Armenia

My friend Andreas and I had recently been to Azerbaijan when we arrived at the Armenian border from Georgia by car. We knew we would be questioned about our trip to Azerbaijan since Armenia don't see eye to eye with their neighbouring country and even though the war has pretty much ended, you can tell that the conflict isn't solved. The custom brought it up when they saw the stamp from Azerbaijan but it actually went much smoother than I had imagined and soon we were on the way to the first stop on the road trip in the northern parts of the country.

Haghpat is a small village which is notable for Haghpat Monastery, a religious complex founded in the 10th century and included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.




The monastery is a magnificent example of medieval Armenian architecture and the surroundings are beautiful with high mountains and deep valleys.




It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been too and I had also enjoyed the harsh surroundings on our way there. Industry buildings that are so worn down that you think they're abandoned but then you see people still working there.






The Haghpat Monastery looks like a church for worshipping Satan since it looks like it has been set on fire yet survived it like it was no challenge at all. I took some pictures of Andreas when suddenly an old fashionable lady came down with white hair, black coat and red shoes and told us jokingly in Armenian that she wanted 100 dram for being in the pictures. I guess she was the first and last photo model we met in the country. 

We continued our roadtrip and went up a mountain to a village called Odzun about a thousand metres above the Yerevan–Tbilisi highway. It was much greener up on the plateau and the birds were singing and the sun was shining, I really started to get a warm feeling about Armenia. Suddenly I saw a church at the edge of the cliff and it actually looked like it was half over the cliff when we came closer on the small rural road that led us out to it. The view was even more spectacular than at Haghpat and it was so cute that an old lady was greeting us. Her job seemed to be to sell small candles to light in the church and even though I'm against all kind of religion it's fun to see how different a life can be for someone who lives just a small road trip from Europe. Sometimes I just want to leave my ordinary life behind and try to live in a totally different way.




We drove around in a big circle in the northern parts of the country to get back to Georgia before nightfall, because when it gets dark in Armenia it gets dark for real since they got no street lights. The first half of the trip in the eastern parts was amazing while the second half of it in the western parts couldn't live up to what we had already experienced. 

It was time to leave the country and oddly enough the Armenian customs were much more strict when we wanted to leave the country. They asked a lot of questions about why we had been to Azerbaijan and it was funny that they seemed disappointed that we had spent 3 days in Azerbaijan while we only made a day trip in Armenia. One of the officers asked me what my job in Switzerland was (since they refused to understand that I'm from Sweden) and when I tried to tell him that I work at a cinema he misunderstood and thought I was a movie star. I didn't want to disappoint him so we left it at that and said goodbye to him and Armenia, a hidden gem that I think is more suitable for a road trip than to stay in a city. 

* Best things about Armenia – the spectacular views, it's an amazing country to see from a car, and all the old ladys of the country seemed so nice

* Most mediocre thing about Armenia – the western parts of the trip wasn't as impressive as the first half in the east

* Worst things about Armenia – I guess it's the poverty for the people who lives there but for us as tourists that had been to Azerbaijan I have to say the customs even though they were much more chill than I thought they would be about it, they could need to improve some of the roads too but it's also a part of the charm that you will have to zig zag your way inbetween the holes in the ground

Best countries in the world according to the nerd (will be updated with every post):
1. USA
2. Croatia
3. Montenegro
4. Andorra
5. Cyprus
6. Turkey
7. Greece
8. Italy
9. Spain
10. Monaco
11. Malta
12. Netherlands
13. Iceland
14. Denmark
15. Sweden
16. Lithuania
17. Macedonia
18. Armenia
19. Portugal
20. Hungary
21. Slovakia
22. Slovenia
23. Austria
24. New Zealand
25. Ireland
26. Germany
27. United Kingdom
28. Belgium
29. Poland
30. Vatican City
31. Estonia
32. Czech Republic
33. Switzerland
34. San Marino
35. Kosovo
36. Romania
37. Finland
38. Latvia
39. Moldova
40. Norway
41. Ukraine
42. France
43. Bulgaria
44. Luxembourg
45. Liechtenstein
46. China
47. Serbia 
48. Bosnia And Herzegovina
49. Albania

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