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Georgia Armenia Bicycle Tour
  • Where's Woully Wandering.
  • Where's Woully Wandering.

Georgia Armenia Bicycle Tour

Bicycle touring and discovering while meandering up and over passes. Baca selengkapnya
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  • Where's Woully Wandering.Georgia Armenia Bicycle TourPelancong
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    Mkstheka Soviet train

    27 September, Georgia ☁️ 15 °C

    A quick 55km ride with strong feeling legs to the unpronounceable town of Mkstheka. Resting in the park waiting to catch an old Soviet train for a two hour ride to Khashuri costing 1 Gel, ie 38 cents. I have to say it looks surprisingly modern, it's probably been replaced with a newer electric train. But the station is old and dilapidated, even the clock doesn't work anymore.

    I'm avoiding the traffic of Tbilisi and getting a quick relocate through a less than interesting area. I'm well on my way south now, even though I was near the northern border just 2 days ago. Small country.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Borjomi

    28 September, Georgia ☀️ 20 °C

    Rode the 35km into Borjomi on a back road and a long section of truck infested main road to an apartment that has a laundry machine. I am exhausted from lack of sleep and a fairly active schedule, so this is a two day resting stopover.

    There is a sulphur bath at the end of a 3km hike through the woods. Ward a Belgian from Ghent and I engage in conversation and end up continuing over dinner in the fancy but inexpensive Crowne Plaza restaurant. Ward has been in a wheelchair for ten years due to an accident and he is coping really well with that. It's nice to speak Dutch the whole evening and the conversation goes deep into spirituality.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Down for the count

    30 September, Georgia ☁️ 17 °C

    Caught a cold.

    I moved to a new place and I crashed in the bed in the afternoon even though I didn't fall asleep I got some rest. I got a nice walk through town in some areas I hadn't seen and did some shopping and got a bunch of the mineral spring water.

    I paid for another day so I'll have two full days here and three nights at a minimum, maybe I'll add another. It's also raining buckets.

    Got the Oliver visit plans all dialed and a reservation for 4 days in Yerevan.

    I still have to figure out what to do with the bicycle and how to get to Armenia.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Bakuriani ski resort

    3 Oktober, Georgia 🌧 10 °C

    It's definitely fall now, colder, rainier, shorter days. Boy, do I love spring, I guess I'll plan for the southern hemisphere next fall.

    So I set out in the partial sunshine thinking I would have a perfect 3 to 4 hour window to make it to the next place. About halfway the heavens opened up and the downpour started. I waited under a tree twice but in the end pushed on and got to a convenience store. You know it's cold outside when the drink in the fridge is warmer than your hands.

    The poor construction guys were working in this rain trying to dig holes that promptly flooded. The whole road is cut up through the entire town.

    Feet and hands turned half white due Reynaud's syndrome, but I got hot pretty quickly by the fire with a cup of tea. Since I had dinner in town already I might just be in bed pretty quick. Alas that was not to happen.

    I take a picture of the sunset and see a yellow panel saying the pass is closed. There is a full-time police check on top, it is the national security area for the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline, an enormous, 1,768 km underground crude oil pipeline that pumps roughly one million barrels of oil per day from the Caspian Sea (Azerbaijan), cutting across Georgia, and ending at the Mediterranean coast in Turkey. Next to it lays the massive South Caucasus Gas Pipeline (SCP). Tomorrow is a detour, no wind swept volcanic plateau ride, a valley road with traffic instead.

    When I show a picture of the panel to the owner of the hotel and other people they say oh no no that panel needs to be removed everybody goes... 😜
    So I'll go .....    Baca selengkapnya

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    Tskhratskaro Pass

    4 Oktober, Georgia ☁️ 8 °C

    A cup of coffee from the machine in the supermarket and some food for the road. I'm going to tackle the big pass, at worst I will get turned around if it is actually closed for the sign.

    It's a wide dirt road with huge potholes that large dump trucks are driving through hauling full loads down from the mountain somewhere.

    I finally see a regular passenger car meaning that it is actually open, as is often the case in Georgia signs don't mean anything, just do what the locals do.

    The past leads to a high plateau which has incredible vistas. There is a cold wind blowing and I am wearing all my clothes and the thick full gloves. The scenery is stunning in the far distance you can clearly make out the volcanoes.

    Down in the valley on a tractor track I come through a village where they are stacking hay and I am invited in for coffee and get to talk to the crew. They pretty much work all the time on the farm there is so much to do. 30 cows and potatoes and sugar beets are harvested.

    Khertvisi castle stands on a rock overlooking three valleys. It is stunningly well preserved. One of these valleys is a significant historical location in Georgian history - Vardzia.

    The Airbnb has not been operating for five years is what the man gestures to me. So I find a new place with Aleksandre, where I have a fun-filled conversation with him and a French guest and a few chachka shots.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Vardzia

    5 Oktober, Georgia ☁️ 6 °C

    Frederique and Aleksandre for dinner and again for breakfast, thankfully no Chachka so early.

