Greetings from the northeastern most large city in Turkey. 

Today has been all successes. After hearing "no" after "no," finally I got my visa to Russia here. In Trabzon it was "no problem!" All it took was a friendly Consulate employee telling me how to cut the usual red tape and 150 dollars. I applied for the visa about 10AM and had the documents at 3PM.  Next, I ran over to the Georgia Consulate and before I could say "thank you" and pay the 20 dollars, I had my visa sticker pasted into my passport. What a world. 

So, in a day or two I'll be off to Georgia and Armenia... and points much further east. 

Trabzon is an interesting town. Lot's of Russians here. I read that the Russian Mafia used to run everything. While there is no way for me to personally confirm that, I do know from personal experience that some pretty rough looking characters hang around the lobby of my 4 star hotel late into the night. Gives me the creeps. 

The picture part of this postcard can be found here. 

Now it is off for a Vodka with my new found friend from the Russian Consulate.  

The next postcard should come from Georgia or Armenia. 

Peace

Fred L Bellomy