Kars

A very successful and smooth trip across Georgia and across the border on Tuesday. We really weren't sure how this was going to go, as the most common border crossing is at the Black Sea and would have required going a very long way out of our way and taking 2 days. Instead, we took a (very nice, comfortable, only slightly breakneck) marshrutka to Akhaltsikhe and got straight in a taxi to the border with a friendly driver who waved us out of Georgia.

Easy crossing over the border, there was no-one there and it took us about 10 minutes, and having feared we might struggle to find a taxi or a ride, we decided to hitchhike and were picked up by the first person passing, who was Mustafa, a lorry driver from Kayseri. We sat up in his very comfortable cab, enjoyed panoramic views over the mountains, and he made us lunch in Ardahan on his little stove.

The marshrutka then swung by the bus station to pick us up and we were in Kars by 3pm, which was when we'd optimistically hoped to get there and we arrived 5 minutes after Tamar, who flew in from Istanbul to meet us for the next bit of this leg - exciting to have friends and company!

We stayed in a ridiculously warm and very comfortable apartment, which was nice because Kars is the coldest place we've been since the Himalayas - it's between -6° and 6° here and there's snow and ice on the ground. We wore all of our clothes and the town is full of braziers on the street to keep you warm and very smoky little tea houses. Add to that a lot of basalt Baltic Architecture and the whole vibe means it lives up to its reputation as the Siberia of Turkey.

Had lots of very warming Kars food which is all variations on cheese and carbs and menemen/Turkish breakfasts, tried the local turnip juice which is not the greatest, and got up early on Wednesday to take the bus to Ani, which is the ruins of a large 8th century Armenian city (yet another one destroyed by the Mongols) right on the border with Armenia. It was absolutely spectacular - incredible views across the plateau with mountains in the distance, some incredibly well preserved Armenian churches, and being right on the border, we watched the border guards patrolling and then, amazingly, listened to a group singing Armenian hymns over the gorge to Ani.

Also Kars is the cheese capital of Turkey so had to visit the local cheese museum. It was a bit of a weird combination of waxwork re-enactments of the cheesemaking process, highly technical and incomprehensible descriptions of the chemical process, and stuffed geese, but worth the £1 entry fee for entertainment value alone.

Top marks to Kars for intrigue and atmosphere but we're not unhappy to be heading south to somewhere a bit warmer.Читать далее