We drove the upper newly built road Nr. 3 around the original lower “Hamilton Road.” The strategic road across Southern Kurdistan to the Iranian border was constructed between 1928 and 1932 by A. M. Hamilton, the principal engineer of the British Empire. Although Hamilton...
The city’s history of Rawanduz dates back to the seventh century BC and boasts several Christian villages and archaeological sites. Surrounded by majestic mountains, Rawanduz is home to the deepest gorge in the Middle East. Flanked by vertiginous rock walls, the Rawanduz River snakes its...
Our drive through Eastern Kurdistan.
We spent two nights in the breathtakingly beautiful little historic town of Akre. The town was built on the side of a mountain range at the edge of the Nineveh Plains by the Kurdish Prince Zand in 580 BC. It was traditionally a mixed town of Muslims, Jews, and Christians. Nowadays, Akre...
After a late rich breakfast, we took a curvy road from Lake Van through Southeastern Anatolia to Eruh, with a predominantly Kurdish population that welcomes visitors. Sadly, renewed hostilities from 2015 between the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) and Turkish government forces, along with...
Late in the afternoon, we arrived at the exciting 700m-long walkway project. It starts at the edge of the 100m-deep Okatse canyon and culminates in a viewing platform that hangs right out over the middle of the canyon. It’s a 2.5km hike from the visitors center (🎫17,25 GEL) near...
The attractive Abasha Canyon (🎫17,25 GEL), also known as Gachedili or Martvili Canyon, is located in Western Georgia at an altitude of 240 meters above sea level. It was carved by the erosive action of the Abasha River in the limestone rocks of the southern part of the Ashkah massif in...
A rough, steep road brought us to the village Khalde located in the south of Chkhutneri ridge, in Khaldechala valley, just six kilometers from Khalde Glacier, at an altitude of 1900m above sea level. It’s a very tiny mountainous village that is not inhabited during winter. The...
Ushguli is a village community located at the foot of Mount Shkhara (5,268m) and the mouth of the rivers Enguri and Kvishiri at an altitude between 2,060 and 2,200 meters. It is considered the highest permanently inhabited place in Europe. Ushguli consists of the five villages Murkmeli...
Today we hired an off-road car (500 GEL/day) to reach remote villages hidden in Svaneti Mountains. Our first stop was the original and authentic village of Adishi, a small mountain village situated in the middle of the mountains of the Greater Caucasus – in Upper Svaneti between Ushguli...