Our final night in Greece was pleasant, but chilly. Winter temperatures were slowly taking over autumn and were proving to be a challenge for electric heaters. In the morning, we ate our breakfast in down jackets and then said goodbye to our host as we packed our bike. He was insistent on offering us a steel sculpture of a bicycle …
Around the coast of Thrace and in the Greek mountains
We both had previously already been in Istanbul so did not feel that we had to go around the top tourist sights of the city. We arrived in the late morning after a 20h bus ride across the country, so the first thing was to rest a little, possibly not far from the large bus station – our plan being …
From the Armenian highlands into Anatolia
The weather started to turn during our night in Gyumri, Armenia’s quiet second largest city. The clouds had been swirling above us all day, but the evening finally brought the much-anticipated showers. We left the guesthouse a little late, immediately after the morning drizzle subsided. In the border region of Armenia, we were not completely out of the mountain ranges …
October in the Caucasus: a wrap-up of touring through the three countries
Round two of our summaries of remote Asian countries! After over 2 months through proper Central Asia (i.e. limited to ex-soviet countries), we went on across the Caspian Sea to cycle through three tiny countries, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. Those three countries have been strangled throughout history between their influential larger neighbors or simply part of larger empires: Russia in …
A week in Armenia: touring around the third Caucasian country
Early in the morning in Tbilisi, Cédric packed our things and prepared to leave before the city traffic became too busy; we had big hopes that Sunday morning would at least be a little easier. We loaded up our bike, bid our host farewell, and set out. Central Tbilisi is set on slopes of a few large hills, so we …
A few months across Central Asia: a summary of cycling through the stans
This post is a summary of our summer in Central Asia, particularly for whoever has Geography knowledge deficiencies (and/or has not read the previous posts) We have crossed the border with Turkey a few days ago, are getting close to Greece and have thus left the multiple post-Soviet countries of Central-Asia and the Caucasus. First of all, read the posts from …