Caucasus trip report

[davefl]

Ok, since I was asked about Armenia, here’s my trip report from a year ago.

I tend to go for mid range hotels rather than luxury although I make exceptions for good value ones, and am happy to fly economy for legs that are under four hours so not really in keeping with a lot of people here chasing status as it’s pretty worthless out of MAN and OW seem not to fly to a lot of the places I want to go to in the future.

I don’t like champagne or caviar either so a lot of the high end stuff is wasted on me 🙂

Route was MAN-BRU-EVN(Yerevan), road to Tbilisi, then TBS(Tbilisi)-GYD(Baku), GYD-SAW, IST-MAN

As some have noted the flights times around those countries are a nightmare, departing 2am, or arriving 3am etc so I tried to avoid those as much as possible. 1st two legs were on Brussels Airlines, next 2 were Azerbaijan, last leg home was on Easyjet. Planes were A320 and Embraer 190s. Nothing remarkable about any of them.

Road leg was booked on gotrip.ge where you just put in your requirements and drivers pop up with pics of their cars and prices for you to choose from. The one I picked responded within a couple of hours that yes he’d do the job. I didn’t realise he’d be driving all the way from Tbilisi overnight, then sleeping in his car ready to drive me back at 8am. You can choose where and when you want to stop on the way, nominate a particular route etc.

I had a 4 hour layover at BRU, found it quite confusing as to where to go, used up a dragonpass visit to sit in the Diamond lounge which was perfectly pleasant. Decent food, some kind of chicken stew.

Yerevan was a shock. I don’t know what I expected but it wasn’t that. Ex-Soviet buildings still in abundance, a proud but poorer country than its neighbours and they really don’t like some of them (with good reason). Once you walk around you find a beautiful place, really nice people, never needed to speak anything apart from English (thankfully, because I’m hopeless with languages)
Safe, spotless and some great museums, architecture monuments. But what really struck me was there was an undercurrent of quirkiness which I hadn’t expected. Wierd modern art and statues, things that were there just for fun. Some of it is terribly run down and neglected, expecially the children’s railway station which made me sad to see the beautiful stained glass falling apart but the rest of it is spotless, gorgeous and felt so safe, unlike most UK cities.

Tips – Don’t buy the Yerevan card. It’s a badly run rip off and some of the things on it don’t exist or only run at times that you won’t be able to make them.

Useful map of sites

Visit- Vernissage Market, Saint Gregory Cathedral, Gum Market, Blue Mosque, Saint Sargis Church, Kond District,
Childrens railway,  Yeritasardakan, Matenadaran (museum of manuscripts) and Erebouni Museum.

Do the Geghard Monastery, and Garni temple tour (6 hours). You can easily fill 2 days, preferably 3 if you take that tour.

Public transport is ok but never runs to time. Stayed at the Doubletree Yerevan which was fine, unremarkable and right on the edge of the centre.

8am start for the road trip to Tbilisi, stopping at Ribbon of Eternity Statue, Sevanavank monastery, Haghpat Monastery and Sanahin Monastery on the way

Booked the quite new HIX in Tbilisi, lovely welcome, got to my room exhausted after being driven for 10 hours and there was a knock on the door. Young lady from reception with a bottle of white wine (I only drink red but didn’t wnat to say anything) as compliments for being platinum. Never in all my years have I had a welcome like it at an HIX. But oops… she forgot the corkscrew 🙂 Ah well, I’m always prepared and I have to say Georgian white wine is very acceptable to my ignorant pallete. I was given 2 more half bottles as apologies for tour cockups in the following days. Location of the HIX is great, just a walk through the park to the old town where every other doorway promises wine tastings or is a bar/pub/shop offering more ridiculously good wine. Small market, pharmacy and supermarket on the same street as the hotel, and the subway station. Georgia’s subways are great, run to time and cheap.
The only problem with the transport is the metromoney card, buying and topping up and working out the fares. It’s like a krypton factor challenge with the payboxes and different vendors.

