Europe Archives - Ivan Pankev / Иван Панкев / Johnnie B GoodeIvan Pankev / Иван Панкев / Johnnie B Goode

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Nov 2017

East of the Moon, West of the Sun – part 16: Freedom camping

This is the story of my 5-month eastern journey through Turkey, Georgia, Abkhazia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and Iran. I spent most of its night freedom camping. Go to part 15: “Wild camping” In the previous chapter I showed you the most interesting places I camped throughout Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Abkhazia. Now you will see some of my bivouacs during the rest of the journey – Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Iran. Armenians are very proud that their country was the first in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion in 301 A.D. There are ancient churches scattered […]

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Oct 2017

East of the Moon, West of the Sun – part 15: Wild camping

This is the story of my 5-month eastern journey through Turkey, Georgia, Abkhazia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and Iran. I spent most of its night wild camping. Go to part 14: “16 peculiarities of Iran“ It‘s only fitting that I add a chapter in my story, dedicated to wild camping. For five months one orange piece of nylon, surrounding an area of 2 sq. m., represented my idea of home. I spent over 2/3 of those 140 nights in it. It protected me from rain, wind and cold, ensured my privacy. It served me well in the heat of the […]

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May 2017

East of the Moon, West of the Sun – part 9: Armenia’s Roof

This is the story of my 5-month eastern journey through Turkey, Georgia, Abkhazia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and Iran. Go to: “Part 8: Republicans” To recapitulate the first 100 days: For a number of reasons my journey so far looked like a sleepwalker’s rambling – Bulgaria-Turkey-Georgia-Azerbaijan-Georgia-Armenia-Nagorno Karabakh-Armenia-Georgia-Turkey-Georgia-Abkhazia-Georgia-Armenia – and it was not over yet. On the way to Yerevan I visited the Sevanavank Monastery. It had a great location – on the tip of a peninsula jutted into Lake Sevan. Besides being very beautiful with its sapphire blue waters, it was the largest body of water in Armenia and the […]

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May 2017

East of the Moon, West of the Sun – part 8: Republicans

This is the story of my 5-month eastern journey through Turkey, Georgia, Abkhazia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and Iran. Go to: “Part 7: Caucasians” After two weeks of nice tiring “vacation” – trekking and climbing a 5-thousander with my girlfriend – I was again alone on the Road and it would remain so until the end of the journey. There would be no more “guests”. I applied for Iranian visa and I already had a letter of permission to visit the Republic of Abkhazia. There were still a few days until its entry date and I used them to check […]

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May 2017

East of the Moon, West of the Sun – part 7: Caucasians

This is the story of my 5-month eastern journey through Turkey, Georgia, Abkhazia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and Iran. This part is about the treks we did in Ushguli region. Go to: “Part 6: Mission “Prometheus“” We had climbed Mt. Kazbek (5047 m.) mostly because of luck and stubbornness. Krum and Lyubo flew back to Bulgaria and Tatyana and I headed to Svaneti to do some hikes in the surrounding mountains. It would have been wiser to start with the treks for acclimatization and then lunge for the high peaks, but we were pressed by time. Mestia greeted us with […]

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Apr 2017

East of the Moon, West of the Sun – part 6: Mission Prometheus

This is the story of my 5-month eastern journey through Turkey, Georgia, Abkhazia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and Iran. This part is about our accent of Mt. Kazbek (5033 m.). Go to: “Part 5: The First Christians” Armenia was the smallest country in the region (not counting the controversial republics) but boasted beautiful nature and a number of interesting sights. I hadn’t seen all, but had to go back to Georgia. Two and a half months had passed since the beginning of my journey and my friends would arrive in Tbilisi soon with two bags of gear – everything necessary […]

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Apr 2017

East of the Moon, West of the Sun – part 5: The First Christians

This is the story of my 5-month eastern journey through Turkey, Georgia, Abkhazia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and Iran. Go to: “Part 4: A Country of Taxi-drivers and Policemen“ Because of my surprisingly short stay in Azerbaijan I was in Armenia a month ahead of “schedule”. It is a small mountainous country with beautiful nature, many historical monuments (mostly monasteries) and hitchhiker friendly. Armenia was the first country in the world to adopt Christianity as an official religion as early as 301 AD. The country had numerous ancient churches each one of them more beautiful and interesting than the […]

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Feb 2017

East of the Moon, West of the Sun – part 4: A Country of Taxi-drivers and Policemen

This is the story of my 5-month eastern journey through Turkey, Georgia, Abkhazia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and Iran. Go to: “Part 3: The Green Mile“ After 40 days of travelling around Turkey and a relatively short stay in Georgia, I crossed the border with Azerbaijan. Right from the start I realized that hitchhiking here was going to be easy enough. I only had explained in advance that I wasn’t going to pay for it. Qobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape State Reserve was one of two Azerbaijani UNESCO World Heritage sites. It boasted over 6 000 rock engravings dating […]

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Jan 2017

East of the Moon, West of the Sun – part 3: The Green Mile

This is the story of my 5-month eastern journey through Turkey, Georgia, Abkhazia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and Iran. Go to: “Part 2: 13 Cups of Tea” After 40 days travelling around Turkey – a long-distance trek and numerous castles and ancient cities, I crossed over to Georgia. Although a part of the Westerners think that Bulgaria had been one of the 15 republics, I stepped on the territory of the former USSR for the first time in my life. Going so soon to Georgia was a surprise even for me, but I definitely needed a change because my […]

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Jan 2017

East of the Moon, West of the Sun – part 2: 13 Cups of Tea

This is the story of my 5-month eastern journey through Turkey, Georgia, Abkhazia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and Iran. Go to: “Part 1: The Long Walk“ Once we reached Antalya and finished the 512 kilometers of the Lycian way for 20 days of walking (+2 days off), the journey entered a new stage. Tatyana caught a flight back home and it was time for me to go on my own. In addition we were travelling only on foot, but now I switched to hitchhiking. This allowed me to cover much longer distances. Other aspects remained the same – I continued […]

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Jan 2017

East of the Moon, West of the Sun – part 1: The Long Walk

This is the story of my 5-month eastern journey through Turkey, Georgia, Abkhazia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and Iran. This part is abouth the Lycian Way. Two days after I returned from South America I had an interview for BiT and I was caught off guard by the question: “What is your next destination?”. My spontaneous response was: “Southeast Asia”. Then I changed my mind – the “Stans” of Central Asia seemed more attractive to me. I gave up this idea though, because of the need for visas for each of them. Meanwhile, my girlfriend and I were thinking about a […]

Category Archives: Europe