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- Farewell, Caucasus
- We Came, We Saw, We're Almost Done in Armenia
- A Day Spent in Yerevan, Armenia
- Haghbat and Haghartsin Monasteries, Armenia
- The Road to Yerevan, Armenia
- A Day in Tbilisi, Georgia
- Uplis Tsikhe and Gori, Georgia
- On The Way to Gudari, Georgia - Hats, and More Hats
- David Gareja Monastery and Tbilisi, Georgia
- Crossing the Border from Georgia to Armenia
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There were so many other places we visited in Armenia but before that, one last surprise from MIR, cocktails in the first floor Art Gallery of the Parajanov Museum.
Sergei Parajanov Museum was founded by the Government of Armenia in 1988. The collection consists of more than 600 of his art works, childhood home furnishings and personal belongings. He was a noted director and artist and had a very "strange" career. Go to the website on his life for more in-depth details and a look at some of his work. Parajanov's art was definitely eye-catching, and weird with sculptures, collages - created primarily during his five years in prison and 15 years of unemployement! (That would give anyone plenty of time to create!)
"The Last Supper"
Continue reading "Farewell, Caucasus" »
Echmladzin is the center of the Armenian Church. The holiest place for the Armenian Apostoli Orthodox faith. The Cathedral was built in 480 and located in a walled compound with gardens and other structures. The highlight of our trip there was meeting a Priest from Indiana < ....View image... who got special permission for our group to visit an area of the Museum reserved for special dignitaries.
There were gorgeous church attires embroidered with gold and pearls, ritual vessels of silver, gold and ivory, embroidered coverlets and much more. Rare ancient coins, relics and ancient manuscripts. It was wonderful to see.
Continue reading "We Came, We Saw, We're Almost Done in Armenia" »
There was still a lot to see in Yerevan before the trip ended. First up was the Matenadoran, one of Armenia's most historic museums, filled with thousands of manuscripts, fragments of books, ancients records and documents in Georgian, Greek, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Hebrew and Latin.
And a visit to the Armenian Genocide Memorial and Museum. Pre-World War I, the Armenians and Turks had lived together in relative harmony, but the War gave Turkish extremists dictatorial control. It was they who masterminded the plan to eradicate the Armenian race to fulfill their dreams of a new Pan-Turkic empire. '...able-bodied men were then "drafted" to help in the wartime effort. These men were either immediately killed or were worked to death. Now the villages and towns, with only women, children, and elderly left were systematically emptied.' The Armenians were led on death marches across Anatolia - raped, starved, murdered and kidnapped.
Continue reading "A Day Spent in Yerevan, Armenia" »
We stopped to visit Haghbat, a World Heritage site, built in the 10-13th centuries. Haghbat is a complex of cathedrals and basilicas on a plateau. ... View image...
This was one of the prettier sites. Honestly, I was getting a little "churched" and "monasteried" out but each time I thought..."I've had it"...the next place we visited would be more picturesque or interesting.
Continue reading "Haghbat and Haghartsin Monasteries, Armenia" »
We left for the border crossing at the Georgian/Armenian frontier. Customs and a transfer to an Armenian bus (along with new Armenian guide) for the remainder of the trip.
Armenia is an unusual country. The only reason Armenia isn't as desperate as its neighbors is that millions of Armenians live in other countries and send money back to help their families and country. The average Armenian earns $30-50 a month, unemployment is 50-60% and pensionsers get, maybe, $10 a month to survive on. Kirk Kerkorian, a Nevada billionaire born to Armenian immigrants, is one of the most generous contributors. We were told that Kerkorian's contribution kept the entire economy afloat for ONE YEAR.
Yerevan is surrounded by mountains, most important of which is biblical Mt. Ararat where Noah's Ark is said to have landed. Ironically, Mt. Ararat lies in Turkish territory. ...View image...
Continue reading "The Road to Yerevan, Armenia" »
As far as the various big cities visited in the Caucasus, Tbilisi was my favorite.
They have a great "antique" flea market on weekends. Tons of military medals including some very rare ones (one of our group was a collector), old silver belts, ethnic jewelry (very expensive), china, glass and other assorted objects. (I do love to shop!)
Tbilisi has a "Baths" district - underground sulphur baths covered by huge domes. Faina and Ellis (two of our group) took a "suite sulphur bath" for two which included being scrubbed down by an attendant. The baths were clean but had very strong sulphur fumes.
Sulphur Baths
Continue reading "A Day in Tbilisi, Georgia" »
En route back to Tbilisi, we stopped at the cave town of Uplis Tsikhe, a trade route that linked Byzantium with India and China. The Silk Road (the major trade route) had many different ways through the Mideast (Yemen), China (the famous Silk Road), the various "Stans," Turkey and other countries.
The entire town of Uplis Tsikhe was carved into the soft stone of the mountainside. It was always good to stop along the road, even if there wasn't much to see other than walking into the various caves and getting a little exercise. But it was just a short stop on the road to Gori, the main focus of today's trip.