There’s a great fish and chip shop called Watts (Britsh/Welsh) if you want a taste of home… what no, really? Just me then 🙂

Visit Dry Bridge Market, Walk Kala ‘Castle’ district and the Sololaki neighbourhood, Asatiani Street, Arsena Street, Ivane Machabeli Street Western side of Rustaveli, long flight of stairs that leads up to the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts on Griboedov Street. Rike park to Narikala ropeway, Narikala Fortress. Rose Revolution Square.
Tbilisi is a place to wander, look at amazing views and drink great wine.

Day trip to Vardzia, Rabati, Borjomi was a disaster, not sure how any of the guests survived it. Tour company were liars. We turned up at 8am for an 8.15 departure. Nothing until after 9am, then told traffic problems. When the bus turned up at 9.45 it was clear that it wasn’t traffic but it had broken down. A couple turned to us and said yes it broke down yesterday and their tour was abandoned, so this was the do-over. Windscreen was cracked top to bottom in 2 places, and the back end was flat on its suspension. Anyway off we went, after an hour we stopped for “coffee” whilst the driver who had been going like Hamilton on crack tried to give the bus some love. After that we’re off into the mountains, 140kph down the hills, 20kph up as the gearbox/clutch/something had died again.
After 2 hours of this we’re told that we’re missing out Rabati, doing Borjomi 1st and then lunch would be at 5pm not 1pm. Much ridiculousness ensued, we ended up waiting for a replacement bus at Borjomi, lunching at 6pm, and then driving back in the dark. Mountain roads, pitch dark, cows loose everywhere on the roads and overtaking articulated trucks on bends. No idea how we didn’t come off the side of the mountain or hit a cow. Then when we hit the highway at around 10pm with still 2 hours back to the city the driver decided that nobody would stand in his way and drove at other vehicles whenever they had the temerity to be in the same lane in front of him.

Both drivers were stopped by the police and ticketed!!!
Our compensation was 2 half bottles of white, one for the late departure and one for the breakdown. Nothing for missing over half the trip and it taking 4 hours longer than scheduled.

Half day trip to Mtskheta Jvari,bazaar and wine tasting was fantastic. There was only myself and a Dutch girl, we hit it off, had lunch together after the tour, talked about everything under the sun and then parted, going our respective ways. She back home to her boyfriend and me off to Baku.

Tbilisi and Georgia in general is a great place to just “be” as indicated by the fact every other person you talk to is an ex-pat working from there because why not. Georgians and Armenians think of themselves as brothers, but none of them like the wealthy Russians that now have taken up some much of their countries, inflating property prices etc.

Tbilisi airport is compact, had the most intrusive patdown by security ever, and went through everything in my hand luggage. Even had to power up the laptop. Once through into the main area it was few people and banks of chairs with a couple of duty free stores and a cafe. (I could be wrong on this and confusing it with Baku, it’s been a year)

Baku – 1st impressions and last impressions were just wow. It’s really four time periods in one city. There’s the original tiny walled city, then there’s the western european (french/italianate/art deco) buildings by mainly Polish architects, the Soviets take over and up sprout some amazing brutalist buildings, and then the ultra modern ones like the flame towers and the unspeakably gorgeous Heydar Aliyev Centre designed by Zaha Hadid.

The wine isn’t pushed at you nearly as much in Azerbaijan but it does compare well with Georgia.

You have to do the Qobustan, Mud Volcanoes, Fire temple, Fire Mountain and Ramana fortress tour just so you can say you did the places Michael Palin and Joanna Lumley went to. They’re great tourist sites, but it’s a long day and there’s no real wow factor unless you are amazed by seeing gloopy mud go pop pop pop and fire come out of the ground (before it burns out in 50-100 years).

