"When you face difficult times, know that challenges are not sent to destroy you. They're sent to strengthen you..."
Day 02: 16 April 2018 (Monday)
Route: Istanbul/ Kars/ Turkgozu-Vale Border/ Samtske-Javakheti
Hotel: Hotel Almi Akhaltsikhe, Georgia
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| (Bronze busts of rulers and scholars in Kars) |
Day 02: 16 April 2018 (Monday)
Route: Istanbul/ Kars/ Turkgozu-Vale Border/ Samtske-Javakheti
Hotel: Hotel Almi Akhaltsikhe, Georgia
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| (The beginning of our Caucasus adventure) |
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| (A long queue at the check-in counters) |
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| (Light snacks on a budget airline) |
Early morning we were transferred to Sabiha Gokcen Airport for our PC 2590 0900/1110 flight to Kars. Kars is 1,446 km from Istanbul by road. Our flight arrived in Kars Harakani Airport around 1:30 pm. Lunch was Lamb Shank local dish of Piti at Sini Yemekleri Restaurant in Kars.
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| (Kars Harakani Airport) |
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| (A bright sunny day in Kars) |
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| (Mr Hazimin, our guide in Turkey) |
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| (A monument in Kars city centre) |
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| (Piti, a local lamb shank dish served in enamel mug) |
We went to Fathiye Jame Mosque to perform our prayers only to find the mosque was closed for renovation works. This mosque has a history of being originally a Russian church built during the occupation which makes it a unique monument. We performed our prayers at Abu'l Hasan Harakani Tomb and the Evliya Mosque Complex. The Evliya Mosque overlooks the old fortress, an old church and Harakani Tomb.
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| (Monuments next to Fathiye Jame Mosque) |
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| (Fathiye Jame Mosque under massive construction) |
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| (Another mosque in Kars) |
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| (Harakani Tomb Complex) |
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| (The Evliya Mosque of Kars) |
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| (The prayer hall of Evliya Mosque) |
From Kars we travelled 162 km to Posof, the border town between Turkey and Georgia. The journey to the border was interesting and the mountain route view was fascinating. Some mountain ranges were still covered with snow.
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| (A beautiful countryside village) |
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| (The sun is setting on snow-covered mountains) |
It was already late afternoon when we arrived at the Torguzu border. The border clearance on the Turkey border was slow and we were made to wait in the cold windy weather. Hubby's passport was once again not in order and took a while to clear. The rest of the group cleared border formalities quite easily.
It was unfortunate than Mr Hazimin, our travel guide was denied entry to Georgia because of his pending PR status in Turkey. Without the travel guide we were on our own and had to manage this Caucasus trip ourselves.
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| (A small Turkey/Georgia border) |
On the Georgia border the passport control procedure was made worst when a bus load of locals freely jumped the queue. The custom checks was in a havoc state. All our luggage was scanned. All medication drugs were checked thoroughly. Those drugs without prescription were confiscated. Even paracetamol without original packing was thrown in the rubbish bin. Three from our group were asked to sign some sort of declaration and their medications were categorized as illegally drugs. Police were called and our passports were held until police gave their clearance. We were fortunate that our 20-day supplements and medications were spared.
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| (Our loads of medications and vitamins) |
The whole process of border clearance took almost four hours. We were lucky that the Georgian driver patiently waited for us on the other side of the border.
We arrived at the hotel about 11.00 pm exhausted and famished. We requested the hotel cook to prepare simple dinner. We were lucky that Anna, the receptionist, could communicate with us in good English. We will be eating trouts for our three day stay in Alkhaltsikhe.
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