Georgia - Bulgaria

A square in Sofia, Bulgaria

Istanbul, Turkey

Jason's golden fleece, Batumi, Georgia

Tbilisi, Georgia

Cappadocia, Turkey

November 14th - 

We went for a six hour walk around the new part of town, including the brand new church built overlooking the city.  It is supposed to be the largest in the region, and if size was all that the Georgians were going for then they surely succeeded.  For a modern structure it is plain, and on the inside the roofs stands bare, in stark contrast to the painted and beautiful roofs that adorn many of the churches in Tbilisi.

The highlight of the day was dinner.  Noah and I felt adventurous, and without inquiring as to what we were ordering, picked two random dishes off the menu.  Devin had salad.  Both our orders managed to be disgusting, although Noah’s took the cake for being served cold.  Both dishes were composed of pig fat and random pig parts.  The only redeeming part of my meal was that it was served in broth, which I managed to soak up with enough bread and garlic to be semi-satisfied with my order.

November 15th - 

We arrived in Batumi in the morning, and hopped onto a city bus.  Our intention was to ride into the city and check out the bus station for rides to Ankara or Istanbul, but we stayed on the bus way past the city and all the way to the border crossing with Turkey.  Since this came as a surprise, we were faced with the decision of what to do next.  Should we A: go back to town and get to the bus station like we originally planned or B: just cross the border and see where we could get to from there.  For a dilemma as complicated as this, we used the best decision making tool for a two-sided problem, a Georgian coin.

The coin landed on back to the bus station, and our fate was sealed.  We spent the entire day in Batumi, a seaport town on the Black Sea, which happened to have wireless internet on the boardwalk.  It was a beautiful day and we spent most of it on the beach, and the other couple of percents looking at the statue to Jason and the Argonauts, who are rumored to have landed at Batumi in search of the golden fleece.

November 16th -

We made it to Istanbul this morning.  Our first task was to find our hostel, which we did with no help from our cabbie.  After walking for 30 minutes to realize we had no idea where we were, we humbled ourselves into a cab and rode for about 15 minutes across town, at which point he showed us a direction and said good luck.  With our bags in tow, we walked up and down the main shopping street of Istanbul looking classy.  Devin said that I smelled, but who knows.

November 17th - 

Istanbul is the first place on our travels where we have been joined by tour groups and is an actual destination for people.  The other countries on our list don’t make anyone’s top 5 of anything, which is also why Georgia has to eat Russian borscht for the next 50 years.  The tourist factor makes everything we do feel superficial, as if anybody could do it.  This was the case in the other countries as well, and is a common complaint of serious climbers who don’t have the money to do Everest, but for three guys who spent 36 hours on a piece of tin crossing the Caspian, it’s an ego blow.

The other problem with Istanbul was that I remember it being a lot cheaper with my dad’s credit card.  We have finally hit Western prices, and it’s affecting our tours, whereas it used to only affect our diet.  Every site here charges a minimum of 10, but usually 20 Lira ($12) for entrance.  We aren’t usually paying that much to lay our heads down, let alone see stuff.  We’ll make an adjustment, but the palace and some museums that I enjoyed on my last trip here I won’t be frequenting again.

November 18th - 

We spent the entire day on the train and we smell awful.  More to the point, I smell awful.  We were in a cabin with the three of us and a father and son.  They boarded in the middle of the night after some of the smell had dissipated, but the morning brought on new monsters, and after a mid afternoon removal of the shoes, the father was forced to flee to the top bunk after a spout of coughing from hot being able to breathe correctly.  Oh well.

We got ourselves in to Goerme, Cappadocia is a region, at 7 pm, a full 12 hours later than a bus would have gotten us there, but we each saved 5 Lira, so you be the judge.  We found our hotel and made a fruitless search for food that produced bread, butter and Dortios ®. and prepared for a big day of hiking.

November 19th - 

We spent the entire day in Cappadocia today.  We started with a morning walk to a castle built into the surrounding caves.  We didn’t follow the road, but rather the straight line path, which ended up being a two-hour out of the way path.  But it was beautiful and we were dirty to start with.  We made it to the castle and Devin and Noah rewarded themselves with their first Turkish coffees of the trip, though certainly not the last.

Since we were to be taking a bus back to Istanbul at 8, we spent the rest of the day trying to see as much of the region as possible by foot.  This was frustrating only because of the massive tour buses carrying loads of Koreans by us every 5 minutes.  Are there any Koreans left in Korea?  We saw some churches that date from the 10th century and climbed around some abandoned cave houses.  It was raining in the afternoon, so we were nice and soaked when we boarded the overnight bus back to the big city.

