from Batumi via Borjomi to Achalziche - Caucasian summer 2024 - 10
from Yerevan to Goris including visits to Chor Virap and Noravank
excursions to Chndsoresk and Tatev
from Goris to Sewan
from Sewan via Dilijan to Haghpat
from Haghpat in Armenia to Tbilisi in Georgia
Tbilisi and back home
25.07.2024 - from Batumi via Borjomi to Achalziche
Today we have a very long drive ahead of us for a relatively short distance. We will drive back along the same road we used yesterday and the day before until we reach the vicinity of Gori. Only then will we turn south. Theoretically, there is a direct connection, but the road seems to be so bad that it would take even longer. Even Google Maps recommends the detour.
The drive is anything but interesting. I've taken my laptop with me and am now sitting in the front row with a small table, sorting through pictures for as long as the battery lasts.
From 1:30 to 3:00pm, we make a stopover in Borjomi to visit the park and have lunch. I bought a wrap at one of the shops where we made a restroom stop and will eat it somewhere in the shade.
The park [↗] was created at the end of the 19th century around a mineral spring for the entertainment of the Russian and Persian aristocracy. I was not expecting too much, but it turns out to be quite nice. The path leads along a river that doesn't have much water at the moment, but you can very well imagine what it would look like in spring.
It's quite busy at first, but once you've passed the playgrounds, it gets quieter. It's not empty, but good enough to have a nice walk in the forest.
It takes us another hour to reach Achalziche [↗] where we check-in at the former train station. There's not much to see of its former use, except that the entrance hall is quite large and doesn't really fit the usage of a hotel lobby.
The majority of the group will meet at 4:50pm to go to the Rabati Fortress [↗]. I want to go to a supermarket on the other side of the road first to get something to drink, but we'll see each other anyway. The cashier is not the fastest and I'm sure that I'm behind the group, but as it turns out I'm ahead.
The fortress has two parts, a public lower area and an upper area, for which you have to pay 6 Euros admission. It is important to know that you have to buy the tickets at the bottom when you enter the public area. Otherwise, the ticket inspector at the upper gate will send you back down to buy them. That's especially nasty for those arriving by car, using the upper parking lot, and hoping to save the climb by doing so.
The lower part is already interesting, and you can climb the walls and towers to get a nice view. But the upper part is much more interesting and well worth the entrance fee. You can visit a church, a mosque, a madrasa, the citadel, a fountain, towers, and many rooms. Just for the historical museum, you would have to pay extra.
I'm still ahead of the group but see them here and there. When I leave the citadel, however, they get completely out of sight. I visit the madrasa and the church and when I've seen everything, I slowly return to the hotel. I don't feel well, without being able to name the problem. So, I think it's best to take it slow. It takes until 9pm or so to feel ok again.
