Armenia, Georgia and Karabagh, October 2017

So this was one amazing journey.

I initially planned to do this trip with my friend Maren but unfortunately she did not get time off work. As I was so looking forward to seeing these countries I decided to go anyway. I do not regret that.

This time I will not go through the whole vacation day by day but rather share the key experiences.

As I did not plan the vacation through as I usually do, I spontaneously decided what to do and where to go each day. The only things booked were the flights and the car. So I knew I was mobile and that I had eight days to spend.

The route I came up with:

20.10. I started my journey in Yerevan and spent the first night there.

21.10. After some brief sightseeing around Yerevan I drove north and crossed the border to Georgia and went to Tbilisi (Tiflis in German).

22.10. As I really liked Tbilisi I decided to stay another day and had a few nice walks around the city.

23.10. I was advised to visit Kazbegi (Stepanzminda), so I drove north almost to the Russian border and stayed there.

24.10. Cancelling my initial plan to drive back to Tbilisi I decided to stay for another day and enjoy the countryside and hospitality.

25.10. One long drive from Kazbegi to Yerevan.

26.10. I drove south east to Goris, with some sightseeing on the way.

27.10. My longest day. From Goris I crossed the border to Karabagh, drove through Shushi (Susa) and Stepanakert (Xankendi), back to Armenia, past lake Sevan and to Yerevan.

28.10. Brief sightseeing around Yerevan and back to Kuwait.

All in all this was one long drive of about 1900km.

But let me summarize the trip in a few paragraphs.

The Landscape.

All three of these countries (or two if you don't want to count Karabagh, as hardly anyone recognizes it as a country) had some amazing (!!!) landscaped to offer. I believe I chose the perfect time to travel as the autumn colors of the trees matched the dry grass and harsh brown mountains perfectly. Bob Ross couldn't have painted the scenery any better.

As you can imagine all three countries are quite similar, I wouldn't really be able to pick a favorite.

Armenia: The north is not quite as pittoresque but the south east completely made up for that. The mountains seem to be smoother, everything seems a little softer and warmer. Especially in the area between Areni and Sissian the autumn colors were breathtaking and the mountains and light just rendered me speechless and gave me a big long-lasting smile.

Georgia: The very north around Kazbegi is stunning. The mountains seem more harsh but the color scheme is about the same as in Armenia: brown mountains and yellowish dry grass. The views are stunningly beautiful and being enclosed by huge mountains (up to 5047m) just made me feel comfortable.

Karabagh: I did not spend too much time here. The whole country seems to be just mountains and mountains all over (hence the German name: Bergkarabach). It was a beautiful place but just was not the same as Armenia and Georgia. Although I must say the road just before crossing the border back to Armenia was really beautiful. It took me through a narrow valley, the high walls seemed to be just far enough apart to let me drive through at some points.

The people.

I would like to separate this. There are locals and there are other travelers I met.

Lets start with the fellow travelers, all of whom I met in Kazbegi, Georgia. At first I met Rada and Sasha, two Russian girls that were up to some hiking in this amazing countryside. Had such a good time with them - they even made me stay a day longer in Kazbegi (which I really don't regret doing!). Hoping to stay in contact with those beautifully weird people. Right after I met those two I crossed paths with Eva - a Welsh girl who was about to hike to the same waterfall as Rada, Sasha and I did. Rada recognized her as she stayed in the same hotel, so we continued our little walk together. Eva is one amazing person who loves travelling at least as much as I do. I spent a lot of time with her as we drove back to Armenia together and spent some time together there. She's been to the most exotic places and her stories just make me want to travel even more. Looking forward to visiting her in Wales (or meeting up anywhere in the world) some day inshallah.

Then there were three Australians (one was Argentinian but lives in Australia, one German but lives in Australia and one Australian who lives in Germany. Weird.) which we met at the exact same waterfall. I had dinner with them as well as Rada and Sasha that night and they were some great company.

The locals. What comes to mind first is the owner of the hotel I stayed in for one night in Kazbegi. He was one strange person but really welcoming and friendly. He poured wine as if it was water and I spent one highly interesting evening (which will be stuck in my head for a while) with him and a few others. Then there was the lady that cooked dinner for us in Kazbegi. Rada and Sasha organized this for the Australians and me: A dinner in a local house with traditional Georgian food and wine, cooked and prepared by an armada of women in the kitchen next door to the room we were dining in. She was just the loveliest lady - so welcoming, heartly and warm. The food was really awesome as well! I did meet a few other folks but none that I would care about mentioning here. Just random people who I'll forget about soonish. All in all the people are very friendly in the Caucasus area.. with some black sheep of course.

The prices.

As I read on the internet the prices are not as low as one would expect. 'Expect german prices' it said. Utter BS. My first night in Tbilisi I went to a really decent restaurant, had two starters, a main course and quite a few glasses of wine.. and I paid 50 Lari (which is about 17 Euros or 6 KWD). This was my most expensive meal. In Goris I ordered three main courses and a side dish (I didn't expect them to be main courses due to the low price..) and paid 4,20 Euro (1,5 KWD).. The hotels I stayed in were all between 12 and 37 Euros per night (the latter was a 4 Star hotel in Tbilisi) and were usually pretty decent.

