7th week: Yerevan, heading south to Iranian border, Wings of Tatev

  

[Text by Susanne - Pictures & Subtitles by Torsten]

We have one more day in Armenia before we will travel on to Iran. It is a warm night, after a long drive across high mountains, hundreds of hair pin curves we reached the Armenian-Iranian border.

After leaving Lake Sevan we took a lot of time to visit Yerevan, the capital of Armenia (BTW: Armenia is about as big as Belgium or for the Germans: as big as Brandenburg, but counts only 3 Million people).

6th week: Surrounding South-Ossetia, Hiking in Caucasus Mountains, Tblisi, Crossing border to Armenia, Enjoying Sewan Lake

[Susanne writing ...]

When we left Borjomi National Park heat had us back and we realized how nice and cool it had been up there.

Borjomi: I hit accidentally a switch, which uncharged the starter battery
Luckily we can jump start with our bord batteries.

Borjomi: sign says 3,5m max height at this bridge - we are 3,6m

Antonia Posts from the Sewan Lake in Armenia

Ik ga maar weinig schrijven zo kan ik Deutsch  schrvijven...    

  Ik was een  beetje geleden  bij een stuwdam we hebben   Een kasteel bekeken  in 

Elke kasteel is een kerk en we hebben bijna altijd een kers aangestoken daarna dat we de kerk 

Hebben bekeken zijn we naar een andere kerk gegaan die iets hoger was we zijn er naar boven 

Gestapt daar haden veel mensen het leek op rokjes ik heb mijn papa ook verkleed     

     

                                           Ik  schrijv nu Deutsch       

Wir waren Bai ainem schtaudam ,  da haben wir eine Burg   Angekukt ,  In Alen Burgen  ist 

Eine Kirche. wir haben fast in jeder Kirche  einekertze angezündet. nach das wir die

Kirche angekuckt haten Zint  wir zu  einer anderen Kirche gefahren. die etwas höher war,

Wir Zint hoch gelauven, da haten viele Menschen  zo ne Art röke an, ich habe mein  Papa 

Auch verklaidet ...... Tjüs !!!!!!!!!!                             

Antonia post grom Georgia

Hallo 

 Ik schrijf  over de drie laatste  dagen  , maar ook van een beetje langer

Geleden , dus we hebben een pose gedaan want we  waren 4 dagen

Daar. Op de laatste dag was ik  johann en mijn papa op stap en we gingen 

 Naar een kasteel  en de trappen  waren kapot maar we zijn toch naar

Boven het was prachtig  toen we weer naar beneden waren gingen

We noch zwemmen  want er was DIcht bij ons een rivier  mijn mama

Zij dat er slang gevaar is omdat ik bang ben van  slangen  heeft mijn 

Broer mij  bang gemaakt hij heeft  gestopt . dan heb ik hem 

Late schrikken en toen is hij op een stoel gesprongen  dit was toch 

Van lang geleden nu ga ik stoppen daag    

Antonia Sorie ik heb het een beetje verandert. 

5th week: Beautiful Drive Through East Anatolia to Ruins of Ani, Good Bye Black Sea, Hello Georgia, Paulis Birthday

Last Days in Turkey: Black Sea to Ani Ruis and further to Georgia

(look how vegetation changes)

[Torsten starting …] By now we have left Turkey and went to Georgia. Since we have now only occasionally internet connection our blogs will slightly delay (Currently we are already in Tiblisi, where we got internet access)
About a week ago we left the valley of Çamlıhemşin with the direction of the Ruins of Ani the former Armenian Capital some 1000 years ago. This meant at the same time that we also left the coast of the Black Sea, which was not easy for us. Opposite to the rest of Turkey which becomes more developed from the East to the West, the Black Sea Coast appears more better off when travelling from West to the East. We spent two wonderful weeks discovering all the variety of nature, authentic small villages, very nice people, delicious food and so many hours of playing in the water at lonesome beaches. We saw for the first time in our lives hazelnut covered mountains, rice fields, tobacco farmers and how tea is grown and harvested. All of us fell in love with this beautiful region and it was hard to say ‘good bye’.

4th week: Beach-Hopping@Black-Sea-Coast, Picked up by police, Antonia learned swimming, watching tea harvest, tasting tree-honey

4th week: from Çakraz to Çamlıhemşin

[Susanne writing ...] Our itinerary takes us from Çakraz along the coast. Our travel books talk about an area “with no guarantee for sunshine”, “cloudy” and “rain certain even in the summer”, but none of this seems true, the heat and endless sun keep us sweating and looking for places to swim wherever we can. The beaches are wild, usually no hotels; nor beach-chairs or sun-umbrellas, usually it is just a bay, surrounded by rocks where we jump in the water. Landscape changes rapidly: different rock formations, sand beaches, stony beaches, HIGH waves, calm water – not all of them where made for vacation leaflets, but most of them had something of paradise. Mostly locals and a few tourists from all over Turkey can be found here, but almost no one from abroad. Though the whole list of German license plates from the Ruhrpott can be found on the streets, GE (Gelsenkirchen!), BO (Bochum), DU (Duisburg) etc, you name a city from the Ruhr-area I am sure we have seen it somewhere on the road: Turkish families coming to Turkey in the summer to visit their families, all of whom we meet very friendly and helpful.