West of Karbala, in the desert, are the ruins of Al-Ukhaidir, a Sasanian-style fortress constructed by the Abbasid caliph As-Saffah’s nephew Isa ibn Musa around 775 AD. It is a large, rectangular fortress with a unique defensive style and represents Abbasid architectural innovation...
Nokalakevi is an ancient Colchian fortress (🎫10 GEL) built on the banks of the Tekhuri River in Western Georgia. It’s been mooted as one of the (many) places to have housed the Golden Fleece. The oldest layer dates back to the 8th-7th centuries BC, although traces of life in this...
We made a short stop at Gonio’s fortress (🎫 5 GEL), an impressive piece of Roman-Byzantine military architecture covering 47,000 sq meters within a rectangle of high stone walls with 18 towers. Built by the Romans in the 1st century AD, it was occupied by the Byzantines in the 6th...
We did our last shopping in Armenia in Gyumri. On our way from the city, we stopped below the “Black Fortress.” Russians completed the stronghold to defend the land from the Turks in 1834 to protect the city of Alexandropol, now called Gyumri. Hans Karl von Diebitsch...
A steep and windy road brought us to a 10th-century fortress located on the slopes of Mount Aragats at 2,300 meters above sea level. Constructed on a ridge above the confluence of the little gorges of the Amberd and Arkashen streams, this majestic stone fortress (🎫1400 AMD) dates back to...
Near the town of Stepanavan, on a promontory between the gorges of the Dzoragets and Miskhana Rivers, is a ruined fortress with huge towers and massive stone blocks along its exposed side. Originally the base of David Anhogin, who ruled the region of Tashir-Dzoraget from 989 to 1048, it...
Today we got bad news; our permit to cross borders to Azerbaijan was not granted. So we took the 65+kilometer forest highway through the Gombori Ridge separating Alazani and Iori River valleys through Gombori Pass (1620 m) towards the Armenian border. We were so happy that we got sunny...
We had gloomy weather at Gremi, the former capital of Kakheti (1466-1672). It was a lively trading town on the Silk Road and a royal residence until being totally devastated by Shah Abbas in 1615. The town never regained its past prosperity, and the kings of Kakheti transferred their...
Late afternoon we have arrived in Kélibia, a coastal town on the Cap Bon peninsula. Its sand beaches are considered some of the finest in the Mediterranean, so we have decided to park at the famous El Mansourah beach. We have scrolled around the sandy beach and tasted local Bambalouni...
In the morning we made it through the busy town and its narrow streets to the El Haouaria Port on the other side of Cap Bon. We started our two-hour hike from the small quiet fishing harbor. There is a path leading to the great cliffs rising up from the turquoise wild sea, from there we...