November 20th - 

We arrived way too early to do anything in Istanbul.  Add to that the hurt from certain bus positions, and it was a perfect set up for a bad day.  Fortunately, we found a McDonald’s.  We sat for one cup of coffee, went to the bathroom and brushed our teeth, and exited ready to visit other “holy” structures that would probably take more of our money and leave us less satisfied.

The main tasks on our list were to visit the Hagia Sofia and buy socks, in no particular order.  We also had a dinner planned with a friend of mine from college, if we were able to get in touch with him.  The Hagia Sofia, a sixth century church/mosque/museum erected by Justinian, is probably one of the most beautiful and most important structures standing that is able to connect the Western world to its counterpart.  We went there first so that we could spend the rest of the day on the lookout for socks.

We met my friend Omar at 8, and he delivered a great dinner, just as he did the last time my family and I were in Istanbul.  We sat with one of his friends and ate multiple types of doner and fresh vegetables, and then washed it all down with Turkish liquor and had some great desert and Turkish coffee to finish it all off.  With this dinner and the one at Katie’s in Azerbaijan, we have been treated to two really fantastic meals that have made up for the lack of culinary satisfaction that has otherwise defined our travels.

November 21st - 

Once we had cleaned ourselves (first time in over a week) and emailed, we began our walk around Sofia.  The previous night at dinner we had heard some terrible things, but those were really unfounded, as Sofia is a really classic European town with just a dash of Soviet to remind you what could have been.  The churches, though dating sometimes to the 15th century, are mostly refurbishments of their originals, many of which were destroyed during WWI.  The big surprises of the day were the cheap pizza and the appearance of falafel, a dish which Devin was positive would be found in Turkey, but had to wait one more country.

Azerbaijan/Georgia/Armenia

Genocide Memorial, Yerevan

Sheki, Azerbaijan

Pomegranate Festival, Azerbaijan

Baku Harbor, Azerbaijan

War Memorail, Azerbaijan

November 6th -

We made it to the center of Baku around ten, and proceeded to walk for the next six hours.  We walked through the center, which is dedicated with statues of the former, first and late president of Azerbaijan, Heyder Aliyev.  Baku has a main walking area similar to Istanbul, but not as old or historic.  It has a McDonald’s.  We continued to walk through the old city, a walled fortress that was the foundation of the port.  Walking up the hill, we found a memorial for the war with Armenia, which took place after the fall of the Soviet Union.  There is a massive eternal flame that overlooks the entire city, and the grave is co-sponsored by the Turkish government.  Walking down the aisles of graves is a bit eerie, since everyone in the cemetery died in 1992.

November 7th -

Today is the Pomegranate festival in Gorchay.  Why there even is a pomegranate festival passes understanding, but the juice is good and they’re giving it out for free, so God bless the pomegranate.  A bunch of Europeans and other volunteers showed up around ten, and we proceeded down to the party on the streets.

The festival was ridiculous.  A bunch of government officials came through and gave speeches that were difficult to listen to, more so for the people who speak Azeri.  We spent most of our time being followed by schoolboys and I ended up giving autographs to them.  I signed about 15 hands before we had to move on to the next booth.

November 8th -

We woke up in the morning freezing, although our hosts made us big breakfast sandwiches, which made us feel better.  We went to see the sights of Sheki, a town snuggled in the hills and surprisingly flush with culture.  We toured an old castle, bedecked with beautiful stained glass windows, that was used by the Azeri king in the 17th century as a vacation spot and harem.  We then walked around the grounds and some of the shops, getting lunch at a local cafe.  Noah got the cheapest thing on the menu, which also happened to be the best.  How he continues to do this is beyond me.

November 9th -

The meal we enjoyed tonight thanks to our friend Kate was the best thing that has happened to us in Azerbaijan.  We were seated in a small room with only one table and a space heater.  The meal started with appetizers and a jug of homemade Azeri wine that the owner had made himself.  There was a bean pate, pickled cabbage, yoghurt spread, pickles, cheese and fresh bread. 

The second part of the meal was three consecutive meat dishes: a kebab, steaks and leg of lamb.  All were well spiced and came with fresh vegetables and herbs.  During the course of the meal we drank three of the jugs of wine, which helped us to forget about all the bread and butter that were our staples over the past two weeks of the trip.  It was truly one of the best meals I’ve had on this side of the planet.

