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Turkey & Caucasia

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6.12.2003 from Tbilisi, Georgia - 5677km

Dear friends!

It was a really cold ride over the high plateau around Erzurum (Eastern Turkey). Almost everywhere there was snow lying. After a last icy night at over 2000m, I really enjoyed the downhill! The road lead for over 200km through breathtaking gorges. At times, the gorge was so narrow, that the road had to be carved in the rock. Rocks of every imaginable sizes were lying on the road and sometimes had just fallen down. The walls were towering hundreds of meters high. But the best thing was the warmth! At 500m I thought that summer had already begun. Instead of below –10 it was now over 10 Celsius at nighttime!

Arrived at the Black Sea coast, I made my way towards Georgia. I had some mixed feeling about what was ahead. Just a couple of days ago, the president was overthrown in a bloodless revolution, but the situation seemed to be calm. Luckily I could listen always to the BBC Worldservice with my matchbox-size radio. During the first pedal turns in the former Soviet Republic, I was very eager to watch out for every detail: the landscape, the people, … Turkey seemed suddenly incredibly rich! In Georgia half of the population is living below the poverty line.

I was soon greeted with much warmth. After I had crossed the port city Batumi, a mandarine seller hugged me heartily. But somehow I did not feel at ease with the police. Already while passing the border a customs officer made a modest attempt to get some money. Then I got always stopped at the numerous roadblocks mounted by persons in civil clothing but equipped with automatic weapons. They are somehow supposed to do traffic monitoring. At times, there were also some secret agents (recognisable at the always identical 70s sunglasses), customs officers (yellow coat) or regular police forces at the checkpoints. I got suspiciously questioned and after some time ‘released’. The police forces seem to extensively ‘collecting’ money and goods from the population… A petrol truck got stopped just in front of me, a few words were exchanged and then a long plastic tube got inserted in the truck’s tank to fill up the officers’ Mercedes jeep. Normal car drivers simply have to pay a fixed amount to cover for the officers’ efforts (i.e. to stop the driver without any reason). The gouvernment gets nothing of all that money, of course.

Shortly after sunset on the first day, I had just passed another group of police officers. They ordered me to stop. I was quite tired and hungry. One of the officers asked for my passport, then for my currency declaration. Currency declaration? I was hesitating for a second… too late. His greedy fingers were already serching my handlebar bag. It took me quite some effort to keep my money together, the officer was extensively counting. He spreaded the notes all around. The three other officers tried to divert me with some stupid questions. Half-way paralysed, I managed to avoid the worst. In the end 5 USD and 30 Lari (15 USD) were ‘missing’. I saw exactly were the officer put the money in his uniform, but he would not let me search him. Just just wanted to get away! I was really angry, that I got tricked. Of course, I knew that there is no such thing like a currency declaration here in Georgia. Almost all of money was safely hidden away and the officer found only some small ‘change’ and it was easy to live with the loss. But I was really annoyed anyway. I put up my tent somehow between the railway tracks and the beach, I felt quite uneasy that night. I tried to put together a ‘strategy’ to make the remaining 400km through Georgia without any furhter loss. The roadblocks continued on the next day, but I managed to get through all of them without any problems. Some officers got so convinced of my story that they tried to give me some money, actually The situation improved a lot in direction of Tbilisi in the east. Police officers were wearing real uniforms and stopped car drivers and cyclists only occasionally. What a relieve!

The ride through Georgia was very much marked by the breathtaking landscape: medieval fortresses and churches were squeezed between the snow-capped mountains of Caucasia and the Anatolian mountains. The people were very warm I got invited daily for a drink. Two times I had bit of trouble cycling afterwards… somehow I don’t tolerate alcohol anymore. The Georgians were all but the opposite! Before drinking you say ‘Gaumarchos’ and ends a long list of countries (Georgia, Switzerland), persons (the people around, families) and of course God. Then the hellish brew gets swallowed in one go. For the great amusement of the people around, I never managed to empty the glass at once…

Now I am here in Tbilisi, the capital. I am staying at a cheap hotel, but I got first offered to stay at the local Hari Krishna temple… I politely refused the offer as it was some 20km out of the town center. It would have been fun I am now curing my diarrhea, that was very annoying during the last days of cycling. But it is getting better already. The ride continues tomorrow to Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea!

Best wishes!
Daniel

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