Finally, we arrived in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, located on the Tigris River in the heart of ancient Mesopotamia, around 530 kilometers from the headwaters of the Persian Gulf. The city was founded in 762 as the capital of the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs. For the next 500 years, it was...
We spent a few days in Erbil, one of the most ancient cities in the world, dating back at least to 2300 BC. Erbil has long been an important trade center, and It has been inhabited, over the millennia, by the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Mongols, and Ottoman Turks. It was already an ancient...
In Georgia’s second city (the capital of Adjara), we parked next to the promenade strolling along Batumis bulvari. With a backdrop of mist-wrapped hills and soaring snow-capped peaks, Batumi is a charismatic place with a charming Old Town fronted by the calm waters of the Black Sea...
We visited famous underground carved rooms in Arinj on the outskirts of Yerevan (🚖 1300 AMD/way). It all started when All Tosya Arakelyan wanted her husband Levon to build her a potato cellar. What she got in return was an incredibly intricate seven-level underground cave network built...
We spent a few days in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. The city has a fine natural setting; it climbs the hillsides from the deep trench of the Hrazdan River framed by the extinct volcanic peaks of Mount Aragats and Mount Azhdaak to the north and Mount Ararat across the Turkish border to...
We spent two days in the cosmopolitan capital of the republic of Georgia. We parked next to Rike park above the Mtkvari River, just in the city’s center. With its dramatic valley setting, picturesque Old Town, eclectic architecture, and great eating and drinking opportunities...
Ankara, the capital of Turkey, is situated in the northwestern part of the country. The country’s capital has made remarkable progress from a dusty Anatolian backwater to today’s sophisticated arena for international affairs. Turkey’s economic success is reflected in the...
We spent more than two weeks in the magical meeting place of East and West. This pleasant megacity has more top-drawer attractions than it has minarets. İstanbul’s strategic location has attracted many marauding armies over the centuries. The Greeks, Romans, and Venetians took turns...
We decided to spend five days in the city, from where many of Classical civilization’s intellectual and artistic ideas originated. It is generally considered to be the birthplace of Western civilization. When approached from the Middle East, Athens, with its tall buildings and trendy...
We spent two days in the fast-changing capital of Kosovo. We found a nice parking location within short walking distance from downtown (1,50 EUR / 24 hrs). The city is full of mismatched architectural styles and doesn’t look like an obviously attractive place. But Pristina is a place...