It’s all around us

Ouch, it has been a long time since I sat down to write. Multiple life obligations, a failed bike rally in Spain (when the bike got lost in between airports) and heartaching changes have made it nearly impossible to sit down and open the laptop. However, here I am with another chunky chunk of beautiful memories, this time from the Caucasian region.

Most of the travels (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Crimea) described further were done in a company of an ex-boyfriend of mine. However, solo hitchhiking had happened in all countries too, and it was quite safe for me as a young girl 😉 I will use “I” for the narration further to simplify the story as I can’t remember precisely which parts were done together and which not, oops!

The Caucasus mountains are simply breathtaking. It’s an area between the Caspian and the Black Seas and there are many ethnicities living there (sometimes in peace, sometimes not).

The beginning of 2015 was full of events. First, I have spent some time in SE Asia (my previous post); having decided not to stay there to work at that time, I had returned to Russia for a moment and then went straight to Spain, Siurana where I spent a great month with my friend Sasha and his climbing buddies. I lived in a tent on the top of a cliff, surrounded by forest (and boars at night!). First, it was such an intense experience sleeping alone in a tent 1 km away from an official camping, but after several nights or so I got used to it! Don’t know if I repeat it soon though haha.

March was spent in Ukraine, Kharkiv – the second biggest Ukrainian city bordering Russia (and which is now sadly nearly destroyed…). After a brief visit to Saint-Petersburg, seeing friends and repacking my backpack, I went alone hitchhiking to Georgia, Kutaisi with a plan of seeing the Caucasian region – a nearly 3000 km drive! I spent quite some hours in cars and trucks…. I won’t remember a single driver now… I just know they were good people 🙂

Georgia.
Georgia in Georgian is საქართველო – what a lovely-looking writing! (pronounced Sakartvelo) This country would be home from the end of 2015 and till May 2016 – but tssshhhh I don’t know about it yet!
What really marked Georgia for me was the hospitality of the people, great food and the variety of landscapes. Every part of the country is unique. You have snowy mountains in the north, drier regions with vineyards in the east, green and lush south and nearly subtropical areas close to the sea!
I had visited nearly all Georgian regions (apart from Svaneti and Kakheti) by hitchhiking. It was really easy, I didn’t have to wait long at all, 10-15 minutes on the side of the road and some nice people would stop and offer a ride. What was really pleasant for me was that the main roads were of great quality, the polic was helpful and there was seemingly very low corruption.
I loved old Tbilisi and stayed there for some time, wandering around the streets and observing (one of my favorite pastimes haha), but have also spent a lot of time in the nature, hiking 1-day treks or just visiting villages. I was using mostly couchsurfing and staying with friends of friends – it was very easy to be welcome at someone’s home as people were really open. I would like to go back to Georgia and visit the regions I haven’t seen yet – especially would like to go hike in the mountains. This country (especially because it has been my home later on) has left a big mark on my life, a lot of mixed feelings – love and some pain of course, joy and frustration at times – I might tell a more complete story later.

I have no idea how many kilometers I have walked – but a lot a lot a lot. Beautiful days. Walking past villages was always rewarded by warm welcome and conversations (in Russian, as I could say only several phrases in Georgian). Life in the villages just seemed to flow so slowly, so quietly.

Armenia.
Crossing the border between Georgia and Armenia was curious, because I could see the difference between two countries immediately. There were lots and lots of abandoned buildings (both industrial from the USSR and private houses), the ambiance was a bit “creepy” but still magical. Armenia is smaller than Georgia, so in several hours you could be in the capital if driving from the border. There were not so many cars going directly to Yerevan, the capital, so I had quite some time to walk along the roads and look around a bit desolate landscapes – not in terms of nature, but more of human presence… Finally, someone picked me up and we set off to Yerevan, passing near the towns of Vanadzor and Spitak – the places that were badly hit by an earthquake in 1988 and where up to 50 000 people lost their lives…

Having arrived in Yerevan, I was pleasantly surprised by the cuteness of the city. The beautiful Cascade (a walking area that is basically a giant staircase haha), the markets, the squares… Everything looked cozy, a bit soviet-ish, but very authentic in its own way. I stayed via couchsurfing with a lady Karine, a very interesting person who was worked for quite a time in the US but came back to Armenia because she was just so in love with her city, Yerevan… We still keep in touch.

Somehow (I didn’t even plan for that!) there was a free concert of System of a Down while I was in the capital! It was absolutely gorgeous; happily singing “the toxicityyyy of our ciiiityyyyyy” I took this photo which I am very fond of – such a nice reminder of the presence of love which is literally everywhere:

I didn’t have a big plan for Armenia, but I really wanted to see lake Sevan in the east of the country. Another several-hour hitch and here is the lake, surrounded by snow-capped mountains. Armenian churches are pure art of its own – such a pleasure to visit them, to observe them from the outside. Catching the choir is also recommended – Armenian orthodox singing is breathtaking, I wish I could drop by some more Armenian churches in the future 🙂

All in all having spent a week in Armenia it was time to go back to Georgia and then to cross to Azerbaijan as it was not possible to do so from Armenia due to multiple conflicts… At the time, I also wanted to go to Nagorny-Karabakh but changed my mind as it was and is quite a “hotspot” for military actions…

Azerbaijan.

