but the water was hot and the beds comfy so you couldn't ask for more. There was even a TV in the room so my room-mate, an avid football fan, was able to watch Manchester United getting beaten.  I was asleep, of course, football not being my drug of choice!  After dumping our bags, a small group of us went off to visit the Palace which sounds very grand but is in fact a very small Palace but beautifully painted with every possible surface covered by art work.  Unfortunately you were not allowed to take photos inside so you will just have to imagine.  We were escorted round by a guide who spoke sort of English and had only one tooth in his mouth which was a little disconcerting.  The Palace was the summer house of the official of the region and though very small, exquisite.

The Palace at Seki

The Armenian Church at Seki

With Sandra in the Tea House

Money changing was necessary so I walked down into town only to be told I had to go to the Bazaar which was out of town.  Eventually after asking several people, an old man grabbed me by the arm and hailed a dolmus which proceeded to take me the money changer even though I had no money to pay my fare.  Hospitality and helpfulness seems a trait of the Middle East as it is in Turkey.

The following morning I went with the rest of my cook group back to Bazaar to buy for the next three meals.  It seems to me that cook group comes round far more often than once every five days!  The bazaar was wonderful with excellent fruit and vegetables but I didn't feel quite so enthusiastic about the meat department, especially the sheeps heads that were sitting on the ground.  Fortunately, Paul had asked me to change some money for him so I was able to escape the meat purchase.  So once more on board Calypso we were off to the mud volcanoes for the night.  It was a wonderfully atmospheric place high on a hill.  Being in cook group we had to get things going before we were able to visit the volcanoes but that was probably just as well as Jim had managed to fall in and get covered in mud as did Sandra.  Keith, Sandra's husband, took photos while she struggled to get out of the mud!  Fortunately she is a very calm person and did not push him face first into it which I would have been tempted to do.  Colin very kindly took me up there and as he had also had a slight mud accident, knew where not to step.

Large mud volcano

Mud bubbles

More mud bubbles

The strangest thing about the whole place was, like quicksand, that is felt perfectly stable but as the bubbles blew up the whole earth moved. 

So week 6 ended and the thrill of crossing the Caspian sea is ahead of us but that will be for the next episode!

Week 5 - Siege Towers, snow and showers

Morning dawned in Mestia and a wonderful night's sleep had been had in a hammock like bed.  After breakfast some of us went with Kati, our young Georgian guide, to visit the museum and one of the siege towers.  The museum was really only one room but she provided the interesting history of how the room was used and told us about the region, her family and the siege towers. 

Cattle stalls inside house

The room consisted of the original furniture and there was also a little church were only the men were allowed to go.  As usual, men ruled supreme with them having the high chairs and the women having to sit below them.  There was a rule that no family could have more than five girls due to dowry issues so after that infanticide was practiced.  Mestia was one of those quirky little towns that rather got under your skin with its siege towers, cows in the street and beautiful mountains all round.  One day it will be a tourist destination but right now the roads are awful and the trip up a real bone rattling 8 hour slog.  In town you had to negotiate giant puddles, some with alarming bubbles coming out of them, uneven or non-existent pavements and cow pats.  After visiting the museum we climbed one of the siege towers belonging to Kati's family. This involved a few tortuous ladders and I gave up at the final hurdle so never saw the view from the top but the access was too tricky with my still hurting ankle. 

The cafe in town was interesting and at 12.00 men were indulging in huge beers. It seems to be a national pasttime but if I lived there I would probably be on the vodka at 10.00 a.m. The instant coffee, no milk, was delicious as was the meat filled dumpling. In the afternoon Kati took three of us to visit the 11th century church which had the most amazing frescoes and even more amazingly under this church was its 6th century predecessor where it was still possible to view frescoes.The road up was being worked on constantly and we had to wait on several occasions whilst a land slide was bulldozed off the road. I felt these poor guys working on the road were untaking a Herculeun task and it was rather like shifting deckchairs on the Titanic as once one emergency was rectified another piece of road collapsed into the valley below. There is an air strip but because of the mountains all round it is not always possible to land a plane.

The first part of journey back down the hill was magnificent with deep valleys, high mountains and tantilising churches but we had to make progress and eventually the swinging and bumping of the truck sent me off to sleep. 

Eventually we got to Zugdidi where we went to the market to buy food for that night. Fruit seems expensive although vegetables are cheap and the wine varies from gut rotting in huge bottles at very low prices to drinkable at Tesco's prices.  The old ladies in the market were pretty aggresive trying to get us to purchase various items, mainly spices which would be interesting to try if you were living there but it is hard to experiment too much when cooking for 24! At this point, Jim went off with Zazah to Tiblisi to try and sort out our Azerberjan visas and Richard and Andrea also went at Andrea had been unwell for a couple of days

Siege Towers



Looking down over Mestia

Our field for the night was at Senaki Fort complete with cows, dogs and a long drop!  Conversations on the truck tend to divide into two subjects - food and toilets - both of which are highly important in our lives!  Later the police arrived and took CJ away - were we worried - no.  We knew by then that he was well able to deal with them.  When they brought him back, they stayed and guarded us for the night and in the morning gave us a police escort to show us the road we needed.  What a service.



