The Alley Sweeper of Mardin

This patient old soul was found with his master sweeping the back alleys of Mardin, Turkey, an ancient town perched on the side of a rocky cliff overlooking the plains of Mesopotamia. 

The indignity of the Leave No Trace policy

As you can probably tell I did decide against going further east even though I could have air- freighted my motorcycle from Georgia to Kazakhstan but the cost did not really warrant it.

Armenia

3Gs Campsite

I spent two days relaxing at this campsite owned by a dutch couple in the hills above Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. I was a little reluctant to visit the capital as I had heard that, although an old city the "old" had been taken out of it over many years by Soviet central planning.

However I found the city to be a delight.

The Pink City

Known as the Pink City as many of the buildings are built with a pink colored volcanic rock

It is a city of parks and a lot of wide open plazas and wide shopping boulevards. Yes it does not have an intimate old town feel but it does have a wonderful feeling of openness and light.

Botero Statue

There seems to be a statue at every turn and this one by Colombian sculptor Botero characterized the "voluptuous" nature of the city.

Noravank Monastery

The country of Armenia, being a deeply Christian religious country has an abundance of monasteries found on the top of mountains, in deep canyons ( like this one at Noravank) and in any other out of the way place. Maybe this allowed the monks solitude away from temptations of the flesh. Until the tourists came along ........

I complied

Caves of Goris

The furthest east I am going to get on this trip was the town of Goris, renowned for it's caves, many of which were occupied until the mid 20th century.

Poppy Fields

On my way back through the countryside of Armenia the poppies were in full bloom. I am not sure if these are cultivated fields for " commercial" production or if they appear in fields that have been left dormant.

Alexandrapol Hotel

My last night in Armenia was spent in the Alexandrapol Hotel in Gyumri. What an amazing place recalling an age of elegance. Although it feels like it was built in Tsarist times it was only built sometime after 1988 as most of this city was destroyed by an earthquake which killed 60,000 people in the region.

Back to Turkey via Georgia

Thank you Google maps

I had a day of two border crossings from Armenia to Georgia and then from Georgia to Turkey via the Aktas Sinir Kapisi border crossing. Cutting across the corner of Georgia Google maps gave me two options. I chose the shorter one that took longer hoping to find roads more to my liking. I sure did!! Winding through farmers' fields and backyards I arrived at the border with a good splattering of cow poop on my moto.

Turkiye

Talat

The Turkish people are known for their abounding hospitality. I stopped in a little cay ( tea ) shop to avoid getting drenched in a thunderstorm and after a couple of glasses of tea and a toasted sandwich this man, Talat, refused to let me pay - such kindness.

Budding entrepreneurs

These teenagers had been put in charge of a tea shop on a slow Sunday afternoon and I happened to stop in to ( once again ) get out of a thunderstorm. What a delightful hour I spent being entertained by the banter between these 14 year olds. They made me tea and a sandwich and I expect made up the prices as they went along.

Requested photo

Somebody requested that I post a mug shot of myself to prove that I am not a robot making up this blog. Here it is! Unluckily the editing software failed miserably with not allowing for wrinkle removal.