Day 26 - We go for a ride !

After yesterdays "prelim"today was the real thing as we loaded up our stomachs (full of stodgy breakfast cement) and made out way back to Chiatura.

While the "Coffin boxes" are no longe in use a few relics were on display as we wandered around this fairly grim looking town !

While we wandered aimlessly we did coma across some of the newer Franch cable cars that well serves the town with many Residents perched all over this steeply sided gorge.

With Kev thinking he'd be ripperd off (he thought the cable car charge was $50 when in it was 50 cents) we took one of the local cars for great views of this once important town

With most people looking like the world had just ended we headed back out of town first by way of the incredibly large WWII statue superimposed against rapidly decaying high rise buildings and then it was On to the Khaski Pillar for a closerip view

Although not open to the pubic we had a good enough view to marvel at the rock and the buildings on top as well as the spiritual devotion of the monks who maintain it !

There were some good questions put by H including .. Why ..Can they receive the Footy up there … and how the hell do you carry up a slab of beer !

While I said I would check it out it was back to our home abode (400 metres away) for some googling and doggie play time for Kev !

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Day 25 - Soviet times

Holy Trinity Church

Kev’s Restauarnt 

Stunning views


We'd aimed to head back down the mountain ( including our 2,400 metre pass) but first planned to visit the amazing 14th C Holy Trinity Church perched on top of the nearby Kazbegi hills. The Monastery is profiled against the towering Mt Kazbek at 5,000 + metres with one of the best views in all of Georgia !

This was truly outstanding !

We'd planned on getting away on time but with the stunning views and Kev thinking that I was singing in the church choir when in fact I was waiting in the cold weather next to our hire car, we got away much later than planned !

With time now a priority and the weather closing in, we bade farewell to the Gergeti region and travelled back down the mountain pass and through the infamous sinkhole filled tunnel from yesterday.Once again we passed hundreds of trucks !

We finally picked up Georgie's main road the E60. The posted speed limit of 110 kms was completely ignored by high end European cars that went past us like we were standing still !

We eventually cut inland off the expressway passing through the amazing Soviet style town of Chiatura. This town was a former Soviet mining colony built in the 1800s. Apart from extracting manganese and other important minerals and being one of Stalins favourite Stalinist towns in the 1950s, Chiatura claim to fame was its network of cable cars

The cable car system was originally designed to move miners from the town to the various mines on top of the gorge. These cable cars were often referred to as "coffin boxes"because of their size and shape. Our fleeting glimpse on our way to Katskhi was stunning enough to ensure that we'd be back again tomorrow

15 mins past Chiatura we finally reached our farm style accommodation by way of a "bomb cratered" lane ! Despite its shit entrance lane, and the farms uniquely sparse design it provided a fabulous view of the Katskhi Pillar !

Some more exploring to be done in the mo ring !


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Day 24 - Tbilisi off to the Mtns

We must have got barely 5 mins sleep son our train journey (complete with sleepers) to Tbilisi from Yerevan. We’d been stopped at least 3 times to allow relevant Armenian annd Georgian officials on Board our train that surely had square wheels ! In fact at one point Kev issued an ultimatum saying that he would rather end up in gaol than get out of bed one more time to show his bloody passport and credentials !

Our 10 hour."clicketty clackettty" journey finally deposited us in downtown Tbilisi where we jumped into a taxi to head to the airport to pick up our hire car

Our Journey out of Tbilisi took us on the stunning Georgian Military road, the 18th century construction was designed to facilitate troop movement and trade into and out of Russia. In recent times its image was flashed around the world when potential Russian conscripts evacuated en mass from Russia into Georgia at the Georgian end of the Military road in the Darial pass region.

The journey was stunning as the road climbed into the Mtns and over the Javari Pass at 2,400 metres. It also became a white knuckle experience as we peered nervously over the road 

edge in misty conditions into the abyss !We negotiated roads passing hundreds of Russian bound trucks on roads with no overtaking room and through a tunnle that had some of the biggest sinkholes we'd ever driven through !