November 10th -

We made our way to Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.  We were expecting to pay Uzbekistan prices to cross the border into Tbilisi, since we could only take an Azeri marshrutka to the border crossing, but the whole ordeal worked out much smoother than our previous experience.  We paid about 10 bucks for the whole thing, and crossing into Georgia proved to be the easiest crossing to date.

November 11th -

We decided that today would, in fact, be a good day to take a side trip to Armenia.  We found a taxi in the morning to take us all the way to the capital, Yerevan, for a reasonable price of about 20 bucks each.  Our driver had a gimp hand, which made some of the corners interesting, especially when he decided to light a cigarette or use his phone. 

November 12th -

Our second and last day in Yerevan, we decided to hit all of the sites.  We started at 8:30 in the morning with a walking tour that we grabbed out of a guidebook in Azerbaijan.  We saw some of the oldest churches still in existence and made it to a park that overlooks the entire city.

Yerevan is famous for its proximity to Mt. Ararat, the mountain that claims to be the landing spot of Noah’s Ark.  Whether this is true or not, Mt. Ararat frames the city spectacularly, even though it is located within modern Turkish borders.  After completing the walking tour and managing a quick bite for lunch, we headed for the museum of the Armenian genocideThe museum itself is well done, and contains sources from Germany, America, England, Armenia and many memoranda from the Turkish government that was involved in carrying out the slaughter.  It stood in stark contrast to the story given by our Turkish tour guide one year ago, and it will be interesting to read more on the subject.  The pictures alone seem to make the case.

November 13th -

We went through the entirety of Old Tbilisi today.  It is the most beautiful city in the region, with ancient castles, houses, churches and a river that cut out one bank so that half of the city sits one story above the other half.  The churches are the real prize, and we got to witness an orthodox service today, which was interesting not only for the liturgy, but also for the movement of people in and out of the church during the service. 

Tbilisi is named after the hot springs, and the name comes from the Georgian word for warm.  We went to one of the public baths, and were immediately impressed with the warm hot tub and sauna.  It was so good and relaxing that each one of us decided to go in for the massage, which was really more of a thorough rub down than actual massaging.  Either way, it was fantastic and sorely needed, as we all smelled really bad.  After getting a foreigner discount and putting on the same smelly clothes, save for the socks that I mercifully threw away, we left fresh to meet the cool evening.  We got some beers and drank them while we walked the river back towards our hotel, to get some much deserved rest.

Aktau/Baku Ferry

October 31st –

We took a marshrutka out to a cemetery in the middle of nowhere, and immediately balked at the 2800 som entry fee. We decided to walk a little, reasoning that we’d seen a couple cemeteries already, and how cool could this one really be? It was a beautiful day, and after walking for 10 minutes we found a back entrance to the cemetery and decided to use it.
Only Noah, being the good Lutheran that he is, refused to enter the cemetery from the back on account of he might get caught and have to pay. Devin and I snuck through various mausoleums very stealthily, and made our way around the complex without being noticed. On our way out we tried to convince Noah that it was the most beautiful cemetery we had ever seen, and that he absolutely must go see it, but he wasn’t biting. We sat for another two hours on the outskirts of the cemetery reading New Yorkers.

Bukhara

November 1st –

This could also be known as train day #1, as we boarded our first connection at 1, arriving at 3 am in Novoiy, a big hub for Uzbek trains. The only event of the ride was the drunk man who I came back to find occupying my seat and, more disturbingly, drinking my water. I picked a new seat, and we got to Novoiy in plenty of time for our 7 am connection back to Kazakhstan.

Aktau

November 2nd –

This is train day #2. We arrived I at 10:30 am in Beneiu, a crossroads between Atyrau and Aktau, the latter being our goal. Aktau is a port town on the Caspian Sea, where we plan to catch a ferry to Baku, Azerbaijan, as soon as humanly possible. We found a train from Beneiu to Aktau at 1, arriving at 11 in a town on the outskirts of Aktau. The ride was uneventful as we read and slept away the afternoon.

Aktau

November 3rd –

After waking up from our best sleep in days, we made our way to Aktau this morning and got our first look at the Caspian Sea. It is truly amazing that we are still in Kazakhstan and seeing such a different landscape. The whole ride in was dried seabed, as far as the eye could see in any direction, the result of the splitting of the Aral and Caspian many millennia ago.
Aktau is not as bad as I originally thought. The buildings are undeniably Soviet, but there is a nice place to walk along the shore, with a sufficient amount of Mr. Ponchik (donut) outlets to satisfy even the American soul. We had our last Kazakh beer along the shore, and tasted the Caspian (not as salty as one would imagine). I called my host mom one last time before I left the country, and before we went to bed we double checked with the port about the boat, which they said wouldn’t arrive until 7.

