Off to country #3, Armenia! A mere 1.5h drive south, we had a much easier time crossing this border than the last; well, except for me. I’m using my Canadian passport and I was the only one needing a visa, which I had, but without my middle name printed on it. That caused a good 15 minute delay with the surly immigration officer but Maria, our Armenian guide, popped up at the desk and was able to smooth over the situation and get me into the country. In my defense, there wasn’t a specific blank for middle names!

I took a bunch of photos of everyday roadside life whilst still in Georgia as I realized I hadn’t really before. Only 2 hours into Armenia and I can already tell I like this countryside better but here’s the Georgian pics:

We boarded our big bus at the border, 12 pax on a 50-seater so lots of room to stretch out, and immediately we drive into the Armenian Highlands. It’s greener, quieter, and better maintained than Georgia. We head into the canyons, and up to the high Monastery of Haghbat. Built in 976AD, it was an active monastery until the 18th century with about 500 monks, then became just a church.

After lunch we continued driving south through the gorge, passing by lots of industrial ruins. This area has 500 extinct volcanoes and is therefore rich in metals, especially copper, silver, molybdenum so mining was the big business. However the industry collapsed after 2 big earthquakes in 1988 destroyed entire towns, Russia imploded in 1991, and subsequent war caused the economy to grind to a halt for nigh on 10 years.

Continuing further south into the mountains, we were headed to the resort town of Dilijan, known as the “Armenian Switzerland”.  I think Maria oversold the “resort” aspect but it’s a town in the National Park surrounded by beautiful hills, with apparently a very well respected college and known for its Dilijan architecture.