We drove from Kars to Lake Van through several mountain passes (2100 – 2400 m) for the whole afternoon. Lake Van is the largest lake in Turkey in the Armenian highlands at 1,640 m above sea level. It is a saline soda lake (pH 9.8), receiving water from many small streams that...
Truck spare parts for our scheduled service arrived in Tbilisi from the USA late (probably because of Xmas time). The customs delayed the delivery for more than 1,5 months, and the communication with them was terrible and, most days, impossible. Ultimately, they did not allow logic...
Our first stop in Armenia was a beautiful monastery occupying a commanding position overlooking the Debed gorge. Founded around 976 by Queen Khosrvanuch, who funded the construction of the domed Church of the Holy Cross (Surp Nishan) at the center of the complex, it saw a building boom in...
Our first stop in southwest Georgia, not far from the border of Turkey, was a little town with a millennium-long history – Akhaltsikhe. It is situated on both banks of a small river, Potskhovi, which divides the city between the old town in the north and the new one in the south...
After a few days on the beach near Alexandropouli, we had finally finished our work and some little reparations, and we hit the road towards Turkey. We used not so busy Ipsala border crossing, but it still took us 2 hours (the Greek side was very relaxed; the Turkish side complicated, as...
It was very smooth at the border, without any customs check, we crossed the border between North Macedonia and Greece and entered the forgotten region of Macedonia forever associated with Alexander the Great. It’s littered with ancient cities, holy places, and natural wonders that...
We couldn’t visit Kosovo last year because of the blockade at the Jarinje border. Now, on our way to Greece, it was a very smooth crossing with friendly procedures on both sides, but it took us more than 30 minutes to get insurance for our truck (KIB / 15 EUR / 14 days) because the guy...
We have crossed borders to Serbia like a Speedy Gonzales, we made it through both immigration and customs controls within 10 minutes. After the border, we stopped at Vršac to buy the diesel (162,90 RSD / liter), Telenor sim cards (500 RSD / 10 GB / 15 days), and some food. Later, in the...
We crossed smoothly through the little deserted border crossing Vynohradivka (2 beers tip + 64 EUR highway fee valid for 30 days for cars over 3,5 t) into the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia – a stretch of land made up of three towns and 27 villages. Since we have arrived at...
Finally, we have arrived at the Slovak-Ukrainian borders. On the Slovak side, it was very friendly and quiet without any other cars, so we left the EU within 10 minutes. On the Ukrainian side it was a nightmare, at the first gate they have controlled COVID-19 PCR tests and mandatory...