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 … Continue reading Caucasus Day 10: Tblisi > Dilijan (Armenia)

A day without driving! More or less.  Today we did a walking tour of the Old Town starting with an overview of it from across the river, wizzed over by cablecar, then wandered through the warren of streets checking out stores, churches and architecture. A little free time in the afternoon then back out for … Continue reading Caucasus Day 9: Tblisi

38° this morning! Yesterday the forecast was for rain and snow and we started our hike in just that at 8:45am.  The trail took us about an hour to climb, mostly stairs in a pleasant wood. We were met with a bit of a blizzard at the top but once we made it to the … Continue reading Caucasus Day 8: Stepantsminda > Tblisi

Day 7 Up and out by 9:30am, our first stop today was Uplistsikhe and its cave dwellings. The main occupation was from 4th C. BC - 4th C. AD but people were inhabiting the site from 10th century B.C.  It was an actual town with homes, wine presses, pagan temples, etc. It was extremely windy … Continue reading Caucasus Day 7: Gori > Kazbegi National Park

The weather gods have not been kind to us again.  100% chance of rain for most of the day.  Fortunately our first sightseeing stop was under cover: Telavi Market.  Smaller than the last we saw, and some of the stalls were designed for tourists (spice packs and dried fruit/nut “candles”) but still very much a … Continue reading Caucasus Day 6: Telavi > Gori

On to a new country today! It was a 2 hour drive to the border, then it was a bit of a hassle to cross. There’s land border is closed to entry for people, and has been since the pandemic;. We can exit by land but you can only enter by plane.  There’s been no … Continue reading Caucasus Day 5: Sheki > Telavi (Georgia)

A half day of lite touring today, with free time offered in the afternoon. First off we visited the local bazaar which sold vast quantities of fine-looking, freshly picked produce as well as meats and entrails, economical clothing, and cheap household goods. Next we bused up to the Summer Palace of Sheki Khans. Built in … Continue reading Caucasus Day 4: Sheki

A fairly easy day today, we got to our hotel by 5pm! We started with a walk around Lahji - this mountain town that we drove in the dark to get to last night. It’s a summer retreat for Bakuvians when the heat in the city gets too extreme as well as being famed for … Continue reading Caucasus Day 3: Lahji > Sheki

We still had more to see of Baku before setting off to discover inland Azerbaijan. This morning consisted of a walking tour of old Baku. Remains have been found showing it was a trading settlement at least back to the 5th C B.C.  Walled in in the 12th C, the old town existed within until … Continue reading Caucasus Day 2: Baku > Lahij

Tour Day 1. A very long, great day. We didn’t get back to our hotel until 10pm so if this schedule continues my blogging efforts will certainly suffer! My tour with Wild Frontiers consists of 3 couples and 5 singles; 4 of us North American and the rest Brits. We’ve just over two weeks to … Continue reading Caucasus Day 1: Baku