The Silk Road Overland
Saturday 9 July 2011
We managed to pop in quickly at the Van Museum before our coach was due to leave for Kars. This is a small museum and I think I liked the outdoor exhibits better than what was indoors.
The so called coach journey to Kars turned into a hardship of sorts with one or two good bits thrown in. Apparently the coach had broken down on the way to Van, so we were told to board this mini-bus. I hate mini-buses for long-distance travel, I really do! There was so much luggage that the whole aisle was filled up with bags and bulky, spongy-looking sacks for lack of a better word (Rolled up mattresses? Animal fodder?) So there was Bahrom and I squeezed in behind a wall of luggage in a mini-van with no A/C. Not my idea of a perfect holiday trip.
The journey lasted for over four hours and the road was bumpy, with endless bends and going uphill and downhill. Good bit number one was that we drove past Mt Ararat and got some good pictures. Good bit number two was the beautiful scenery we were passing on our way.
I had wanted to read from Orhan Pamuk's novel Snow, which is set in Kars, on my way to Kars, but unfortunately I forgot to bring it. Needless to day, I would not have been able to read anything behind sacks of animal fodder along this bumpy road anyway. Instead, I listened to Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children as an audiobook on my iPhone. Audiobooks are such a civilised alternative for situations like these!
We were too late to do anything significant in Kars as we arrived late in the afternoon. However, Bahrom had his own agenda. He was determined that I try a Turkish bath.
This is precisely the kind of thing I would be very reluctant to do, but Bahrom kept nagging me forever, and in the end I gave in (I even had to pay for this myself!). The soaping and then being scrubbed incessantly by this big (though friendly) Turk was something quite new for me. It felt good afterwards though and I did like the sauna. I might even do it again.
The Silk Road Overland
Sunday 10 July 2011
The visit to the ancient Armenian capital Ani was another jaw-dropper. Ani consists of a number churches, mosques, bath houses and other types of buildings spread out over a large area, just next to the Armenian border, which was demarcated by a narrow, winding river (don't know why Ani is on the Turkish side).
There were a lot of fascinating buildings and ruins, for example the large sections of the city wall we saw on arrival or the half of a church where the other half had been destroyed by a lighting strike in the 60s.
My favourite building was one of three St George's churches, which was built near a ravine leading down to the river. It had the most beautiful frescoes and wall paintings. Another thing I found particularly interesting was the Silk Road Bridge (or the remains of this bridge). The information board at the main gate said the Ani was one of the major Silk Road town in the Middle Ages and this gate was actually called the Silk Road Gate.
Seeing Ani was one of those awe-inspiring experiences when you are learning something completely new about the world. This large city was conquered and re-conquered again and again, and then this glorious place was destroyed and deserted. And I haven't even heard of this place until now! The world is very big, history is very long and I'm very small. That's how I feel today.
Back in Kars, we tried to fit in a museum visit and a visit to Kars Castle in 1 hour and 45 minutes, before leaving for Trabzon via Erzerum. And we managed to by staying in the museum only for seven minutes and by getting a taxi for the castle - at an exorbitant price.
The bus for Erzerum was not a mini-bus but almost - it was a midi-bus, which is not that much better, and the bus steward wasn't able to get the A/C working properly form the while journey. However, the scenery between Kars and Erzerum was great. In fact, we saw some gorgeous gorges. And my audiobook was also brill.
In Erzerum, it was quite cold - I had this scrumptious kebab outdoors but no-one else at the restaurant was eating outside and I kind of regretted braving it. I had quite a lot of excess heat stored up after several hours of no A/C, though, so it wasn't until it was time for the dessert that I went indoor.
After dinner, I tried to get some sleep at the coach station, waiting for the 1.30 AM coach to Trabzon.
The Silk Road Overland
Monday 11 July 2011
There's really only one reason we're in Trabzon and that's to see the Sumela Monastery, this spectacular Greek Orthodox monastery clinging to the rock face. The coach journey to Trabzon was OK, though the road was windy. Once we'd decided which coach to take in the evening (direct coach to Tbilisi) and bought the tickets, we were on our way.
A huge number of people were visiting the monastery and we had to queue at every stage, almost like at the Vatican Museum - but smaller numbers, of course.
The monastery church at Sumela is one of the most beautiful and interesting churches I've seen, I think. The inside of the church is covered in the most amazing frescoes, but the exterior is also covered with wall paintings. The monastery was abandoned in 1923 and is now a museum. The Turkish government changed its policy last year when they allowed a church service in the Sumela church, the first one sine 1922. My understanding is that the Orthodox Church will be allowed to have once service there a year.
