Today was a travel day. The plan was to go from Gori to Tbilisi to Yeravan (Armenia). Today is Armenia's 22nd independence day, and the aim was to witness their festivities.
At some point we thought of changing plans and check out Tehran…
But ultimately, we decided to stick to our original destination - Tbilisi.
We arrived in Tbilisi a bit after 12:00, where we returned our jeep, as we've changed our minds and decided not to travel with a rental.
by the time we returned the jeep and had lunch it was already 15:00. We used the opportunity to get a hotel for when we return (again, Ata Hotel - very well situated).
Next, we headed to Yeravan. By the time we left Tbilisi it was already nearly 16:00, unfortunately.
Next, we headed to Yeravan. By the time we left Tbilisi it was already nearly 16:00, unfortunately.
The original plan was to get public transportation (a van), but the lady at the hotel said it was no longer possible for the day. So we just got a cab.. The guy wanted 350GEL, we agreed on 250GEL (~$160), for a 5 hour drive, which might not sound like much, but still is rather pricy. Btw, as is often the case, the guy knew some hebrew. This time it's because he is Jewish with some family in Bat Yam and Netanya.
A word about petrol/gas in this country: It seems most cars/taxis have a gas tank in their trunk. It costs $1000 to install, and then the price is about half the price of normal petrol (0.9 GEL, as opposed to 2GEL). It's quite an interesting system. When filling the gas tank, all passengers are required to vacate the vehicle. Same goes in Armenia it appears.
The drive to Yerevan (283km) took 6 hours instead of the 4 Google promised. One hour was spent at the border crossing, while another hour is the result of Google not being fully familiar with this part of the world, and not realizing roads here aren't interstates... The taxi driver suggested at some point that I drive. An opportunity I was glad to seize. I put in 99km. Was fun.
Welcome to Armenia
As we headed to Hrazdan hotel (transferred to a local taxi driver), we could see some fireworks from the central square. An hour later we arrived at the square only to realize the fireworks we had seen an hour before marked the conclusion of the festivities (that ran from 19:00 till 22:00). What a bummer :(
I had really hoped to bare witness to the celebrations. Very disappointed indeed.
I had really hoped to bare witness to the celebrations. Very disappointed indeed.
Empty square - no party :(
No comments:
Post a Comment