Homeward Bound
I mentioned in the last post that I shot through Azerbaijan and most of Georgia, staying at the seaside city of Batumi. I thought I’d...
Silk road, sow's purse
mrsantry
- Jul 20, 2019
- 18 min
Banged Up Abroad
A transit visa gives me 5 days to enter and arrive at my designated exit point. I entered via Farap in the South East of Turkmenistan and...
80 views
mrsantry
- Jul 11, 2019
- 2 min
Special, no pics update
Bandwidth has defeated me keeping the blog up to date. So I need to keep this shortish. I will fill in the gaps once I can connect...
40 views
mrsantry
- Jul 6, 2019
- 9 min
Pamir Highway Part 2
The roads deteriorated as we progressed eastwards. They were generally stony/rocky and/or sandy. We were climbing higher too (well ok,...
52 views
mrsantry
- Jul 4, 2019
- 5 min
Pamir Highway - part 1
I’m sorry about the delay in getting this report to you. The Pamirs are simply beautiful but simply extends to very poor internet...
39 views
mrsantry
- Jul 1, 2019
- 3 min
Summer in Samarkand
No problems finding petrol for the journey thankfully. Uzbekistan is known for petrol shortages as it tries to push everyone to LPG,...
41 views
mrsantry
- Jun 25, 2019
- 3 min
Plov Virgin
One non-Bukhara story first.... OK, it’s not a 9th century minaret or a piece of rather lovely honey cake. It was a very old Lada Riva...
46 views
mrsantry
- Jun 24, 2019
- 3 min
So, I've found the silk
Khiva was to be my first ‘tourist’ destination in Uzbekistan. It’s a fairly uninspiring town on approach but then all roads focus on the...
30 views
mrsantry
- Jun 23, 2019
- 4 min
Through the Gates of Hell, into Uzbekistan!
I planned to continue North, then East to Konye-Urgench and to exit Turkmenistan and enter Uzbekistan on the same day. I needed to be in...
50 views
mrsantry
- Jun 21, 2019
- 5 min
Ashgabat 'City of Love'
A loose translation(from farsi) of the name of Turkmenistan’s capital city is ‘the City of Love’. As a tourist, even a transiting one,...
240 views
mrsantry
- Jun 21, 2019
- 4 min
Of camels and white marble
I was extremely tired after my escapade across the Caspian, due to lack of sleep and maybe a bit of heat exhaustion. I should have headed...
29 views
mrsantry
- Jun 21, 2019
- 11 min
Waiting For God Knows What
I realised at the end of the first day that I’m not really built for delays, waiting and the essence of mañana. I realised at the end of...
30 views
mrsantry
- Jun 18, 2019
- 1 min
Temporary blip
I’m in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. I have written a detailed report of my trip over, which I will post as soon as I can. For some reason, my...
43 views
mrsantry
- Jun 15, 2019
- 8 min
Two haircuts in 24 hours
I had the late afternoon and evening to explore Tbilisi. I could have stayed another day there and seen more but the car was parked in...
57 views
mrsantry
- Jun 14, 2019
- 5 min
Are we in Asia yet?
There is no definitive view of when Europe ends and Asia begins. Some bodies say it is the crossing of the Bosphorus (Istanbul). Others...
28 views
mrsantry
- Jun 12, 2019
- 5 min
Alaadinsane
We had a drive of about 4 hours to a city called Sivas. This is a fairly non-descript sort of place – about the size of and with maybe...
35 views
mrsantry
- Jun 10, 2019
- 3 min
Balloons and fairy-tale castles
The early part of the drive from Lake Egirdir gave us spectacular scenery and some steep climbs. Despite the temperatures, there were...
38 views
mrsantry
- Jun 9, 2019
- 1 min
Chillin' by Lake Egirdir
After a long drive to Pumakkale, we took a shortish 3 hour run to Lake Egirdir. It is vast, covering some 480 sq. kms and is set just...
31 views
mrsantry
- Jun 8, 2019
- 3 min
Cool Pools
It was a long drive of just under 6 hours from Istanbul to Pumakkale. Around 2 million people visit here each year. It’s unique. Thermal...
27 views
mrsantry
- Jun 7, 2019
- 3 min
"Maybe Istanbul was the city in the sky where the people who were our reflections lived."
Burhan Sönmez ................................. More prosaically, Istanbul is fascinating, utterly bonkers, a bit smelly, noisy, hot and...
41 views
mrsantry
- Jun 6, 2019
- 3 min
Tin Man Parts for Sale
Well, it wasn’t any snoring which interrupted sleep but dogs barking, cats fighting and motor scooters roaring about certainly did. We...
48 views
mrsantry
- Jun 4, 2019
- 2 min
Borderline beauty
Another 525kms added to the clock today. A fairly easy drive through Croatia and into Serbia. We’re now at its southernmost point, just...
44 views
mrsantry
- Jun 4, 2019
- 3 min
The Marie Celeste Hotel
I picked up Keith at Marco Polo airport. I managed to miss him as he arrived through the (two) arrivals exits, despite watching out like...
34 views
mrsantry
- Jun 2, 2019
- 3 min
Venetian blind
I must just gush a bit about the place I stayed at yesterday. It’s an agriturismo – a farm based B&B. The rooms were modest and simple...
34 views
mrsantry
- Jun 1, 2019
- 3 min
Au revoir France
I was planning to go straight to Venice but chickened out at the first opportunity. This of course is a dreadful lack of commitment to...
32 views
mrsantry
- May 16, 2019
- 4 min
"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”
- Abraham Lincoln So, key to a successful trip is preparation, apparently. This particular blog is dedicated to inveterate, preppers and...
30 views
mrsantry
- Apr 23, 2019
- 3 min
My trusty steed
It seemed sensible to think about what vehicle to take. Part of me wanted to go for the grand luxe option of a massive Discovery or Land...
56 views
mrsantry
- Apr 23, 2019
- 3 min
A daft idea?
I'm not sure when the idea of a long road trip occurred to me. I'm hardly short of things to do and desperate for some new stimulation. ...
30 views
mrsantry
- Apr 12, 2019
- 1 min
The route
The first leg of the trip starts at Toulouse. From there, we head East, through the Cote d'Azur into Italy then into Croatia, then...
40 views