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Eastern Turkey

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It is time to leave Erzurum. I can't get the name out of my head. So I compose a ditty 

                             "  I love Erzurum, oh  Erzurum
                            
                               Rumpty tum tum, rummy tum tum  

                               Erzurum, oh rummy rum tum "

And so on.....

When I get back to New Zealand I will see if I can get Lorde to sing it and record it then look at putting it in the Turkish Songquest! 

Anyway, enough of that. Erzurum from our bedroom window the morning we leave. . Notice all the buildings being high rise in spite of the vast land space available. A lesson for Auckland perhaps? 

 

Today we head to the far east of Turkey and into the Caucasus mountains. 

I should feel at home here I guess as  I have sometimes been officially referred to as "Caucasian " !

 The scenery today could only be described as stunning. Castles, gorges ( gorgeous  of course! ) and high mountains. We start off by heading across the plains

E

Then it is into the mountains 

 

We stop at a small coffee shop where we get given free drinks ( no payment would be  accepted )  and fresh cooked lamb off the spit roast ( kebab) 

 

 

We wind thru canyons 
 

 

And tunnels everywhere to by pass huge hydro electric dams being built 


 

 And a lot of very old castles in strategic positions 

 

We pass thru a town called Savsat. With a name like that I guess it has to be a satellite town!  Anyway it has a narrow upward sloping Main Street 

 

You can see from the above photo the amount of room left  for the upward traffic. Then you see in the distance is a big truck coming down the street. He takes the whole road. I squeeze  the bike tyres against the curb. Not enough room. I lean the bike over into the curb. He inches past with the side of the truck  two inches from the left hand pannier bag. Whew! 

This  night we stay at a quaint  rural hotel in the countryside. Very Turkish and very good with nice cool alpine temperatures.  Could be a New Zealand vista.    No other Europeans within 100 kms I think 

 

Tomorrow Georgia! 

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