The Black Sea to the Caspian: September 2018

Tuesday 25 September 2018

Sunday 23 September 2018

In Munich

Feeding the sparrows at McDonald's.

It's a lot colder here!

The Georgian parliament building

The Georgian parliament building with a demonstration outside protesting about the disappearance and cover up of two people by the state.

Parks

They are very keen on little parks here and they nearly all have fountains.

Saturday 22 September 2018

9 April park

So now I'm in Tbilisi, sitting in a park, dedicated to an uprising on the 9th April 1989 which was put down, violently, by the Soviet Army. It happened on the street in front of my hotel.

From Wikipedia:

The April 9 tragedy refers to the events in Tbilisi, on April 9, 1989, when an anti-Soviet (but pro-Stalin) demonstration was dispersed by the Soviet Army, resulting in 21 deaths and hundreds of injuries.

I find the pro Stalin comment interesting.

Here's a memorial although there seem to be too many names.

It's here (click this link)

And this lady is also in the park, I don't know who she is, but some monkey has enhanced her pubic region with a black felt tip pen.

Bus to Tbilisi

And then on another minibus to Tbilisi past miles of filthy industry, belching smoke and then past acres of this squalid housing.

The border

Ive made it through the border. Very nice staff on both sides. The passport man made a joke about me being James Bond.

Here (click on this link)

The dear leader

His image is everywhere, I asked the taxi driver, Shaheen, by thumbs up or thumbs down whether he was good. Shaheen responded enthusiastically with two thumbs up. I thought Azerbaijan was riddled with corruption but that message doesn't seem to have reached him.

Another odd thing in both Georgia and Azerbaijan is that there don't seem to be any newspapers. In Greece you will see old men sitting, reading a paper and drinking coffee but here there are none. I wonder if that's a legacy from the Soviet past.

Friday 21 September 2018

Taxi

When I got to the bus station it was a desolate acre of tarmac studded with weeds, this is despite me being informed by a highly intelligent, English speaking young doctor that this was the place to catch a bus to Tbilisi. I asked directions from the taxi drivers and the Lord sent Shaheen Seem who is happy to take me to the border with Georgia for 80 manat (£36).

He's actually the safest driver in Azerbaijan, he sticks religiously to the speed limit, I wonder if he's got points in his licence. Main danger is from other road users, in Mercedes Benz, who a frustrated by his slowness.

A strange thing is that all the older people in Georgia and Azerbaijan seem to be unable to read a map, I seem to dimly remember reading something about maps being forbidden in Soviet countries to prevent the population getting ideas about leaving.

The vehicle is a 30 year old Lada and very good it is too. Perhaps lacking some of the luxuries that we have come accustomed to like air-con and power steering or automatic choke but it feels like it will go on forever. I suspect that they are very easy to work on and maintain and that's why there are thousands of them around.

Lack of beer

I'm in a Muslim area and there's no beer to accompany my meal tonight.

(click this link for location)

I'm looking forward to a decent pint!

On the bus

So now I'm on the bus but it's overbooked and from what I can make out I've got to sit on one of those little stools for part of the journey.

As it happens, the fat man and the boy sat on the stools, probably because of my age and seniority.

Observe that the driver is on his phone. The only discomfort is the screechy, Arabic style music.

The next stop

The next stop is Ganca or Gəncə. Bus leaves in an hour and I should be there at about 6:00.

Gəncə is in the centre of the map and Gebele, where I am now, is on the right and Tbilisi, which is where I have to be on Sunday is top left.

Better views

The ski lift

A great view from the top.

I'm standing here (click this link)

Or try this one (click here)

One for the photography club

Thursday 20 September 2018

Gebele

I'm here (click the link) sitting in a restaurant on my own.

I've had a pretty poor day. I missed the bus, I couldn't find anywhere to stay, when I did find a place on Booking.com the pin was in the wrong position and it took five locals to direct me to the place.

On top of that it turns out that Gebele is nothing to get excited about. I was recommended to come here by the man on the train.

Oh and it was raining earlier and the mountains, which I was going to go up, are shrouded in mist.

And now I've broken my golden rule and ordered meat: chicken because there's nothing without meat.

Still the beer's nice. Mustn't grumble.

Actually it was okay although I fed the cats half.

The bus station

I'm sitting on the bus waiting for it to set off for Gebele (click here)

I've been waiting 40 mins for it to depart, it seems that the stated times are just an indication.

A funny thing is that although I've paid for a legitimate ticket it's obvious that the driver is taking cash payments and not issuing any receipt.

Wednesday 19 September 2018

The views are stunning

Dung

They use dung for cooking and heating, I don't know whether my lunch was cooked on a dung fired stove.

And a nice Volga lorry.

My purchase

This girl came up to me and shyly dangled this miniature sock / slipper in front of me, obviously she wanted me to buy it.

So I paid the asking price of £2.20 it has occurred to me since that perhaps I was supposed to haggle.

I guess that she's made it. Anyway she was thrilled at the sale and proceeded to ride backwards and forwards in front of her house.

Lunch

Here is the lunch that I was given. It included homemade ewes milk yogurt and cheese. The yogurt was very tasty although I was alarmed by the fact that it was also fizzy. The green things are lamb wrapped in a vine leaf and there's also potato with lamb. I avoided the meat for obvious reasons.

And here is the lady that provided it.

Observe the gold teeth.

The highest village in Azerbaijan

I'm here now, (click here) if you put Google maps on satellite view you will probably be able to see the building that I am sitting in. I've rashly agreed to buy lunch from a local.