Diyarbakir

How many times you were seeking for some information about the place and there were these people who had so many things to say although they have not been to the place they were talking about?
It was like that when we told some of our friends that we were going to Diyarbakir.
Diyarbakir? You wanna die? It’s dangerous and dirty and people live in the houses made of clay and… none of those things were true.

From the moment we got off the car it looked almost like some nice part of Ankara. Actually it was nicer, the further we were exploring the city the better it was. Clean pavements, litters on the streets (things, which Ankara is missing!), green parks with wooden playgrounds, trees and nice-looking buildings – that was Amid (Kurdish name for Diyarbakir). Because of that we have a suggestion for everyone who asks: believe the ones who experienced the place, not only read about it in the newspaper - that doesn’t give any knowledge.

Because after coming from Georgia we started to have problem with our Turkish number we had to borrow the phone from …somebody. Fortunately that wasn’t difficult as Turkish (and Kurdish!) people are very hospitable and helpful – in no time there were 4 people offering us their phones to use. We contacted our host and half an hour later he picked us up from the meeting point and took to the city. We went together to amazing old town wandering through narrow passages, drinking tea on the top of the city walls and admiring amazing views of Tigris and surrounding nature.
Diyarbakir is known as unofficial capital of Turkish Kurdistan. And here are the things which people should know about this place:
-    it is just the same as the rest of Turkish cities, it also has nice views :-)
-    it is mostly inhabited by Kurdish people which doesn’t make any difference. They are also very hospitable, nice, well-behaved and you can’t actually tell any difference between them and Turkish people - neither in appearance nor in behavior
-    You talk in Turkish there, not in Kurdish. Everyone everywhere speak in Turkish there. Of course Kurdish people know how to read, sometimes how to speak in their language but in daily life even among only Kurdish people they use Turkish

Great mosque of Diyarbakir

 Seeds of local fruit - watermelon

Chris with our Kurdish friends :-)

Erzurum

Çifte Minareli Medrese

Before we got to Erzurum we had known about it one thing: that it is the coldest place in Turkey. We used to hear the legends about this place like the fact that people don't go outside for few days when its over -40 degrees! OMG! Can you even imagine -40 degrees in Turkey? We couldn't. Thanks god we visited this place during spring so the temperature over there was bearable already :-) Although Jagoda kept mourning it was cold.... women.

The capital of Turkish cold – that’s how we call it. And apparently it’s all caused by the altitude of the city (2000 m above sea level).

We wanted Erzurum to be a very short stop on our way and it would be like that if we didn’t meet our great host – Emre, a Flying Engineering student, who encouraged us to stay longer and offered us showing around the city.

In the morning he prepared for us amazing breakfast. That's how Jagoda found out about the cheese which looks like pismaniye. 

Tower clock in Erzurum Castle

During the day we were sightseeing with our host. Surprisingly apart from the low temperature there was actually much to see in Erzurum and most of the places are situated in the same area which makes sightseeing really easy.

From my point of view – the first thing which you can notice on the streets is big amount of women with their hair covered. That shows how conservative the place is which is important especially for girls and suggests not wearing extravagant clothes (surely covering you head is not necessary, but mini skirts and uncovered cleavage can be seen not in wanted by you way).

Of course we also tried the special of Erzurum cuisine: Cağ Kebab.
We spend the evening on learning Turkish with Emre as well as preparing ourselves to the continuation of our trip.
Tomorrow - Diyarbakir!

View from the tower which white peaks of the mountains

Eating Erzurum kebab with our host - Emre

Way to Erzurum

We were in Batumi in the morning. We took a bus from the station to the airport. Like real addicts we found some canteen where we spent our last euros on Nescafe.

Getting to the border was as easy as getting to Batumi the week before. That is why in half an hour we were in Turkey again. When we got to Hopa we thought it was a high time to grab some breakfast so we ate our veg kebab in front of the Black Sea, watching wandering lizards.
Travelling with the girl has its advantages but it has drawbacks too. They are so forgetful! And so is Jagoda. That is why we had to stop in Artvin to collect her jacket, which she forgot to take while we were leaving our hosts house. Anyway it was nice to visit Fatmagul, Volkan and crazy Robin once again.

Volkan, Jagoda, Robin, Chris and Fatmagul (from the left)

 The weather was amazing that day so we decided to take a stroll down the ‘hill’ (mountain) and take the last look at stunning views of green Artvin.

As we say: in some places in Turkey you don’t hitch-hike – you are hitch-hiked. And it was like that this time. Some guy beckoned us and offered us a ride – to Erzurum!
On the way we couldn’t believe how amazing the area is! 

Huge bridge, still under the construction

Turkey is all under the construction. In some of them we would not believe unless we haven't seen them. On the way to Erzurum we saw huge dam, new roads being built much higher than the ones which we were using, endless amount of tunnels going through the mountains, massive bridges connecting two tops of the hills...all of that is being constructed in order to create a water system for getting the energy. You can imagine all that empty space under the bridge full of water...Unbelievable.