Having quickly passed via southern Georgia, I was on the way to find a car to cross to Azerbaijan. It didn’t take long and here I was crossing the border and reaching the village of Shikhly. I don’t quite remember where I decided to walk 20+ kms alond the road because it was pretty – but, well, it happened! I was trying to find it on google maps now, but – funny- there is no street view on the main road! I attach the approximate map and a photo of this cute area.

People were very very hospitable again. Though there seemed to be a bit different interest than in Georgia or Armenia (as for a girl…) but I didn’t find any threat whatsoever. Well, maybe a biiiiiit of uneasiness, but, well, it’s comprehensible (unfortunately) when you are travelling hitchhiking as a young girl 🐾

One car brought me to Ganja – a big town on the way to the capital, Baku. Just look at this gorgeous poppy field! It was found on the way out of Ganja to reach Baku. Actually, May is the season for contemplating such sceneries if you are ever in the area.

Another car and there was Baku where I stayed for several days. What a city! Luxurious marble underground crossings, high-rise buildings, fancy gardens… Oh, the oil empire! Together with that, pretty poor districts, street food, and a bit of awkwardness for me moving aroudn the city and catching looks of men (yuuk! 🤢) Very mixed feelings of Baku – interesting to visit but for me personally, one time was enough for now. What I really dreamed of was going to the grave of Muslim Magomaev – one of my beloved singers from the Soviet era – attaching a video of him singing an Italian song 🙂
Yes, it is my bizarre pastime – to go to the graves of the people whose art I appreciate and to say thanks and to stay there and be with their spirit for a second or two. – Here is the video!

Crimea in 2015🔥. After several days in Baku, having taken in the vibe, we (yes, this time, we!) headed up north to the Russian border to cross to Dagestan (a veryyyyy controversial region for me due to many points which I won’t be mentioning here, but I have a friend though who likes the area a lot, so I will let her take me there one day for a hike or two!) and then to go to Crimea which was a quest of itself because it was actually – technically – basically – a war zone!! Russian troops invaded the peninsula literally a year ago!

Nonetheless, we managed to see a friend in the town of Kerch – after crossing the border from the Russian side along a veeery long bridge (and yes, yes, Crimea is Ukrainian in my opinion – the question we as russians are tired of really 😉… ) and travel along the coast (Feodosia, Sudak, Alushta, Yalta…) to Sevastopol where we saw some very famous ruins of Greek buildings/temples… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chersonesus and then even managed to go up north to the border with Ukraine (as it was proclaimed Russian there was a makeshift border) but were quickly discouraged as were met by military guys and saw some tanks not far.

All in all, the situation seemed miserable to me, regardless pretty landscapes. The shops were quite empty, people – angry and tired, it was impossible to withdraw money ANYwhere, the network was barely working… I don’t know what is happening there now, but, guessing that it’s not much better. Finishing up this week in Crimea with a photo from Sevastopol. A random fact – there was some really tasty honey in Yalta at a local market!

After this half-pretty half-miserable Crimean experience, we headed back to Georgia for several days (all hitchhiking!) and then suddenly ended up in Chechnya – a looooong story. On the way to Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, we got into a very serious accident – mircaulously stayed alive. There were all elements of a thriller – a collision at 100 km/h because another car’s driver fell asleep – our mitsubishi turning upside down several times and half of the car completely gone. Everyone survived luckily (our driver, his friend and two of us + all the people in another car)! With injuries and taking the glass shards out of my arms before the ambulance arrived – 3 hours later, and gave us only paracetamol (yeeeah 😆) – I was just extremely frustrated with the driver of another car who started lying to the police about the accident when they arrived. I remember being in an absolute state of shock and with some momentary force in the face of dishonest actions, and pushing a speech in front of the police and all the survivors about the “virtue of honesty and sinning in front of Allah with telling lies” (Islam is taken VERY seriously in these areas). A friend of our driver picked us up at this time and drove us to Grozny at 260 km/h in his fancy BMW – informing us that there you could end up in prison and disappear just like that – so he literally saved us from the police. Oh well, thought I, “just don’t get us in another accident at this speed, please.”😆

This happened symbolically on the 9th of May. The Victory day. I would be terrified to sit in the car for the next several months so all the following hitchhiking would be done with a huge fear and tense belly, back, jaw, mind…

In another post I will write about hitchhiking in Turkey – mostly alone – and the culture and beautiful places of this country in between Europe and Asia. Turkey is still one of my favourite countries – my heart is happy every time I pass by it, and I have been to I’d say 70 provinces out of 81… 🇹🇷

Have a good day,

Lots of love,

Lucy