As Armenia isnt that far from Tbilisi, we decided to go on a day trip there, as neither of us had visited it before. Our guide/driver, Irakli picked us up at around 9am, which goes to show how close it is because of the late start!
Irakli explained that theres a lot of animosity between Georgians and Armenians due to culture clashes and nationalism. People love their own country so much, they believe thats its the best at everything and have disdain for others. That sounded VERY familiar! His father in law for example refused to try Armenian brandy, but our driver convinced him to try a sip and little by little, he drunk it. Now our driver says that though Georgian wine is better, Armenian brandy is superior. It took him all night to get his father in law to concede that for the price, the brandy he was drinking was better than what youd get for the same price in Georgia. However, father in law had to have the last word in that best Georgian brandy is still by far the better of the twoThe area in Georgia between Tbilisi and the border has a lot of folk from
Azerbaijan, plus some Armenians, who moved there for better soil and other things. Its the only place they get along. Irakli reckons the best way for people to bond is over food and drink, the problem being that due to differing religions (Azerbaijanis are Muslim and Georgians and Armenians are Christian) they eat different things. Georgians drink lots of wine but Azerbaijanis do not. The latter also have arranged marriages and are not so much into education, so theres less places for them to mix socially. However, Irakli is on a mission to fix this with gifts of food to people he meets.There were market stalls with washing powder on the roadside, as to Georgia to buy it and other groceries as its a lot cheaper. They refuse to go to Turkey because of the 1915 genocide. However, the Georgians go to Turkey for cheap goods that they sell on to the Armenians. There was also a lot of talk about football. Our driver said that in Georgia they say that football was born in England, grew in Brazil and was killed in Georgia! They never have a good team as all good players get bought by the
Russians because its far more money than they could ever dream of. These players are stuffed right now with the current international sanctions against Russia. However, like England, their womens team are doing a lot better than the mens.Passport control was pretty quick and easy on the way in. Glyn got questioned a bit about our car and driver. Fortunately the inspector had a camera and could spot the number plate of our car as I remembered it was blue.Like Georgia, Armenia has its own unique alphabet and language. Our driver knows a little Armenian but its hard for him to learn as his Armenian friends speak to him in Russian. Hardly anyone speaks English.Being south, its hotter and drier. The land was very rocky and brown. Armenia is a lot more Russian than Georgia and this was more noticeable in the architecture which was rather run down. There are about 10 million Armenians in the world, 4 million of them are in Armenia and 1 million in California. The area we saw seemed poorer than Georgia, however, Ive only seen a fraction and cannot judge on a day tourist trip.Our first stop, Akhtala Monastery was originally Georgian as it‘s
on land that belonged to Georgia and Stalin gave it to Armenia as a present. The carpets hide the original Georgian floor and pointing this out in front of the Armenian priest does not go down too well, so we didnt do that.Being Sunday, there was a service going on but we were allowed in, just dont talk. Theyre totally relaxed about the dress code here and I was not obliged to cover up. However, because there was a service and the local ladies wore head scarves, I decided to do so too. I felt respected in that I wasnt forced to, so I didnt mind. There was a lot of chanting and incense burning in the dark church with one window where the sun streamed in like a spotlight.
