I had arranged to have breakfast with Nicholas so at 730am I duly sat down and let him order the traditional fare in this area. To be honest, I am a bit bored with the usual bread, olives, cheese, egg and salad I have been served since I got to Greece…..it is the same everywhere…so I was looking forward to something different. With my 'Say Yes' hat on, I started into some sort of soup. He advised adding heaps of salt and tons of garlic as was everyone else in the cafe. I got the first spoonful to my lips then this involuntary gag reflex started…..seems the soup was tripe and cartilage and my nose spotted it just in time and hit the panic button. I tried a couple of times but it kept happening so I had to decline and ask for the usual. I don't think Nicholas was that impressed. Seems vodka is the thing to have for breakfast here too. Everyone in the cafe had a shot with their soup.
I decided to head for Armenia via the long road as 1) I couldn't be sure I could get a visa at the nearest crossing point 2) I have to come back to Georgia from armenia as the Turkey-Armenia border is closed and 3) I didn't fancy another bone shaking couple of hours. As I was saddling up, a small crowd gathered and wanted to know where I was going and how much the bike cost. With no language in common, it was a point and gesticulate sort of conversation. People here are endlessly fascinated by someone travelling on a bike…..I feel like some sort of E list celebrity whenever I stop.
At the start, the temperature was a pleasant 23C but by the time I passed through Tbilisi it had risen to 35C and I was feeling a touch toasty. I have become fairly well acclimatised to the heat now and also have a solution which cools me down…..wearing a T-shirt soaked in water and as long as I keep moving I stay pretty cool. I got diverted past a street market by some police and ended up in the middle of nowhere. No roadsigns, no GPS, no map….just compass bearings. Eventually the road ran out and became 10K of the usual bone shaking rubble. I pushed on and some police pointed me right and I headed for the Azeri border as I couldn't find the road to the Armenian one. I though I might be able to transit the 30K or so but no joy.
A 1 hour detour over some fantastic roads mixed with boulders and I stopped for petrol a few kilometres from the border. This young lady asked for spin on the back and I duly obliged. The border crossing was simple enough except I had to buy a visa and 10 days local insurance to keep the police happy.
On the way, the police diverted me over a small mountain and I noticed on the GPS that I was in Azerbaijan for about 15k. As I was passing a pretty church surrounded by empty houses, I took out my camera to take a photo and the police jumped up and stopped me….miming rifle shooting…..guess I was in some sort of sensitive disputed area. The scenery was pretty good and the roads better than Georgia so I ploughed on with nothing more than the word 'Yerevan' to guide me at each junction. Roadsigns are like rocking horse poo here and those that are there are in Armenian and I didn't memorise the set of squiggles that signified my destination. I did my best tourist in distress pointing at the options and
Yerevan is the furthest point I will get on this trip so from tomorrow I will be heading homeward. I had thought I would have a blow out tonight as it is a sort of celebration of the end point reached but when the lady asked for USD140 for a room, I went all stingy and found some cheaper lodgings in a local hotel. I had a sort of 'there and back again' moment at the end of the day when I looked out my window and saw mount Ararat….you know the one where Noah allegedly parked the Ark…..If he ran aground on that thing, the water must have been very deep indeed. It is nearly 4000m high.
I had arranged to have breakfast with Nicholas so at 730am I duly sat down and let him order the traditional fare in this area. To be honest, I am a bit bored with the usual bread, olives, cheese, egg and salad I have been served since I got to Greece…..it is the same everywhere…so I was looking forward to something different. With my 'Say Yes' hat on, I started into some sort of soup. He advised adding heaps of salt and tons of garlic as was everyone else in the cafe. I got the first spoonful to my lips then this involuntary gag reflex started…..seems the soup was tripe and cartilage and my nose spotted it just in time and hit the panic button. I tried a couple of times but it kept happening so I had to decline and ask for the usual. I don't think Nicholas was that impressed. Seems vodka is the thing to have for breakfast here too. Everyone in the cafe had a shot with their soup.
I decided to head for Armenia via the long road as 1) I couldn't be sure I could get a visa at the nearest crossing point 2) I have to come back to Georgia from armenia as the Turkey-Armenia border is closed and 3) I didn't fancy another bone shaking couple of hours. As I was saddling up, a small crowd gathered and wanted to know where I was going and how much the bike cost. With no language in common, it was a point and gesticulate sort of conversation. People here are endlessly fascinated by someone travelling on a bike…..I feel like some sort of E list celebrity whenever I stop. 
A 1 hour detour over some fantastic roads mixed with boulders and I stopped for petrol a few kilometres from the border. This young lady asked for spin on the back and I duly obliged. The border crossing was simple enough except I had to buy a visa and 10 days local insurance to keep the police happy.
On the way, the police diverted me over a small mountain and I noticed on the GPS that I was in Azerbaijan for about 15k. As I was passing a pretty church surrounded by empty houses, I took out my camera to take a photo and the police jumped up and stopped me….miming rifle shooting…..guess I was in some sort of sensitive disputed area. The scenery was pretty good and the roads better than Georgia so I ploughed on with nothing more than the word 'Yerevan' to guide me at each junction. Roadsigns are like rocking horse poo here and those that are there are in Armenian and I didn't memorise the set of squiggles that signified my destination. I did my best tourist in distress pointing at the options and 
Yerevan is the furthest point I will get on this trip so from tomorrow I will be heading homeward. I had thought I would have a blow out tonight as it is a sort of celebration of the end point reached but when the lady asked for USD140 for a room, I went all stingy and found some cheaper lodgings in a local hotel. I had a sort of 'there and back again' moment at the end of the day when I looked out my window and saw mount Ararat….you know the one where Noah allegedly parked the Ark…..If he ran aground on that thing, the water must have been very deep indeed. It is nearly 4000m high.
No comments:
Post a Comment