I ended my time in the Caucuses in Yerevan, Armenia and in Kutaisi and Mestia, Georgia. While my final time in the Caucuses went by far too fast, I was glad that I was able to explore more beautiful areas.
After my second visit to Tbilisi I booked a bus and headed to Yerevan, Armenia. There has been a long running conflict over where the border is between Azerbaijan and Armenia and the two countries hate each other and have been fighting for years. Since I had been to Azerbaijan, I had a stamp in my passport. I assumed crossing the border with a stamp from the other country would extend my time with the border guard, luckily, I was wrong, however the Armenian border agent found that stamp extraordinarily fast and asked why I was there. Luckily, after saying I was there for tourism, they let me through without more questioning. Once I was through border patrol the bus continued on and the rest of the ride was smooth. When I arrived in Yerevan at the bus station I had no idea how to get to my hostel and Google Maps wasn’t giving bus numbers so I just guessed which bus I should take and hoped for the best and fortunately it worked out. I was able to get to the vicinity of my hostel and walked the last little bit. Once I was checked in I rested for a little while before I casually wandered around the city looking for dinner. During my time in Armenia it was super hot; it was always around 38° - 40° Celcius (100° - 104° Fahrenheit).
On my first day in Yerevan I went on a free walking tour. It was nice learning more about the city and to see the sights, however the tour guide wasn’t great and liked to compare Yerevan to the US, but not in a good way, and he called me out multiple times to ask about his comparisons, it was very uncomfortable and the other people on the tour also noticed and found it extremely strange. The walking tour ended up being super long and when it was done the sun was already setting so luckily it wasn’t as hot anymore. After the tour I found a nice area to read and people watch and had a relaxed evening. The next day was another hot one so I spent a slow morning in the hostel to avoid some of the midday heat. When I went out I casually wandered around the city and explored new areas. Before sunset I headed to one of the sights that is on a hill and had a great view of the city from up high. I hung out at the top of the hill for a while and watched the sunset from there. After sunset I wandered around some more before finding dinner and calling it a night. On my final day in Yerevan I had another relaxed day. I visited a mosque which was on the list of places to visit and then I walked around the city. While Yerevan seemed like a nice enough city, it was way too hot to enjoy it so a lot of my time in the city was spent trying to beat some of the extreme heat.
After spending three days in Yerevan I decided to head back to Georgia since I had enjoyed that country more. Once back in Georgia I spent another two days in Tbilisi. This time I didn’t explore much and instead used my time to catch up on admin work. After spending two days in Tbilisi I headed on to Kutaisi, a city to the west of Tbilisi. On my first day in Kutaisi I went on a free walking tour. During the tour I learned that Kutaisi is the fifth oldest city in Europe and the oldest city in Georgia. I also learned that, according to my tour guide, Kutaisi apparently used to be a Mafia city during the Soviet Union and at that time 48% of its citizens were members of the Mafia. The tour was super interesting and covered all of the main areas of the city. While Kutaisi isn’t a huge city it was nice for a short visit. That afternoon I took the local old Soviet era cable car to the top of the mountain in the city. At the top there is an old, semi-abandoned Soviet Union era amusement park. When I arrived at the top the first thing that caught my eye was the super old ferris wheel that, even though it didn’t look like it should be able to work, was still running. After checking out the ferris wheel I wandered around the rest of the area which was pretty quiet and was particularly enjoyable because there weren’t many people around. After seeing all there was to see at the amusement park I then did the next logical thing and went to find out how much it cost to ride the old sketchy ferris wheel. The ticket was only about $0.75 USD so obviously I had to ride it. The closer I got the sketchier it looked; the cars were super rusted and worn looking and the ferris wheel itself also looked rusted. When I got on I was the only person on it and the car swayed backwards and there was no way to secure the car. It was super sketchy and nothing about it seemed safe but it was still a lot of fun. At the top there were amazing views of the city and the surrounding area. It was also a bit windy, so the car swayed in the wind which made it feel even sketchier. By the time I got back to the beginning I was ready to get off but I also had a bunch of adrenaline from the ride. I thoroughly enjoyed my ride on the sketchy ferris wheel.
