An Autumn Ride in Eastern Europe
Zigzagging onwards, the current zig leads me along the arc of the Carpathian Mountains in a northeastern direction towards the ukrainian border and the crossing of Ulma.
Delta Trouble
Nothing much to tell about the sea passage from Batumi to Odessa, lots of time on my hand and not much to do except eating, sleeping and to catch up on diary writing. Time aboard was two and a half days, but the passage itself took only one and a half, the rest of the time consisted of waiting; for 20 hours the ferry lay off the port because the landing was occupied and 5 hours for customs.
Turning Point
After Tushetia, the Georgian Military Highway and the villages of Shatili and Mutso, I still wasn’t done with the Great Caucasus.
Beyond the Seven Mountains
Beyond the Seven Mountains, with the seven dwarves there dwells a beauty or so the tale goes. But no beauty like you might think now, deep in the Caucasian mountains, surrounded by 4000 m peaks lies the hidden valley of Tusheti with a landscape worthy of a fairy tale.
The King of the Hill
Coming back from Ngorno Karabakh, there was a plenty of stuff for me to do before I could leave Yerevan. Much to my surprise the tire from the UK actually arrived and I could replace the old one.
A Clash of Cultures
In Bushehr I decided to move on and leave Iran, but Persia wouldn’t let me go without a bang. To travel from the Persian Gulf to Armenia, I had to ride 1500 km, crossing all of Iran from South to North, thereby traversing its hottest regions, the Khuzestan plains in southwestern Iran
The Ultimate South
After the desert I returned to civilization and visited Shiraz, the third of the three cities, that apparently every first time visitor to Iran has to see. There I did…
Out Into the Desert
To get from Isfahan to Yazd one has to cross a desert. Together with Kenny, a motorcyclist from Australia whom I met in Isfahan, and enough water (that’s what you need in the desert, right?) we set off to reach Yazd and hopefully not die of thirst
Nightly Shenanigans
Today, I had a mountain range to cross. In between me and the Caspian Sea were the Alborz Mountains. With peaks exceeding 4000 m (Mt. Damavand being the highest with 5670 m) and a pass road that climbs up to 2200 m it divides the region in two distinctively different kinds of vegetation.