We finally emerged on the stunning snow capped mountain side of the Kazbegi region and finished up in the breathtaking town of Stepantsminda with its Holy Trinity church perched high above the town only 10kms from the Russian border Wow this was so beautiful ! 

It was back to a slightly chilly 2c but even Henry couldn't resist getting out and about as we searched our basic town for some sustenance after the days pretty testing drive !




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View from our room at Sepantsmindawq

The Truck “Jam” starts !

The long train journey starts 

Day 23 - Midnight train to Georgia !

It was finally time to move on from Lake Sevan and Armenia. Today's objective was clear avoid driving into the centre of Yerevan to get to the airport !

First of all we quickly visited the Sevan Writers House a real tribute to 1950's architecture a shame that the designers got sent to Siberia by Stalin ! The Sevanak Monastery behind it provided an amazing juxtaposition !

With only 70 kms to negotiate to Yerevan and plenty of time, we didn't mind terribly getting lost on our venture in to Yerevan. What we did mind though was finding that we'd somehow ended up right in the middle of the city.

As plans go this one failed primarily as Armenia has extensive gps jamming for geompolitcial reasons meaning that our primary nav aid was Google Maps with a terrible lagging blue dot and a city with bugger all signs (no airport ones) and a shit load of traffic !

Somehow we fluked our way to the airport seeing our first airport sign 100 metes from the airport turn off ! We were both mentally exhausted !

Hire car thankfully returned and dinner taken at the airport we this time took a 4,000 AMD taxi (charged 20,000 on our first night) around blocked streets caused by protesting Armenians over their countries agreement to give part of their territory to secure peace with Azerbjan.

At the Central train station we pulled out our books not particularly looking forward to our 3 hours wait and 10 hour train trip to Tbilisi Georgia !

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Sevanak Minastery

Our Hotel Lake Sevan

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1950s Writers House Lake Sevan

Day 22 - Dilijan National Park - H throws in the towel !

Our beautiful location did not match our breakfast ! We were met by a stodgy mix of, spaghetti, buckwheat, plain yoghurt,  multiple jams, some scrambled eggs stale bread and the atypical Armenian coffee that stuck to the bottom of your cup like super glue!

After a lay in following yesterdays long drive, we headed inland off the lake towards the Dilijan National park which got reasonable reviews from fellow travellers. An old Soviet tunnel launched us into beautiful greenery where we attempted to track down a ruined Monastery. After multiple attempts through the narrow streets of Dilijan and their enormous potholes we gave the idea away with Kev's nerves reaching breaking point from the chaotic town driving

Our next effort was trying to find petrol. I say trying, as the 3 huge servos we drove into were LPG only ! With only 70kms left in the tank we were starting to think that everyone in Armenia only drove on LPG until we finally found an actual Petrol station !

With a wrong turn or two we finally reached the National Park proper and the local Monastery just in time for the rain ! This was only a quick stop but from what we could see in between dodging cars on the narrow roadside the park it would probably be a lovely spot for an Armenian picnic on a warm summers day !

Back to Lake Sevan Kev was still re overnight from the days driving ! His expletive laden voice was nearly hoarse as he dealt with a series of maniac Armenian drivers ! Although not super aggressive they have a scary habit of tailgating then overtaking on blind hills and corners. This often created situations where head ons seemed imminent ! Kev was not impressed !

An ice cream calmed him down enough to get him back to our hotel and the arvo was spent resting and taking in the beautiful Lake Sevan scenery !



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Trying to find that Monastery !

Dilijan National Park

H

Beautiful Lake Sevan sunset !

Day 21 - Lake Sevan by way of the Mtns

We were out of luck, our breakfast was just a s stodgy as yesterday ! The weather was equally shitty being nearly fully closed in as we set our way back down the Gorge stopping briefly at Devils Bridge a hard to see rock formation ! Driving up the other side soon became really difficult. The oad conditions were bad enough but the mist made it. Nearly impossible to see the edge of the road ! On one in f at on occasion we driove staright into a car park thinking it was the continuation of the road !

