Georgia - Tbilisi - Iran/Afghanistan

 1974

Friday, 12th April

We had difficulty starting the van as it had been raining most of the night and it was still raining and very cold. We reached the Iran customs at about 10 a.m. and waited about an hour to be cleared. We gave a letter and a card to someone there to post as we hadn't found anywhere. We went on to the border where there was a deal to do.  It was all very relaxed and no one was in any hurry so we decided that would be the best way to be and we finally got through at 3.30 p.m. just beat a bus load of British there so we were lucky. We gave a couple a lift all the way to Kabul as someone had stolen their passports. We stopped in the grounds of a hotel for the night and went into Herat for kebabs and bread which were good and cheap. While we were in there it hailed and they collected hailstones in the sun canopy for eating. We had a hot shower, the water came from a strange charcoal burning geyser contraption. The Afghans then played music in the hotel (under the influence of hash) and we played cards (Old Maid), exchanged card tricks and recorded some of their music. It rained, thundered and hailed all day and there was mud everywhere.

Saturday, 13th April

This was the first really hot day we had. We drove through interesting and monotonous scenery of scrub and desert land with a few odd mountains. The road was very good concrete and on some bends there are bollards down the middle of the road instead of white lines to break your axles instead of the law. We saw a great deal of mini wirlwinds in the heat of the day which were very strange. We stopped for a brew in a very small village which seemed to consist of shops only. We went through a large number of toll gates which continued right through Afghanistan. We reached Kandahar at about 5.30p.m. and stayed in the "garden" of a hotel. There seemed to be an abundance of freaky people at the hotel just out there for the 'rides'. Neil wasn't feeling very well so we only had soup and bread and went to bed early.

Sunday, 14th April

The day started with hot weather again. We left Kandahar a bit late at 11 a.m. after buying oranges and bread in the town. The bread is very similar to Iran bread which you buy by the sheet. Our Italian friends had to lend us some money as we couldn't get to the bank. It got a bit cooler and very hazy. We reached Kabul before 6 p.m. and found an hotel. We ate out at Sigis which was quite nice in a way but very British with western music and freaky people. We went to bed early. An American/German couple who are going to Kashmir asked if they could have a lift to Peshawar. 

Windmill in Afghanistan

Monday, 15th April

We went in search of a tourist office and got thoroughly fed up as we couldn't find it. We also got very fed up with the number of shoe-shine boys determined to shine Neil's shoes, belt or anything else made of leather he happened to be wearing. It was very hot. We changed some money and came back. It started to rain and was very windy. It hailed and thundered. We sat inside the hotel and played cards for a while. Cooked some egg and chips. Our Italian friends asked us if we would like to go to the bazaar which we did and it was quite an experience. Neil didn't feel well so we started walking back. While we rested on the way a Pakistani gentleman approached us and we chatted and had tea with him. We took a taxi back to the hotel and he insisted on sharing it with us. He chatted for a while before he left but was rather persistent and suggested I left Neil and go and eat with him. I refused. Neil went to bed and I played patience in the hotel and came to bed at 9 p.m. Neil didn't sleep much, having to get up to the loo about every two hours. was the first place we had seen for a long time with loos that actually worked!

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Sunday 22nd June

We took a taxi early in the morning to Batumi train station, we were taking the last train of our adventure.  We were checked onto the train at the door with tickets and passports and we were ticked off on a list.  The train was packed and a Russian speaking lady sat next to me.  Here was a good chance for me to practice my very rusty Russian.  I then realised this could mean over 7 hours of tortured conversation.  Luckily we fell asleep and the journey flew by.  At Tbilisi station we were met by expectant taxi drivers but why pay an exorbitant price for a taxi when we could make a complete mess (or not) of getting the metro?  It transpired that we managed to buy tickets, get on the right train and get off at the right stop with no problem at all.  We are staying in a comfortable apartment next to Liberty Square.

In the evening we were taken by taxi to an area high above the city where Nino, George and their children Luka and Noah live.  We got to know Nino’s family back in the 1990s when they came to England to work as University researchers and lecturers.  Nino was just a child then but now she is a successful businesswoman.  She and George started a business locating and using old Georgian designs to decorate tableware.  They now have 11 shops and hope that soon they will be selling in the UK.  The name of their brand is Blutabla.  They live in a beautiful house which they had built and moved in a year ago.  There garden is beautiful too, full of walnut trees.  It was such a lovely evening with beautiful Georgian food, wine and reminiscences.

Monday 23rd June

We spent the day exploring Tbilisi, we visited George and Nino’s shop which was in a huge modern shopping centre.  We also visited the Catholic cathedral and the Orthodox cathedral.  In the afternoon we went to the botanical gardens which were a little disappointing as so many of the paths were considered too dangerous to pass.  We went to get some money from inside a building, we had to open the door with our bank card.  Afterwards we couldn’t open the door and wondered if we would have to spend the night there.  Eventually we noticed a small button at the side of the door, phew!!!

