Today was going to be a long day. We planned to drive up to the Troodos massif and visit some of the World Heritage Byzantine painted churches. The painted churches were built at the time the Venetians controlled Cyprus. The Venetians were Roman Catholic but the locals still remained Eastern Orthodox, and they fled to the upper parts of the Troodos mountains where they built a series of 'hidden' churches. From the outside they look like barns or Swiss chalets, with sloping roofs for shedding snow. On the inside they are elaborately painted in Byzantine style biblical themes. There are many churches, but 10 of them have made it on the World Heritage list. They are pretty spread out, and you must hunt down the person who keeps the keys, so it is only possible to ... read more

Hotel: Nordica +Golden Circle +Thingvellir +Geysir +Gullfoss +Blue Lagoon We planned on visiting the Golden Circle today. This is the popular tourist circuit from Reykjavik that takes in the historical site of Thingvellir, and the natural wonders of Geysir and the Gullfoss waterfall. We lucked out with the weather today as well, as it was supposed to be clear all day.... read more

Hotel: Sheraton Metechi Palace (Tbilisi, Georgia) $0 I had reserved an award at the Sheraton Metechi Palace in Tbilisi for our final night in Tbilisi. The hotel isn't very convenient for the rest of town, being along the road to the airport about 8 blocks east of the Lile Hotel. My wife and I walked over this morning and claimed our bag that we had left earlier this week. The Sheraton isn't much to look at from the outside (Lonely Planet describes it as a Swedish prison); but the rooms inside were quite comfortable. The breakfast buffet was decent, and afterwards we went for a relaxing swim in the pool (we didn't wait 30 minutes!). Around 11AM I left for Gori, my wife stayed behind to relax at the hotel. The minibus ride ($1.50) was about ... read more

Hotel: EuroStar Hotel (Akhalkalaki, Georgia) $40 This morning we planned on visiting the town of Echmiadzin, the Armenian Vatican, home to the Armenian Orthodox church. We planned to take a minibus there, and taxi back. The minibus depot was about 10 blocks away and so we climbed into a taxi for the short ride. Once we were at the depot, the taxi driver started getting animated, I think he wanted us to take the taxi instead of the minibus; it would have been cheaper to take the minibus of course. We finally decided to take the taxi there and back, as it would only be $12.50 for all 4 of us. The town of Echmiadzin lies about 20 minutes west of Yerevan, past the airport. On the way out of town, we passed several brandy companies, ... read more

Hotel: SIL Hotel (Yerevan, Armenia) $75 Visa at border: $30 $1 USD = 440 Armenian Dram We arrived at the Ortachala bus station this morning around 7:30 AM. The minibus to Yerevan was scheduled to depart at 8AM ($12.50). We were only planning on going as far as Alaverdi, in Armenia, to visit the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Sanahin and Haghput. We arrived at the border around 9:30; the driver asked if we had visas for Armenia, he then let us go through the border post ahead of the others when we motioned that we would be buying them on the Armenian side. We walked across the bridge into Armenia, there was a small building where we paid our $30 for the visa, then back to the guard hut where they waved us in. All ... read more