Driving to Georgia - Yerevan to Tbilisi

"What way is he going ?"

"There's a big left further up, see it on the map ?"

"Must be at the end of the town, must be somewhere, there's no more turn offs after that 'til Azerbaijan"

We sailed past the big left.

A few miles on, for no obvious reason, the driver speeded up for about ten minutes, to the point of overtaking on a blind bend going uphill.  Sphincter twitching stuff, all from someone who had seemed to be one of the best drivers in history.

"They're bloody trenches !"

"There's gun emplacements up there"

Empty houses on the left, overgrown, no animals, scorched earth.  Armenia on the left, Azerbaijan on the right and us, in the middle.  Hurtling.

Sadly, the time to leave Yerevan had arrived all too soon.  Great place, magnificent food and people, though I would imagine better at a warmer time than March.  Also, with a little more time so you could find the good bars !  And maybe not on a Monday night.

Returning to Tbilisi, we planned a more direct route.  The main highway to Sevan, over the mountains and down to Dilijan, crossing the border back at Bagratashen and back to Tbilisi.  Sevan we reached in barely an hour, through snow covered rolling hills, rising and rising for miles before we actually got to Sevan and the lake, the not surprisingly named, Lake Sevan.




Lake Sevan stunning & very, very cold

Lake Sevan is at an altitude of 1,900m, over a kilometre higher than Yerevan, and with over 900 sq km surface, is one of the largest high altitude lakes in the world.  The Soviets messed around with the lake and so its' shores are lower than it once was with the result that an ancient monastery which was once on an old is now on a peninsula.  The Armenians are doing the sensible thing and making efforts to help the lake recover.  Not great news if you built a hotel on the shoreline.


As far as Armenia is concerned, this is the coast.  There are resorts with beaches, bars, hotels and everything you would expect for a summer trip.  The only problem being bordering on no protection from the sun, and with the wind channelled through the mountains and blasting off the lake, young Scots like us would soon turn into lobsters.  There was no-one around on the day we were there and it was seriously cold, the same wind making being outside painful.

On the lake, there were fishermen out in little more than rowing boats.  I am sure they know what cold is and that must be a dangerous job, squalls on the water and too far from the shore, heavy clothes in the freezing water.  No chance.

Leaving Sevan and moving north west, into the Tavush region, the road continued rising and once we were past the highest point, the mountains became forested and steeper, more alpine, though the snow disappeared.  The forest was inviting, enough space to walk easily but enough cover to protect from the sun and keep the temperature down.  Dilijan, the next major town, is an arty retreat, even in the Soviet times it was, and as a centre for the mountains and the National Park around it, would be well worth a return.



Men standing.  Stand long enough, they'll make a statue of you.

We continued, through incredibly diverse landscapes, e highway was good quality, even the standard of driving was good, through Ijevan, and on through smaller towns and villages, like Noyemberyan.   Where the story began, the road road cut through what appeared the S-bends of the border.  A sad, empty feeling really to consider what must have happened there.

Each place gave us a slice of Armenian  life, whether a shop you could hardly see for the fruit outside, a butchers with a pen full of sheep outside or the inevitable old boys standing around, talking of the events of the day.

Armenia is incredibly diverse.  Canyons, escarpments, dry, almost empty looking rolling hills.  Very different to its' northern cousin Georgia but still well worth a visit. 

Over the border, the villages were different in character, and were actually Azerbaijani, though in Georgia.  As we got closer to Tbilisi, the quality of driving deteriorated, random lane choices and bizarre speed, and it felt like we had left a sedate couple of days behind and returned to a busy, busy place.

Azerbaijan is far on the right

Azerbaijani funeral - the cemetry was miles away

When we returned to the UK, John Docherty was kind enough to research Foreign Office Advice:

"....... we advise against all but essential travel near the border with Azerbaijan due to the unresolved dispute over Nagorno Karabakh. This particularly covers the border areas of Tavush and Gegharkunik regions, where there has been sporadic gunfire. In Tavush Marz we specifically advise against travel on the road from Ijevan to Noyemberyan, which passes close to the border and military emplacements, and on the roads beyond Berd.

Hmmm.  Maybe not the bedwetters I thought they were.