The shitty conditions continued all the way to Goris about 30 kms away when Kev did his best Jane Bun impersonation indicating that the wether wasnt going to change
We about turned missing out on the nearby spectacular cave village and headed back the way we'd come 2 days before . This time we stopped at Areni caves where a guided tour indicated the finding a of a ritual wine production and even the find of 5;000 year old leather sandals !

Because we were in the area we had and look at the beautiful red sandstone hills around the monastery of Sereva k once again before heading inland on a massIve climb over a Mtn pass before heading down to Lake Sevan. The roads were once again terrible but the scenery more than made up for it

The beautiful 1900 metre high freshwater lake of lake Sevan slowly came into view as did some pretty solid rain. While it may have been hard to get lost over the remaining 40 kms following the lake it was none the easier finding our accomodation .. no signs again ! When we finally did though we were rapt ! A beautiful room over looking a.beautiful lake !

After the day longs spell of driving it was a pint of beer for me which Kev reckoned tasted like shit ! A huge Greek salad and some BBQ chicken (Kev pork) was ourbest meal ,for days. Back in the unit it was stunning to watch the sun setting over the lake with a cuppa in hand !
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Areni Caves and Wine casks

Mtn pass on way to Lake Sevan

Lake Sevan sunset

A snack en route 

Day 20 - Flying High over Tatev !

Our beautiful accommodation in Tatev was sadly not backed up by a great breakfast so the resident dog scored well from both of us. We were to be downscaled to the budget option (outside toilet) for tonight with H reckoning he'd use a plastic bottle rather than get up in the cool night weather (we are at 2,500 metres).Feeling refreshed and with the weather showing some early promise we elected to walk to the Chairlift and the Tatev Monastery. Once again we got lost in the background streets of this non descript town and once again we always seemed to end up at the towns Cemetry .. hmmm !

Fed up we grabbed our car for the 1 km drive and with the weather starting to close in we elected to first undertake the cable car the Wings of Tatev . What an amazing construction, 5.7 kms long (a world first) and 320 metres above the ground ! This $22 million construction was completed in 6 months and gives an amazing view of the gorge during its 15 minute high speed run !

We road to the end and back after having a drinks break just in time for a feezing downpour. With the Monastery out of the question it was back to our budget Hotel accommodation special. With the rain settling in we even decided to forego dinner hoping that tomorrow might bring better fare !


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Our lovely Tatev accommodation

Lost again in Tatev !

View from the cable. Car 

Kev’s weigh in at the cable car 

Half way drinks !

Day 19 - Yerevan Escape

Well it was t with too much sadness that we departed Yerevan! Our 20,000 AMD taxi coming in was on,y a 2,000 AMD going back to the airport as was a Yerevan Uber and we were t getting ripped off !

Formalities completed we steered our hire car left, right, up, down and around just to get out of the car park ! Leaving the city introd us to the Armenian style of driving that was to plague us for the next few days. Fast, tailgating, overtaking anywhere .. add in really poor signage and it took a few attempts to escape into the countryside

Immediately the scenery picked up. Our first stop was at Khor Virap a stunningly situated Monastery perched on a hill facing the massive figure of the 5,000 + metre mountain of Mt Ararat once in Armenia but now just over the border into Turkey !

Some beautiful driving followed as we climbed over a Mtn pass with snow still evident. Our descent though revealed a few places at the bottom of various hills with massive potholes. So big in fact that cars and trucks would take their own chaotic routes to avoid.

Eventually we took a beautiful Gorge road to visit the amazing Noravank Monastery perched high surrounded by red sandstone hills. This Monastery was an important position for trade and wealth on one of the nearby silk roads.

Our last bit of the day was a ridiculous descent on shocking roads into a gorge just short of Tatev. This had Henley using every expletive in the book ! Almost unbelievably the ascent was on perfect winding bitumen !

Tatev was another story ! This small non descript village exists entirely on muddy narrow unsigned roads. We circled the town 3 times trying to find our accommodation always ending up back at the towns Cemetry !