Amazing mountain lake

Chris and our driver :-)

While getting closer to our destination we could notice the view getting whiter and whiter. Although it was the middle of spring mountains were still covered with layers of shining snow.

Less than 50 km to the Turkish capital of cold in the end of April

David Gareja and a night train to Batumi

It was our last day in Georgia. We really wanted to see the wineries of Kakheti but we knew one day will not be sufficient for that. We changed our plan for David Gareji - the monastery complex placed almost on the border with Azerbaijan.

We hitchhiked to David Gareji and came back with friendly, elder German couple from Munich. If they hadn't taken us we would probably have come back 50km by foot! :-)

Behind this hill you can see Azerbaijan

David Gareji

...and countless bare rocks.

Sometimes you can also encounter this...in front of your car :-)

And in the evening: last meal with our host - Ali and quick taxi to the station. Till the very end we didn't know what type of we booked so when we saw couchettes compartment and the number of our tickets about two of the beds we felt relieved. It was getting late so we made our beds and went to sleep to wake up in Batumi again...

...so have a good night. ;)

Mtskheta

That day our group consisted of 3 people because Malwina wanted to see the first Georgian capitol with us. It was nice to diversify our little community for a while ;-)

Surprisingly when we were visiting Mtskheta we met a Polish couple - Ania and Jasiek. 

After visiting most of the interesting places we took Marshutka back to Tbilisi and showed Malwina the city a bit. Then we went to eat something in a local restaurant trying another taste of Georgian "lemonade" - cream one. 

We spent the evening with two Georgian guys from couchsurfing drinking Georgian beer and eating chinchali. Finally we cold talk to the locals about life in Georgia, getting some non touristic information about their country. It was really enjoyable night.

Malwina and Jagoda with protectors

streets of Mtskheta

external water pipe

in the restaurant with Georg and Nodari, thanks guys!

Gori

The primar plan for our 3rd day in Georgia was Mscheta and Gori. That's why in the morning we took a Marshrutka nr 128 to Didube station. But before we found our next Marshrutka to Gori we got ourselves some local surprise pasties (as we didn't know what was inside) from the bakery nearby.

In Gori we first went to the tourist information, another one which was really well organized and from which we took some maps and hints about what to see.

Then we visited Museum od Josef Stalin which was unexpectedly expensive (15 Gel!). Afterwards we climbed up to the Gori Fortress from which we could admire an amazing view on the mountains.

Another part of our Wednesday trip was Uplistiche, 20 km from Gori where amazing 6th century monastery is. We took crowded Marshrutka to get there. Uplistiche was a lovely little village where we could feel the atmosphere of a real Georgian village. Also the main point of our arrival did satisfy us completely Great complex let us to jump on the rocks and taste a little bit of mountain hiking. Although it was a version for lazy hikers ;-)

Then we got stuck for some time in the village, trying to catch some transport to Gori. Between many unsuccessful attempts of hitch-hiking we had an opportunity of taking a part in marches of herds of cows through the village after all day spent on the fields.

When we got to our hosts place in the evening we met a Polish traveler - Malwina. We spent a ovely evening slurping Georgian wine which we got from Ali as a gift :-)

Stalin's tain

Gori fortress

local guys

typical Gerogian village

locals are very friendly

but sometimes don't care about visitors and spread over

and fortunately like nature

Tbilisi

In the morning we discovered that sleeping on the carpet is not that bad that we primarily thought. This day we were sightseeing Tbilisi, first Rustaveli Ave., National Museum, building of Parliament. It is worth to mention that every tourist information in Georgia is very professional where you can get free maps, booklets and even check timetable for the train. After Rustaveli we visited Freedom Square and we moved toward an Old town. As we like strolling around not only the places which are mentioned in the booklets we got the the old Old Town too, the place which is partly abandoned as the buildings over there  are falling apart. That shocked us. What we noticed is that Tbilisi is the place where you can easily find the luxury of capitol city neighboring with a true poverty. You can see it clearly when you go up to the Saakashvili Residence which is just by the decrepit houses of ordinary people.

Later we visited ancient fortress, Presidential Palace, Avlabari Cathedral and famous Tbilisi Baths. We took a ride by Tbilisi metro. Train station and surroundings had creepy socrealistic design.

Freedom Square

Old Tbilisi

old part o Old Town

view for Old Town

Postcard

Jagoda is playing on the huge piano

Old block of flats

Impressive Ilumnation of Rustaveli Ave.

way to Tbilisi

In the morning after checking-out we still had some time for discovering the rest of the city. In the afternoon we went to the station to catch some transport to the capitol. Ticket for the minibus was 20 GEL (GEL=Lari). That was our first time when we took a marshrutka - Georgian minibus.
After 4 hours on the bus we finally got a small break. While getting off the bus we were hit by a smell of some bakery good. It was sweet Georgian bread with raisins which you could get straight from the furnace, still hot. Doubtlessly Georgia is full of amazing tastes and that was another of them.

