Well after spending a solid 3+ weeks in the Middle East I was loving the fact that we were in Armenia. We had an overnight flight from Abu Dhabi and spent a few hours in the airport until early morning and we went to our hostel. We slept for a few hours and when we woke up we were prepared an individual breakfast by the hostel maid. Traditional Armenian style. After some coffee we ventured out into the city and walked around for awhile. Finally the temperature were about 40-45F! Couldn't believe it after being in almost 80+ weather for a while. It was pretty dreary in Armenia and the sun wasn't out too much.
We got lunch at a traditional Armenian cuisine place which was actually pretty similar to Lebanese food. It was this yummy soup which was nice and warm after walking around so much. We walked into a few shops and Sanna bought another carpet. We toured the cascade area and decided after walking around for a bit that there wasn't too much to do here and that I day trip tomorrow was necessary. We went back to the hostel and did some research on where we wanted to go to and then how and when we would go to Georgia which was our next stop after Armenia.
On the second day we hired a private taxi to take us to three tourist attractions. Two of these were monasteries and the other was this monument. First stop was the monument called Garni. Wasn't too spectacular but nice visit. No tourists anywhere! The second stop was my favorite of the two monasteries. It was called Geghard monastery. It's from 4th century and wasn't occupied still that I'm aware of. It was pretty picturesque sitting in the snow covered mountains. The second monastery that we visited was quite a drive away from these first two places and was called Khor Virap. It wasn't as spectacular as the first one but the color was beautiful. It was more of a red/orange color and the first was grey.
We returned back and had a very late lunch at this place recommended in the lonely planet for some Armenian cuisine. It was alright and was so dead. Maybe it was because it was a week day and not really lunch or dinner hours but no one was there! Food was decent but I'll explain more about that!
Next day we left and decided to take a minibus for our trek to Georgia. The bus was to be about 5-6 hours depending on the border crossing. However I was having dreams that I was feeling sick when actually I woke up around 6am and got really sick and started throwing up. This was a whirlwind of what the rest of my morning was like! Thankfully I had access to a bathroom for the next 5 hours. I don't know what managed to get me sick like this but it was pretty awful and I know that I needed to get my act together before this minibus which last departed at noon! I was in shambles and the last thing I wanted to do was ride a bus to Georgia! Luckily managed to get a little better and managed the bus ride and didn't have anything all day except this break roll and some sprite!
At least the bug was less then 12 hours long but this is the 2nd time I've been sick in less then a month! More to come on my Georgian adventures!
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