Surreality and rain
Two full days in Kutaisi would have been great if the rain hadn’t interfered with some of my plans. Still, this is an interesting city, and some stops on the way here were quite fascinating.
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Tbilisi Retrospective
This morning I will be saying ნახვამდის (nakhvamdis, or goodbye) to Tbilisi. My experiences here and on excursions outside the city have filled me with a lot of feelings, too many to recount here.
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Tbilisi Is Tdiefor
I had my first day in Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital and largest city, yesterday. To say I was charmed is an understatement. My guide, Irakli, took me on a walk that seemed to offer new delights around every corner and up every hill. I was far too engaged and delighted to notice how much we were…
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Azerbaijan: land of contrasts
I previously wrote about how Baku is a city of contrasts. I now have to take it a step further. In the last two days, as I traveled outside Baku, I’ve seen an extraordinary variety in almost all things. Azerbaijan strikes me as a land of great contrasts.
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Baku: A city of contrasts
Baku is a delightfully charming city with attractive historic architecture. Baku is also a dramatically modern city with startling skyscrapers and brilliantly conceived spaces. I read a lot about Baku before arriving, but I was still not prepared for this city of contrasts.
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Cappadocia: fairy chimneys, caves, and a view from above
The history and gorgeous geological variety that is Cappadocia was on full display today: from a hot air balloon, ground level, and below.
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Caves and Rocks
I’ve seen a lot of pictures of Cappadocia, and I knew there were caves and rocks, but until I saw it for myself, I really had no idea what it was all about. Today was a revelation.
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The ruins never fail to impress
Today I visited three sites near Antalya that had stunning ruins. No matter how many different sites I’ve been to on this trip, I’ve seen things that have consistently blown me away.
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Antalya: from the sublime to the ridiculous
Driving from the airport to my hotel in Antalya went through the worst kind of suburban sprawl such as you see in the USA. It was hard to distinguish this as a Turkish city. Strip mall after strip mall, car dealerships, IKEA, outlet malls, etc. When we got close to the hotel, it became more…
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Hierapolis: A long day’s drive to some ruins
I thought today’s excursion was about Pamukkale, and I’d also see the adjacent ruins of Hierapolis It turns out today’s excursion was about Hierapolis, and I also saw the travertine pools of Pamukkale.
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Ephesus and Less
Today I saw Ephesus and more, except everything else was lesser than Ephesus. Hence the title. If I only saw Ephesus on this trip, it was worth the long journey from Mexico.
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Final Impressions of Istanbul
As I write, I’m sitting at breakfast at my hotel in Kuşadası. This post is about my final impressions of Istanbul, though, so I’ll write later about Kuşadası and my day today, but I just wanted to share this glorious view of the Aegean Sea.
