Armenia - Nov 2025

 

Georgia to Armenia border crossing
Bagratashen - Sadakhlo

We took a marshrutka from Tbilisi to Lake Sevan in Armenia.  The border crossing was fuss free and quick.  The Italian/Danish guy sitting next to us copped a bit of greif on the Armenian side for having been to Azerbaijan.  There's a lot of unrest between countries which border each other around these parts!  

SCENERY

The thing that first hit us was the beauty of the countryside.  It is like night and day from Georgia and it starts right from the border.

We were enthralled by the many views of Mt Ararat upon discovering it's beauty from our hostel in Yerevan.  It really is a thing of beauty.  And once you notice it, you see it everywhere.

Lake Sevan is also a wee treasure of a place.  There is not a lot there, and one two nights would probably sufficed, but the lake is definitely work a visit.  We took a trip up to the Sevanavank Monestry, not so much for the monestry itself, but for the views.

HISTORY

We resonated quite quickly with Armenia in terms of it being the underdog country of the region.  Everyone seems to want a piece of it - Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan - and they are trying to hold on desparately to what they have been left with.  Large swathes of what is now Turkey, to the west, used to belong to Armenia. 

Armenia was the first country in the world to adopt Christianity as a state religion, doing so in 301 AD.

They suffered a genocide in 1915/16 by the Turks (although Turks will dispute this even to this day) killing two thirds of the 1.5 million population.  In spite of their sad history, we found the Armenian people to be charming and friendly.

The history of Armenia smacks you in the face in so many ways.

Oldest shoe in the world found in Armenia
dating 3500 BC found in a cave in 2008

Bronze age

Lecturn dated 10th century

We visited Hayravank Monestry on the shores of Lake Sevan, built between the 9th and 12th Centuries.

James took to lighting candles

The front of the steps

Side view of steps

How long have these crosses been here???

HOUSE KEEPING

Armenia feels a lot more Cosmopolitan, cleaner and somehow more polished than Georgia.

This very modern and very long
underground mall running the length of
the boardwalk

The boardwalk with an entrance to the
mall to the right

These rubbish and recycling stations are common

These machines are common, even in small towns.  You can pay your bills, top up your phone and doubtless many other things we failed to understand.

Our favouite thing, was discovering these coffee machines that grind the coffee freshly and make an awesome cup for 30p/NZ70c.  We first discovered one at the border crossing and we were delighted to discover they are everywhere in Armenia.

The overground gas lines shocked and horrorfied us!

These outdoor gyms are freely available all over
Armenia and Georgia.

We noticed this habit in both Armenia and Georgia.  People hang bread in plastic bags on the rubbish skips.  We can only imagine it is for the street dogs or maybe the homeless, although we never saw a dog or human take it.

And yes, there were plenty of stray dogs in Armenia too

This mama still had six of her pups surviving.
Quite a mean feat under the circumstances.

FOOD

The food in Armenia is fairly similar to that in Georgia.  Although you notice the staple bread change to Lavash.  Although we definitely preferred the bread offerings in Georgia, we ate a ton of this lavash!

We bought a smoked fish from Lake Sevan.
It was very average so we ended up giving most
of it to our cats at the hostel

The happy recipients

Every opportunity we got we cooked our own food ... as usual

James trying to catch dinner

Baklava! Yummmm

TRANSPORTATION 

Getting around Armenia, from town to town, is the same as Georgia.  Marshrutka all the way!  Cheap as chips too, with a variety of vans from a bit rough to very comfortable.

We got unceremoniously dumped outside Sevan village and had to get the Yandex Go app to work so that we could order a taxi.  Usually we are happy to walk but this was just a step too far.  Thank goodness for technology!  James does a lot of research into which apps work in what country etc and it is at times like this that it pays dividends.

We saw by far the most modern vehicle we have ever encountered on the street in Yerevan.

Tesla cyber truck

COOL BUILDINGS & THINGS

A typical Armenian church

Opera House, Yerevan

Armenian History Museum, Republic Square, Yerevan

Etchmiadzen Cathedral, widely  believed to be the oldest
Christian cathedral in the world. 4th century.

Only remaining Iranian mosque in Armenia
Blue Mosque, Yerevan

Marmashen Monastry, circa 10th Century
Near Gyumri

Holy saviours church, Gyumri Square

A very old tomb in the cemetery

Glamping pods across the river near Gyumri

When it came time to cross the border back to Georgia, because we needed to get to Turkey but the Armenia/Turkey border has been closed forever, we made our way to Gyumri.  From there we took a taxi to the border at Bavra.  We were looking at having to hitchhike from the border to the nearest town in Georgia as there are no buses that go through the border.  

When we asked the taxi driver to take us to the border, he stopped off on the way to get his passport??  All good. The journey of approx 40mins cost virtually nothing!  It was only after we had exited Armenia and were walking through no-mans-land to enter Georgia that we saw him again.  It seems a lot of the locals use this border crossing to purchase cheap tobacco and alcohol at Duty Free.

We walked on through and were able to ask the hostel we had booked at the closest village, Ninotsminda, to send a taxi for us.  A cheap 20min ride and we were in our room.  This is not a route that many tourists take.  Most will double back to Yerevan or take the bus from Gyumri to Tbilisi.  Neither option suited us so we chose the road less travelled.  As usual.

We loved absolutely everything about Armenia.

Bavra border