Episode 19

We often see people fishing in the smallest and dirtiest of ditches and wonder what can possibly survive in such an environment. Then we see people selling fish beside the road and wonder if they have been caught in these ditches. Even the Caspian is fairly well polluted these days according to the guide book, but you don't need the guide book to see just how much rubbish must get washed down into it, then there are all those oil rigs off shore, hundreds of them and D doubts that they come up to the same high standard as those in Alaska. From the look of the shore in those places where we have managed to get a glimpse of it, it certainly looked none too inviting, and there is often an oil induced rainbow across Baku Bay.

After Georgia and all those funny squiggles that they call an alphabet L had thought that perhaps it would be a bit easier coming to a country that has adopted the Latin alphabet. However, they didn’t adopt it as we know and recognize it. They have most of the letters that we are familiar with in English plus they have some with 'tails’ or ‘squiggles’ attached, then they have one that is just like our ‘e’ except upside down and back to front. L has a vague feeling that ‘Ə’ may be an ancient latin letter, not one used in modern western alphabets. It makes me very nervous when L gets these vague feelings, as nervous as a stuffed toy can get that is: These people have changed from Arabic that was adopted in the 4th or 5th century when the place was overrun by the Arabs and Islam introduced, to Cyrillic in Soviet times, then in the early 1990’s after independence from Russia they adopt another new system. Must be quite difficult for older people and those that are a little bit backward:

With the rain tipping down we continued on into the SE corner of this country, towards the Talysh mountains and the Iranian border. From the quite arid area around Baku and the Aberson peninsula there was no sign of improvement until in the region of the nature park where there was the swampy lake and the salt brush grew somewhat better and some dry grasses. Even though it was wet when we were there and had been so for some days there was little sign of fresh new growth on the grasses and no sign at all of any young green plants emerging as one often gets in desert areas very, very quickly after rain.

At Salyan we crossed the biggest of the rivers here, though it’s not very large, it flows into the Caspian about 60k’s further on. It’s source is in the high Caucasus in Georgia. Along the way it has a few name changes as far as L can work out.

After Bilasuvar we came into a swamp that continued for some way before giving way to rich farm land where lots of vegetables are growing. Couldn’t really see which crops are growing in the tipping rain but there were lots of veggie stalls selling potatoes, carrots, pumpkins, capsicums, cabbage, and so L thinks that some of these crops are probably grown around here. Pomegranates are in season now too, with a great many small stalls just selling them. L says she must find some nice ripe ones and try them as she hasn’t eaten one of them in a very long time. Perhaps some persimmons too if we see some nice ripe ones of them:

At Masalli which is still on that very flat plane it was very wet with water lying everywhere, we turned towards the mountains to go to Yardimli. It was a pretty drive up into the hills with the rain letting up for a while and a bit of sunshine peeping through now and again. We saw a big waterfall that is in two stages. The lowest has a cluster of cafes around the bottom but a bit of a walk along a very wet and muddy track brought us to the bigger waterfall upstream. With all the recent rain it was probably at its best as in the dry season it can peter out altogether.

At another spot we saw the little gas vents in the hillsides that also are tiny springs. The water is bubbling gently out of the ground with small flames dancing around it. L tried to catch the flame in a photo but failed miserably, but she did manage to get a bit of video that she will have to remember to load when she gets an internet connection that is good enough. The quick load option is not working on the blog site for reason known only to itself and it’s very slow loading the photos one at a time. She spent two hours last night loading 20 photos and 2 short videos.

Yardimli is quite a pretty place up in the hills, not really very high at 650m. There is only a little agriculture, mostly it’s just cattle and sheep and goats.

We had to return to Masalli and drove on to Lankaran though a procession of drab, litter ridden villages. To add to the usual of potholes, unpredictable drivers and pedestrians we also seem to have gained cyclists that pride themselves on riding into the on coming traffic. The car is continually being sprayed with muddy water from the puddles and pot holes, yet we saw a group of young school girls walking home beside the road with pristine white blouses and black skirts, white tights, not a spot on them, how do they do it?

We drove up another long valley towards Leric at 1100m. Again we looked out for these tea plantations the guide book mentions but didn’t see anything that vaguely resembled a tea bush, let alone a plantation. We did however, see a ‘resort’ complete with water park but not a soul around. It was, admittedly, not the weather for a water park with light drizzle, fog over the hill tops and quite chilly on this October morning. We didn’t go beyond Leric, not much point really because any view was enshrouded in fog and the Iranian border is not far off and the border guards apparently get a bit twitchy if foreigners get too close.

