What a cool place i am in, Tbilisi and i think it is possibly the most endearing capital i have been to. I arrived last night after 12 hours squashed in a mini bus and was straight out on the town. I got turned down on all my couch requests which was a pain but its Easter here (i know i was puzzled too) so most Georgians have gone home. Turns out Georgia is orthodox christian so they have a different calendar and this year i get two white Easters. It was snowing in the mountains :) wonder what the odds were on that one.
After dogubayazit i was pretty bored having been couch surfing then left to my own devices. I left after just a day and headed to kars to my next rendezvous with local students. Kars like erzurum doesn't have much for the wandering tourist but it does have great great people. I ended up staying again for four days in which time i visited the castle which was ok, but also hitch hiked out to the ancient city of ani and went to a Turkish wedding but more on that later. In kars i stayed with Hayrettin and his friends Cihan and the best cook in turkey Burcu :) like all students we ended up staying in bed most days till two haha i am getting seriously lazy!! Unlike erzurum these guys were English students so it was much easier to talk to them and make friends here. Along with this came the inevitable questions about grammar lol which i still have no idea about at all.
After one day in Kars three of us decided to hitch hike out to the ancient city of ani which was about 40km out of town. Ahh the pleasure of hitch hiking :) it all started so well we left early and after three very interesting rides, one in what was possibly the oldest car still working in the world and also a kangarooing bumpy off road detour with a learner driver we were there. The city doesn't have too much left but was once a major site on the silk route and as i am following this pretty essential stopping point for me. The area is pretty earthquake prone so must is rubble but there were some cool churches and mosques with a dramatic mountain backdrop and a view over the closed border with Armenia. This border is still closed after the war and so for me to visit is a long detour through Georgia haha this region blows the mind for its relationships between people and countries. The ride back wasn't so great and took 5 hours to cover the 40km which involved sitting at the side of an incredibly empty road for ages and also walking endlessly to the horizon. We did make it back and to a Turkish wedding when we were picked up as it got dark by a fellow guest. I am so glad we made it to the wedding was such a cool experience :D not a drop of booze in sight but everybody dancing with the traditional moves which fortunately was simple so i could join in. To be fair i didn't just join in i put them to shame with some of the moves i was busting out lol
After that it was another heartfelt goodbye and the hottest bus ride ever to batumi in Georgia. Country number 51!! over halfway to my life time goal :) I went to batumi to get my Azerbaijan visa after the consulate in kars said no :( application in and everything no problems but the cost of 100 quid for a week seemed excessive. So the plan changed yet again and i left batumi which is photogenic but has nothing else and headed for the mountains. (plus nobody in batumi smiles ever!!!) Batumi has had so much investment and has many 5 star hotels after the old president put so much money into it, but the new president has withdrawn the support. So there are epic buildings standing empty and being off season the city is dead which is a bit creepy. The mountains though are always a good outlet and i spent a few days exploring traditional villages and attempting and failing the 3 day hike to the highest village in Europe. Even now the snow is deep and i had to catch a ride. I stopped around for the Easter feast which was essentially meat and vodka before taking the bus yesterday to Tbilisi. This city is just completely regenerating itself and there are so many cool new buildings as well as the traditional old ones. Its a pleasure to walk around and just to be here sat in a cafe in the sun is great. Not so much time here which is a shame but got to get back to the sight seeing :) its a cool country but so much of it is occupied by the Russians or has claimed Independence you cant see everything. But we will do our best!! Enjoy the photos there are some cool ones
Tucker
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