We were sad about leaving Tbilisi to the point that we were having discussion about whether we should change our plans and stay longer. Our plans were pretty loose from here on out so it was a definite possibility. Having a good time and then trying to chase it is a dangerous game though, so we decided to venture forth and find new lands to conquer.
This must be the local car wash.
Our ride wasn't leaving until later, though, so we still had some fun times left in Tbilisi despite now being homeless.
Our last Georgian meal was at Zodiaqo.
The interior decor was sort of like some hobos with an artistic bent had snuck into an abandoned building, spruced the place up, then opened a restaurant.
I was excited to finally try this soft drink I kept seeing everywhere. A fantastically written Georgian export website described it thusly "Zedazeni - The most elite and Unparagoned Georgian lemonade(carbonated soft drink) produced by Georgian unique water, exclusively natural flavorings and leading-edge technologies. Zedazeni Lemonade is the best way to quickly and effectively quench the thirst. It is the market leader and has unique real taste of fruit, herbs and citrus.
Nowadays, Zedazeni includes 6 flavors(Pear, Tarragon, Cream, Lemon, Feijoa, Saperavi) and is available in 500ml glass bottle, 1.0L and 2.0L PET bottles."
Look at all those vitamins!
We got another order of khinkali which has taken the enviable position as favorite Georgian food in my heart.
I ordered another mysterious khachapuri, this time Megrelian. I never know with these things if I'm gettin a pizza or a calzone. Keeps me on my toes but I can count on it being cheesy.
We got a fried version of khinkali as well but they were no replacement for the original recipe.
I was happy that the extra time we had today afforded us the chance to return to the Chreli Abano baths and take a soak.
The room was nice but was built in such a way that it was so full of echos that it was hard to hear one another. We figured out that if we whispered that we could still communicate. Mike got a scrub on the little stone bed on the right there from a man with abrasive mittens but I declined.
We did check out the interiors and prices of another place or two but settled on this one because it was the coolest and the price was not great but fine. I was now clean but was so hot that I was probably back to being covered in sweat by the time I got back outside.
We took the Tbilisi Cable Car up to the top of Narikala Fortress and got a great view of Tbilisi.
Several times during our trip I looked up and saw the monstrous lady statue looming over the city holding a monstrous sword. The statue is Kartlis Deda, the Mother of Georgia. I think the deal was the same as that of many giant statues in the region: there used to be a giant Lenin here and now there is not.
If the flag of Georgia reminds you a bit of England's flag that's because they both feature the red on white St. George's cross.
Mikhail the wine gifting Marani Boutique Hotel man gave us a warm goodbye. We are traveling in the off season so his hotel was abandoned other than us.
We booked a van shuttle thing to take us across the border to Armenia. Not very glamorous but it got the job done. Finding it was quite a pain in the butt and we finally tracked it down only after asking a couple of people for directions.
While we were looking for the van, I did what I always do, which is find money on the ground. Usually my finds are more of an amusement but this time it was paper money in a denomination high enough that we bought some snacks at a convenience store..
Then bought more food at a cafe. For a brief shining moment while in Georgia, I was rich.
While the ride across the border was not fancy it did feel very authentic. The other people in the bus seemed to be normal, non-tourists.
The Armenian border guard noticed I had been to Azerbaijan from the stamp in my passport. Azerbaijan guards said Armenia would give us trouble because of this but it didn’t seem to be a big deal. A couple of the guards had a conversation about it but that was about it. He asked me if I was a tourist in Azerbaijan and I said yes.
Azerbaijan and Armenia are not currently friends. But, in the words of Monty Python "Please! This is supposed to be a happy occasion. Let's not bicker and argue about who killed who."
We gave an older lady a ride who had a bunch of shopping bags. I laughed that she was just shopping at the duty free stores to dodge taxes.
I don't believe we and the van driver shared any common words, so it was sort of... when the van stopped and everyone got out, so did we. We paused at a rest stop type place and I took the opportunity to buy some dinner. I had a comically large piece of bread with a hole in the center and a pork chop looking thing.
We arrived in Dilijan, Armenia late and lost. We drug our luggage all over the place in the snow looking for the hotel.
I was pretty beat by this point so I went straight to the hotel room and fainted. One thing I noticed immediately was that the toilet was very very skinny. The base was so narrow that I found out in a very fun fashion that it was actually possible to tip the entire thing over if you weren't purposefully balancing your body.
