Timdar Travel Blog

A very long day – landed in Luton at 1.30 am, and back home by 3.00. But that’s 6.00 Armenian time, and 5 hours on Wizz Air isn’t conducive to sleep (although Eileen did for about an hour.

We’re not the best at making good use when we have a day to kill before we head home, but we did OK. Hired a car and driver for a couple of hours – same one who later took us to the airport – he might be the only one in town.

First stop – another monastery.

Quite well disguised, and about 6,000 ft above sea level.

Next some caves. Found the world’s oldest shoe (8,000 years) and lots of other evidence of human occupation going back even further.

And our little church again.

Before Eileen found another friend

And that’s that. So much to reflect on.

Here are 3 relatively nondescript pictures, but each one tells a story today.

We’re on the move from Yerevan to Areni, part of one of the main wine regions of Armenia. First stop, though is another monastery – according to our driver there are about 4,000 in Armenia, so only about 3,994 left to go!

Main attraction is the view of Ararat. This is what we saw

This is what we were meant to see on a crystal clear day (thanks, Google)

But it was a decent enough detour

Especially with a fantastic coffee courtesy of one of our driver’s mates in a very unassuming stall by the roadside.

Second part was just a stop to look at the view – key thing about the view is that it is Iran. OK it’s right in the far NW corner but it’s the closest we’ll ever get.

And finally a tiny little church in Areni where we’re staying.

Someone, who I assumed was a caretaker, very proudly wanted to show me around, even though we didn’t have a single word of each other’s language. In fact I had to ask back at the hotel whether the damage was war or earthquake – the latter.

But the most moving part was the cemetery.

They etch the likeness of the person onto the tombstone, which makes it much more real. And so many, like this man, died recently in their late teens due to the war. Very moving.

Last day in Yerevan, so slowing down a bit.

Made our way down to Republic Sq and stopped for coffee at the Marriott.

Who knew? It’s where Kim Khardashian stayed when she visited in 2015! Best I can do to get any sort of link to the Khardashians.

Found a friend ….. they love their public sculpture here.

And then to the History Museum – and as I’ve intimated before there is an awful lot of it.

Don’t think I knew there were wheeled vehicles nearly 4,000 years ago.

But the main part was the exhibitions about the Armenian Genocide during and after WWI (which the UK – unlike most of the EU – has yet to recognise it as such). The Armenian guides certainly talk about it openly and freely.

Unfortunately the Soviet part of the exhibition was closed, but after the Genocide you could see why it might have looked like an attractive option.

A half day trip around Yerevan – we really felt the need to see even more monasteries!

Then a monastery built into the rocks – they dug down from the top apparently. Oh, and Armenia claims to be the first Christian country in the world, in the 1st Century CE.

Beautiful singing with incredible acoustics.

Then a walk down a natural lava canyon with great rock formations.

And finally a temple (restored)

And you can see the canyon we walked down.

And that’s about it (apart from the bread making masterclass at the end) – tours always put this sort of stuff on at the end and this one was OK.

But a fantastic, and not too arduous, trip.

Initial impressions of Yerevan are very positive. Much more to come over the next few days.

A few IT issues to solve. Got the eSIMs to work, but had huge difficulties in logging into Yandex (Armenian equivalent of Uber). Then found out that it’s Russian, and Ukraine had just bombed its headquarters putting its data centre out of action. So not down to my incompetence after all.

Anyway, Yerevan has a Cascade which kept us entertained for most of the day and provided some fantastic pictures. Here’s a few.

From the top – that’s Mt Arafat – in Turkey, nearly 17,000 ft and allegedly the site of Noah’s Ark (disputed).

Oh, and it’s 720 steps to the top – after which I discovered most of it can be done by escalator.

You might be able to tell that it’s also part of a huge art museum.

Here’s a lovely place to hang around – only had to wait for about an hour on the Georgian/Armenian border but felt longer.

And made it to Yerevan (capital of Armenia, which I didn’t know before this trip).

Bit of an epic drive (not me, we hired a driver). Picked up at 7.30 and eventually arrived about 5.30. It’s a long way, but we had 3 small detours to see ……. more monasteries of course.

Still haven’t mastered the art of selfies after years of trying!

And then quite a welcome in Yerevan

Sometimes you just get lucky. Sitting in a bar in the late afternoon with a fabulous view and an ice-cold beer, some ice cream with red wine, and some peach flavoured chacha, thinking about where to eat that evening.

And the storm clouds started gathering and the idea of dinner on a terrace was losing its allure. Better, we thought, to trek back through town now to the Pheasantstears winery and restaurant which was right next to our guest house.

Wine fantastic, meal ok, but then the entertainment began – entirely unexpectedly.

View from our balcony

Before that we were enjoying the (very small) town

Another monastery (of course)

Couldn’t resist a nun with a jet spray.

But before that, apparently the bridge in Tbilisi was an inspiration for a Harry Potter scene.

Anyway, after a few days in Tbilisi we’re off on our travels. Signaghi, via the David Garegi Monastery. Eileen found a website where you can hire a car and driver, but you can also ask for detours to famous sites. The blue dot is Signaghi.

The monastery is literally on the border with Azerbaijan.

The very top part of the monastery in the picture is in Azerbaijan, and is out of bounds from the Georgian side. According to our driver one tourist did climb up and was detained by the Azerbaijan police/military.

But an amazing place and well worth the detour.

And then lunch in a “cafe” we wouldn’t have stopped in if we were on our own.

Fantastic home produced cheese, bread and tomatoes – 3 people came to £4.

And the bread was superb

Note how it cooked by slapping the dough onto the side of the oven.

And then to Sighnaghi – exploring tomorrow.

There are a lot of stray dogs in Tbilisi, but they are tagged (apparently if they have a good temperament), are clearly well looked after and healthy, but above all else are obviously very relaxed living on the street!

We knew there were major roadworks in Tbilisi ..

Think Oxford Street or something similar. No account taken of pedestrian access, so muddy shoes are trailed into shops, museums, hotels, and so on.

Anyway, another first – took about 10 times as long to find a museum as we spent time in it once found. But well worth it – probably added to by the amount of effort involved. Actually it’s just a few rooms of a house from a wealthy merchant now as part of the university. So no guide books, post cards, gift shop etc.

Now we’re moving on to Sighnaghi for a couple of days, and time to reflect on Tbilisi. It’s quite strange – feeling privileged to be here and experience the culture, food (fantastic, by the way) and the people, but wouldn’t say we’re actually enjoying it. It’s quite hard work, and it really is decrepit in large parts, so not always aesthetically appealing. It is very friendly and welcoming, but although English is widely spoken, it’s mainly Georgian and Russian which are way beyond us.