It has been a very long time since I have traveled around the holidays (Germany & Amsterdam in 2015/16 and London & Paris in 2012/13) and this was an exceptional trip. It started out as a pet-sitting gig in Tbilisi, and then we decided to extend it by another week to also include Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.
Georgia
Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, is situated in a valley surrounded by impressive hills that keeps it temperate during the winter months, but also results in it being baking hot during the summer. Thankfully as it was December, we were able to walk around with just our winter coats and felt fine. There is A LOT to see in the Georgian capital, and we managed to see just about everything we wanted to, except for the National Museum, Art Museum of Georgia, and the Georgian Folk Art Museum, all of which were closed.
Here’s the rundown (with some pictures below):
-Georgian Museum of Fine Arts, which had the best museum shop in the whole city!;
-G. Leonidze Museum of Georgian Literature, focusing mainly on that author and with most of the information in Georgian only;
-the National Gallery, not as good as the Museum of Fine Arts;
-the funicular leading up to the Mtatsminda amusement park, where I rode what must have been the oldest Ferris Wheel I had ever seen, perched on the side of the mountain;
-the Art Palace, which had exhibitions housed in an old manor house;
-the cable car, which took us up to see the huge Mother of Georgia statue and the ruins of the Narikala Fortress;
-the Sioni Cathedral and the Tbilisi History Museum, located close to each other;
– the Meidan Bazaar, which had all kinds of Georgian handicrafts and food products; and
-the Chronicle of Georgia, an enormous set of stone pillars with carvings that tell the history of Georgia, on the outskirts of the city but definitely worth a visit.
The outline above does not include all of the monasteries and churches around the city, most of which are located on top of small hills and make for picturesque views. We also went to a couple English language bookstores, Prospero’s Books and Parnassus, and of course, quite a few cafes (one of which, Kvarts Coffee, draws your face on your to-go cup—see the picture of mine below!)
We spent about four days seeing those things, and that brings us to the day trips. Day tripping was super easy in Georgia, thanks to the Red Tour Bus company and a website where you could book private drivers to take you to places throughout the country.
The first tour we did was to Akhaltsikhe Castle and the cave city of Vardzia, both of which were amazing and offered spectacular views of the surrounding areas. The castle was set in the mountains, and the cave city is exactly what you’re thinking—a bunch of caves that people dug up in the mountainside and lived in thousands of years ago. It was a long day, as both sites were located on the other side of the country, about a 4-hour drive from Tbilisi.
The next day we did another stunningly long tour, this one of a couple of monasteries and the famous Prometheus Cave. The cave itself was hot and humid, unlike other caves I have been to, and the tour ended with a boat ride that was a lot of fun. The Gelati and Motsameta monasteries both offered lovely views, just as the previous day’s sites had.
For our third day trip we hired a private driver, who took us to the old Georgian capital of Mtskheta, only about 30 minutes from Tbilisi, we toured the cathedral, the Jvari monastery, the Samtavro monastery, and the Bebristsikhe castle ruins.
And finally, on our last day, we went to Gori City, the birthplace of Stalin. There we went to the Stalin Museum, where they live in a strange parallel universe where they believe that Stalin was a great guy (lol), and then to the countryside for, you guessed it, another monastery—this one called Ateni Sioni, which we had to drive through half a dozen little villages up in the mountains to get to, and then the Uplistsikhe City Caves, which we peered at from the ground because we were too tired to trek up to.
In addition to being one of the oldest cities in the world, tied with Yerevan, Georgia’s other claim to fame is being the place where wine was first created, and they also make their own brandy, called cha, neither of which we tried, not being big drinkers.
Armenia
We arrived to Yerevan on the day before New Year’s Eve after taking a minibus across the Georgian/Armenian border; the trip lasted about 6 hours. Yerevan was much colder than Tbilisi, with temps in the negatives thanks to its high altitude (1,000m above sea level). There were only two things that were disappointing about Armenia, both of which wouldn’t affect future trips: the first, that most of the museums were closed from December 31-January 7, as they celebrate Orthodox Christmas on January 7, and the second, that it is still permissible to smoke inside restaurants and cafes everywhere. But someone I talked to told me that the laws will soon be changing in order to prohibit it, so that would be good news! 😉
Anyways, we made the most of our time there, visiting:
-the Mother of Armenia statue, similar to the Georgian one but much fiercer (see photo below), which sat above the city next to a park;
-the Armenian Genocide Museum and Monument;
-the art market and Cathedral of Saint Gregory, near to one another;
-Republic Square and Liberty Square, the latter being next to the Opera House;
-the Cascade Complex, featuring lots of stairs (haha) and also many sculptures, including two by Botero; and
-the Folk Art Museum, which I will tell about a little later on.
Some of the museums we missed out due to them being closed were the National Gallery and History Museums, the Museum of the History of Yerevan, and the Matenadaran, which houses ancient books and manuscripts.
After a few days seeing the sites and eating lots of Armenian food, as well as lots of tacos (it was near our Airbnb!), we did a couple of day trips. The first one was near to Yerevan, so we went by taxi: first to the ruins of the Cathedral of Zvartnots, which on a clear day has a striking view of the mountains behind it (we were there on a foggy day, as were all the days we were in Armenia), and then to the city of Ejmiatsin to see the cathedral complex there, as well as the oldest church in the world.
On our last day in Armenia, we spent the first half on a day trip, going to the Geghard Monastery, covered in snow in the mountains, the Garni Temple, also located up in the mountains with beautiful views, and finally a rock structure called the Symphony of Stones. Look at those awesome pictures!!
We arrived back in Yerevan with enough time to stop by the Folk Art Museum, and there we experienced some of the infamous Armenian hospitality. As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by two little grandmas, who asked us what language we spoke, then motioned for us to follow them. We followed them through the museum, thinking, “ummm, what?” and into a back room, where it turns out, the whole staff was having their end of the year party! A couple of them spoke English, and invited us to stay for the party and to enjoy some New Year’s cake, which they cut into pieces and shared with us. Neither of us got the piece with the coin in it, which would have meant good luck for the new year, but honestly at that point, we were feeling pretty lucky to be having the chance to experience an Armenian party. It was absolutely lovely, and a perfect end to our trip.
With Russia to the north, Turkey to the southwest, and sitting in between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, one can see how Georgia and Armenia can be considered not only one of the cradles of civilization, but also the connection point between east and west, and north and south. It is a fantastic region full of interesting things to do and see, and I highly recommend a trip to both of these incredible countries.