Caucasus again

Twelve months on from my first visit to the Caucasus region I’m heading that way again. Last time it was Azerbaijan and Georgia. This time it’s Georgia, and the perceived bad boy of the region, Armenia.

 

 

The one on the left is particularly popular with some of our thickest flags flyers!

Why? You may ask. Well, the main reason is that I’m continuing my quest to have visited as many countries as I am years old. Current score on that front is 65, albeit by the dubious counting method of including countries that no longer exist. There are 3 of those; West Germany, Yugoslavia and Hong Kong. A more dubious methodology would include 2 more – Guernsey (could it count as a country?), and Kazakhstan, which I have skirted into on a vehicle, but have never actually set foot there. Anyway, for the sake of argument I’ll include the 3 “ex-countries”. So, the score sits at 65 which means I’m bang on target. Nevertheless, with another Birthday later in the year, I’ve got the chance to gain a bit of credit.

A second reason for this trip is that I only got half a day in Georgia’s lovely capital, Tbilisi on the last trip, and that was woefully insufficient. So, with Georgia constantly being on my mind, this little combo seemed perfect.

 

  

Viewers of the current series of Race across the World may recognise these places

The more observant readers will have noted the phrase “the perceived bad boy of the Caucasus”, when I mentioned Armenia. Now that, in itself, is enough to make me very curious about the place. In fairness, most of that perception was gained from my time in Azerbaijan. There were constant references to young soldiers being murdered by the Armenians, and use of the phrase “Genocide”. The two countries are still hugely in dispute about the Nagorno-Karabakh region, with significant fighting taking place as recently as 2023. The basis of the dispute appears to be ethnic, and religious. Talking of religion, the countries to the West, East and South of Armenia are all predominantly Muslim to varying degrees. The land borders to those 3 countries, Türkiye, Azerbaijan and Iran, are all closed. That leaves the only land access to Armenia being via Georgia to the North. Unsurprisingly, Georgia and Armenia share Orthodox Christianity as their main religions.

 

Georgian Lari

 

Armenian Dram

A small amount of research has already led me to numerous references of Genocide from the Armenian side. It appears that my itinerary will take in the Genocide Museum and Memorial near Yerevan. That promises to be a cheery, but interesting, old afternoon! Anyway, to cut a long story short, the hatred and scars between Armenian’s and Azerbaijani’s runs deep; and it will be good to hear the other side of the story. I suspect it’ll be a mirror opposite of what I heard last year!

Yerevan - Genocide Memorial

As to the tour, it’s a pretty even split with 5 full days in each of the two countries. There’s a little duplication of last year’s jaunt. I’m particularly pleased that there is a return visit to the incredible church up in the mountains at Gergeti, just 20km from the Russian border. What a choker! I just hope the weather is similar, and there is still plenty of snow on the mountain peaks.

 

That’s about it for now. It’s likely that I’ll make notes each day and then write them up and release them in sequence once I get back. Other than that, all I have to do now is hope that my good old mates at Lufthansa don’t go on strike again and screw me over for a second time in 3 weeks.

Things Georgia is famous for :- https://worldlyknown.com/georgia-europe-known-for/

Things Armenia is famous for :-    https://worldlyknown.com/armenia-known-for/