13.09.2022 2022 Armenia Georgia

It's not just one khash that deserves the attention. Motorbike journey around Georgia and Armenia.

Part 1. Georgia

A huge motionless column of trucks stretched for a dozen kilometers, pressed against the roadside.

The column of cars was a lot shorter and moved slowly to the left side of the trucks.

We passed both columns in the oncoming lane and stopped 30 m before the checkpoint. The border crossing procedure took no more than 20 minutes, everything was surprisingly accurate, without unnecessary fuss and bureaucracy. I handed my passport and the motorbike document through the window to the border guard and five minutes later I was already driving into a long dark tunnel over the neutral strip, covered with broken asphalt and huge pits.

We passed the Georgian checkpoint in 15 minutes as well.

Now, hello, Georgia!
After a four-year break, I am again riding my motorbikey along the twisty serpentine of the Georgian Military Road, watching awesome views and enjoying good asphalt.

Stepantsminda, Cross Pass, Peoples' Friendship Arch, Gudauri, Ananuri Temple, Jvari Monastery. Despite the fact that there are always a lot of tourists, these iconic places are worth visiting, even if you happen to be here not for the first time like me.

At the Cross Pass, the temperature was just +11°C, in comparison with +28°C at the bottom. Now we're at the point almost 2400 m high.

We arrived in Tbilisi in the late afternoon and immediately got stuck in a huge traffic jam. The Georgian capital has always been distinguished by troublesome traffic. You don't feel comfortable to move even when going by motorbike. You can't squeeze into the aisle because of the very narrow lanes and local drivers are not good at high driving culture.

Late in the evening there was a heavy downpour and the cobblestone streets of old Tbilisi turned into small rivers.

And our plan for tomorrow is to go to the mountains. We'll try to endure the passes on ground roads.

In my personal rating, Georgia must be included to the top of ten places for motorbike trips.

I've been to this wonderful country for the fifth time, and had looked it up and down before, but for some reason I hadn't reached one significant site.
For those who like to travel to capturing and unusual places, where comfortable buses do not go, as it's not easy to get there, I recommend three high-altitude villages: Ushguli, Omalo and Shatili.And if the asphalt roads have partly appeared in Ushguli, which is located high in the mountains of Svaneti, then in Omalo and Shatili you will have to go along ground serpentines overcoming passes up to 3000 m high, which demonstrate the fantastic views of the gorges.

You will rise above the clouds, drink crystal pure water from mountain rivers, walk along the narrow streets of ancient mountain villages with stone houses, watchtowers and feel the spirit of century-old history frozen in these unusual structures.

The road from Tbilisi to Shatili, located a few kilometers from the border with Chechnya, is only 150 km long, and its third is literally a ground serpentine leading to the 2660 m high pass. In spite of the fact that on the top of the pass we faced rain, storm winds and a drop in temperature to +10°C degrees, the journey resulted to be bright and unusual. Dozens of steep rocky turns, incredibly beautiful multicoloured rocks, waterfalls, rivers and crazy views of gorges with clouds stuck between them and framed by plush mountains… you must see all of it with your own eyes!

Goodbye, Georgia!

We'll be back soon. But for now, hello, Armenia!

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Part 2. Armenia

I have been dreaming of getting to know this country better, which once was a part of a huge state (so was Georgia as well), in which I was born and had lived for many years.

I had a trip to Armenia only once about five years ago. In a couple of days my friend and I drove several hundred kilometers by motorbikes, but of course, that wasn't enough for a full impression of the country to appear. This time we'll try to fix it! :)

My first sketches after crossing the Georgian-Armenian border:

Just like in Georgia, we feel home or even better. The people are friendly, easy-going and kind. Almost everyone speaks Russian very well and there are a lot of signmarks in this "great and mighty" language, quite often with mistakes though :)
The nature is gorgeous. Today we stopped in the small town Sevan on the shore of the eponymous alpine lake. This unique place is 2000 m above sea level! The country is mountainous, so we hope for the landscapes to be fine.
There are many ancient temples and monasteries, today we visited two of them.
The roads have become better, but not everywhere, unfortunately.
The food is delicious and inexpensive.
On the whole, the prices are available.
The infrastructure is not developed, so we got the feeling of travelling around the Russia in its late 90s or early 2000s. The quality of life seemed not to have grown too much over the years. But these are just the first impressions, let's see what's going to be further.

In the morning we left Yerevan and went south. On the way we stopped at one of the most ancient and revered monasteries in Armenia, Khor Virap, which is located at the foot of Ararat.

You may not approach to the saint mountain closer, as there are posts with barbed wire at a 300 m distance from the mountain. You can also see Turkey on the background.

The further we went to the south, the more interesting and spectacular the landscapes became. Huge deep canyons, which scale can be compared to the Grand Canyon one in Arizona, colourful sheer cliffs (orange, burgundy, black and gray) were on our way. In addition, we experienced thousands of turns on very steep mountain serpentines.

In the evening we reached the small town Kapan, located 3 km from the border with Azerbaijan and 80 km from the border with Iran.

Here we tried the most hmm... extraordinary dish of Armenian cuisine for the whole time of our trip to Armenia..

By the way, we followed the recommendation of Internet bloggers and local residents. They positioned it in the very opposite way though.

"If you go to Mount Aragats (the highest mountain in Armenia) and stop at the Stone Lake, then you should definitely try out khash there. Yeah, the most tasty khash in Armenia is cooked there, bro", the Armenians told us.

Well, who would refuse to taste the divine dish? We drove up the mountain along a narrow serpentine, hardly parting with rare oncoming cars.

Kari Lake (or as it is also called Stone Lake) is located at an altitude of 3200 m and looks like a small pond on the slope of Aragats, surrounded by large and small stones.

In a small restaurant overlooking the lake we ordered this magical dish.

The serving was great. First, they brought cast-iron pots with smoldering coals, then deep clay plates with a cloudy liquid, in which the joints of cow legs were floating. They put the plates on the cast-irons. Then a plump waitress began to show how to eat khash properly. First, you need to add salt, some garlic, then crumble into your plate two dry thin pita bread, rolled into a tube, and mix it all up to a texture of thick porridge. After that take a soft pita bread, tear off a piece and use it to scoop up the mixture on your plate. And wash down the whole thing with vodka. Khash is not recommended to eat without vodka ;) ;)

Frankly speaking, the taste was quite specific. If you don't have any vodka, you won't be able to eat much of it. And with vodka, well… neither.

After such an extraordinary lunch the burp, which tasted like cow hooves, hadn't left us until late evening.

Thanks to the khash, we'll never forget the lunch on the shore of Lake Kari and the wonderful sight of Aragats.

If you are travelling around Armenia, be sure to plan a stop in the most beautiful and ancient city of the country, Gyumri.

May the residents of Yerevan forgive me, but Gyumri made a more vivid impression on us. This city has its own charisma and soul, if I may say so. It differs from the capital city like, for example, St. Petersburg from Moscow. There are cobblestone streets, old houses, fountains, theaters, beautiful monuments to famous people and gracefully decorated cozy cafes and restaurants, where in the morning you will be offered a European breakfast, including a cup of fragrant coffee and a delicious piece of cake.

Do not forget to walk along the narrow picturesque streets of old Gyumri, which may remind you of Odessa, Tbilisi, and maybe even Italy.

I felt so natural and cozy here as if I had lived in this city for many years. Almost all the residents speak Russian perfectly and are very friendly. Most of the street names, various establishments, advertisements and signmarks are written in Armenian and Russian.

Gyumri was a perfect end to our week-long tour around Armenia.

Now we are saying goodbye to our friends and continue our journey to eastern Turkey.