Continue reading "Uplis Tsikhe and Gori, Georgia" »
Some of the more interesting sights along the way to Gudari along the Georgian Military Highway were:
- Electrical/power lines in towns. They were a sight to behold with hundreds of wires strung from every pole, leading to the houses and buildings. Our electricians would have heart failure, definitely not up to code and it was a wonder that entire towns didn't just go up in flames. We all jumped off the bus to take photos and marvel over this web of wires - something none of us (living in the United States) had ever seen or would see in our home towns.
wires everywhere
- Women selling hats along the highway. Crocheted, knitted, lamb - black or white - all handmade. Hysterical fun trying them on, and ...buying! View image...buying. Our grandchildren now have curly lamb hats for the proper occasion, should it arise! View image
Continue reading "On The Way to Gudari, Georgia - Hats, and More Hats" »
The next day was a visit to the David Gareja Monastery, revered as the holiest place in Georgia. Many faithful believe the visiting the monastery three times is equal to visiting Jerusalem. It is a cave complex, with a main monastery and 12 adjacent monasteries. There are also frescos. ( I know it's very famous but, truthfully, I can't remember a single thing about our visit there.)
BUT, I do remember Tbilisi, a charming and interesting city.
Continue reading "David Gareja Monastery and Tbilisi, Georgia" »
Each border crossing meant changing tour buses, a new local guide, and lots of formalities. MIR handled everything smoothly and off we bused into another country.
The route took us through the important wine-growing areas of the country with beautiful forested mountains as a backdrop, and little villages. Georgia's main borders are: the Peaks of Caucasus on the North, and the Black Sea on the West. It is still geologically active and suffers periodic earthquakes.
Times have been hard for Georgians since the breakup of the U.S.S.R. Their social security system is practically non-existent, the '90's were brutal economically, and some people still sell off their possessions on the streets to get by.
Don't even think of trying to learn their language, "Old Kartvelian", which is not related to any other group of languages. Russian, yes..."Old Kartvelian"... no. Georgian script is one of the 14 world alphabets (possibly influenced by Aramaic). That is why you need...A GUIDE!
Continue reading "Crossing the Border from Georgia to Armenia" »
We headed North through the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains. This was part of the ancient Silk Road, linking East and West.
Shemakha, was the former capital of the Shirvan Khanate. We toured the city, including the impressive Juma Mosque. The Mosque was built in the 10th century, and women were allowed to enter as long as we donned long black skirts and head scarves. ...View image... Men were always suitably dressed to enter with long pants on. (No shorts on this trip.)
the latest in wrap-around skirts
Continue reading "Shemakha and Sheki, Azerbaijan" »
Passports (with all three Visas) arrived in time, a big handbook of "Know Before You Go" from MIR, photos and details about our group of 13, and background on the tour manager accompanying us, Michel. Michel lives in Amsterdam and speaks 11 languages!
Our group flew in to Baku on different airlines: Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, and
at different times, and didn't have a chance to meet until breakfast the next morning.
Continue reading "Baku, Azerbaijan - Our First Stop" »
Got the MIR brochure, read the trip description, and he calmed down... Adventure Center (Explore U.K.) also has a trip there, but MIR has a very strong presence in that part of the World. Even though the costs were greater with MIR (considered a "luxury" trip in that area), I wanted a tour operator that could almost be guaranteed to get us IN, THROUGH and OUT of the country, SAFELY!
MIR assured us that they had escorted many trips in this region and we would be perfectly safe. It's a plan, on the road again with Margie & Art!
"ex-Marine" found out about all the problems there, and ran around the house, screaming like a maniac, "Are you *#*#**(profanities) nuts? Do you know there are rebels and wars in that region? Are you trying to kill us?" His usual response to all my unique suggestions, and my usual response is to get literature on the area, do some research, and ignore him!
Another concern of his - our friends, Margie and Art (M&A), are also the same people who:
- Do Class 6+ Whitewater Rafting;
- Climb Mount Rainier; and
- Trek to the Baltoro Glacier/K2, Pakistan which involved going up and over the Gondogoro La Pass at 18,700' only containing some 60 degree ice and snow slopes.
Continue reading "Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, Caucasus" »
That is exactly what the "ex-Marine" (husband, Steve) said when friends of ours suggested a MIR group tour with us along. The Caucasus consist of Azerbaijan, Georgia (no, not Atlanta, Georgia) and Armenia.
"ex-Marine" had a right to be concerned about these areas:
- Georgia has two areas with civil conflicts - Abkhazia and South Ossetia, supported by Russia.
- Armenia supports ethnic Armenian secessionists in Nagorno-Karabakh; the border with Turkey is closed over that same dispute, in addition to long-standing animosity between Turkey-Armenia over the 1915 Genocide; and Armenia-Azerbaijan continue to dispute.
- Azerbaijan hasn't resolved it's conflict with Armenia (see above); talks continue with Turkmenistan on dividing the seabed and oilfield in the Caspian Sea; certain areas to cross between Azerbaijan and Georgia and are in dispute; and, if that's not enough, is riddled with corruption.
In a nutshell, Armenia and Turkey hate each other - Armenia and Azerbaijan hate each other - Georgia and Armenia hate each other - skirmishes on borders with former Russian State - the Ashsetians, North Ossetians, South Ossetians - hard to remember all the hostilities!
Why, you may ask, would I even want to go to this region?
Continue reading "Caucasus - What and Where Are They?" »
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