Stayed at the Intercontinental, 128k points for 4 nights. Asked for lounge access as tipped on some blogs and was granted it. I had breakfast in the lounge all mornings, basic but ok and there was usually only 1 other person up there. Went for happy hour, 6-8pm, took my laptop up as I was technically working one or two days that week and also to get photo editing done before going out for dinner. The cakes were lovely and the waiter was very free with pouring of the red wine. He even insisted that he topped up my glass to the brim just before 8pm. Only snag is that the 4 lane road below is noisy at all hours with cars racing past (it’s part of the grand prix circuit when that is in town) and whoever built it forgot the soundproofing.

I did the Private Sheki Tour – Four Regions of Azerbaijan in one day and it wasn’t great. I missed the word “private” so didn’t realise it would just be me and a driver. He turned up at the IC half an hour earlier than expected (because he’d taken his kids to school & just as I’d sat down for breakfast). He took the longest possible route possible and stopped for cigs, food, toilet etc almost every hour. But he drove really well, safely and calmly.

When we finally reached Sheki it was 30 mins until closing so I didn’t get to see as much as I wanted then it was a 6 hour drive back to Baku, plus stops. He was having an argument with some family member via whatsapp all the way, swerving around the road, tailgating other drivers when he was sending messages and then swerving around trucks, mainly 20 kph under the speed limit so being a hazard to everyone else who were doing 20 over. I was clinging to the door handle most of the way and when he finally got back to Baku and I recognised the street, I jumped out at a red light and bid him adieu and walked the remaining way just to get some air and calm down.

Free walking tours (tip based) in all cities were good, Airalo esim was reliable, transfers to and from airports where required were booked through Viator paying attention to prices and reviews.

I’ll skip my time in Istanbul because it’s better known than the above countries, but it was mostly uneventful, (my 2nd time there, but staying at the DT Sirkeci this time)

[tootsci]

The Caucasus has been on my list for quite some time. This is a great trip report thank you! Full of useful details – and also some hair-raising ones too! I thought the transport in Albania was bad (10 years ago now, but on one leg we had to get out of our bus and walk to meet it at the top of a hill as it couldn’t make it up) but this is another level!

[davefl]

Thanks, I was time poor, only had 8 days annual leave remaining so I used that plus a couple of sneaky “working from hotel” days to cram it all in but I’d love to go and do more of Georgia and Azerbaijan but a bit more slowly, Yerevan, once was enough even though it was incredibly enjoyable and welcoming.

[davefl]

The important thing I missed is that due to the political situation you can’t go directly between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Armenians won’t let you in with an Azerbaijan stamp in your passport (or so I understand), so you need to go “clockwise” via Georgia

[warrior01]

Great trip report! I’ve done Georgia a few times, probably seen everything there is to see from top to bottom. But be warned, if you’re a non-drinker like me, you feel left out. Everyone (including tour bus drivers) drinking lots of wine costing pennies and copious amounts of super high strength cha cha spirit.

I got a taste for Borjomi water. It’s fizzy salty water that’s sold everywhere in Georgia (apparently was popular with Tsar Nicholas). Doesn’t sound particularly appetising, but when you’re faced with alcohol or that, you get a taste for it. Now I look for it every time I travel through eastern Europe/central Asia. It’s never the same as the authentic Georgian version though.

Svaneti, high in the Georgian mountains is well worth a detour to see. Probably the most authentic local village left in the region these days, and the views are Unforgettable.

[Man of Kent]

Thanks @davefl – enjoyable read.

[davefl]

warrior01 wrote:

I got a taste for Borjomi water. It’s fizzy salty water that’s sold everywhere in Georgia (apparently was popular with Tsar Nicholas). Doesn’t sound particularly appetising, but when you’re faced with alcohol or that, you get a taste for it.

Uggh no, I had some at the source and still no 🙂

Svaneti, high in the Georgian mountains is well worth a detour to see. Probably the most authentic local village left in the region these days, and the views are Unforgettable.

Definitely on my list for next time. Just didn’t have the free days to fit it in last visit.

[davefl]

Man of Kent wrote:

Thanks @davefl – enjoyable read.