View from Senaki Fort

In Kutaisi, Denis and I walked up to Bagrati Cathedral which was being renovated but there was a nice little church outside the main Cathedral with lots of icons and we were able to wander round the fortifications.  After a delicious cheesy pastry, we drove to Gori where Stalin's statue seemed to have disappeared.  The Police stopped us again and gave us an escort to show us the road to Uplistsicki.  This place is a cave city which was founded in the Bronze Age about 1000 B.C.  We camped by the river and joy of joy there was clean working toilets even if they did shut the women's at 6.00 p.m.  Our dinner was particularly delicious with barbequed sausage, jacket potatoes and salad.

Fortifications at Bagrati Cathedral

A beast of burden in Mestia

Bircher muesli for breakfast - what a treat.  As we headed back to Gori, rain was threatening and by the time we got there it was steady.  We spent 3/4 hour at the Stalin museum.  The guide was very informative but she spoke so fast that it was hard to hear her and her general feeling was that Stalin was a really good guy, just misunderstood!  We saw the house that he grew up in and his railway carriage.  Apparently he did not like flying. 

The rain continued so lunch was taken in a semi-built building where we lunched under the verandah.  After lunch the rain continued and we climbed and climbed up into the mountains again.  Soon we were above the snowline and I was getting seriously worried as a night in the snow did not fill me with delight but fortunately having reached the summit we started to go down again and although it was cold and windy we were no longer in snow.  Having reached the little town of Kazbegi nearly on the Russian border, we found our camp which was rather windswept but tents were soon in place, a loo tent erected and dinner on the go.  It was Red, Red day to celebrate being in Georgia and everyone dressed up in something red and my nails were painted a bright red.  We drank mulled wine, ate curried chicken and chatted late into the night in the truck.  Far too cold to be outside.

Friday morning came and most of the group set out to climb up to the monastery but I knew I would not make it even if my ankle was not still giving me grief so spent a very pleasant morning writing diary and blog in anticipated of publishing blog tomorrow in Tiblisi.


On reaching each camp we are joined by an assortment of dogs which just hang around looking mournfully at you. They don’t beg, unlike the people in the towns, but just seem to want to be with you. At this site we had a particularly scenic bush toilet (loo with a view or poo palace as it was christened) and after a short sharp rain storm I went up there to find two dogs sheltering in there. They had no intention of moving but as Ben said “I wish they wouldn’t watch you!”




View from the campsite



View from the loo



 So another day and another pack up. Melissa and I are getting quite expert at both putting up and putting down the tent although the muddle inside the tent doesn’t seem to decrease. The burning question of the day is ‘if it all came out of that bag, why won’t it fit in again’. It was a very quiet truck that descended down the mountain and I was so fast asleep that I didn’t even wake up when we reached Ananuri Fortress. We had lunch there which for me consisted of a peanut butter sandwich. I am rather over the pink scary looking meat that seems to be all that is available at the moment. The fortress dates from the 13th century and is in the most beautiful location on what looks like an estuary but is probably a river. Colin and CJ climbed the tower but terra ferma for me. We then went on to the Cathedral at Svetitskhoveli which is one of the most important religious buildings in Georgia. Some of the group thought we had seen enough churches but I for one was very happy to see the wonderful icons and paintings and to feel the intense atmosphere of the place. I guess on a trip like this there is always going to be conflicts on what we want to do but I feel there has been a good balance so far.



Statue at bottom of campsite



Calypso taken from town






Downtown Kazbegi



Evening mist over the mountains







Denis and Steve with new hats



 As we approached Tblisi, it appeared to be a modern, clean looking town and our hotel was good with lovely hot water and comfy beds which we were really appreciated after four nights of bush camping and two nights at a homestay in the mountains.  Most of the group went off to watch the rugby at the local Irish Bar.  How is it the Irish get everywhere!  A few just went for a meal and I stayed at the hotel and luxuriated in the silence and peace. 

The following morning I headed off to do the Lonely Planet walking tour.  However, there was one big problem with it - no street names and any signs were all in Georgian script.  However, I managed to see Parliament, the Theatre, the Cathedral and other important buildings, ate a wonderful blackcurrant icecream and wandered through the Old Town.  At one point I was in a pretty slummy looking area but never left uncomfortable.  I definitely like Tblisi and in fact all I have seen of Georgia has impressed me greatly.  The people don't smile a lot but when you talk to them and use the only word I know "thank you", they open up.  This afternoon I had one of the strangest experiences of my life.  I wanted to go to the sulphur baths.  The first one "the Royal Bath" was going to charge 50 lev for one hour, the second 30 lev for an hour so I went in the public bath which was 2 lev.  Some scary looking woman told me to take off all my clothes and sent me in the general direction.  I walked into this room full of women all in the buff and it was rather like Dante's 7th circle of hell!  I will never again say that I am too fat!  Having got this far I thought I should stay and at least have a shower.  I waited and waited as people pushed in front of me.  Eventually an old lady grabbed me and pushed me into a shower that her friend was getting out of.  She was most concerned that I had not washed my back so she scrubbed me with soap and massaged me and it did not cost me an extra penny!







Ananuri

Due to intense irritation with blog not behaving itself, this is all until next week by when hopefullly we will have been through Azerbeycan.  Off to Embassy tomorrow to look mournful like all the camp dogs - maybe that will do the trick.



Cows wandering home at night





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Coming down from Mestia

Coming down from Mestia