• Ella Balagula
  • Ella Balagula

Amazing Kavkaz

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia Read more
  • Trip start
    May 22, 2022

    Yerevan - Genocide musem and market

    May 22, 2022 in Armenia ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    We started our first day by visiting the Genocide Museum, and paid our respects to the sad history of this small but incredible nation. From the top, we got our first glimpse of the Ararat mountain, which is a sacred mountain for Armenia, but is actually located in Turkey, after the wars. We then went to the market, and bought some fruits.Read more

  • Parajanov museum and downtown

    May 22, 2022 in Armenia ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    In the afternoon, we went to the house museum of a famous Armenian movie director, Sergei Parajanov. We had an amazing tour guide who told us his incredible life story of “the world’s most free person who had the misfortune of living in the least free country, USSR”. Parajanov was a dissident, and his house is full of his collage art. We then had a great dinner in Lavash and watched the musical fountain.Read more

  • Garni and Geghard

    May 23, 2022 in Armenia ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    Today we took a day trip outside of Yerevan to visit two temples. First, we saw Garni temple from the 1st century AD, one of the last remaining pagan temples in Europe. Then we saw medieval Gerhard monastery which is half cut into the rock. There are some beautiful khachkars, Armenian stone crosses as well. We then came back to Yerevan and had a great dinner with tiny hand made manti.Read more

  • Yerevan walking tour

    May 24, 2022 in Armenia ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    We had a 6 hr walking tour of Yerevan, with amazing stories of this city’s incredible history. We went to Matenadaran, a book manuscript museum - which is not only a fascinating museum but also a research institute. Some incredible originals - like the illustrations of gospels from 13th century. They used only natural dyes which retained their brilliance. We then went to the modern art complex Cascades and in the evening went to see Silvochka!Read more

  • Dilijan hiking and monasteries

    May 25, 2022 in Armenia ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Today we drove to Dilijan National park, met our local guide and hiked an 8 km portion of the 3000 km Transcaucasian trail that goes from Armenia to Georgia to Iran. At the end we came to 12th century monastery with an incredible khachkar. The tradition of making Armenian cross stones is recognized as intangible heritage by UNESCO. They were and still are made to commemorate things - weddings, won battles, etc. each cross stone always consists of three parts: at the bottom is always a circle, symbolizing earthy life. At the top is heaven, and in between is a cross, showing that the only connection between earth and heaven is through Christianity. Armenia is the first country in the world that officially accepted Christianity, forbidding paganism, in 301 AD.Read more

  • Debed Canyon

    May 26, 2022 in Armenia ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Today we drove alongside carpets of wild poppies, to Debed Canyon, home to the beautiful gorge with many stunning monasteries. We first hiked to the remote monastery through rural village, and enjoyed the solitary exploration of old frescoes and picturesque terraces. We then drove to the Odzun monastery that is stunningly nestled in the valley surrounded by mountains. Then, it was to the Sanahin UNESCO
    Monastery with beautiful library and columned vestibule. We finished our day walking up to the caves of Zarni Parni, and walked in the Town of Alaverdi, with its beautiful 13th century bridge and abandoned copper factory. We tucked in for the night at Mary’s Guesthouse.
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  • From Armenia to Tbilisi

    May 27, 2022 in Armenia ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    Today has been a long and exciting day. We started our morning with a wonderful breakfast chat with Mary and her husband and then drove to the nearby UNESCO sight Hagphat monastery. The place was truly seeped in spirituality, with its striking location surrounded by the wild poppies, to the airy and powerful vestibule with its great columns and acoustics. We then embarked on our drive to Tbilisi, stopping at the Small monastery with beautiful frescoes and finally crossing the border into Georgia. We came to Tbilisi and took a walking tour of Soviet Tbilisi visiting the secret typography where Stalin and his comrades published soviet propaganda before the revolution. We had a lovely dinner tucked in a typical Tbilisi courtyard and flew to Baku.Read more

  • Baku walking tour

    May 28, 2022 in Azerbaijan ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    The day in Baku started with the great breakfast spread in a beautiful garden by the ancient baths. We then took a morning walking tour of the old Baku and in the afternoon new Baku. The city and the country are so different from Armenia and Georgia, truly embodying the spirit of an Islam country with its architecture, while being quite secular now. It was pretty incredible to see how the old and modern architectures that are separated by the millennia, blend so seamlessly. It was the Independence Day, so lots of military jets flying all long weekend.Read more