Tuesday 24th June

Today we went on a 10 hour tour.  We had to meet in front of a metro station.  There was a woman standing there with a lemon in her hand.  She was actually begging but disguising it as selling a lemon.  In the time we were there she did remarkably well with most people stopping to give her something (by the time we left she still had the lemon).  We visited the cave city of Uplistsikhe followed by a traditional Georgian meal.  In the afternoon we visited Stalin’s museum in Gori.  He started building it before he died (I wonder if Mr Putin has started to build his?!!!). We then went to Jvari Monastery and Svetitskhoveli cathedral.  We were with a lovely group of people but it was a very long day.  We are now relaxing on our last night in this apartment with a bottle of excellent Georgian wine.

Stalin’s birth place and where lived until he was 4

Stalin’s Railway Carriage

Georgia - Batumi - Iran

 In the last few posts I will share with you some excerpts from our 1974 trip through Iran and Afghanistan.

1974

Saturday, 6th April

Started off in very cold and dull weather. road was very good indeed. Learnt the numbers in Persian and an American helped us to distinguish the coins. Drove on into better weather to Tabriz where we found a shop which sold windscreens, had one fitted and got one spare. They offered us tea. Very quick service, done within fifteen minutes. Found we'd lost a wind-screen wiper. Sun very warm. Drove through lovely scenery, rain, rainbows, sun and marvellous cloud effects. One or two bad spots in the road. Stopped for the night at Zanjan in a sort of park area with a loo which was a hole in the ground and a watering can beside it!

Sunday, 7th April

Spent a quiet day working out our money situation and playing cards. Neil was very exhausted after so much driving and felt better for the rest, so did I. Made a vegetable curry which tasted quite nice.

Monday, 8th April

Started off in dull weather which got better later until it was quite warm. Had great difficulty getting through Tehran and directions were hard to follow. Eventually someone told us to follow a bus which was going to Mashhad which we did successfully. It travelled at such a rate that at times we had difficulty in keeping up with it. The scenery beyond Tehran is desert really. We stopped after 30 kms. by by a stream and gave the van a good wash. A Persian couple stopped nearby and we exchanged chocolate, oranges, beer and brandy and chatted to them. They came and had some of our coffee and played their cassette recorder. We exchanged addresses and said goodbye. We spent the night where we were.

Tuesday, 9th April

The day started warm and sunny. Neil put a hasp and staple in his door and I did some washing and hung it on some string between trees. It dropped in the dirt and I rinsed it again. It became cloudy and windy and rained on and off. Some of the washing blew off so I took it all down. Some men came and stopped nearby, made a fire and cooked kebabs which looked delicious and made me feel hungry. They gave us some pieces and it tasted of barely cooked perfumed pork fat (which I think it was). Neil did some working out of miles and money. We set off at 4 p.m. and went through a pass, the mountains were of glacial moraine and it became a bit boring after a while, a lot of tunnels on the way because of loose rock. We also saw many packs of wild dogs. When we bought petrol the attendant tried to short change us by 10 rials but didn't succeed. We stocked up with water from a tap in the loo there. Stayed the night by the road just outside Amol. We have deviated slightly from the R.A.C. route but I don't think it matters. I went to the loo outside in the dark and got stung on stinging nettles.

Wednesday, 10th April

We started early in good weather and got back on to the R.A.C. route. Stopped and bought some fish for the evening meal and drove into a more mountainous region away from the Caspian Sea. The weather got worse and we had intermittent rain. Stopped for the night just off the road about 160 miles short of Mashhad. It rained all night and thundered a lot. Someone tried to do us out of 40 rials for petrol.

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Saturday 21st June

We had a fairly lazy day.  We walked along beside the sea and explored a bit more of Batumi.  It is such a mixture of everything, pleasure resort and port, old buildings and spectacular new ones, busy roads and green parks.  Here are a few photos.

Georgia - Borders!

We have now departed from our original route and instead of going into Iran, we are now in Georgia.  So this post is all about crossing borders.  We have had no problems until today but in 1974 crossing from one country into another was often difficult and always time consuming.  The Hippie Trail from India back home was awash with hashish, it wasn’t worth risking smuggling it but many did.  Here are some examples of border crossings followed by today’s account.

1974

Tuesday, 11th June

We started from Peshawar after we'd had breakfast at about 8.30 and bought a chess board on the way. It got cooler as we climbed higher. The borders didn't take too long partly because we were nice to the officials. It was lovely to get back to Afghanistan and we had two storms (very violent) on the way preceded by a calm then a dust storm. Stopped by a river for a very chilly paddle. Reached Kabul at 5.20 and it was very cold. Went out for a steak meal and strawberries which was very nice. Had a look at some shops afterwards. Neil had the runs but was a bit better in the evening. Had quite an early night.

