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.

2025

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!

2025

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.

2025

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!

Turkey - Ordu

 1974

Thursday, 4th April

Neil removed the ignition switch and started the engine by manipulating the wires. The only thing is that we won't be able to lock up. We drove the rest of the way to Trabzon along the coast which was quite pretty.  We then drove up a very mountainous route with very good roads considering the conditions they put up with. We went through a high pass into the clouds where it was snowing. Quite a hair-raising journey as the roads were very narrow. Everyone we passed seemed very interested in us, either wanting cigarettes, a lift, a wave and some little boys were throwing stones at us. Passed another English V.W. which was having more difficulty with the pass because it was more loaded up. Spent the night by the road just outside Bayburt. In the night someone stopped and blew their horn for ages, presumably to wake us up. Very mixed weather all day.

2025

Tuesday 17th June

We caught the last flixbus of our journey today which was a bit sad.  We thought taking buses would be a poor substitute to trains but this was not the case in Turkey.  We had a welcome email the day before, then an email to tell us when the bus had arrived at the bus station along with the registration plate number.  We had front seats and were served coffee!  The roads were good and the scenery beautiful.  There is also a handy app which gave all the information we needed.  Ordu is a beautiful!  It is more of a holiday resort whereas Samsun was a port.  We went on the cable car and had dinner in a restaurant at the top overlooking the city.

Turkey - Samsun

 1974

Wednesday, 3rd April

We said goodbye to the people at the petrol station and drove to Samsun on quite a good road. From there we went along the Black Sea coast road which was extremely good but not much scenery. We then climbed above the sea and the road got considerably worse and the scenery better. We stopped to camp for the night right by the sea. We lost the ignition keys in the sand. Weather was dull and very cold.

2025

Monday 16th June

We took a train from Sivas to Samsun which took a little over 8 hours.  It meandered around, over and through the hills and mountains of northern Turkey.  The weather wasn’t too hot and the time went quite quickly.  We were given tea and biscuits by some Turkish fellow travellers.  We had some fast (Turkish) food in the evening, then walked along the edge of the Black Sea.  Our hotel has a bath which makes a nice change.

Turkey - Sivas

 We have had a bit of a diversion from our 1974 trip towards India to in order to visit Cappadocia again.  Sivas wasn’t on our 1974 route so I am going to give you another extract from our way back in 1974 as I have a photo from then (the last photo we took in Turkey).

1974

Sunday, 14th July

We got up very late and drove to Pamukkale and the remedial waters. Very strange and unusual but not very deep. Went into Denizli and had a meal after looking for ages for a restaurant. Camped for the night about 15 kms. outside. Loads of mosquitos and very hot.

2025

Sunday 15th June

I was awoken at 4am by the call to prayer from the nearby mosque but I decided to sleep a little longer.  We had a private transfer to Kayseri bus station.  Our driver very kindly made sure we got to the right Flixbus stop.  We had front seats and we were offered hand sanitiser, menthol sweets and water.  About half way through the journey we were stopped in a random search by police and had to show our passports.  Sivas is a lovely modern city, clean with green spaces and good road links.  It is obviously not the usual tourist area which is a welcome change from the last couple of days.  Our hotel is a converted ancient building built by the Ottomans.

Cappadocia hotel cat waiting for breakfast

Door to our hotel room in Sivas

Practicing bridge opposite our room overlooking the restaurant