November 4th –

It’s election day and we’re crossing the Caspian Sea. We heard on the news last night that Obama has an 8 to 10 point lead in nationwide polls. The results should be in by the time we reach Baku, 18 hours from whenever the boat leaves port. When we woke up at 6:30 to call the port, they said that the boat arrived early, and that we should hurry down to get on. We packed up our bags, including the kitchen, where we had baked potatoes and boiled eggs for the trip, and high-tailed it out of there, catching a ride with a nice guy in a Lada right outside of our building.
We got to the port around 7:15, and met the border guard, who checked our bags and waved us through. The passport check was just as easy, as the main guard had been taught by a Peace Corps volunteer named Andy in Taldy Korgan. He stamped our pass-ports for the last time, and after about a half hour of watching “Кадестьво”, we boarded the boat.

November 5th –

The border guard in Azerbaijan congratulated us on Obama’s victory. This was nice, but it would have been more enjoyable had we not been sitting in the harbor for 8 hours waiting for other boats to unload their cargo. We spent the time watching scientific videos that were a last resort, and not eating, as we did not account for ridiculousness in our dietary budget.
Baku seems to be a nice city. We saw enough of it from a distance in the harbor to get a feel, and driving through at night it was clear that Caspian wealth has had a much bigger effect here than in Kazakhstan. Cars, buildings, and infrastructure is in better condition and the city as a whole seems to bear fewer of the scars of central planning. We’ll hold out complete judgment until tomorrow.

Uzbekistan

October 25th – After arriving in Shimkent at 5:30, we immediately found a marshrutka to Tashkent. Unbeknownst to us, but apparently to the driver who remained silent, the 500 tenge ride only took us to the border, and the incorrect one at that. There are many crossings between KZ and UZ, but only some are designated for international crossing. We were told to go to Yamalla, a town 150 km from where we were. This required a taxi, which wasn’t hard to find. Like Mario in the ghost house, potential drivers swooped in on us to offer the “best” price to the border. After some freaking out and some bargaining, we chose to get ripped off by a nice Kazakh man with an Audi. At the border we met with little trouble besides a fleeting moment in which Devin thought that his passport was stolen. In Uzbekistan we dealt with the nicest of swindlers who put us in to his ’73 Soviet relic and raced us to Tashkent, the capital.

Samarkand

October 26th – We were more productive than the day before. We were able to get money, check the price of plane tickets, check the price of bus tickets because the plane was wicked expensive, go to the national history museum, find a cafe to eat and buy some old Soviet propaganda. We also managed to go to the old part of the city, where we fell in to a grand bazaar and were able to get dinner, which included beet salad, apples, and the saltiest pickles and pickled tomatoes that two dollars could buy.

Tashkent

October 27th – This morning we made our way to Samarkand, the capital of Timerlane’s empire. Timerlane was an emperor who ruled from 1370-1405. His empire was derived from the kingdoms of Genghis Khan, and he expanded it from Western China to Turkey. He helped to spread the Muslim religion, and Samarkand is where some of his most famous commissioned buildings stand. The architectural style of the period was copied in many places outside the kingdom, including the Taj Mahal, in India.

Timerlane Historical Museum, Tashkent

October 28th – We woke up early this morning to go up in the minarets of the Registan in Samarkand. We met a guard yesterday who offered to take us up there for 3,000 som, or half the ticket price at the gate. We got there at 7 and were able to walk around all three complexes by ourselves for an hour and a half before we had to leave to allow the “regular” tourists to come and enjoy the sites.

All of our Som

October 29th – Today, being an odd day of the trip, started ominously with me leaving my two files underneath the bed of our hotel in Samarkand. This, of course, after laughing much too loudly at some Office videos that we used to kill time before our train to Bukhara. Because my Economists were in the folders, I asked Devin if I could have his Ulysses book to read on the three-hour train ride. He agreed, but predictably I left the book at my feet while departing, and forgot about it until after dinner. Devin wasn’t as angry as I would have been, as he had two years of footnotes in the margins of the book.

Tashkent's big park

October 30th – I got the Ulysses back, and my files. Even day. We spent the day in Bukhara, one of the main cities on the Silk Road. We saw castles, madrassas, fortresses, mausoleums and mosques. Bukhara has a distinctly different feel from Samarkand. The people working the bazaars are more used to tourists. They speak more English and are friendlier than the people in Samarkand. There was even a guy selling flying carpets who propositioned us in 4 languages (Russian, English, German and French).

Tashkent Metro Station

Market in Tashkent

Boulevard in Tashkent