    Short ride to one the most significant sites in medieval Georgian history. Vardzia is a complex of 600 rooms, 13 stories tall, hewn into a South facing hard rock wall, hidden at the end of a valley. Queen Tamara the most loved leader held court here. From the late 1100s to 1551 it was also a religious center. In 1283 an earthquake caused large chunks of the wall to break away. In 1551 the Persians sacked and looted the enormous treasures held here. Where are those now?

    I met father and son motorcyclists from Switzerland. Then I climbed the many lacets to the plateau where my phone promptly went black. No reviving it, it's late, clouds on the horizon, a memory of the road ahead, no idea what the hotel is called but I do know in what city. The planned shortcuts are not possible in those conditions. I stuck to the main dusty road to find that the trucks had to go so slow to negotiate the car sized potholes that I was passing them 3 at a time.

    I recharge a little at a shop, the final 16km should be fine, though into the wind and rain, but then serious calf cramps plague good progress. But I did get a palatial room, eat some ramen and pass out.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Armenia

    6 Oktober, Armenia ☁️ 13 °C

    It's cold and blustery and these are the last few kilometers of Georgia before the Armenian border. The quantum entanglement wants to let me know I got too lucky with no flats in this country so I do get one in the final 5 km. Georgia would have been the first country where I would not have had any flats, ever.

    They are burning wood for coals at a little restaurant so I go in for coffee and breakfast. It's wonderful and run by two bald stocky super friendly guys.

    I made another stop for a hearty beef stew at the border truck inspection stop. The high volcanic plateau is endless and the road stretches on over the next and the next hill.

    This border area does not hold much interest, I visit an Armenian market and look for a room for a cold and rainy night. I miss sleeping in my tent and my little stove somehow got lost. It's not the right time for camping. Not much choice for rooms so I go for a nice place again. I'm spoiling myself, not something I ever do, but it's easy to get used to.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Hartashen Megalithic avenue

    7 Oktober, Armenia ☁️ 9 °C

    After fixing my Armenian flat and a scrumptious breakfast I set out into the farmers' fields nearby where two avenues of stones have been set 3 wide about a meter apart in long rows. Nobody knows who, when or why. So I get curious.

    In addition to what is found in Wikipedia, I observe that both sets of rows lean slightly. On the steeper slope more so. I think this is the effect of snow leaning on the stones as the snowpack creeps down the hill during winter. How many years would it take to lean a straight standing stone this much? That might tell us when.

    Why? Religious or ceremonial is probably not the reason, I think the work would have been more precise. Astronomical not likely either, the one row clearly closes off the small valley although a small section of stones is buried or moved. The other row points right at the end of the row closing the valley. I also think the work isn't finished, there would have been a full enclosure I'm gathering.

    Who? My best guess is they were bored shepherders. When? Maybe a few hundred, maybe a thousand years ago. The idea that this could have been done by ancient tribes from 3000 plus years ago seems unlikely, I think the stones would have been buried deeper. I can still see smaller stones at the base propping up some of the stones.

    That was a fun way to spend the first hours of the day.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Gyumri

    7 Oktober, Armenia ⛅ 15 °C

    Time to ride into the city. My cold is still trying to get out of my chest. A long day is not advised especially since the weather is cold and wet. 44km with 500m gain or 33km with 230m gain? It's an easy call. Then it's raining harder and harder, two hats and my buff are on my head, water is running in my shoes, I motor on uphill and down the big descent into the city where the storm has already passed.

    I book yet another great hotel room, that's 3 for 3.

    A reconnaissance around town yields a few pictures. What mostly stands out is how much Armenians like sweets and the number of flower shops that are in the second largest city in this country of just 3 million. The Armenians could teach the Georgians a thing or two about paving, the roads are far better here.

    The iron fountain was built in the center of the polytechnic university in 1982. A mere 6 years later 80% of the buildings in this city were destroyed in an earthquake. Many have still not been rebuilt. As if wars, genocide, geographical challenges and poverty weren't enough.

    Snorhakalachu is 'thank you' in Armenian.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Spitak Stepanavan Pass

    8 Oktober, Armenia ☀️ 15 °C

    I saw a dead man. There was a funeral, the service was over and the road was full of people dressed in black as the coffin was carried out of the church. I stopped, took my helmet off, stayed by the side of the road. The pal bearers walked by with an open casket.

    The trail points up, the road gets narrow and then becomes a grassy track so steep I have to push the bike. 1200 meters later I'm on the top and I can see landmarks in Georgia as well as Mt Aragats near Yerevan.

