Have you ever heard of Nagorno-Karabakh?
Those who are old enough might remember a war somewhere in the Caucasus, soon after the Soviet Union collapsed. It involved a territory that was part of Azerbaijan SSR and that has a majority of Armenian inhabitants, who saw the collapse as an opportunity to become independent from Azerbaijan and get closer to its neighbor Armenia. It was an important historical event that involved Russia, who supported (and still does) Armenia, and Turkey, who provided military support to Azerbaijan. It was a political but also religious war and visiting that area is key to understanding what is going on in that part of the world...And so did I, obviously taking my motorbike with me. The nation of Nagorno-Karabakh has never been recognized by any other countries, except other similar territories like South Ossetia, Abkhazia or Transdnistria. It is still legally part of Azerbaijan but de facto independent and supported by Armenians and Russians. The region is very heavily militarized and the border with Azerbaijan is still practically at war, with incidents happening every second week and the Azeri propaganda stating that they will get the region back in the near future.

However, in terms of travelling in the area, most parts of Karabakh are just like Armenia. Some roads are very good and there are a couple of hostels in the capital, Stepanakert, but overall the tourist infrastructure is just starting to be developed. Even in many places the destruction caused by the war twenty years ago is still visible, like in the former capital Shushi that the Azeri army used as a stronghold from where to bomb Stepanakert.

In that town, mosques are abandoned since the Muslim Azeri residents were either forced out of the country or killed, and the cathedral is one of the most relevant buildings in the whole region. I was very impressed when buses loaded with soldiers arrived at the cathedral and they started praying and lighting candles, still dressed in military uniforms, before they returned to the front line.

But Karabakh is not just about war... there are also some important sights and the one I liked most was Gandzasar monastery. It is about one hour ride from Stepanakert and perched on the top of a hill. There were many crosses carved by visitors on the walls, a sort of Armenian tradition that dates back many years judging by the ancient looks of some of them. Some people do not like this rock-graffiti but I always found it nice and interesting.

This shot was taken inside the monastery and I have no clue of what it says or how to pronounce it because it is in Armenian language, which uses a different alphabet. Those letters were devised by Mesrop Mashtots, a sort of national hero, around 400 AD and are one of the main symbols of the Armenian identity. I decided to include this picture here because the alphabet was taught for the first time by its creator in the region of Artsakh, the Armenian name for Nagorno-Karabakh.

And the following picture is a general view of the magnificent roof and dome of Gandzasar monastery, plus my motorbike parked in front of it to prove that I am still riding it. By the way, thanks to one of my good Armenian friends, Sophie, who thought that my bike needs a name, I currently refer to HER as Scarlett. It is shorter and I actually like the name!

Apart from Shushi and Gandzasar, I also visited the bordering region of Tigranakert, which is still safe according to the local government. Not far from there lies the ghost city of Agdam, where 150.000 people used to live before the war. Nowadays, it is just a deserted city where trees have started invading the streets and houses and where snipers, smugglers and all sorts of nasty characters roam the streets. Definitely not the kind of place I want to ride my motorbike to... but I could see it from the distance driving to Tigranakert and even that sight was impressive. In between, some rusting Soviet tanks were left abandoned in the fields, along with other post-war junk.

Next chapter I will be back to Armenia proper... stay tuned!