A night to remember
On our way to the border we got stopped for the umpteenth time by the police, but this time the policeman was a little Hitler and tried to steal our camera as it had pictures taken in Armenia on it! Quite how when we haven’t been there and have passports to prove it I don’t know. Perhaps we’d popped Taffy in a rucksack and climbed over the mountains took a few pictures and then climbed back! His policy was to try and separate me and Linda but we wouldn’t have any of it. He wanted to take Jon into the office and told Linda to stay in the van. We refused and said we...
Read MoreSniper Alley
Last night was the first night we’d found it hard to find somewhere to camp. The main reason for this was the non stop road works which made getting off the temporary road very difficult. In the end we stopped at a police checkpoint and they said we could camp there. At 7:30 the next morning they were banging the door wanting the tour with the chief examining the fridge and asking for a beer! Corruption is rife here and whilst I cleaned my teeth I saw through the bathroom windows two pay offs take place. Having said that all the police ever ask for from us is something English (for...
Read MoreLinda hurt in volcanic eruption!
We left the fire temple and, as it was a bit hotter, headed to fire mountain! No tiny eternal flame like fire for us on a day when it was 35C, let’s have half a hillside of raging fire like an effect from a theme park! Fire mountain is a hill that was accidentally set on fire 50 years ago and is still merrily burning away. Obviously its not the hill that burns but the gas that continually escapes from under ground. The fire itself is about 20m long by about 2m high and burns much like a gas fire on Full pelt. It must have been a great sight to have seen the poor person who accidentally...
Read MoreThe Caspian
After 7927 km we have reached the Caspian. Sadly we didn’t come over the brow of a hill and sea the blue waters sparkling in the distance it was more we got off the metro and could smell it – not salty sea air with chips and vinegar from Aldeburg(oh that sounds sooo good!) – but a pungent oily smell. It wouldn’t matter how hot you were here in Baku you wouldn’t want to go in the water, at least not without the RSPB there to de oil you when you got out. Actually its not that bad, and certainly not as bad as the smell suggests, but you can clearly see lots of...
Read MoreNearly there!
The Khan’s Palace at Säki was our first tourist site in Azerbaijan and it is certainly an impressive way to start. All that remains of the Palace is one small two storey building made out of wood and stone. No glue or nails were used in its construction and it took 2 years to build and 8 to decorate – and before you ask, no it was way before my sister in laws time! It is covered in highly detailed bright colourful paint work on all but the floor and originally this would have had a carpet that reflected the patterns on the ceiling. The painting is of flowers, animals and scenes...
Read MoreWhat are we doing here?
After our previous nights storm we both woke up tired. Linda’s back was still giving her a lot of discomfort and the continuous bumpy roads weren’t helping it either. I’d got food poisoning in Tblisi and the local Georgians were not ‘the warmest most welcoming and lovliest people in the world’ that Lonely Planet had promised. They were in fact sullen faced, highly suspicious of us and seemed decidedly grumpy even aggressive. we have never been to a country and felt less welcomed than in Georgia. This attitude was whether we were in Taffy or not and despite the...
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