    It is finally a sunny day, I had no idea what to do and at the breakfast buffet I find this obscure line across a mountain range. Adventure called. It turned out totally epic with a 14km descent into a wild valley. Three farmers and their animals and one tourist for miles and miles around, that's it.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Odzun

    9 Oktober, Armenia ☁️ 14 °C

    From camp into to the town of Stepanavan, got a bite and rode to Lori Berd, a fortress started in the 1000s. It had an unusual number of amenities like running hot water.

    From there following the giant crack in the volcanic high plateau crust that now has a river running through it. Stunning scenery. Early to the room and a sudden but foreseeable thunder storm let loose.

    Do you think coffee machines like this would be a business opportunity in the USA?    Baca selengkapnya

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    Monasteries

    10 Oktober, Armenia ☀️ 13 °C

    Odzun church right outside my room took me by surprise, maybe because I did not expect the vibe.

    I rode down into Debed valley, met an Italian bicycle touring and later a Dutchman, both older single guys escaping reality.

    Sanahin monastery was organically old, very old, I have seen many churches but this one had a very special energy. The dark walls, the light beams, the space, everything just radiated ancientness. I was lucky to have to place almost to myself. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanahin_Monastery

    On the map it's a logical and easy jaunt to the next monastery on the plateau between the peaks and the valley. But it turns out a portion of it is a true hiking path down the cliff wall. I have to do it like the boaters, portage the bags and the bike separately. It's a whole new experience, I've never had to do this.

    On the way down the cliff is the entrance to Lastuer cave, inhabited as early as 8000 years ago as evidenced by an obsidian knife. https://www.lastuer.am/#exhibits

    The Haghpat monastery is overrun with tourbus ethnicities. It does not have much feel, sure it's an impressive structure but it doesn't breathe. It took an enormous effort to get there, you just never know. However, in it's heyday it was the most important monastery in Armenia.

    Half way down the hill I eat dinner on a sunny deck. Armenian soup with sour cream and bread. I look at camp sites and the best one is back up the 8% hill. Oh well, here's to another 300 meters!

    I have a second dinner with Franck and Christelle who have been touring central Asia and eastern Europe for 2 years in their van.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Gavar

    11 Oktober, Armenia ☀️ 14 °C

    I'm not getting out of the campground very fast. The sun comes up over the ridge very late and I would like to have my tent dry before I pack it up. This leads to an invitation for a cup of coffee with the French couple, And that turns into a wonderful 2-hour conversation in the sun under a tree on the edge of the canyon.

    It is a transportation day for me. I need to get in position for tomorrow's bike ride over a ridge which will be a great adventure but in order to do so I need a taxi to reposition. This is a good idea because this is a big trucking route with lots of climbing. And I missed a very smokey nasty 2 km long uphill tunnel. The driver is great as we stop in a few places, he is proud to show off his country.

    By Sevan I get dropped off and I ride the final 35 km along the coast of the lake which sits at 2,000 m altitude surrounded by peaks.

    In Gavar I join Manuel, a Spanish 60 year old with a Chinese girlfriend, for dinner. He is a psychologist who has written seven books. He is extremely current on politics and social pressures in Europe and we have fascinating conversation about what is happening in the world and what direction we can extrapolate from what we see happening.    Baca selengkapnya

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    It's a 10

    12 Oktober, Armenia ⛅ 11 °C

    The 10th day of the 10 day countdown after being out with a cold in Borjomi for 5 days. Those 10 days went by fast.

    An audacious plan to cut across the high ridge between lake Sevan and Yerevan following the sheepherder paths. 80km 1285 meters vertical. That didn't sound too bad.

    The early photos show how far I still had to go and that was deceiving, a few false summits and then instead of dropping down the other side, a plateau went on for an hour if riding undulating between extinct volcanoes. But then the 27km downhill dirt track was a hoot.    Baca selengkapnya

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    Armenian History Museum

    13 Oktober, Armenia ☁️ 19 °C

    It's an incredibly well done chronological display of humanity in one location.

    Kingdoms come and go, insane efforts made, apogies, stumbles and falls, complete destruction, human suffering and triumph. A human fascination, delusions of power and grandeur, ingenuity, sudden growth under stability, religion as organized spirituality disguised as population control, arts as an expression of beauty and love, a collision of all human emotions. How long ago did all this start? Much longer ago than we might think.Baca selengkapnya

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    Yerevan City

    13–14 Okt, Armenia ⛅ 18 °C

    Meandering around the city with a tour guide and on my own. The city has lots of character and a more modern vibe than Tbilisi.

    Oneways are not something you will find in Armenia, traffic just squeezes through whichever way it can. A centimeter is plenty of room!

    I visited the standard exposition at the Armenia History museum. It traces Armenia from the stone age to the 1915 genocide and beyond. It's extremely well done. It's worth it's own post. The same is true for the Matenadaran showcasing an incredible collection of ancient manuscripts.

    The water fountains define this city. There are many and they are beautifully done and a joy to watch.

    Masquerade, a ballet by Aram Khachaturian was excellent and a joy to watch.    Baca selengkapnya

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