Erzurum, Uzungöl, and Sümela Monastery

Erzurum

Erzurum was quite a shock. A very clean city with somewhat behaved traffic with shops and other facilities. It even had a McDonalds somewhere (we checked, but went to Burger King instead!). Hadn't seen a city like this for a long time, and I'm not sure if I'm counting Dubai. There was a Shell petrol station too which is something I don't remember seeing after Singapore (I'm sure they have other brands represented elsewhere).

We stayed two nights and saw a couple of the sights, and to get things washed and charged after a couple of nights camping. But then we stayed an extra night because it was the first time we had proper internet for a long time and everything wanted hundreds of updates and I could finally upload my photos.

Canonballs in a room of the Erzurum Citidel.

The tower in the Erzurum Citidel.

Steep stairs up the tower.

The view over Erzurum

This is a big winter ski resort town, that's one of the resorts in the distance there.

The large mosque in the background, a small one in front. The "two minaret mosque" was being restored, it's the famous one but I didn't get any photos of it covered in scaffolding. 

A Mongol school built in the 13th century. Both minarets had collapsed and they only rebuilt one. The chairs and tables were set up for a concerts for Ramadan/Ramazan.

Inside the Mongol school. Each room showed items from the period. All the doors were very low and we asked the attendant why, and it's so you have to bow when entering the room. Should have realised that, thought it was just inconvenience. 

Uzungöl

After Erzurum we set off towards Uzungöl. The photos of the place made it look European, but we're still in Asia. So it was worth a look!

Vespa making it up a large hill.

We followed the road from 4 lanes to 2, then down to single lane through this village, then it turned to dirt...  I assumed we were still going the right way.

A cloud... It was very windy here and hard to keep the bike in a straight line. This was at about 1800m and Uzungöl was on the other side of those mountains.

Found a fork in the road! The GPS wanted to take the 45km route  but there was another shorter 28km road, lets try that!

Vespa made it up here too.

Riding in the cloud wasn't too bad at first. We were over 2000 meters but it wasn't wet for a while, just windy and cold. Once we crossed over 2400m and onto the other side of the range it got a lot wetter and colder. The road was wet and it was clay in parts so very slippery.

We just dipped out of the clouds here after going through a very slippery patch of mud (glad I have these tyres now). Also we're about 1km from Uzungöl but it was about 10km to get there as the road kept winding back and forth down the side. The road isn't in the GPS so we could only see distance to the town. I just wanted the road to stop!

The lake at night. The clouds moved in...

One part of Uzungöl. We stayed down that end in a hotel. Not the best camping weather.

As close as you can get to Turkish coffee without your eye getting wet.

Sümela Monastery

After Uzungöl we headed out of the mountains through some awesome valleys all the way to the coast. I went to put the GoPro on my helmet but it wasn't charged. I didn't stop much for photos because I was enjoying the ride too much too! 

The black sea coast! Finally at sea level again! We've had many many weeks above 900m! And it's finally a decent temperature at this elevation rather than the 40-47 degrees on the Persian Gulf.

The road along the coast is a large 4 lane highway with a lot of tunnels going through hills instead of around them. Very easy to cover distance but very boring and not many places to stop or get down to the water. Once we got to Trabzon we headed back up into the hills again to get to Sümela Monastery. Our Intention was to camp to save some money, but once we got up there we found they had bungalows right near the Monastery. We asked about the price but it was 140 lira, slightly too high at ~$35 each for the night. We were planning to go down the hills a little further to find somewhere cheaper but then it started raining.

While we were wondering what to do during the rain we got to talking to a Turkish truck driver who had met another Australian motorcyclist who was travelling round the world. The thing about this other motorcyclist though was that he was deaf and mute. That would make things more difficult!

While talking to this guy we decided to stay a little dry and elected to stay in the bungalows for the expensive rate. As we were leaving the truck driver he wanted to come over and help us get the room and said he knew the owner. With his help we got the room for 100lira, $25 each. That's better! We tried talking more with the truck driver through hand gestures and someone who could translate who occasionally showed up.

