Turkey & Caucasus

#06 - 05.03.2009, Baku, Azerbaijan:

Instead of taking the shortest possible route to Baku in Azerbaijan, we opt for the more beautiful route in the foothills of the Caucasus. In order to get to the border between the two countries we cross the most famous wine-growing region of Georgia. Once in Azerbaijan we’re in the richest agricultural area of the country full with very pretty landscapes and mountain scenes - unfortunately mostly covered by clouds - and lots of hills to cover. It is here that we discover a serious defect to both our back rims, but we safely reach the oil metropolis of Baku on the Caspian Sea.
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#05 - 24.02.2009, Tbilisi, Georgia:

Entering Georgia meant entering a totally different culture. Not only did we switch back to Christianity, but the mix of local Georgian customs, the visible remains of decades of Soviet rule as well as the economic depression of this country - in particular after the recent war with Russia - were completely new to us. Lingua franca for us was Russian, which luckily Sandro knows a bit of, so we could understand a lot of what the friendly people of this Caucasus republic told us on the many encounters we had.
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#04 - 17.02.2009, Trabzon, Turkey:

We left the metropolis of Istanbul behind us with a new constant travel companion in Turkey: the Black Sea. Throughout the country from west to east we followed this gorgeous coast, full with springtime vegetation and friendly people. We had completely underestimated the meters of altitude that we would have to cover until the end of Turkey, but at least this was good exercise for the mountains of Central Asia. After four weeks of having gotten used to the Turkish way of living, having spoken to many extremely friendly and hospitable people we’ve reached the border of Georgia, not quite sure what to expect there, but we’re sure it will also be exciting.
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