Turkmenbashi There were 18 other tourists on an overland adventure tour on the ferry. They are on a 6 month excursion on a big converted truck. The ferry trip across the Caspian took 14 hours. We anchored a little after noon to wait for the previous rail ferry to clear the dock. The ferry docked at 6:30, and we unloaded at 9:30. Then the fun began. The Turkmenistan entry process is incredibly slow, tedious, and incomprehensible. Everything is written by hand and stamped several times. Wehad to visit 10 different windows, some several times, make 4 different payments in two different currencies, and collect up 14 different documents (all filled in by hand). We set a new record. Into customs at 9:30 PM and out at 7:00 AM. Nine and one half hours just to get ... read more

Sheki If it is a border crossing day, it must be raining! Another border crossing in the rain. That makes five in a row. The contrast between Tbilisi and the rest of Georgia is huge. Tbilisi is full of BMWs and Mercedes. The country side is less full of old and unrecognizable vevicles and the Sprinter van minibuses with crazy drivers. The country side looks quite poor and provided new traffic hazards to avoid - horse and donkey carts in abundance, and a few tractors with very wide plows. We have seen a few carts before, but today there were dozens hauling all kinds of farm stuff. The Azerbaijan border crossing was less trouble than Georgia. In Azerbaijan almost everybody waves or honks or flashes their lights. Lots of school kids were taking pictures with their ... read more

Kars After some motorway driving, we took a really nice road along a river to Kars, our last stop in Turkey. We got to avoid more cows, goats, sheep, and tractors along the way. Finding the hotel was an adventure, becsuse the main street is closed for construction, and the one way street system has recently been changed. The GPS doesn't know the changes, but after driving through small streets and the market street I got to the hotel. I think it was largely luck, because I was trying to get back out of town to start over. Near Kars are the ruins of the ancient Armenain capital of Ani. It is amazingly large, with a few buildings remaining along with some of the wall. It is just inside the Turkish border, and there are Armenian ... read more

Mount Nemrut After an interesting day of eating a lot of dust in road construction, getting somewhat lost trying to find the road not on the map, and then being sorry we did, we got to Mt. Nemrut, the home of the giant carved heads. The road is skinny, twisty, and steep. Then there is a good climb to get to the heads. Unlike many tourist sites, they look just like the pictures. Our hotel was pretty basic, and was a special adventure because they had no electricity, and therefore no lights or hot water. We ate dinner by headlamp and went to bed early. We did have lights to see to pack up in the morning and head off to Ezurum.... read more

Safranbolu We took the ferry across the Bosporous in Istanbul and headed east to Safranbolu. It is a small old town with steep cobblestone streets and some interesting architecture. We are staying in the caravansari, which has been converted to a hotel. It seems to be a tourist attraction for the town.... read more