We spend the rest of our Turkish
Lira on food & fuel and head to the border. There is a crazy queue, but all
goes smoothly. Total process only about an hour, including getting our vehicle
insurance for Georgia. We head along the coast stopping at the huge Fort at
Gonio. After a quick explore we discuss our route - the mountains or the
valley. We took the high road last time – surely the road has improved over the
last 13 years, & we can’t resist a mountain. Decision made we are off
through the crazy traffic of Batumi towards our road – State Highway No 1!
Lots of traffic as we wind
through villages. During one long queue a Swiss girl runs up to meet us. She
and her husband are in a 4x4 with a roof tent. We both stop at a little stone
bridge to chat. Always fun to meet other overlanders. We may meet again when
they reach Australia!
We continue as the road
deteriorates into a narrow, winding, rutted & incredibly bad track (it
really isn’t a road!). On and on and on. It definitely has not had any work
done to it in the last 13 years. We constantly meet or are passed by local
minivans – all crazy drivers. Areas of the track have slipped away & we edge
along cliffs. All pretty hair-raising. It is getting late… in the end we simply
pull over on the side of the road for the night.
Higher & higher we climb on
our track (We drive 12km in one hour) until we reach the summit, to find it
covered in snow – incredibly deep snow – taller than GR2. Can’t resist a photo
or two! Then we head down, passing
villages we saw years ago – then they were full of people & had crops
growing everywhere – we guess it is a bit early in the season for them to head
up here yet. At least our goat track is stony now, although water gushes over
it in many places. In the distance we see a church spire and head in to the
village of Zarma to find the lovely church – a monk arrives and opens up – the
frescoes are gorgeous – totally untouched!
From now on the road is sealed. YAY! What a
pleasure. It is still bumpy, but we can finally go faster. There are a few
places to stop and explore. First the castle at Akhalstikhe which has been
totally renovated – in fact way too renovated for us. Secondly the unrenovated
Khertvisi Fortress which we can climb all over. And thirdly, even though it is
getting late, the amazing Vardzia Caves. We explore all the tunnels, gawp at
the frescoes inside the church, poke into old rooms. Finally, we spend the
night in the overflow carpark watching as the floodlights light up the cave
city.
Head back out of our valley &
follow the river to Akhallealaki, a rather dreary depressing town, where we
explore the markets to find bread. Then we spend the rest of our local currency
on diesel. Time to head up into the high country to the border. The roads are
pretty broken up & the border is in the middle of nowhere. They don’t
really know what to do with us, but finally stamp us out and we head to the
next challenge: Armenia! All the borders
have problems with our Queensland registration papers – they really don’t look
official enough, but after quite a few goes they finally enter GR2 into their
computer. Then we have to pay an Environmental levy & insurance. They
assure us the roads are better here (we beg to differ!) and we are off. This
country is new to us so we have lots to learn & explore.
We head south through scruffy
villages (we love the fences we see –
made of car parts), to the 2nd biggest city – Gyumri. We park
and explore on foot. As usual busy markets spill onto the streets and cars are
everywhere, but the main plaza area has a few lovely old Armenian churches
& some huge official buildings. As we wander the streets we can see lots of
old facades saved for future use. Leaving town, we follow the river and find a
nice spot for the night. A local family arrive to play soccer, so John joins in
the fun.
Today’s destination is the Debed
Canyon, but first we stop at the city of Vanadzor. The markets are on so we
explore. As usual we try some street food – delicious fried potato fritters.
And a good chance to stock up on some fresh fruit & veges. Then on to the
canyon. Massive roadworks are under way so the road is broken up and dusty. It
means we don’t really appreciate the scenery, but we do stop and explore a few
of the Armenian churches – the best we see is at Odzun. At the head of the
canyon is the copper mining town of Alaverdi chock full of dilapidated
buildings – this town has the most we have seen so far, all remnants of the
Russian communist days. Smoke fumes clog the valley from the mine. Amazing! We
wind up the mountainside to visit 2 UNESCO listed monasteries. Both are
stunning, but my favourite is Hughpat. It always amazes us where the tour bus’s
pop up – there are a row of them here - they all had to wind up the same road
we did. Then on to visit the Sanatin Monastery before dusk. In the carpark we
meet Bert, who has a huge Dutch 4x4 RV. We head out for dinner with him &
spend the night in the parking area.
