The Raven Brothers fired up their twenty year old Volvo and headed for the Black Sea. Follow this epic adventure, as they attempted to drive full circle around this fascinating body of water at the birthplace of civilization.
by The Raven Brothers
The Black Sea has been the inspiration for endless myths and legends. It was here Jason and the Argonauts were thought to have sailed from Greece to Georgia in search of the Golden Fleece. It is home to stories of a tribe of fierce female warriors known as the Amazons, who were said to have captured men and used them as sex slaves in what is now modern day Turkey. Bands of nomadic horsemen wielding swords once ruled the grasslands of the Pontic steppe and Huns, Goths, Turks and Russians strove for mastery around these colourful shores.
Would it be possible to make a complete loop around the Black Sea? The Verkhny Lars-Darial Gorge border crossing the Caucasus Mountains between Vladikavkaz and the Georgian Military Highway was open to foreigners, but the Russian Embassy advised against travelling this route. Undeterred, the brothers both agreed that at the worst case scenario they would have to backtrack to Odessa in the east of the Ukraine and journey by ferry to Georgia. The plan was set. Their journey traversing this mighty Black Sea was about to begin.