Alaverdi

September 22, 2023

Our hotel for last night, as well as the next few that we encountered down the road today, is focused on truck drivers. That's what happens in border towns. The food options have the same focus which meant it was easy to pick up something to eat to augment the oats porridge we had for breakfast.

The first few kilometers of the ride was along the banks of the Debed River which forms the border with Georgia until it veers into the mountains west of here. With the tensions high due to the current (never ending?) conflict with Azerbaijan there were lots of military personnel along this stretch. They were mostly very friendly, giving us a wave and the occasional amicable shout of "where are you from?". The traffic was light and even more friendly with lots of waves and thumbs up. The route followed the river and climbed three hundred meters gently in small steps, a short up followed by a shorter down, and was mostly very enjoyable.

Our route followed the Debed River through a long and attractive valley.

At first the valley was full of small orchids of apples, pomegranates and figs but as the valley narrowed the orchards disappeared.

The Debed River has a number of white water rafting operators but with the low water levels there didn't seem to be any action. I'm guessing it hots up in the spring when the snow starts melting.

A rather precarious looking bridge across the river.

Alaverdi is a rather depressing looking place. Its economy was dependent on the large copper smelting industry which was started by King Erekle II of Georgia in 1770. During the Soviet era it contributed a significant amount of the USSR's copper requirements but it was shut down in 1988 due to the unacceptable levels of pollution, particularly arsenic, lead and cadmium. In 1997 an Armenian from Alaverdi who had made his fortune in Russia attempted to have the plant resuscitated, re-employing a thousand people, but was forced to close in 2018 for the same reasons. The town's population is down by about 60% from its peak.

We are spending the next two nights in an old Soviet era hotel. Part of it has been restored but it is pretty basic. The reason for staying here is to watch some rugby over the weekend (I made sure the internet connection was good enough before paying for a second night - we stream the rugby broadcasts using rubu.tv).

Sharing a beer in memory of Noah. Mount Ararat, although located in Turkey (another sensitive topic for Armenians) is the national symbol of Armenia.

Tomorrow we plan to walk around what is, to a large extent, a ghost town. What we saw as we were coming in is like nothing I have ever seen before.

Today's ride: 42 km (26 miles)
Total: 1,526 km (948 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	5
Comment on this entry	Comment	0