The monastery way up there on the cliff.

Some forest next to the bungalows.

The next morning after the rain had stopped we did the walk up to the Monastary. It didn't look that far, really...

Half way up...

Many many many steps later we got to the top!

Inside the complex. Student and guard rooms on the right. The bakery and cave where the virgin mary image appeared on the left.

Looking down from the monastery. That group of buildings there at the bottom is  where we started the walk from...

Inside one of the guard rooms.

Some of the frescoes on the outside.

Showing you how to play a song on the guitar.

The roof of the cave.

More graffitied frescoes and a door

The door to the monastery.

After the Monastary we packed up and headed down to the coast. The road along the coast was more fun this time, going through many more tunnels, some up to 2km long. Along the way we stopped to get some lunch at a shop along the highway, but because it was still the last day or Ramadan they weren't making food. We looked around the shop for things we could buy to make a sandwich but not knowing the language is difficult. The girl running the shop showed us some of the cheese, and then started gathering things like bread and tomato and some luncheon meat. We had it all together to pay for and leave, then she heads off out the back with it all and comes back with two sandwiches! Success! I like Turkey! We paid for our sandwiches and then headed off down the road to eat them to hide away from those fasting (still not sure of how Ramadan works in Turkey, don't want to be insulting anyway).

We followed the road as far as Tirebolu where we found a camp ground right on the rocky beach. They also stocked beer! We were set for the night! Of course no photos, because I was concentrating too hard on the beer.

Pushkar and Udaipur

After Jaipur it was a quick run down to Pushkar in the heat. The roads got a LOT better. Mostly 6 lane highway all the way there. Maybe one or two sections of roadworks but you could actually keep the speed up to cover the distance and the traffic was very minimal (honestly officer, I was doing no more than the posted 40km/h limit on this wide open 6 lane highway).

Once I got to Pushkar I found one of the hotels listed in the Lonely Planet, they were off down an alley and my bike was parked outside, safer than directly on the main street. I took a room with air conditioning because it was still in the 40s here, but it had to be cleaned. I was the only guest there that night, and it's the low season, but the only room they showed me needed cleaning. While it was being cleaned I had an awkward chat with the owner, one of those chats where the other person is looking at you but they're actually staring off into space behind you and not listening. I waited out the chatting in my hot riding gear.

Bike parked in the alley. Brushed by wandering cows all day long

The owner informed me that because the family were all going out later that night to watch Rowdy Rathore (posters everywhere here with the tagline "DON'T ANGRY ME") that the restaurant would be closed. I said that was fine, the Lonely Planet listed a heap of places and trip advisor gave me a whole list of options to try.

However, this being low season... The first place on my list to try had staff in it, but they said they were closed and they were only there to clean all the items in the kitchen (noted: pots and utensils cleaned once a year). The second place I tried had a note up saying they were closed until July, which was odd, there were still local and foreign tourists around. I've been trying to avoid unreviewed places just as another tool to avoid food poisoning. I eventually found Rainbow Restaurant, so I was saved! Also note that because Pushkar is a holy Hindu town that alcohol and meat and eggs are banned.

Pushkar exists just because of this holy lake:

Pushkar Lake. 

The kids that watched me for a bit then came up to say hello.

There's not much else too Pushkar. A lot of shops (a lot of leather shops for a vegetarian town), the lake, and closed restaurants. It's not worth staying more than a night, and even that's pushing it. The biggest thing I noticed is how people left me alone. I wasn't the tout magnet I was in other places and no one wanted to come up and practice their English with me. I was just left alone to wander around freely and explore, such a nice change.

But then in the morning it was up at 6:30 and on the bike by 7:30 to try and escape some of the days heat.

View from the short road to Amjer.

The road cut through the hill to Ajmer.