It has rained overnight so there
is no dust on our drive back out of the canyon – giving us a chance to enjoy
the views. Back at Vanadzor we head south through lush green countryside. The
LP mentions some pretty Russian villages, so we take a detour – the first is so
sad & scruffy and with such a dirt goat track that we give the other
Russian villages a miss. On to the more prosperous town of Dilijan for a quick
explore. Something is in the wind. As we leave we see rows of army trucks &
then convoys of fancy cars all with flashing lights heading in to town. (more
on that later)
Time to head over the mountains
and down to Sevan Lake. It is supposed to be a glorious blue – but not today.
There are a few more churches to explore (what a surprise – Armenia is full of them)
so we dutifully “do” them. Then time to head towards Yerevan on the busy
motorway. Nearly there we detour to yet more sights. At Garni a Hellenic Temple & at Geghard
another monastery. We stay in the Geghard carpark, ready for an early start in
to the city tomorrow.
We rather like visiting large
cities on a Sunday. Usually it means traffic is quiet and carparks are easy to
find. Well in this case the traffic is OK but carparking is not so easy. After
a few goes we park and set off on the LP walking tour. As it is Sunday we visit
quite a few churches during their Sunday services. Rather nice to see them so
well attended & listen to the music. Wander the streets to the main
plaza/square to find a group of lovely buildings set around fountains (and of
course there are some good carparks here!). Then on to see the markets – here
there are huge numbers of police, soldiers & special unit forces – what is
going on? Anyway, we enjoy the lovely craft markets - & no we don’t buy anything.
Then a few more churches and lunch in an Armenian traditional restaurant before
doing the second part of the LP walking tour. This part is through some fancy
streets with various embassies. When I take a photo of the President’s house 2
police come running over – No photos! Woops. My feet are pretty tired by the
time we get back to GR2. Time to leave, but we can’t go our planned route as
protesters have blocked off our road. So, we head out another way & find
another blockage, then another & another. We are forced to go down some narrow
back streets to eventually get out. As
we finally exit the city we see lines of protestors marching in along the
closed roads. Boy are we glad to have got out! Later we discover that there
have been huge protests. The President has resigned & there will be elections
in a few days’ time.
Guess what’s next. Yes, more
churches! First the ruined Cathedral at
Zvartnots looking rather like a circle of pillars, then the Holy See of Armenia
(up there with the Vatican apparently) – the Mary Tacher cathedral &
complex at Echmiadzin. An amazing pilgrimage place. The cathedral is under
renovation but we can still see the glorious brightly coloured paintwork that
covers the entire interior – breathtaking. We are fully churched out now, so
time to move on. Back roads south until we join the motorway. We end our day
driving out to Khor Virap which is set on a mountainside with Mt Ararat looming
behind it. We camp behind the monastery, with great views of Mt Ararat &
Turkey.
Such a magic spot we don’t want
to leave. John decides it is a great spot to practise flying his drone – yes
right beside the border with Turkey! By the time we leave there are busloads of
tourists already at the monastery. We continue south through wine growing
areas, then nearly at the border of Azerbaijan turn & head east. Some of
our drive today actually takes us through Azerbaijan territory – pretty crazy. On and on we head passing lots
of snowy mountains. We hadn’t planned on any more monasteries but can’t resist driving
through a rocky gorge to see yet another one at Noravank. Here parking is at a
premium & buses are crammed in. Then
on to Sisian where John spies a potential wrecking yard – he is on the hunt for
his Armenian no plate. Score: the lovely family give him one and coffee! So out
come some kangaroo hat pins and soft koalas for the kids, no English here at
all. Next the ancient stones at Zorats Karar. Here we meet a Russian family who
have promised John a Russian no plate when we get to Moscow. And our final
destination of the day, Tatev Gorge. There is a cable car ride that glides over
the massive gorge - we plan to do the touristy thing and go on it. By the time we
arrive just after 6pm it has just closed for the day, so we head deep in to the
gorge for the night. At 9am in the morning we wait impatiently in line for
tickets - we can’t get on until nearly
12, so decide not to be tourists today. Time for the long drive to the border
with lots more mountain driving. The road continually twists & turns as we
climb up and down mountains.
Hours and hours later we finally
reach the border……Iran here we come.
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