Cheers, I was in the mood to ramble. Doesn’t happen often.

[Man of Kent]

Ha, we’re off to ramble in the New Forest for a week next month. Not sure it warrants a trip report though.

[stankpa]

Thank you for a great trip report @davefl. Did you prefer Armenia or Azerbaijan? Definitely want to visit both, just deciding the order.

[davefl]

stankpa wrote:

Thank you for a great trip report @davefl. Did you prefer Armenia or Azerbaijan? Definitely want to visit both, just deciding the order.

Thank you. As I noted above due to the political situation you can’t go directly between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Armenians won’t let you in with an Azerbaijan stamp in your passport (or so I understand), so you need to go “clockwise” via Georgia or visit Armenia and then go somewhere else, and then on to Az. So ultimately your decision as to which one first is made for you unless you’re at the end of a passport and need a new one so you can lose the Az stamp.

It’s hard to prefer one country over the other. If you like architecture then Baku wins hands down but the rest of the country as I saw it was pretty boring apart from my 30 mins in Sheki. The Heydar Aliyev Centre just has to be experienced (from the outside though, the inside is irrelevant). It shouldn’t exist, just beautiful from any angle. I don’t think I’ve ever just sat and stared and walked around admiring a building like I did there in any of the 50+ countries I’ve visited. Yerevan is distinctly more soviet with little in the way of “modern” buildings but much nicer open spaces, parks, museums etc. Baku is definitely trying to match the gulf states with it’s opulent ultra modern buildings but then it has the oil money and Armenia doesnt.

I found the people in Yerevan warmer and friendlier. Did a lot of walking in both cities. Armenia has more ‘history’ but when you talk to people it’s sad because of the bitterness between them and Turkiye and Azerbaijan. They want their lands back. You can really feel it when you stand in Yerevan staring at the symbol of the city Mount Ararat and are constantly told it’s ours but it’s on the Turkish side of the border. All the cuisine and the wine was “invented here” but yeah the historical movement of people between Armenia, Georgia, Iran and what is now modern day Turkiye is a muddle of family, war, collaberation, trade and everything in between.

[stankpa]

@davefl I had this master plan of doing both on the next trip and then realised entry criteria and lack of transport connections 😂 I will still do both but on 2 separate trips (and order strategically planned).

[davefl]

Yeah, the cost effective way is to fly back to VIE, then FRA and then on to Baku, it’s a mess. If you have £600 to spare you can go via DXB.

Or you could just do what I did, road to TBS, enjoy some wine and then fly to Baku.

[davefl]

If anyone gets a taste for Saperavi whilst in Georgia, I just spotted a bottle of red in M&S for £10. Not sure if it’s a new thing or limited. Bought a bottle but won’t open it untill I get back from my upcoming trip.

[LD27]

davefl wrote:

If anyone gets a taste for Saperavi whilst in Georgia, I just spotted a bottle of red in M&S for £10. Not sure if it’s a new thing or limited. Bought a bottle but won’t open it untill I get back from my upcoming trip.

I looked for this in local M&S when we returned to UK just before Christmas and they didn’t have any also no signage for it.

Whilst pushing my trolley around same M&S today, I thought I’d look for it again as Georgia trip now planned. Lots on the shelf so bought a bottle. Also more variety from South America too. I thought the info on the label was interesting – “imported into the EU by M&S (Ireland) Ltd”. Made me question whether a lot of produce we now import from the EU comes through the back door.

I’ll let you know what we think, when we consume it.

[davefl]

It’s ok, but anything I bought in Tbilisi was way better. I found some Australian Saperavi in Aldi last week, similar comment, ok but could do better.

The labelling/importing is crazy. I think it was Italy where I grabbed some ‘local’ Italian wine from one of the supermarket chains, might have been Aldi again, and the source labelling was somewhere in Surrey. Nothing makes sense any more.

Enjoy Georgia, I loved it apart from nearly dying on the tours.