Day 27 (Yerevan)
So, having done the walking tour the night before, we felt that we’d seen most of what we wanted to see of Yerevan and elected to have a lazy internetting day. First, though, we needed to get some washing done and back the same day, as we’d be leaving in the morning.[The following is the abridged version, the original being lost with my tablet.]
We’d been told the night before to bring laundry to reception, but when I did, they told me they were too busy, but that I could take it to a laundry service round the corner, which I did. However, there I was told - in sign language by the cleaner - that I was too early and to come back at 9.00. … At nine o’clock I was, apparently, still too early, but this wasn’t made clear until I’d sat in their reception for a further half an hour, by which time the cleaner had found a woman in a suit who spoke a little English. She told me 10.00. … Again, 10 o’clock was also too early, although at ten past ten, another English speaker confirmed that 10.00 was the right time for laundry. Finally at quarter past ten, the cleaner, who had taken me under her wing to some extent, greeted a new arrival, who turned out to be in charge of laundry and was able to receive my washing, weigh it and indicate that I should come back for it at six. That was it. No money, no receipt, no earthly reason why I had to wait and hour and a half to hand over my small bag of smalls to a specific person, who, it just so happened, was late for work that morning.
[The original version had all sorts of colour and addition information about how the laundry place was also a beauty parlour / cosmetic procedure centre, the types of people coming and going and generally a great deal more humour, which has temporarily escaped me post tablet disaster.]
Returning to the hostel, I collected Juli from our room and the two of us went out for a brunch of more crepes followed by a day spent uploading photos and blog posts, etc. That evening, after collecting our laundry, which was ready as promised - washed, dried, ironed and folded for about £1.30 – we stopped of at a supermarket to buy lunch things for the next two days an went out for dinner.
[Sorry this post is so boring; as I say, the original was loads better and explained why, having miscalculated how much money we needed for Yerevan, we had to eek out a very meagre budget and included references to bananas and German sausages. Hey ho.]
Day 28 (drive to Lake Sevan)
Leaving the city and driving out into the countryside, we began again to see the other Armenia of poor housing, bad roads and stoney mountain scenery. First stop was Khor Virap monastery, which sits under mount Ararat, though the mist meant our photos don’t really do justice to it. Mount Ararat, it seems is some thing of a mecca for expat Armenias, who, we’re told, are frequently moved to tears when they see it. This despite the fact that Mount Ararat it actually in Turkey.
Next stop was another collection of old and pretty churches and a monastery called Noravank. Access is via a really tall and narrow gorge, pouring into which we saw a single waterfall, so high and narrow that the water, on this day at least, never reaches the ground, having evaporated half way down.
Leaving Noravank, we began to climb through alpine meadows full of wild flowers on our way up to and through the Selim Pass (2,400m) via one of Armenias many ancient Caravanesai, or Silk Route stopping off places for merchants making their way between Europe and The Orient. The one we stopped off at dates back to 1332.
Dropping down, though only a few hundred meters, we reached the shores of Lake Sevan, one of the world largest and highest fresh water lakes and immediately wished we hadn’t bothered. Apart from it’s size – it really is huge – it has very little to recommend itself, being partly industrial, partly ‘sea-side-y’ plus a few dilapidated chalets and rusty caravans. I wouldn’t want to swim in it and I certainly wouldn’t want to eat anything caught in it.
Putting Lake Sevan behind us, we passed through a really long and barely lit tunnel with only a single carriageway in each direction, which was bad news for the traffic going in the opposite direction to us, stuck as they were behind a broken-down car being pushed along by it’s former occupants.
shortly after emerging from the tunnel, Will turned of on what, judging by the way we climbed and turned back on ourselves, had been the old, pre tunnel road. Certainly it was uncared for and, aside for ourselves and a few ‘parked-up’ cars, more or less unused. Will turned off onto what seemed to be a completed unused track and pulled up for the night at the junction with another unused track. Karen looked at the sky and decided we needed to put the truck tarp up before attending to our own tents, which we did.
