Last Baku pics

 Petroglyphs at Qubestan, mud volcanoes nearby and the flame towers lit up.  Leaving tomorrow.

Mountain walks

Caught bus to Quba about 2.5 hours NW of Baku and a gateway to the Caucasus.  

In a 4WD the road to Xinaliq was spectacular where we walked a mountain trail - above 2000m for the last 9km. 

Next day to Laza, a traditional mountain village now surrounded by Azerbaijan's premier ski resort but because of the weather we walked down (and quite a bit up) a lovely valley.

Now back in Baku 'cos can't go over the mountains, have to go around.

... and Baku

 

This is as far East as we go and have (hopefully) done the last flight before coming home.  All public transport now as we wander back to Tbilisi via wherever we fancy.  Have successfully negotiated the metros in Istanbul, Tbilisi and now Baku so getting in the swing.  Not many foreign tourists here, it's very clean and feels very safe and could be almost any city in the world judging by people's dress and international shops.

Extra Tbilisi pics

 A few more.

... and Tbilisi...

Our plane left Istanbul at 06:25 so we were up at 4 - ugh!  Got to Tbilisi where an airport ATM ate Chris's bank card, so not a great start!  Wandered around the city in the afternoon, it felt very European.  

A day's outing to a little town - old capital of Georgia.  Metro easy but the minibus onwards... 1 out of thousands! That felt very Asian.  It had a cathedral, a ruined monastery and a working nunnery all very interesting.

Walked around the old town and up in the cable car.  Great museum with a section on the Russian occupation. Have liked our few days here.  More pics in another post.  Leaving tomorrow.

Istanbul

Stopped in Istanbul on our way to the Caucasus, have spent two days doing the sights, all very lovely but busy with other tourists, especially when a huge cruise ship arrived!  Good breakfast and a view to enjoy it with at our hotel.  Moving on on Sunday morning. 

Dordogne in April

We looked at our calendar and found a week without meetings, then at the weather forecast which showed no rain, so we headed to the Dordogne with the caravan and two bikes.  Chris had six places to visit so we parked the caravan on a small quiet pristine (even had heated shower block) site near Perigueux for a couple of nights.  Chris cycled to Hautefort (and back) while Judy went for a walk.  Next day we went to Brantome, pretty little place built on an island.  Had a great lunch overlooking the abbey then on to Bourdeilles another medieval village which we thought even prettier!  Finally back to the city of Perigueux so see the bizarre byzantine-style cathedral and to wander the streets - much nicer than we had thought! Well worth a visit.

 

 

 

We moved the caravan to Le Buisson de Cadouin (not such a pristine site) to save lots of kilometers on the bike.  Chris cycled off to Monpazier, a medieval bastide where the entrances to the square are still too small for cars to enter. The next day we'd booked tickets to see the cave paintings at the Grotte de Font-de-Gaume, one of few caves where you can actully see the real things, incredible that they've lasted 12 -15,000 years - amazing but no photos allowed.  Had picnic lunch at a chateau, once owned by Josephine Baker.  It was really a shrine to her life stocked full of memorabilia.  Very interesting.  The afternoon we cycled to Dome, yet another medieval village of which the Dordogne is well stocked!  

 

 

 

 

And finally to Monbazillac, famous for its wines, but nice though the chateau was, the village wasn't that interesting! 

Lovely few days in beautiful countryside and round every corner another chateau or even two.