Again, this was a very good day on the roads to Udaipur and I was able to cover a lot of distance quickly. There was just one incident where the 6 lane highway turned into a 2 lane road through the hills where a truck decided to overtake another truck around a corner and it narrowly missed me after I dove off the road. That really doesn't happen often in India. The trucks are often the better drivers, the bus drivers are the worst (followed by tuk tuks, motorbikes, cars, then goats, then cows).

Took a short look up one of the gravel roads to get a better view of the place.

Udaipur is in those mountains there.

About 30km out of Udaipur there are places along the highway which sell marble. This went on for 20km! 20km of places to buy marble and each one was only about 50meters wide! If you want marble this is the place to come. You could spend weeks visiting each one getting the exact right bit that you wanted. I'm surprised there's any of it still left in the ground.

The traffic in Udaipur was another refreshing change too. It was around midday when I got there but the streets weren't insane. It was somewhat normal (compared to the rest of India). 

Another thing I noticed was the temperature, the maximum here was in the mid 30s here and everywhere else has been in the 40s. So much more pleasant to move about in. It felt like winter.

It was also another eerie place where there were minimal touts and people/kids left me alone or didn't acknowledge me. One tuk tuk driver asked me every time I walked past if I wanted a tuk tuk. Surely he should have seen the pattern emerging.

I had picked one hotel out off Agoda that I was going to look at which was about half the price of all the other places, and with air conditioning thrown in too. However, once I got near it I found them pulling up the roads. There was no way for me to get down to the hotel along that road and there was no detour. So I consulted a lot more of trip advisor, lonely planet and agoda and eventually found Raj Palace which had a garage underneath to park my bike in. I had locked my bike though and they came up to my room to ask if I could move it so they could fit another car in, but then they asked me to leave it unlocked. Sure why not. However when it came time to leave they had moved my bike into another garage... A bit worrying, I keep it locked so I know where it is and if it's not there it's been stolen.

Anyway, onto the sites of Udaipur. First one is the City Palace!

The entrance gate.

The palace from inside the grounds. It's been added on to by several different rulers.

The emblem of Rajasthan.

This is actually called the "City Palace Museum", and you're allowed to take you're camera in with an additional 200Rs fee. The security here is just silly though. Once you get into the palace I had to show the camera ticket to a set of guards who search your bag and the they attached the ticket to the camera. However there was a guy there making a fuss of some sort over my camera strap, no idea why but the guards just said I had a ticket and it was ok. Then step two of the security process: get the ticket out to show the guard at the bottom of a set of stairs, he stamps it and you move up the stairs. Step three: at the top of the stairs, with no other way to get there from the bottom of the stairs, another guard asks to check your ticket... Well I guess they've got to put people in jobs here.

This was carved from a single block of marble.

The view out over Udaipur.

A marble fountain.

A garden area at the top of the palace, everythings made from marble.

Marble lattice work. It's like this stuff just comes out of the ground!

Well, at least they have a fire exit, I wonder who has the key.

Using an exhibit to adjust your hair.

The mirror room!

A view over the city side of the palace grounds

These things were put on top after India gained independance.

A spot at the top of the palace.

But I can't go up there :(

A chair is made for each of the Singhs, this is one of them.

This is a sign that you have too much money. This is a door made of Ivory. How many elephants and rhinos did it take to make that!

Bored guard.

Peacock.

Mirror room number two.

And that was it for the palace. There was another exhibit of crystal objects that you could see, but it was 500Rs ($10) and no cameras allowed. I went to get lunch instead.

Ultra wide panorama shot of the Lake. The wide building in the middle of the lake is one of the top ten hotels in the world.

But this one goes to 11.

This is the kind of Indian street you dream of! No traffic, no cows, nice surface!

Someone, somewhere has referred to Udaipur as "The Venice of India" so now that appears in all the guidebooks and wikitravel. But if Venice is this full of trash, urine odours, and cows, and noise then I'm crossing it off the list of places to go.