Another beautiful day started with exploring the monastery ruins of Kobayr, before we drove along the river Dzoraget to Stepanavan. The first part of the road was another off-road adventure, we had not asked for, but the road was just like that. We came past another monastery ruin before we reached Stepanavan and the castle …
The sun was shining and we were exploring famous Armenian monasteries, starting with Haghpat and Sanahin, both UNESCO World Heritage. Later we visited Odzun, before we endend the day above the ruins of Horomajr. Each of them was fascinating in its own way. The Haghpat Monastery, built in 977, had us standing there in awe. …
It was a grey day, when we crossed the border to Armenia, but it was easy to get all the formalities done, including getting an insurance for the car and a SIM card for internet connection at one of the shops just behind the border. Concerning Covid a vaccination was sufficient, otherwise a PCR test …
We discovered, that there is a car museum in Tbilisi, the only one in the whole Caucasus, we were told. It is based on a private collection of Soviet cars, something we had to see. If you follow us already a long time, you will know, that we seldom walk past a car museum. The …
From our adventures in the semi-desert, we were now on our way into the capital Tbilisi, where we wanted to spend some time exploring the historic centre. We arrived in the late afternoon and found a parking, from where we could easily walk to the most important sights. At Gudiashvili square, we were flashed by …
From the Vashlovani National Park, we were now on our way to Tbilisi, but headed first to a desert like area with colourful mountains. They are also called rainbow mountains and are south-east of Tbilisi. We took a fascinating route through an endless valley, which got just a little bit too challenging for us. In …
From Dedoplistkaro to the mud volcanos, it was a 50 km long drive. We were just a little surprised, that directly in town the road starts as a mud track. In general it was in good condition, much better than an old tarmac road with thousands of potholes. And where the road had turned difficult, …
Another perfect day awaited us at the Vashlovani National Park. We had spent the night at a ranger station, not that it would have been required, but it was the first even ground we had spotted and a nice place too. After exploring the area on foot, we were looking for an ancient pistachio tree, …
After paying a small fee for entering the national park and most importantly, getting a permit from the border police, we left Dedoplistskaro and were on our way south, where shortly after the town the tarmac ended and we were driving over farm tracks. Some advice: Don’t expect any roads in this national park, not …
We had reached the town, from where any excursion into the Vashlovani National Park starts: Dedoplistsqaro – a name we have not managed to remember even shortly. We got our documents for the national park including the permit from the border police and decided to explore a little the surroundings of the town, before we …