Thursday, 20th June

Got up quite late and went and had a look at the minarets which were not very inspiring. Then went to the Iran Embassy so that our friends could get their visas. Had some food before we collected the visas and left just after 11. Got to the border at about 1.30 and learned that they had found a lot of hash earlier and were searching everyone thoroughly. We got searched at about 3.30 and they were pretty rough but we were still intact. Got to the Iran border at about 6 and went through it all again. Not so bad this time. They let us borrow their kitchen and stoves so we cooked a meal before leaving at about 10. Spent the night just outside the border.

Thursday, 25th July

We had some breakfast, filled up our water containers, then went around the town again all morning. Neil put an inner tube in the front passenger wheel and extracted three nails. In the afternoon we started for Switzerland. It took a long time at the border as we were searched by some very nice Swiss who put everything back for us and seemed very interested in our trip. Filled up with petrol, plus the cans as petrol is cheaper in Switzerland and drove through Geneva to the other border and camped between there and La Cure by the road.

Saturday, 27th July

We had a bit of a scare when trying to start the engine but luckily it did in the end. We reached Paris during the morning and it was terrible. We kept finding ourselves on the wrong road, then back on the right one.  Congestion was terrible. Reached Dieppe in the early afternoon and queued for a boat. While we waited we completed our quota of wines. We got on the boat quite easily and had a lovely trip over, having our first English drinks for ages on an English boat. We were searched a little at the customs and we drove into Lewes. It was lovely to be back.

After we arrived home, every time we went abroad again we were searched because our passports showed visas from India, Pakistan and especially Afghanistan!

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Friday 20th June

We were not searched at the border between Turkey and Georgia but the crossing wasn’t without drama!

It was a relief to leave our rather inadequate hotel.  We had a private transfer to Georgia and our driver picked us up after breakfast.  The coast road from Trabzon to Georgia has the Black Sea to the left and to the right hills and mountains rise up with the towns and villages where there is room for them.  The road was occasionally diverted away from rock falls and there were numerous tunnels.  Our driver, on reaching the boarder, told us to get out, said goodbye and drove off.  This surprised us as we expected him to take us all the way to Batumi.  We were besieged by men offering us help between the borders (they said this was a distance of 2 kilometres - a lie as it was only a small distance inside the customs building).  I spoke to them in Russian as I thought they were our new drivers.  They said they were but they obviously weren’t.  While we were trying to work out what was happening, I got a phone call which I assumed was from our driver but I couldn’t work out what he was saying.  We managed to get rid of the two men and crossed the two borders.  As soon as we got outside on the Georgian side we were besieged again by offers of lifts but this time we held our ground.  Neil went to change our Turkish money and I stood in the middle of the car park hoping and praying we had a driver as we had expected.  I was so relieved to see a man with a sign bearing my name approaching.  We had made it!  Our new apartment is excellent (apart from the kettle exploding).  I have installed a new SIM card for data, we moved our watches on an hour, we’ve found an atm for some cash, we’ve been shopping, had dinner and done the washing.  We are now truly in Georgia!,

Turkey - Trabzon

 1974

Friday, 5th April

The weather was very mixed all day. Went through a pass and it snowed all the time to Erzurum. The bad road then deteriorated into a track 70 kms. long, although it is called an international highway, and a lorry flicked a stone and smashed my side of the wind-screen. We rigged up the temporary one and drove on. The road got better at Eleskirt. In Agri we stopped buy some food and were told that it was likely we could get a new windscreen in Tabriz. Somewhere we lost a knave plate. We drove on, on a very pot-hole filled road to the border. It only took about an hour to go through the border but we had to put our watches forward half an hour. It started raining, we gave a lift to a customs man and he got soaked with the water coming through the windscreen. We stayed the night by the road 1 km. from the border.

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Wednesday 18th June

We had a private transfer to Trabzon and I’m so glad we did because when we reached the hotel it was locked up with a padlock.  There was a phone number on the door and our driver phoned and it seemed that we had been transferred to another hotel.  He eventually found it.  Definitely not to the standard we are used to but it has a couple of pluses, it is central and we have a balcony overlooking the harbour.  As I don’t have phone coverage here, I got Lucy to phone Fred. Holidays to let them know about the locked hotel.  Trabzon is definitely a work in progress, there are some lovely landscaped areas near the sea but there are lots of building sites too as well as very run down areas and very modern areas.  It is very hilly with vibrant narrow streets full of shops and restaurants.

Thursday 19th June

We went on a tour today.  First we visited Sumela Monastery which was just breathtaking.  I was sad to see that the Christian monks who left in 1923 took all the Christianity with them.  There were no stalls selling icons and crosses as there often are at other ancient Christian sites.  We went high up into the mountains and could see the snow still lying near the peaks.  We had lunch in a mountain restaurant.  During the day I heard from Fred. Holidays to say that our transfer driver will come to our present hotel tomorrow to pick us up which is good news.  I must admit they sort out problems quickly and efficiently.  The highlight of the day was realising that we were travelling along the same bit of road as we did in 1974 (part of the Silk Road).  Of course the road surface had vastly improved and today we were not travelling on snow and ice!