After ages and speaking to persons with little undertanding of English we found our B&B and collapsed into our luxurious room absolutely stuffed after a long day on the road. We were way too tired to go out searching for food instead settling on an ice cream from a local shop ! What a day !
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Noravank Monastery

Khor Virap with Mt Ararat in the distance 

I’ve had enough says H !

Well it almost happened ! After days of being tormentaed by Armenian Potholes and crazy Armenian driving habits, Kev nearly parked the hire car to hail down a bus, any bus, that was remotely heading in the general direction of Australia !

It was a culmination of days of shared driving. Yesterday in visibility about the length of the drivers compartment, the day before driving on potholed sections to Tatev big enough to swallow a bus and the day before that driving in speed city traffic where Armenian drivers would tailgate you until they found a corner blind enough to overtake you and 3 other cars at once !

What made today special though was that in Dilijan a town in the hills outside of Lake Sevan, the above car driving issues happened to Kev at once ! We'd just emerged from a 4 km long Soviet style tunnel (dark and narrow) when the fun began ! We'd been looking for a road in Dilijan that supposedly lead to a ruined monastery ! Kev had negotiated the narrow Dilijan roads avoiding cars parked 3 deep and those reversing and Turing at will when he confronted a section of potholes that once were part of a road ! In this situation every car took its own line meaning that you could be faced with 6-7 cars coming at you all from different directions ! " I've had enough of this country said Kev ! " It might have great scenery but these roads and drivers are giving me the absolute shits " ! I could gather that I thought, as his normal obscenity laden daily quota was exhausted within 5 minutes of driving ! His solution .. drive like the. !

It was time to take matters in hand before Kev turned into a blithering mess ! I took over the wheel (my obscenity daily quota was lower) while trying to navigate and console Kev at the same time !

I really do fear for the residents of Diamond Creek on Kev's return if he intends applying any of his newly learnt Armenian driving habits ! 

 



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Henley’s Heroics !

What a contrast, from towering spectacular snow covered mountains of Norway with their skinny roads to the " thriving metropolis of beautiful downturn Yerevan " . The capital of Armenia may have been reasonably new when Stalin was in nappies but now was a run-down decaying old Soviet era town where every male appears to stand around street corners smoking.
Then there's the car drivers . Speed limits of 60kph are treated as suggested speeds only and despite wet conditions and crappy roads some still insist on topping the 100kph mark with no regard for pedestrians or other drivers. They have underpasses at some major intersections as there would be multiple deaths per day without them , the traffic lights only give you 20 seconds to cross about 60 metres , good luck with that if you're elderly.
A major attraction in Yerevan is the Genocide Memorial, a commemoration to the 1.5 million Armenians slaughtered by the Turks in 1920 .
Mike and I decided to visit it but with no signs as to its whereabouts we went looking. We spied a huge building high on a hill and thought that has to be it , 172 steps later we arrived there only to find it was the new rather grandiose football stadium, stuff it .
Still no signs to the Memorial we headed back down the big hill then up a bigger hill only to find the Memorial was only 150mts from the football stadium, big time bummer . What an incredibly moving experience to read about the Genocide, something I knew absolutely nothing about.
Then the fun started next day . Hired a car at the airport and headed into the countryside for a few days.
The craziness of the drivers rose to a new level, overtaking when an oncoming vehicle is 60mts away ,
on blind bends and any other suicidal practice you could think of , super scary . Wouldn't like to see their road death toll.
Australia has potholes, Armenia has sinkholes.
It was like rally cross driving dodging here and there to only hit 50% of them , even the semis were coming to a near halt when going over some of them , we had some good laughs.
Unlike the city the countryside is magic with huge deep gorges and towering mountains, spectacular. How they managed to build Monasteries and Churches high up on some of these mountains up to 1000 years ago is beyond me , rough roads , no machinery, all by hand
Today we took a ride on the World's longest cable car ,
5.7kms long and 320mts at its highest point , amazing views. Just to complete the day we got dumped on by a storm as we got off the cable car .
Off to Georgia in a coupla days , should be an eye opening trip with the promise of being taken off the train by border police at 3am for passport checks .
Yummy
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