Exploring Georgia, Vrolex, Schlippky, and “Mission Package” (June 2023)

We explored some parts of Georgia and really loved it. Especially the bazaars in what looked like old airplane hangars were very interesting and it was exciting to check what the main national fruits etc. are.

We did develop a serious addiction to Shotis, a special bread the Georgians are baking in round clay ovens. After only getting the Turkish Ekmek which is basically air surrounded by a bit of dough, we loved the Shoti bread.

We met Vrolex again who we had met in Turkey at the Van Lake before and spent a nice time at the hot sulfur pool near Vani (see it on Google Maps).

We asked Cindy’s friends, who we had visited before in Georgia, if we could have a package sent to them from Germany and when they agreed we started ordering a lot of mountaineering and climbing stuff to my brother in Germany. My brother did an awesome job putting everything as small and light as possible in one package and we prepared the list for the customs control etc.

Our cooling box got the opinion that everything should be colder and started to freeze our vegetables. So we tried to repair it several times in different ways but we’re very convinced that its temperature sensor was broken. Unfortunately the package from Germany was already on its way so we couldn’t order a new sensor with that package.

And Isarne gifted us our new alien friend: the Isarne-Schlippky, a water kefir we now took care of and enjoyed drinking the “pee” it was producing.

Finally in Georgia, differences to Turkey, and climbing with Isarne and Humpelino (June 2023)

Finally we made it out of Turkey into Georgia! When I had started my journey in December 2021, Georgia had been the first country I really wanted to visit. Of course the other countries were all nice as well but Georgia was always special to me. It looked just awesome in the videos and photos. And for me it is the country between the West and the East.

I often thought: from Georgia eastwards the real adventure will start.

Immediately after crossing the border between Turkey and Georgia, we felt the difference: no singing/ chanting of Imams, alcohol everywhere, the people were dressed more revealingly, and although we met a lot of lovely people, some people seemed to be a bit grumpy.

After visiting old friends of Cindy near Batumi we continued to continue our traveling only with Rosinante and would pick up Thor some weeks later.

The weather got better and better and we decided to try the first climbing area in Katskhi. I did not have any climbing equipment at that point but we met again with Isarne who we knew from Cyprus and they borrowed me one pair of their climbing shoes.

Climbing was awesome and I loved how much it fits into the car and nature live. It was awesome to wake up, have some breakfast and just walk some hundred meters to the first climbing wall. And all of that together with very good friends.

Katskhi itself is an interesting spot for sightseeing as well: they have a chapel on a big stone pillar. Although it is not allowed to climb up there, it looks awesome.

And again we found some dog friends. Especially Humpelino was a nice companion. He got his name because he was limping and the German word for “limping” is “Humpeln”.

Mission accomplished: a bath in latex-free condoms in Turkey (June 2023)

After we had tried to organize latex-free condoms in dozens of super markets and pharmacies, via couch surfing hosts and friends, and only found one box of latex-free condoms in eastern Turkey, we tried again to find some online.

And then we found Trendyol. It’s a big online meta shop and with this service you can pay with an international credit card, can create an account without a Turkish ID and have your orders sent to thousands of mini markets and other shops in Turkey.

I would strongly recommend checking that web service if you need to get something special in Turkey.