We got to Tbilisi in the evening, Although we got very specific directions from our host, how to get to his place, we encountered big problems at the beginning when we were trying to find a right bus.
Communication - it's almost impossible to talk to Georgian people in English and we were not able to speak in neither Georgian nor Russian which is a shame of us. What we realized that time is that instead of learning German in Polish schools we should have Russian as the 3rd language as it's much more useful. Fortunately we managed to find a bus asking locals for some hints in...Polish and we got to Chavchvadze Ave. where we met Ali - an Iranian teacher of English who was our host for another 4 days.

Because we were really hungry we went with Ali to 24h restaurant where we got ourselves chinchali - Georgian dumplings stuffed with potatoes, mushrooms, meat or cheese. Georgian dishes are delicious but we noticed that Georgian cuisine is based on grain products and meat rather than vegetables which we prefer. This day we ended sleeping on the carpet as real Iranians.

Traditional sweet bread ?

Lemonade - Tarragon flavour

Batumi

This day we started very early. First we hitch-hiked with a policeman and later with 2 guys who were transporting hay for sale in Hopa. We got to the Turkish border with some nice family and we passed it quite quickly on foot. Soon we stepped onto Georgian land for the first time in our lives. After short walk in Georgian small village named Sarpi, we found Turkish truck driver who took us directly to Batumi.
First impression of Georgia was... lots of cows everywhere including roads; cheap cigarettes, bad roads and rural character of the country. It was something completely different than Turkey - less developed, monastries instead of mosques, women without scarfs around theirs heads. After a while we got to Batumi. We changed some money and started to look for some cheap place to stay as we didn't manage to find any host in there.
Batumi is the city of contrasts, big fancy hotels are placed beside old, neglected houses. Main seaside boulevard is modern with tourist attractions and even city bikes. In Batumi we found some nice parks, dolphinarium, forest of bamboo and boulevard of devoted to tragically died polish president and his wife. In the evenig we ate our first Georgian dish - Khachapuri, which was very big dough stuffed with cheese.

We have drunk for the first time since many years - lemonade. It is very popular drink in Poland in 90' and earlier.

Batumi

Georgian Alphabet Tower

Lech and Marya Kachinsky str.

Georgian alphabet

Khachapuri - Megruli

restored streets of Old Town

Artvin

After having gozleme with our hosts we decided to take advantage on a great weather and spend the day among the nature. We visited Artvin and Hatila Vadisi Milli Parki. Artvin is very specific town. As we found out from Fatmagul, from 25 thousands inhabitants 5 thousands are students. It is common thing in Turkey that in every bigger town university/faculty is located. We found even branch of Artvin University in small town named Hopa nearby the Turkish-georgian border. Artvin is also big construction site now. Turkish state is constructing new roads, dams, tunnels and chanign completely the town. Even here we can see that Turkey is growing so fast. Area of Hatila Park with astnonishing views gave us some rest.

Corum

Coffee break :-)

Sumela

Findik people :-)

Surely we have a plan of the trip however usually is looks like we don't exactly know where we will end up the next day, since it is all dependant on our hosts and luck at hitch-hiking. And it was just like that when we left Trabzon in some morning. All we knew was: visiting Sumela Monastery first and then decide where move on to.

We got a ride to Macka from two guys who worked in a findik (hazelnut) processing factory. That region is very famous of hazelnuts. We also got a huge bag of nuts as a present! Delicious.

Frescoes

The primary plan was to hitch-hike to Sumela but before we could react we were put into dolmus by our previous drivers. We were not very excited about that as we knew it would generate costs, later on realizing that hitch-hiking to monastery would not be possible at all. We were sitting in dolmus with our eyes closed when two cars were passing each other on unprotected by any barriers high, narrow, mountainous road. In the end it seemed that the drivers knew what they were doing as we got to the monastery safe and sound.  

Monastery from the inside

It was actually worth risking your life to get there since the structure was astonishing. The first thing which comes to your mind when you see this is: how the hell they built it there?! We didn't find it out however we were sure it was unbelievable effort for people of that times.

While coming back we met Indian tourist who studied in Paris. We presented him idea of the CS and hitchhiking in Turkey. He had even instant practice as we hitchhiked altogether from Macka to Trabzon. Jagoda taught him the most useful expressions in Turkish during hitchhiking when I was speaking with the driver for whole 45 minutes ride.








 In Trabzon we left our companion with bunch of hazelnuts and started to hitchhike to Artvin, our next destination, but we weren't so lucky as usual and after few transfers we got to Borcka and because it was a night already we had to take a bus to Artvin. There we met Volkan and Fatmagul and their lovely Labrador puppy - Robin.

Night view on the Black Sea (on the way to Artvin)