Breakfast on the terrace again before saying goodbye to Peter, putting all our stuff on the Karahan winch (woohoo!) and sending it down the wire to the car. Back along the scary road to Yusufeli and then back towards Artvin along another ‘under-construction’ style road along a ‘soon-to-be-dammed’ area.
Looking back over Yusufeli
We had previously wanted to take a more inland route following the roads around the back of the mountains via Gümüşhane and Tokat, however, we were sick of poor roads, dry landscapes and getting lost(!), so we decided to partly retrace our steps instead.
The land was hot and parched again through here, and along one road there had been a fresh landslide just before we reached it. Small rocks were still tumbling down across the road as we cautiously drove past. Then up, up, up back over the hills and out of the valley to Artvin, before heading back through tunnels, over viaducts and over the mountain road to the verdant, green, coastal hills we had come to love on our journey here.
Cruisin’ on the Highway
After the bad driving conditions of the last few days, the coastal road felt like luxury. We cruised along to Rize and back to Bekiroğlu’s for lunch (beans and beyti again) before ploughing onwards to familiar beats put loud on our MP3 player. Eventually, after a whole day of driving, we were back at Dede Evi in Perşembe, and delighted to find the room this time even better than the first: wood floor, fashionable paint, and wooden furniture. Rested for an hour watching How to Build a Nuclear Submarine and the headed back over to Ceren for spag bol (again!) and chicken güveç, a kind of baked chicken and vegetable dish in a round ceramic pot. We ate while a man played the saz and sang some traditional Turkish songs, before going back home and crashing out.
Breakfast at 8.30am after a cold shower. Rose jam made a surprise addition to the usual selection. As Mr Karahan was attending the family beehives while we were eating, we then asked another son (who had prepared the breakfast for us) about beekeeping. We learnt a lot from his first-hand knowledge and were intrigued to hear him comment that the amount of honey you collect is rahmet (‘blessing falling like rain from God’) and that you only need to look at bees and the way they work to prove the existence of God.
Views from the pansiyon
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An ad hoc brekkie from bread and jams in the car, then packed up and started out. We went via an old church-like building, but we have no idea what it was/is..
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Up early after a difficult night of concern as Mark seemed to have contracted a bad fever. In the morning it seemed to have disappeared though, much to our relief. Headed to breakfast (after moving our still wet washing to the sunlit window sill) which was in the hotel restaurant. The restaurant balcony terrace was filled with sun, so we sat out there, despite the fact that none of the tablecloths were clean…
Back to room, packed, prayed for a good day and bought water before heading off towards Ardanuç with the damp washing laid out on the parcel shelf! Going east from Artvin, the road was far more windy and steep, as though the construction guys had given up on tunnels and decided to go around and over the mountains instead. We were amazed at the speed that some of the Turkish drivers used on this road, although after being overtaken by one van, we later passed it pulled up on the verge with one passenger outside, bent over after being ill… Oh dear. The high roads also gave us a full view of the new dam project this side of Artvin, and a sudden understanding of what a ‘scarred landscape’ really looks like. Everywhere lines in the hillsides and electric wires zigged zagged infront of us, and it actually felt quite devastatingly shocking after passing through so much untouched countryside before.
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Woke up to the sound of cow bells and mooing after a restless night due to our neighbour’s mobile phone alarm going off continuously (ironically until Mark banged our wall and they woke up…). We had heard rumours that at the top of the hills we were on was another yayla town with a better view of the mountains. At breakfast we spoke with the owners and they called a local service minibus for us to take us to the top (we didn’t fancy trying it in our car!). As soon as we had loaded our car with our stuff, the minibus had arrived and we hopped in with some other people making the journey (some hoping to hike over Mt Kaçkar in the following days).
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