The next day I took a local bus to the nearby town of Tskaltubo, a town that used to be a spa town during the Soviet Union and is now known for a bunch of abandoned Sanatoriums, which were like old fancy resorts vs hotels, as well as old abandoned bathhouses. The abandoned Sanatoriums and bathhouses were super cool and eerie to visit. There were more abandoned buildings to visit than I had time for so before going I did my research and planned out which ones I wanted to try and make it to. The first Sanatorium I visited was definitely the creepiest; it was really cool seeing how nature was taking over the building. Walking through the ruins, however, it was super eerie and spooky as I was walking through them alone. I then continued on and the rest of the buildings I walked through didn’t feel quite as eerie but were still really cool to explore. It was a lot of fun exploring the different Sanatoriums and bathhouses. Most of the time I was alone but every so often I would pass by other people exploring the buildings. Right after arriving at the last Sanatorium I was going to visit, it started to torrential downpour, so by the time I was done wandering around I had to walk a long distance in the rain to get to the bus stop to go back to Kutaisi. Unfortunately, because of how hard it was raining, I got super soaked and my umbrella was of absolutely no use. Overall it was a super fun day exploring the abandoned buildings and imagining how nice they must have been in their prime. After spending two days in Kutaisi I headed further into the mountains to a town called Mestia.
The bus ride to Mestia was breathtaking. When traveling through the mountains I saw such amazing views and at the rest stop at the halfway point I was greeted with one of the best bus stop views I have ever seen. There were mountains all around and at the bottom of the canyon was a super blue river. It was spectacular and so beautiful and I spent the whole time admiring the views. By the time I got to Mestia I could tell I was going to like the area as there were breathtaking views in the area of the town and the town itself looked super cute. Once I got to the guesthouse I was staying at I ended up spending the afternoon reading in the garden area, since the garden and weather were lovely, and I also got to play with tiny, adorable kittens. It was a lovely, relaxing evening. On my first full day in Mestia I aimlessly wandered around the town and then made my way up the mountain. All throughout the town there were different lookout towers, some were open to visitors. I tried going into one and made it part way up, however the ladders I was climbing up were super sketchy and shaky and after a while it became too much for me so I decided to make my way back down. After attempting to reach a particular lookout tower I headed up the mountain and found a small field with a beautiful view of the mountains and the town. In the field there were a few cows and I ended up spending a little while sitting in that field enjoying my surroundings with the cows. When even more cows came I decided it was time to move on. Not far away was another field, this one was even more beautiful. It was full of wildflowers and had yet another even better, mountain view. It was truly stunning and I ended up spending a few hours simply enjoying the view and having the field all to myself. It was such a magical experience and I loved having the freedom to just spend time doing nothing but appreciating the peace and tranquility of my beautiful surroundings. The next day, since I wasn’t feeling up for a big hike, I decided to have another casual day and I wandered around the town more and just enjoyed the nature and beauty all around me. It was a lovely, relaxing day. I absolutely loved the short time I spent in Mestia. It was such a nice town and the surrounding mountains were amazing. While I didn’t end up taking a hike while there, I would love to go back someday to see even more. After spending two days in Mestia I headed back to Kutaisi and had one more day there that I used as an admin day before sadly saying goodbye to Georgia and the Caucuses and heading on to my next area.
In total, I spent three and a half weeks in Georgia. My time there went by so fast. I really enjoyed the time I spent there and definitely want to go back again someday as there is still so much more to see and do. It was a lot of fun being able to see and explore old Soviet era towns and rides in rickety amusement parks. Georgia is truly a beautiful country and has delicious, hearty food.
“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”
- Neale Donald Walsch
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