Instead we drove down the coast to Astara. We didn’t go beyond the town centre here either as the border is just 5 mins walk further on. We did go down to the sea front and found that a new promenade has been built complete with street lighting. The strip of land between the road and the promenade, about 50-70m wide is being landscaped and at present is little more than one large bog. Not at all picturesque: Some very large new houses are under construction opposite this new promenade. A kilometre further north and the promenade ends and the gray gravelly beach extends right up to the road. There is a life guard tower in the middle and a vast amount of litter spread all around. L, braving the elements walked over to the waters’ edge but not even she was tempted to put a foot in that dirty, mucky looking water. Another few hundred metres further on there was big beach umbrellas and cabanas, restaurants and snack bars all closed up for the season.

We returned to Lankaran and went into the city centre and were amazed by the central square and all the new buildings, many of which are apartment blocks just behind it. The main business part of the centre though is a few blocks away from here. Again we went along the coast only to find that the railway line separated us from the shore for quite a way before we saw beach umbrellas and restaurants the other side of the line, sandwiched between it and the sea. The beach nor the water looked any more inviting that the last place so L is going to forgo any idea of having a swim in the Caspian for the present at least. We have seen citrus groves but still no sign of a tea plantation.

As we drove back over the same route past the town of Masalli L finally twigged that what she had thought were vegetables in neat little rows are actually the tea plantations that are still quite small and therefore young one would suppose. They all seem to have drip irrigation to water them. As some of the adjoining fields had grape vines then it would seem that this isn’t a particularly wet climate, though it didn’t stop raining while we were around.

It was decided that we wouldn’t head back to Baku, but head west and make our way back towards the border. The rain persisted for much further than we had expected and even after it stopped the there were still large puddles all along the way until we reached Agcabadi, after which the sun put in a bit of an appearance though it was still quite damp all around.

Over much of the country there are water canals and irrigation channels diverting water from one place to another. During the soviet period a great deal of this was done with no thought to the environment impact with the result that in Kazakhstan the Aral sea just about disappeared. L doesn’t know if there have been any major problems here. The diverted water certainly sustains quite a lot of agriculture through valleys that would otherwise be quite dry.

All along this route a water channel paralleled the road until around Yevlax where we crossed the major river and passed through some very arid hills that are also picturesque. Then we came to an area of broad acre farming where large tracks of land were laying in fallow, perhaps they will be planted with winter wheat shortly. Around Goybulaq we rejoined the valley we’d initially travelled through when we first entered but on a different road. We noticed lots of orchards of a fruit or nut tree that we didn’t recognize, sometime L will have to try and find out what sort of tree this was. It was about 4m high and multi stemmed.

And so we left Azerbaijan via the same border crossing that we had entered. We had considered going up another valley but the map showed that border crossing as being closed to foreigners and as we didn’t want to back track several hundred k’s we took that easier option.

Back in Georgia D finds the drivers far more aggressive especially in the towns. There was some sense of order in Azerbaijan that seems to be lacking here. Even pedestrian crossing worked in Baku, though one didn’t linger on them.

Now we are back visiting churches and monasteries. A 6th century convent we accidently came across that is very simple and plain and from the same period originally, the Ikalto Monastery that was once one of the two major centres of learning in Georgia attracts loads of visitors.

We did plan on visiting the 17th century fort at Telavi, however, for some inexplicable reason it was closed when we visited so we decided to give it a miss. We did get to see the 900 year old plane tree nearby. I got my photo taken on the tree, then I promptly fell out of it. L says it’s just as well I’m a stuffed toy or I’d be well and truly concussed. A couple of nice young girls admired me and that quickly cheered me up and we got photographed together.

Driving back over a pass we’d crossed about 2 weeks ago L saw the lovely mosaic of autumn colours she is so fond of. It was really lovely on the northern side, the southern side is a little behind. We passed through the southern suburbs of Tbilisi and headed off in a westerly direction on a very good minor road. Much of the way was forested and we drove over two low passes where the autumn colours have yet to reach their best. We passed down a long wide valley past two small lakes and some large dairy herds then in a small village we saw a sign for a Nunnery cheese shop. Perhaps all those cows belong to the convent or perhaps they just buy the milk off the farmers, that is the most likely L thinks. Anyway we found the church, a tiny little stone building down the rough stony and muddy lanes of the village but not sure if the shop was close by as we saw no more signs for the shop. Being a Sunday afternoon quite late we thought it best not to intrude on the Nuns though no doubt they wouldn’t have minded.