So I was happy to see the prices were not as high as in Germany or Kuwait but rather low enough to not think twice about what to order or buy to save some money.

The roads.

Boy, this is one big topic. Let me start with saying this: Many times I was very happy to have rented a 4x4 SUV. Although it was a shitty small SUV it got me to places. During my whole trip I don't think I've exceeded the 100 km/h barrier (except once at the end of my 500km journey from Goris to Yerevan through Karabagh), at most times the average speed is around 50 km/h. Sometimes the average speed goes down to about 4 km/h, but I'll get back to that.

Most roads are in terrible conditions and are flooded with potholes, cracks and gravel - in Armenia and Georgia. As soon as I crossed the border to Karabagh the roads were in a very good condition and made driving easier!

About half of the cars around are Ladas, most look like they are at least 30-40 years old. These cars are 'unkaputtbar' as I'd say - unbreakable. And if they do break, all you need is a screwdriver and a piece of tape to fix them, no matter what is broken. Lots of these cars exceeded their weight limit either by carrying a crazy amount of people or are used to transport hay, cabbage or other stuff in excessive amounts. Once I overtook one of those overloaded little cars and got stopped by the police in an instant. They gave me a ticket and I had to pay a big fine - they were convinced I was drunk (which I wasn't) and decided to take me to the hospital to get me checked. Long story short: After letting the police officer drive my car for 5 km he decided that he wasn't in the mood to get me to hospital. He was still convinced I was drunk though. So he gave me some chewing gum in case I get stopped again.

The roads to the monasteries (which are called wanks in Armenia.. haha) are often in really terrible conditions. Steep uphill unpaved serpentines, covered with deep potholes and gravel. Always an adventure. But the most memorable 'road' was the one to the Gergeti Trinity Church in Kazbegi. The 5,1km drive took me more than one hour and was hilarious, nerve wrecking, fun, terrifying and scary. The roads were narrow and had only one lane for both directions. When ever a car wanted to pass it was a matter of very few centimeters. A steep hill on one side.. an abyss on the other. The tires of one car almost overhanging the abyss. Lucky me I was the one on the side of the hill. The road was covered in huge boulders, the size of car tires, deep pot holes and was just a real challenge. I even managed to get stuck once - the car would not move and one of the tires had no contact to the ground.. But I managed somehow. Once I got up I was really exhausted, trying not to think of the way back.. But the way back was better. I knew what to expect and at what placed to look out for crevasses and big boulders. Luckily I remembered what David once taught me about off-road driving.. and applied that knowledge!

Oh and I got caught speeding by a camera.. still waiting for that ticket...

One more thing I'd like to mention was crossing the border from Armenia to Georgia. I expected it to be one of the main routes - but the border was deserted. I mean, there were some officers and I easily managed to cross.. but no other cars around! The first 20 or 25km driving in Georgia were a little nasty as it was a dirt track, unpaved and full of potholes.

Google maps, which I used at most times (I had downloaded the offline maps before) once tried to kill Eva and me. It sent us down the tiniest road and advised us to continue driving when there was a steep hill right in front of us. There wasn't even a real footpath down this hill as it was a vineyard. Thank you google maps, you evil overlord. Oh and in Karabagh google maps does not work. Not even the offline maps. Be prepared if you ever decide to go!

So if you ever plan on having a similar trip in this part of the world and want to see more than just the main roads: Get an SUV. A 4x4. The bigger the better. And prepare to be shaken, not stirred. If you're not into speed or acceleration get a Lada Niva. They are cheap to rent and can go anywhere. Probably even down that vineyard.

The weather.

Beautiful. Simply perfect. The sun was out every single day, sometimes accompanied by some clouds. Only for my last two hours before flying back to Kuwait it started raining a bit. The temperatures were just right (about 20°C during the day, really warm and pleasant in the sun!), it just got a little cold at night (down to -9°C in Kazbegi according to my App). There even was some snow still covering parts of the ground in higher places. Nice!

Food and drinks.

Wow. Just wow. The Georgian and Armenian food is simply delicious! I especially fell in love with.. shoot, I forgot the name. Some yummy bread with cheese. Like a Pizza without the tomato sauce. One of the national dishes, Khinkali is hardly ever available anywhere.. but I managed to have it quite a few times. Really tasty in all its variations! Simply delicious. Everything! Well.. I didn't try the weird stuff as brains and such.. but.. the regular food was really great.

And the wine. Oh my god the wine. I usually prefer a beer over wine. But the Armenian and especially the Georgian wine is so (!!) delicious! I don't even like red wine but I killed quite a few bottles in these days. Some of those I got invited to by our lovely host in the Green Sheep Hotel, which I will remember as 2Pac. His real name is Shako (..like.. 2Pac Shakur..).

I now know why this area is famous for its wine.. if you ever go - don't miss out on trying as many kinds as you can!

This is all for now.

I will have great memories of this trip for a looong time - especially ones of the amazing people I met and the beautiful (splendid, marvelous, breathtaking, nice, amazing and magnificent!) landscapes!

I really want to go back and explore the sh*t out of these countries!

Following: A few more pictures. There are just too many I want to share!