Day 20 continued

Breakfast of toast, tea and coffee, we all climb aboard our truck for a sight-seeing day. We visit several areas with views of the caves towns. It is incredible to believe that people live in these caves up to this century. Our stop before lunch brings us to the outdoor museum. This is a valley which was once a thriving town. Some of the caves have paintings still visible on the walls.

We head back to the campsite for the afternoon, we are all very tired after our 4am start. The pool
seems to be the popular option. The water is lovely and refreshing in the heat.  Soon the time comes to get ready for our Turkish dancing night.

We are told that it is very touristy and cheesy but we’ve been promised belly-dancing so we are all very excited. The bus picks us up and we arrive at a very posh looking building. T appears to be carved into the rock like the cave houses we visited earlier. Inside it is dimly lit and there is a very good Turkish group playing. We are shown to our seats and our orders taken for dinner. The dancing starts soon enough and it isn’t cheesy at all. The costumes are very tastefully chosen and in lovely bright colours. The traditional dancing takes up most of the evening and is very entertaining. Half way through the night the belly-dancer comes out. She picks a few out to give it a go, male and female. It is a great laugh. More Turkish dancing follows and we all join in for the last dance giving the shoulder shimmy a good go. We head into the town of Goreme to finish out the night. Overall it was a great night and the food was fantastic!

Day 21

It is a slower start to the day today. Late breakfast and lounging by the pool before heading into town to a carpet shop for a Turkish carpet demonstration. We are greeted warmly by the shop keeper and his workers. They describe the difference between Turkish carpets and the different areas with their different designs. The colours and texture of the carpets are amazing, some even look completely different at different angles. Our lunch of Turkish pizza is given to us then and some have a second look. Some people buy a carpet and have them posted home.

On the way home the owner of the campsite tells us he has bought a cave and is doing it up to live in. He kindly invites us to have a look at it. It is magnificent. He has put a beautiful terrace o the roof with grapes growing on a trellace and the view form every window is amazing looking out over a community of caves dotted throughout the valley.

I have to say I was a little wary of Turkey before I got here. I had the idea that the people were standoff-ish but I couldn’t have been more wrong.  The people bent over backwards to help us in any way they could. This was just one more instant that confirmed my thoughts that the Turkish people are absolutely lovely. The rest of the evening is spent catching up on skype and blogs before dinner and then early to bed as we are leaving early in the morning.


Day 22

We leave the campsite a little heavy hearted as we know we have 4 nights bush camp ahead of us but after breakfast Cappadocia has one last treat in store for us. The wind is stronger today than the last few mornings and the hot air balloons start to appear overhead. We rush for our cameras. Almost fifty balloons pass over head before Will starts the truck to get us all moving.

It’s a long drive day which passes uneventfully, well for me anyway. We have nicknamed the truck the Tranquiliser Truck. We all climb aboard and within ten minutes 90% of us are asleep. There is only two of us who can resist its powers.

Our bush camp tonight is at an old quarry just down the road from the Samela Monastery we will visit tomorrow. It is pretty late when we stop so it is all hands on deck to pitch tents and get dinner ready. I don’t think I‘ve mentioned the food yet, it is fantastic. We haven’t had the same dinner twice yet. There is always meat, fresh veg or salad and potatoes/rice/pasta and there is always plenty. If anything I think I’m better fed here than I am at home.


Day 23

We arrive at the monastery site early. It is a 45minute hike to the monastery but before we head off we must find our truck mate who went off for two weeks to see some other places while we were in Turkey as he had seen it before. It doesn’t take too long to find him and we set off. It’s a tough climb but worth it. The monastery has beautiful paintings on the wall from three different eras of the monastery.

It is off to the Georgia border then. We arrive at it, it  is late in the evening and have little trouble getting through. That is apart from a few stunned police in the passport office when they see our visas for all the other countries and then see the truck waiting for us.

Just the other side of the border we stop to have a look at the ruins of an old Roman fortress. It is amazing, the walls are almost perfectly preserved but the buildings are all gone. You can see where they have excavated the houses, pumbing and church ruins. When we are climbing back onto the truck a small shop across the road catches my eye. I hurry across the road to everyone’s confusion but when I reappear with a football they erupt in cheers.

We camp at a rugby ground tonight. All the players are training when we arrive and show a little interest but carry on with their training when we are setting up. Brenda and I are on cook duty tonight, its lamb burgers, stir fry veg and potatoes on the menu. It goes down well and we all have a few fizzy drinks after as we’ve a late start the next morning. Two of the people have to go and sort out a visa in the morning. The night ends with a great singsong on the back of the truck.


Day 24

Before we crawl out of our tent to get breakfast, we hear it and grown. The thunder is back! It hasn’t started to rain yet so we sort ourselves out and start pulling out the bits and pieces from the truck but we soon realise that we are going to have to put up the tarp canopy so we have to give a shout out for help. When the rain starts it comes down in sheets. We are all pretty dry and our tents have been rained on at this stage s we aren’t to worried but after an hour and a half solid of rain and ground starts to flood. We end up finishing breakfast ankle deep in rain water. We were all in good spirits though.

We head off after lunch for the National Park with the dinosaur footprints. We are all really looking forward to this, its one of the big highlights of the trip but when we reach it we find that it is closed for renovations. A little disappointed we go to find a spot for camping down a little lane.

