Eastern Turkey / Armenia
 

Dear all
Is it feasable to travel via Van / Mt Arafat into Armenia on a Pan European ? Hesitate to use the word possible as most things are but are the roads more suited to a dual purpose lite weight bike rather then my old bus :scooter:
Dont mind potholes ( within reason ) but shale etc doh

The border between Turkey & Armenia is closed. You can enter Armenia from Iran at the bottom tip or Georgia to the north.

In that case better add Georgian roads to the mix too :helpsmilie:

Bordergates between Turkey and Armenia are closed as already said by friend.
Turkey has 2 intern. bordergates with georgia where you can enter armenia easily..
Crazy drivers and no traffic insurance system in georgia side so be careful not to have an accident.

1-Sarp in Artvin
Make it to trabzon first then follow the seaside road to east..
E. 41.51"73
N. 41.97"64

2-Türkgözü in Ardahan.
Follow the hanak road.
E..42.49'7"
N..41.35'14"

Aktaş is the 3 rd.bordergate to georgia inside military areas so not in use.

All the best.

Just got back from Armenia, Georgia and eastern Turkey. Easily possible on a Pan. The majority of roads in all three countries are well asphalted with Turkish roads being the best of the three. There is a massive investment in the roads here in Turkey. A dual sport is obviously better equipped to deal with out of the way places but if you are keeping to major roads you'll be OK.

Turkey

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7347/9...38f53af9_b.jpg



Georgia (secondary road)


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Armenia


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Cheers,

Dicky

DickyB's Turkish Delights - ADVrider

Blimey Dicky
Those make my local roads look rubbish - which they are . If you have a rough route you took could you post it ? Assuming entry into Turkey at Cannkalla , how long should i allow , time wise , for such a visit .
Thanks very much for the photos - am into serious planninmg mode now :thumbup1:

awesome.. plan away man.

Depends how much time you have for Turkey.. I mean you need months but say you have a couple of weeks.. must do's for me:

If crossing from Canakkale:

Visit the Gallipoli war memorials, there Turkish, British and also Anzac graves. The national park is really nice and would also make for a pleasant afternoon ride.

Then if you have time, see the south coast (bits of it anyway), Fethiye/Kas/Kalkan onwards is pretty nice.

If not head towards Cappadocia,

Then 2 choices:

Up to the black sea (friendliest people in Turkey).. however its not the coast that's interesting its the roads to the coast. If you want an epic ride... do the Of - Ispir - Erzurum road... you go from tea plantations lush green to, alpine meadows to proper dry anatolian plains.

Or head to the south east Antep, Urfa, Mardin (deserty, awesome food and sweet pastries.. much much more middle eastern influence).. for motorbiking defo zig zag the Black sea...

Also back to the black sea.... after Erzurum you can head back up to Artvin.. again awesome roads then cross in to Batumi Georgia.. seaside an expensive.

We crossed from Turkgozu (we set of from Kars, saw the Ani ruins etc).. the road to Turkgozu is pretty dismal but fun on an adventure bike.. its a steady climb with a lot of potholes and lorries struggling up the hill. Then booooom.. you're in Georgia.. the roads are instantly better from the Turkgozu road. We haded to Borjomi and did some hiking but take your pick. Goergia is ace... Mestia is brilliant and the ride up there is epic....or if you dont have the days head to Signagi (wine region) then upto Kazbeg (mountains) then in to Armenia.

Hope these pointers help!

But yeah Turkey is massive, and you'll need a few months to see it all. If you decide to head south on the way go to Pamukkale in Denizli and also see the ancient roman city (included in ticket price) its pretty ace.

Happy planning !
Oli

Thanks for the reply
will have retired by the time i go so have plenty of time - may well sell the Pan by then as it will be four years old and fancy a change :thumbup1:

Hi Chris,

If you have retired by the time of your trip then allow yourself plenty of time. We spent four weeks tootling about Eastern Turkey, Georgia and Armenia. There's a ride report here which I'm currently writing which starts half way down the page


DickyB's Turkish Delights - Page 65 - ADVrider

Pop in if you plan on passing through Kas.

Cheers,

Dicky

Hi Dicky
Your photos are amazing - the Mrs has just given up and told me to buxxer off and do it then she can stop falling over all my maps :innocent: May well do this before i finish as then its paid leave :thumbup1:
Either way , thanks again for the link .

Hey chris,
whatever you end up doing, make sure you do not miss out on Mt. Ararat. Really nice riding around, even more if you do not mind a bit of hard packed off-roading. Some shepherds took us in for a tea (and food, though it was ramadan) and we had a hell of a good day going up from Igdir. =)

Juri


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IMG_3291 von juri.tabain auf Flickr