We managed to squeeze in a visit to the Hagia Sophia church in Trabzon before the coach was due to leave for Tbilisi (same name as the church in Istanbul, but much smaller scale). This is also a great church to visit if you're in Trabzon.
The coach to Tbilisi was quite a nice coach, but we discovered relatively quickly that something was wrong - when the driver stopped the coach and got the toolbox out! However, we were on our way after about a 30 minute stop. You don't really want significant technical problems when you're on a 12-hour overnight coach journey.
The Silk Road Overland
Tuesday 12 July 2011
The coach broke down twice more during the early hours of the morning. The really tragic moment was when it broke down in front of a McDonald's that was closed. Thick white smoke was coming out of the coach engine at the back and yet I couldn't get a milkshake or chocolate sundae. One passenger got into a taxi at this stage and drove off.
We arrived two hours late in Tbilisi and it took a while to find Dodo's Homestay in the middle of town, the place Bahrom had chosen for us to stay (an Our Pick in the Lonely Planet for Georgia).The idea was for me to pick up my Azerbaijani visa early in the morning so we could spend the rest of the day exploring Tbilisi. Now, I wasn't ready to get into a taxi until 11.15AM and since the taxi driver didn't know where the Azeri Embassy was and had to ask his pals on the phone, I arrived by the embassy just 15 minutes before it closed at 12.00. Or so I thought. It turns out that Georgia has Summer Daylight Saving time, so I was actually 45 minutes late!
However, the guy outside the embassy asked to see my Letter of Invitation (LOI) quickly and then told me the rules had changed last week and I needed an LOI issued by the Ministry if Foreign Affairs.
What!!? Is this for real? I hope that's not true! Just the idea that my overland journey along the Silk Road was going to be interrupted because Azerbaijan has changed its visa rules sounds - what? - unfair! I've been thinking about this journey for over a year - and Azerbaijan is not supposed to be a "difficult" country visa wise.
With this kind of potential disruption, I just suddenly feel so tired. I can't focus on Tbilisi at all. I'm just wondering what will happen at the embassy tomorrow. So what happened after the embassy visit? Well, I slept most of the afternoon actually. Not your ideal adventure-crammed summer holiday!
One good thing today was the fact that Bahrom and I are staying at this home stay, with lots of people from all over the place. This evening, two guys from Tel Aviv decided to treat everybody to a very tasty pasta dish, while two Danish girls and a French guy shared a lot about their experiences of travelling in the region. This means that you get a very home-like atmosphere. True, there's no gym, pool, restaurant, A/C or 32 inch flat-screen TV, but what you get instead is a great social experience.
Why have I not stayed at a home stay before? Don't know!
The Silk Road Overland
Wednesday 13 July 2011
I went to the Azerbaijani Embassy with my two Letters of Invitation (LOIs) this morning to find out if it was really true that company-issued LOIs are not valid for visa applications any more. After one hour of queuing in the street, I found out it was. The gentleman at the embassy said, after looking at my visa application for two seconds (and I quote), "You need a Letter of Invitation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs." When asking him where I might get such a letter, he said, "No English."
Why Azerbaijan is so much against tourists visiting their country, I don't know. They are supposed to host next year's Eurovision Song Context, but I don't think they should be allowed to since Europeans are not welcome to visit their country (when I say not welcome, I mean the fact that they are asking for a particular document for your visa application and then they refuse to tell you how you can get hold of it - this is actually an exact repeat of what happened at the Azerbaijani Consulate in Dubai two weeks ago).
A French guy at Dodo's Homestay, where I'm staying, told me yesterday he's getting his Azerbaijani visa through a local travel agency called Xtour, so I went there after my visit at the Azeri Embassy. The agency told me they couldn't help as they "did not know what was happening I Azerbaijan. Maybe next week."
Anyway, with Azerbaijan out, I can't go to Baku to pick up my Uzbek visa, nor can I apply for a Turkmenistan transit visa. My overland Silk Road trip is quickly unravelling.
Bahrom has gone to xxx for the day and he's got the Lonely Planet for Georgia, so I don't really know where I am or what to see in this city. I tried to find a bookshop and a tourist information office around Liberty Square (I was told both would be there), but was unsuccessful in both endeavours.
When the going gets tough, I go for an extended nap. I spent the afternoon in bed and the evening at a nearby Internet cafe. I saw the French guy in the evening and he hasn't got his Azerbaijani visa either.
Tomorrow is another day.
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