Death Hike 2010

From Goreme we took the bus a few kilometers to Uchisar, a veritable castle of caves that was eventually abandoned because the number of people digging their caves inside the peak made the entire thing unstable. Fortunately the bad parts have fallen down by now and things have settled down.

This blog serves as my final wishes -- I want to be buried at the top of Uchisar:

The trail from Uchisar back to Goreme leads through Pigeon Valley. It's called Pigeon Valley because the monks who lived in the caves along the valley raised pigeons for guano. They also left literal pigeon-holes in the tombs for pigeons to enter and exit as a symbol of the soul being free of the tomb. I had heard it was an easy hike back, but Sierra poo-pooed my abilities to lead us...


30 minutes later, a shepherd found me perched on the edge of this cliff, attempting to slide down. He led us back the correct way for a fee. Immediately after that treacherous spot, the trail became well-marked and easy, and another couple at the hostel said the exact same thing happened to them. I suspect this shepherd makes a good living by removing the trail markers and waiting for hikers to get into trouble. Still, Sierra seemed to think it was my fault for some reason.

Goreme- open air museum

Goreme- tour day

We reluctantly left our awesome hotel in Trabzon for an 18 hour bus ride with a screaming baby to our new home for the next 5 days- Goreme! Goreme is a small village famous among backpackers for its unusual geology, Hittite cave cities and accomodating locals.

On our first full day we took a tour around the area. We saw a massive underground city:

A cave citadel supposedly used in Star Wars:

and had lunch in Ihlara Valley.

Batumi and Gonio

Batumi is a beautiful port city on the Black Sea in the culturally distinct Adana region of Georgia. We only spent one night, but got to see some of the unique architecture walking around. I also ate one of the most delicious kebabs i've ever tried.

After sharing a drink with a hitch-hiking Aussie, we hopped a marshrutka to Gonio Fortress:

Gonio fortress is remarkable for having an entirely intact outer wall in use since Roman times. Different layers of the archeological dig show Ottoman, Byzantine and Roman relics, but it is also supposed to be site of the ancient city of Apsarus, where Jason and the Argonauts landed.

The Georgian Alphabet & Numbering System

Below are the transliterated names for Georgian numbers:

1 erti 2 ori 3 sami 4 otkhi 5 khuti
6 ekvsi 7 shvidi 8 rva 9 tskhra
10 ati 20 otsi 30 otsdaati 40 ormotsi

50 ormotsdaati

60 samotsi

70 samotsdaati

80 otkhmotsi

90 otkhmotsdaati

The Georgian alphabet was once used as a numbering system as well (each letter has a corresponding number). The numbers associated with the letters are shown in the chart below:

Can anyone find the discrepancy between the names of the numbers and the way they were written? The winner will receive some leftover Georgian coins we have.

Ureki

I was sick for 5 days. Look what Sierra did in the resort town of Ureki, Georgia.

So this place was cool cause of the black sand. Although it gets incredibly hot- it's supposed to have some healing powers due to its magetic properities. Also, our patch of beach in back of the hotel was private so there was a clear divide between us and the rest of them!

We also got three meals a day included and tons of crazy fun statues!

BERJERMER

The resort town of Borjomi is famous for the astounding health benefits of its mineral water. The bottled Borjomi water is pretty palatable, but the stuff you get straight from the spring is nauseatingly sulfurous, especially on a hot day.
Borjomi manages to blend the atmosphere of a tranquil resort and a creepy, run-down soviet amusement park. This makes it totally awesome. We stayed at a sanatorium called, "Joint Stock Company Sanitorium 'Firuza.'" The name isn't very catchy, but it is an actual soviet-era sanitorium and is run that way. Even better, we only paid $18 for the night.

We didn't see many of the sights but instead took advantage of the covered swimming pool inside the park. Unfortunately, i misplaced Sierra's pants, and she had to wear my swimming trunks home. Later that night, we ran into one of the extremely kind workers, and she mimed to us that the pants were recovered. Well, either that, or that it's cool to cut off your legs, depending on your interpretation of her gestures. At any rate, we got the pants back.

The next day, we read by the river for a bit, got some cotton candy, paid way too much to see a

papier mache map of Georgia, and hopped a marshutka back to Tbilisi.