Geo: 42.6567, 44.6433Every mountain I have seen on the trip so far, with the possible exception of Mount Ararat, just pales into insignificance, and these pile peak upon peak - even on an overcast day.We left Tbilisi at 9 headed first for Mtskheta, the religious and spiritual capital of Georgia, with its large cathedral built in 1010-29 on the site of a much earlier church that dated back to the 4th century. This one was considered to be so magnificent that they chopped off the architect's right arm so he could never work on anything else (scant reward for doing a good job, I say)Then we headed north on the Georgian Military Highway, this has existed as a route through the Great Caucusus since the first century BC, turned into a carraige road by the Russians ... read more

Geo: 41.72, 44.79Monday, my last day in Armenia, and quite uneventful. Gregor had two monasteries for me to see en route to Tbilisi. Both big monastery complexes close to each other, Sanahin which means older than the other and Haghpat which means the one with the big wall, all very unoriginal - to get to the first one we had to drive through a Soviet era housing estate of crumbling apartment blocks. One odd thing I haven't mentioned is the gas pipes, I know I know, what can be interesting about them! Well all our gas pipes are underground, the ones in Armenia, and Georgia it seems, were underground but they had problems with leaks and explosions so they moved them all above ground and painted them yellow. So there is this warren of yellow pipes ... read more

Geo: 39.5023, 46.3364So today we headed way down south in the country, passing close to the borders with Turkey (closed), Azerbaijan (closed) and in the direction of Iran (border open and judging by number of iranian trucks probably a bit of sanction busting going on. Visited three monasteries, all interesting in their own way but made special by location, all close to or in mountain countries with snow capped peaks by the dozen.Khor Virap monastery, famous because Gregory the Illuminator - who brought Christianity to Armenia, was imprisoned In a dungeon on the site for 13 years before healing the Kings son which persuaded the king that Christianity might be a good thing.. (It's in wikipedia too folks, you better believe it). And I went down the pit. Then to Noravank, perched high on a cliff ... read more

Geo: 40.1596, 44.509As you may have seen from the quick upload I did this morning of Mount Ararat it dawned clear and sunny and it stayed sunny enough and I was in- and - out of the car and then found I had walked 15 minutes in the sun and the factor 30 was back in the car, result - stupidly, a bit of sunburn. It stayed clear long enough to get some more pics of Ararat, first as we drove up to 2000 metres on the southern slope of Mount aragat (pay attention now, don't confuse your Ararat with your Aragat, there's a mount ara as well) to see a Fort and a church. On the way up Gregor said he could hear a funny noise from the car, I walked alongside while he drove ... read more

Geo: 41.6517, 41.6562Uncomfortable bus ride to Hopa. Not a full size bus but a large minibus, very crowded, lots of Russian and Ukranian ladies returning from doing 'business' in Turkey, so I knew who to follow to catch the mini-mini-bus to the border. Immigration lady really friendly, gave me a big smile and a "Welcome to Georgia" - don't think she sees many UK passports.One downer is that according to the lady at the rail station here my train Tbilisi to Yerevan tomorrow night does not exist, runs odd dates only, not even, which is contrary to everything else I read anywhere. Hey-ho, means I may trade an overnight train ride for a long bus ride and an extra night in a hotel. Don't mind really. See what they say at Tbiisi stationI did sit in ... read more