Jeff Arata

I left Dilijan/Tavush Province on November 14th after experiencing something I had heard about for 6 months

Dilijan is a cozy resort town at the center of Dilijan National Park. I’m not sure there was an official bus stop for it though, I had to ask to be let off early on arrival. The town itself was quite cute to explore with a little lake, an open park, a local art museum, and unbeknownst to me beforehand, a Rest House owned by the rather famous Rossi Family. I hiked, found more forest monasteries, and maybe more importantly, a Gata shop slinging some *ultra* primo gata, fresh fired in a pizza style oven

My most memorable day in Dilijan (and one of the more memorable of my trip) was the day I bumped into a group of Armenian friends having their own day in the park. They stopped me on my way to a monastery. They were very friendly and offered me jager from a flask (lol). They were clearly having much more fun than I was. I continued and they refound me at the monastery a few minutes later. We took photos together, had more translated conversation, and I received part of a 1000 Armenian dram note to keep as a memory. They invited me to their picnic lunch. One of them did all the translating, but they were stoked to have me. During lunch it came up that I’m part Armenian; that put them over the edge. We had some traditional vodka shots (lol), half walked/half danced to the other monastery, then we headed to a museum in town. It was closed unfortunately, so we opted for an early dinner. We were at an adorable creek side lodge with a full spread of Armenian BBQ. Complete with more cheersing (really more about the ceremony of it than actually drinking), and a solid 2+ hours of dancing, that day was an experience I had heard many talk about, but had then yet to find myself: Have a day truly spent with locals who invited you in cause they’re stoked that you’re visiting their country :)

I also made a quick stop in Sevan on my way back to Yerevan and got to jam with a local at their cafe fit out with drums/amps/guitars/etc too!

I’m currently in Austin prepping to leave again somewhat soon

🇦🇲

I left Olympos on October 23rd well fed

After a rather tight, but more than welcome, ride from some Kas friends, a few of us arrived in Olympos, the last of the 3 smaller towns others had recommended along coastal Turkey. It was still on the beach, but felt more like camping being tucked in the lightly forested mountains. The dorm rooms were literally log cabins lol. It did however include both breakfast and dinner in buffet style, which you could quite easily sneak some away to turn into lunch

Our big ol’ hike the next day started out as expected: amazing views, ruins, some sneaked breakfast for lunch, a pomegranate juice stop, the works really. Somehow on the descent down a fire road, the path veered into what I can only imagine used to be a maintained trail like 8 years ago, but no longer. We slipped and slid down the mountain, trying to convince ourselves we were still on trail as we hacked through brush, avoid actual injury, and dodge some chained dogs guarding pomegranates lol

We took more of a proper beach day the next day, with a mini hike to a fortress and a nearby cave (after getting losing and later refinding the trail of course)

The most suggested thing though were these chimera flames nearby (natural gas leaks through stone that have been on fire forever) that we walked to one night. Naturally, we brought s’mores stuff and learned truly the best ratio of crackers to chocolate to marshmallow. We also got to help teach one of us how to make their first s’more ever 🍫

I’m currently in the Bay not stoked about the reality that I’ll have to buy a car again for at least a little while