Dogubayazit

This is our 8th day on the road and our 5th without an internet connection. We ran across a rogue wireless signal last night and we have been trying to “borrow” it to update…but the signal fades every time we try to upload. We will give it another whack and see what happens.
Mountain Ridge Near Iranian Border

This View Of Ararat Makes Our Dingy Hotel Worth It

The last few days have been overwhelming. We are just a few miles from the border of Iran and spent today hiking and driving off-road through the mountains that define the Iranian/Turk border. Over the last few days we have visited a dozen remote villages high in the mountains of the region and have been received with amazing hospitality and affection.

Iranian Border...Traded Pomegranates With Murat

Trekking Along The Euphrates


Nomadic Goat Shepherd's Village

High On The Ridge

Village Near Ani

The Climb To The Ridge


We have walked with nomadic shepherds as they move their flocks to lower pastures, sat in stone huts covered with earthen roofs, traded pomegranates and gifts with boys and girls tending goats miles from their family’s camp, visited on the roadside with gun toting teens, and hiked through stunning mountain passes and high steppes of eastern Anatolia. Our boots carry the dust of the ancient Silk Road on them for the first time. Life, my friends...is good, on the Far Side of the World.
More…when the internet gods smile again.