Anne, Ramil and I leave Yerevan tomorrow morning on a 6 a.m. flight to Tbilisi where we meet Jeff, the owner of JMG Tibet Tours, and we all fly to Astana, Kazakhstan, to begin our tour of the 5 Stans. We have enjoyed our time in Georgia and Armenia. Here's what we've been doing:
We've been using different money in every country. Turkey: $1 = 5.74 lira; Azerbaijan: $1 = 1.71 manat; Georgia: $1 = 2.97 lari; Armenia: $1 = 475 dram. Tomorrow we'll use Kazakhstan tenge at $1 = 387.7 tenge.
Anne and I agree that the more you travel, the more you realize how little you know about history, geography, religion, governments, people. And we know how lucky the USA is to have had normally peaceful, stable borders for 175 years. We all should appreciate it.
9/14: Along the road, we stop at Thea's favorite spot for sweet egg bread with raisins, which we call challah bread, made in tandoor ovens. The recipe belonged to the Jews who used to live in this village. Thea says the Jewish families left Georgia after the fall of the Soviet Union. She says they were not persecuted in Georgia; I hope that was the case. We travel to Vardzia and see the caves and stream in this beautiful canyon. Continuing on to Akhaltsikhe, we see Rabati Fortress and museum. Our hotel is inside the fortress.
9/15: Returning to Tbilisi, we visit the peaceful Borjomi national park and its town, where we taste two different mineral waters. Pretty place.
9/16: This is free day, and Anne is under the weather. We read all day, and we later say thanks and goodbye to Thea.
9/17: We are pleased that Kako is still our driver when we go to Armenia. The crossing is pretty easy, and we meet our guide Karini. Karini tells us Armenia is a small 30,000 sq km country now but prior to 1918, it used to be 10X its size. The borders were from the Mediterranean Sea, to the Black Sea and to the Caspian Sea. We had visited many former Armenian sites during our Eastern Turkey and Azerbaijan travels. Armenia has been a Christian Armenian Apostolic country since 301 AD. The temps are in the mid 80's. Here, as well as in Azerbaijan and Georgia, we also see natural gas pipes running along the roadside. They aren't below grade due to the rock that these countries sit on. Armenia is not contemplating EU membership because of their close relationship to Russia. We cross mountains near the Azerbaijan border, which has a history of trouble. Armenia does have good relations with Georgia and Iran. The alphabet has 39 characters and is lovely, different from the Georgian. But like the Georgian, it is unreadable. Trees in the forests are showing a little color change. We visit the 10th C. Haghpat Monastery, which was damaged centuries ago by an earthquake. It was restored in 2011 when Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi of Sharjah donated the funds. We travel along the 353 sq mile Lake Sevan; and we learn that during Soviet times, the lake was dammed and drained, damaging the flora and fauna. Later the lake was partially restored to a diminished size and quality. We arrive in Yerevan.
9/18: This morning we see Mt. Ararat clearly from our hotel roof in the very nice city of Yerevan. Our city tour shows us the Mother Armenia statue, holding a sword indicating peace through strength, which replaced an earlier statue of Stalin which was removed in 1962. We visit the Cascades Park and outdoor art museum, the history museum, and then the haunting Genocide Museum. It reminds us there is no limit to man's cruelty. After 8 PM, Anne and I go to Fountain Square to see a fun water, colored lights and music display. We dance and sing when they play Aretha Franklin's Respect. We will see the show every night we're here, and we have previously gone out at night only once during this trip.
9/19: Today we visit Khir Virap monastery. In a little town, we see empty stork nests. They've left for Africa already. We learn of land near here that was given to Azerbaijan by the Moscow Agreement even though none of it touches the border of Azerbaijan. Geez. We travel through dry lands and again in fertile lands. We see Noravanq monastery, and we decide to not visit the cave where the world's oldest shoe was found. When the others return, we learn we missed meeting and a discussion with an anthropologist working that site. Bummer.
9/20: We see the 77 AD Garni Pagan Temple site at a gorge, dedicated to the god Mitra. It also has a royal residence and bath with Roman tiles. It was damaged by an earthquake in the 1700's and restored in the mid 1900's by the Soviets. We pass a town of abandoned homes damaged in a recent earthquake. We see the 12th C. Geghard monastery.
9/21: Today is the 28th Armenian Independence Day since their split from the Soviet Union in 1991. Best wishes to them! We visit the Armenian Vatican, Echmiadzin Cathedral, and its museum, where we see a room dedicated to the Manoogian family from Michigan. The family fled the genocide, created a successful faucet and auto parts business, and made big donations here. We even see a picture of Detroit's Manoogian Mansion on the Detroit River, the official residence of Detroit mayors. We visit the ruins of Zvarots cathedral built on the site of the ruins of a pagan temple. This afternoon there is a short but loud parade celebration in front of our hotel. We say thanks and goodbye to Karini. We thank Kako for driving us safely through Georgia and Armenia; we wish him safe travels back to Georgia. Tomorrow, the 5 Stans!!