We were heading for another cave settlement, this one near the Turkish border not far from the town of Akhalkalaki. After this town the road passed through a series of very pretty narrow gorges with a rushing mountain stream beside. We passed a new small dam, the dam wall was leaking quite badly. Perhaps not a good idea to camp near the stream just downstream of that dam:

The Khertvisi fortress sits on a bit of a rocky outcrop overlooking the junction of two swift flowing streams with high mountains behind. Quite a strategic position probably. From reading the sign L learnt that there was some sort of fortification here in the 4th-3rd centuries BC when Alexander passed this way. L and I climbed up and had a look about here but there really wasn’t much to see, it looked better from a distance than up close. A bit further on a bit of stone wall is all that remains of what was once a slave market and Caravanserai. Then just a few more k’s brought us to the first of two cave monastery complexes very near each other.

The first we came to Vanis Kvabebi is the oldest being from the 8th century AD. It is a much simpler complex being built by hermit monks. There are a great many caves here on 16 levels. It was partially destroyed by an earthquake in 1089, then overrun by the Persians and the Ottomans in quick succession in the 16th century. Presently there are a hand full of monks living there.

L took me with her as we climbed up the steep rough track then up stone steps and finally steel and wooden ladders, the ladders were fine, it was after the top of the such ladders where there had once been steps dugs out of the rock that were now worn away that things got difficult. It was slippery and L had problems getting a grip to heave herself and me upward, but finally we made it to the little church at the top. D came too and carried the camera. Going down got even more scary for me as I was in L’s coat and felt in imminent danger of toppling out on my head as we negotiated our way down those awkward bits. L and D wanted a cup of coffee when we got back to the car, I would have been happier with a couple of valium to settle my nerves. Only two other visitors here, a couple of young Lithuanian cyclists:

At the Vardzia cave complex there were several coaches and many cars parked. Also we had to pay an entrance fee and then we got one of the audio guide things too. This complex faces south and had the sun shinning right onto the rock face, just as well L thought to take the hats as we set out to have a look around.

This is a bigger complex with something like 168 caves still in existence. There is one little bit that dates from the 9th century but most of it is from the 12th century. It was not only a monastery but also a residential complex too on the eastern end. A later earthquake destroyed much of it, then it too suffered when the Persians, closely followed by the Ottomans overrun it in the 16th century. It did have a defence system with stone doors blocking off the corridors that connected the different caves but both the Persians and the Ottomans managed to breach these defences.

Again there was much climbing to be done and being in the sun as it was it soon affected both of my lot. Just as well we weren’t here in July. Although there were some new paths, some railing and some good steps there was still a couple of places where one had to take a great deal of care negotiating steep, narrow, and dark passages. However it wasn’t as scary for me as the earlier one. L said I was in need of a bath before, now I’m in even greater need of one, I really do look grubby. This is no good for my image I will have to have words with L.

Three k’s further up the valley there is a small nunnery that is quite modern. The Nuns appear to have a large number of hens and some cows and a large vegetable garden. They possibly run a small guest house that is just below the nunnery too.

We had to return as far as the Kvertvisi castle then follow the river downstream through a narrow valley and then a long gorge eventually arriving at the large town of Akhaltsikhe, the administrative centre of this region. It too has a castle on the hill above the town though it looks as if it has had a great deal of reconstruction.

Following the valley of the Mtkvari River we arrived in the spa resort town of Borjomi. Quite a pretty place nestled in a narrow valley between high wooded hills. On the western side of the town there is a national park but the only short walks are steep uphill climbs and D wasn’t feeling up to any of that. It was a holiday in Georgia on this day but it was really only the banks and internet shops that were closed, oh, yes, and Tourist information, even the municipal office was open, though we couldn’t see anyone inside. We didn’t try any spas.

Climbing up out of the valley through pine forest we arrived in the ski resort town of Bakuriani at around 1900m. Even though there is no sign of snow yet it seemed to be bristling with tourists and there are loads of small hotels and guesthouses to cater for the influx of ski enthusiasts when the season starts in December. It is supposed to be very popular with the Georgians as it is cheaper than the other resort we passed on the road to Kazbegi. Still climbing upward we came out of the plantation pine forest into open grass covered hills and crested the pass at 2470m before descending into a fertile valley where the potato crop was in full swing in fields of fertile black soil.

We headed for the border with Armenia and crossed over late one afternoon; Good job no-one asked for my passport:

© Lynette Regan 15th October 2014