  • Exploring Baku

    May 29, 2022 in Azerbaijan ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Today we explored Baku - first, went to the amazing carpet museum. The art of making Azerbaijan carpets is recognized by the Unesco as the intangible heritage. The carpets are hand made and incredibly detailed and complex, we had a great tour guide explaining and showing to us how it is done. We then went to the Heydar Aliev museum - an incredible modern building in shape of his signature (!!) Unfortunately we did not get inside as it was closed due to the car show. But we admired this architectural marvel from the outside. We then came back to the old city and visited the Sultan palace from the 15 century.Read more

  • Day trip outside of Baku

    May 30, 2022 in Azerbaijan ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Today we drove with the guide on a standard itinerary exploring the “goodies” outside of Baku. The drive outside the city really showed us that this country is built in the desert, all revolving around oil - we passed a lot of oil rigs and pumps - and not much else. Our first stop was mud volcanoes - a fascinating phenomena where methane gas comes outside, forking mud mini lakes and mountains. The mud is believed to be great for skin and general health and our driver even filled a bottle of the mud for us. The next stop was famous petroglyphs that have been discovered in the area - we saw many different rock carvings. Then we drove to the “burning mountain” which is created by the constant gas coming out of the ground, so once it was ignited millennials ago, the mountainside keeps burning like a giant stove. The last stop was the Fire Temple, which originated as the Zoroastrian temple and was then rebuilt and still functions now with the fire that also is fed by the underground gases. We finished the day by the fabulous dinner at Sahil, a great restaurant on the boardwalk. We then flew back to Tbilisi.Read more

  • Tbilisi city tour

    May 31, 2022 in Georgia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Today we had the walking tour of Tbilisi, exploring it’s amazing architecture, churches and modern Soviet buildings. We walked inside a small canyon right in the old city, where the buildings cling to the rocks. The evening was for tasting incredible 17th century sulfur baths, that Pushkin and Duma frequented happily.Read more

  • Stalin’s museum and Uplistsikhe

    June 1, 2022 in Georgia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    We started the day driving to Gori where Stalin was born. It was fascinating to learn the history that created such a famous tyrant. We then drove to Uplistsikhe - a man made cave city. There used to be tunnels that were created by people, but due to the earthquakes, the tunnels collapsed, creating a massive cave city which has been occupied for centuries. We drove through a beautiful countryside with gorgeous wild poppies. We capped the day with the show at the marionette theater and dinner at a famous local khinkali place ZodiaqeRead more

  • Kakheti wine region

    June 2, 2022 in Georgia ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Today our guide Kakha drove us to the wine region Kakheti, 2 hrs outside of Tbilisi. We visited a small organic winery, where the owner spent a couple of hours with us, showing us his vineyards, vats, and many toasts of wine registration. Georgia is the oldest wine producing region in the world - oldest traces of wine making are 8000 years old! One distinguishing characteristic of Georgian wine is that it has more tanin because it is processed with the skin on, and then it is stored/aged not in barrels but in large vases that get buried in the ground for temperature control. We then stopped by at Talevi town to visit the market and stock up on Churchella. We had a nice dinner with the view, and grabbed amazing home made matsoni yogurt from a roadside diary cafe.Read more

  • Mtskheta and Kazbegi

    June 3, 2022 in Georgia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Today we drove from Tbilisi to Kazbek region in the mountains. We first stopped at Mtskheta and visited Jvari and Svetitskhoveli monasteries. We then made a stop at Pasanauri, little mountain town famous for its khinkali, which we tasted, but also enjoyed a lamb shashlik which was incredible. We then drove up the famous serpentine Georgian Military Road and stopped at the Friendship monument view point. We arrived at the Stepantsminda village, hiked to a beautiful waterfall and went to bed at the Kazbek hotel, where we were treated by the incredible sunset over Kazbek mountain.Read more

  • Hiking in Kazbegi

    June 4, 2022 in Georgia ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    We started our morning with breakfast and hot coffee on the way quiet mountain road and then drove to the beginning of our hike. The 11 km hike was beautiful and fairly flat. On the way we made friends with boars, cows and saw fascinating small mineral lake that had CO2 bubbles rising to the surface. Our hike ended at the abandoned village with the watchtower at the border with Ossetia. On the drive back to Tbilisi we stopped at Pasanauri again for their incredible khinkali.Read more

    Trip end
    June 5, 2022