When we are all getting our tents up we hear a bell ringing not far off, but it isn’t a church bell or like any bell I’ve heard before. We soon find out when a cow appears behind our camping spot. We appear to have camped in her route home. She is soon joined by more cows. We herd them safely around the truck and the cook fire but the lead cow is nosey. She refuses to be herded on. There is a stand-off between one of the guys on the trip who we have nicknamed Rohan Man and the cow. She eventually gets fed up and heads on her way to which Brenda and I give a rendition of Cows with
Guns.

Day 25

We spend the morning in the centre of Katusai, a lovely city and our first taste of Georgian hospitality. The first thing you notice, as with most markets I’m told, is the wonderful smell of fresh herbs and spices and then there is the cackle and babble of the ladies behind the stalls. This market was filled with mainly food stall with some cloths and odds and end stalls also. One of the girls has Asian parents and is a big hit in the market; all the men want pictures with her, not in a sleazy way but friendly.

Brenda and I head off on a mission to find a post office, which turns out to be close-by. The post master is very friendly and asks us questions about our visit to Georgia and teaches us our few Georgian words, please, thank you and hello. (I won’t try to spell them here). It is our first taste of the renowned Georgian hospitality.
After a wonderful lunch of cheese pizza and roast potatoes and mushrooms (which was fantastic, a big thumbs up for Georgian food), we are on the road again and heading for Armenian border. We don’t quiet make it but we do find a fabulous camping spot. It is on the edge of a river with a big flat plane beside it. We are all delighted when we stop as it is still early so our tents will dry and we can pull out the shower tent.

We are all in dire need of a shower at this stage. We all feel a million times better after the shower. The football gets its first airing after dinner which turns into a GAA kick about with the other Irish girl on the trip. The sun sets pretty quickly behind the mountains and we settle down for a chat before bed. The stars are amazing in the clear sky with no lights around to block them out.


Day 26

The Armenian border is not a fancy as any of the other borders we have passed through before; it is a few huts together with a pole barrier that lifts. We are quite a while here waiting for the paperwork to get sorted, the officials don’t seem in any hurry. We were expecting this though as it was the same last year. We stop for lunch in a little town after the border and while sitting admiring all the old school cars and busses, a big shiny white hummer drives past with the biggest chrome alloys I’ve ever seen. One of the girls giggles and tells me I’ve the same face on me as everyone who sees our truck for the first time (shock and astonishment). She is probably right I just didn’t expect that in
Armenia.

Arriving in the capital city, Yerevan, I am expecting a slightly old fashioned city with lots of old cafes and restaurants but Yerevan could be any European capital. They have lot of designer shops, all the ladies are dressed extremely well and the men obviously look after themselves too. It Is very up to date and has lots of fantastic bars and pubs.

After a fantastic dinner, celebrating one of the girls exam results, we find a funky little bar playing very cool music with quotes from different very popular songs e.g. the Beatles and REM. We boogied the night away there.

Day 27

The day starts with a crepe for breakfast and a hunt for a new camera as mine broke in Istanbul. The blue mosque, republic square, opera house and general wandering around the city takes up most of the evening and then a lovely dinner at a traditional restaurant. The dancing fountains start after nine so we head that way after and then up the beautiful cascades for a panoramic view of the cities night life. The footpaths are buzzing with people just strolling around the city and there is a safe and friendly atmosphere. The city almost has a Parisian feel to it especially at night. There is a big police presence but they are friendly and smiling keeping the good atmosphere going, we even pass one getting a hug from the group he is talking to.

The blue mosque

We go to the dancing fountains after dinner and walk up the cascades for a panoramic view of the city at night. Each level of the cascades have different themed sculptures.The lights are spectacular from the top level and it is a lovely end to our Yerevan visit.

The dancing fountains

The cascade

A Lion sculpture made out of old tyres

Diving sculpture

Day 28

We are all a bit sorry to be leaving Yerevan so soon and the lovely hostel. The people are very
friendly and hospitable. We drive the short distance to visit the Khor Vipar. We are not far outside the city when we get our first glimpse of Mount Ararat. It looms off in the distance with its base hidden in mist and haze and its snow-capped top. It is now that I realise that Ireland has hills and not mountains. The scenery is amazing as we head into the mountainous region. We stop off at another monastery before heading for our bush-camping on the edge of Lake Sevan.

If you look in the distance you can make out the snow covered top of Mount Ararat.

It is beginning to rain as we pull up so it is out with the tarp immediately. The fire gets going and we get the food on as quickly as possible but the weather is against us. The rain begins to pour and our old friends at this stage, thunder and lightning soon follow. The rain is torrential and it knocks the tarp down twice, we are just about to give up on it as we are all soaked to the skin and there is no end in sight but on the chief’s request we try it once more. It works this time. A few rounds of the birdy dance to warm ourselves up, a tent relocation or two and dinner is soon ready. We are all delighted to crawl into our sleeping bags at the end of the evening, by which time the rain had stopped.


Day 29

We visit another monastery on the way to Tbilisi and drive through a beautiful scenic gorge called
Debed Canyon. We pass a group of cyclists in the canyon ad we all have great respect for them because even the truck is under pressure at times in the hills. We stop for a short time to fill the water tanks on the way and get a chance dry out all our tents and shoes after the wet mucky night last night.

We are all delighted to get to the hostel even though it has only been one days bush-camping. We are all looking forward to a shower and dinner. After ordering dinner we sit back to enjoy a drink when the power goes in the restaurant. It is nearly an hour before it comes back on and we are all starving, we are about the cancel our orders and get a kebab from a street vender when it comes back on. It turns out to be a pity because the food is terrible, with small portions and when the bill comes out they over charge us. It was going to happen sometime but we are disappointed it happened tonight as we have waited so long for the food and we are all starving.