This turned out to have been a good call, as not long after she started to preparing our roast chicken dinner – she uses a very large iron box on a metal grill that stands over the camp fire for the purpose; we’re all hoping that, one day, cakes may come out of it too – the now familiar sights and sounds of a thunderstorm filled the evening air. With the rain came the wind, which at one point blew the tarp down, narrowly missing Karen and crushing one of the aluminium washing up bowls. Meanwhile, the ground was turning into thick, claggy mud that added inches to the soles of our shoes. Then, just as we were getting into the Glastonbury spirit, some bright lights attached to a large 4x4 came over the brow of the ‘unused’ track and the owner requested us to “please move your transportation.” Karen, now very close to dishing up, was very apologetic, but pointed out that it was going to be a sight easier for them to go around us than for us to move a very large truck, tarp attached as it was, through all the mud. Seeing the sense in this, the driver manoeuvred his way around and we tucked into our delicious chicken dinner.
Day 29 (return to Georgia)
The next morning, after more rain in the night, it was still very wet and muddy and Will decided it would be best if we were off the truck and well away from it when he attempted to reverse back up the now very muddy track. In the event his skill and experience meant that this was accomplished with very little wheel spin and, after washing the mud from our shoes and feet, we all got back on board and on our way to the Georgian border and Tbilisi beyond.We arrived at the border around late lunchtime when very little – certainly not us – was moving in or out. After a bit of waiting, the men in white shirts with epilates finished their beers and cigarettes and we were allowed through to the first checkpoint. To cut a long story short, the procedure was similar, but in reverse to the crossing into Armenia from Georgia: slow and bureaucratic with few facilities on the Armenian side; smooth and friendly with ice cold cokes on the Georgian side.
Tbilisi is another large capital city that contrasts markedly with the country in which it sits. That said, in my opinion, it has very much more to recommend it than Yerevan does and is a fascinating mix of old and new, of which more later. We had to use a different hostel to the one Will and Karen had planned to use, as it had apparently ceased trading. Fortunately, the hostel in Yerevan had put us in touch with their sister hostel in Tbilisi, which turned out to be almost a carbon copy, right down to the beds, bedding and excellent shower facilities. What’s more, Will managed to parked the truck right in the centre of things, just a stones throw from the hostel.
Day 30 (Tbilisi)
After the included breakfast, we took the free walking tour of the city. Despite the heat, the pace and frequent opportunities for shade meant that we didn’t suffer too badly and where able to pay attention to our knowledgeable guide as he showed us round a couple of churches, a large and popular park, a very (and controversially*) modern new bridge ironically named ‘The Bridge of Peace’, some old streets and the ancient citadel, which sits atop a commanding hill with fabulous views out across the whole city.[* So controversial in terms of its position with respect to the UNESCO listed old city, that its construction resulted in UNESCO de-listing it.]
After the tour, we took the cable car back down into the park, found somewhere for lunch then went back to the hostel to shower and relax with a little light internetting.
Later, once the day had cooled somewhat, we ventured out again in search of dinner. This was followed by a walk to Republic Square then down to and across the river, through the busy park, via coloured, musical fountains, and the cable car back up to the citadel, from which the night-time views, particularly of the illuminated Peace Bridge, where stunning.
Day 31 (Accidental Death of a Tablet)
This morning, after lots of blog-post writing on my very useful tablet computer - which I also use for looking at my photos, checking e-mails, browsing and the occasional tweet – its battery needed charging before I could finish writing my post, so we went down to the truck, and while Juli kept the locals talking, I retrieved my multipurpose mains charger. Truck locked, we returned to the dorm. The rest you know already.Later, once I’d calmed down a bit, we went out for a light lunch and hatched a plan for the rest of the day: me, (re)writing on Juli’s netbook; Juli, a sauna and massage at the sulphur baths with Sandy, Sarah and Lindsey.
She’s just got back, so I’ll close now.
Tomorrow, we leave Tbilisi for two or three night’s of bush camping on our way to the border with Azerbaijan, followed by three more on the way to Baku, where we have two night in a hostel that may or may not have wi-fi. I’m going to be writing (very slowly so probably briefly) on my phone from now on in the hope of being able to Bluetooth the text to Juli’s netbook then copying and pasting one way or another from there.
TTFN - N
Good to hear all your news.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday Juli
With love from all at Melbourne x x x