Thirteen days between Armenia and Georgia: churches, lakes and vineyards

Itinerary

Day 1 - Transfer from Zvartnots airport to Yerevan

Total road of the day - 13KM 0 Hours and 25 Minutes We pick you up at the airport whenever your flight lands and go to the hotel. No more programme today. Road 13KM 0 Hours and 25 Minutes

Day 2 - Yerevan - Yerevan city walk - Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial - Victory Park - Garni - Geghard -Yerevan

Total road of the day - 81KM 1 Hours and 45 Minutes We leave after breakfast. On the programme, a walk around Yerevan, Armenian Genocide Museum, Tsitsernakaberd Memorial and Victory Park, Garni and Geghard; 81 km in short stretches. Road 0KM 0 Hours and 0 Minutes

A walk around Yerevan

Yerevan is pink. Almost the whole centre is built of volcanic tuff of that colour, following the circular plan Alexander Tamanian drew in the 1920s, and Republic Square, with its arcades and its fountain, is the centrepiece. From there we go up to the Cascade, the monumental stairway begun in the seventies and finished in 2009 with the Cafesjian museum inside, by its escalators and past Botero's fat cat at the bottom. From the top, if the air is clean, the whole of Ararat, which is in Turkey but presides over the city. The city boasts of being 29 years older than Rome: the fortress of Erebuni dates from 782 BC. But what you live today is something else: terraces, the Vernissage market at weekends, cafés that never close. Three or four hours on foot, comfortable shoes and, in summer, water: Yerevan in July goes over 35 degrees. Road 5KM 0 Hours and 10 Minutes

Armenian Genocide Museum

It is not an easy visit and we do not sell it as one. The museum is buried in the Tsitsernakaberd hill, under the memorial, and tells with documents, photographs and testimonies what happened between 1915 and 1923 in the Ottoman Empire: around a million and a half Armenians dead and a diaspora that today is larger than the country itself. It opened in 1995 and was enlarged in 2015, for the centenary, and entry is free. We give it an hour and go at our own pace, each person theirs. To understand Armenia you have to come here: it explains why Ararat, in sight from all over Yerevan, lies on the other side of a closed border. Road 9KM 0 Hours and 25 Minutes

Tsitsernakaberd Memorial and Victory Park

Twelve basalt slabs leaning towards a flame that never goes out, and beside them a 44-metre needle split in two: the small part is the Armenia that remained, the large one the Armenia that was lost. The Tsitsernakaberd memorial was opened in 1967, when the Soviet Union finally allowed the genocide to be spoken of, and every 24 April half the country climbs up here with flowers. Next to the memorial is a row of trees planted by heads of state who came to recognise it; the plaques tell you who came and who did not. Half an hour, in silence, with the museum underneath. On the other side of the city, in Victory Park, Mother Armenia of 1967, a 22-metre copper statue that replaced Stalin's on the same pedestal, looks over Yerevan with a sword in her hands; from her terrace you see the whole city and, with luck, Ararat. Road 31KM 0 Hours and 55 Minutes

Garni

A Greek temple in Armenia. Garni was built by King Tiridates I around the year 77, dedicated to the sun god Mihr, and it is the only pagan building that survived the country's conversion to Christianity, probably because the kings used it as a summer house. What you see today is a reconstruction of 1969 to 1975 with the original stones: the earthquake of 1679 had brought the whole thing down. Next to it are the Roman baths with a mosaic and the inscription "we worked without receiving anything", which we guides find funny. The other thing is the Azat gorge just below: the "symphony of stones", a wall of perfectly hexagonal basalt columns that look like an organ. You go down in the locals' 4x4s or on foot, 20 minutes of slope. An hour in all, more if we go down to the columns. Road 10KM 0 Hours and 15 Minutes

Geghard

Half the monastery is inside the mountain. Geghard was founded by St Gregory the Illuminator in the 4th century beside a spring that still flows inside one of the chapels, and what you see dates from the 13th: the main church, of 1215, and the chambers cut into the rock by the Proshian princes, with their carved coats of arms and an acoustic you test by singing. The name means "spear": for centuries the one that, according to tradition, pierced Christ's side was kept here; it is now in the Echmiadzin museum. A UNESCO site since 2000. An hour. It is the place in Armenia where we have most often seen people moved, especially if a choir happens to be in the rock chamber. At the exit the village women sell fresh lavash and gata, a sweet bread; worth stopping for. Road 26KM 0 Hours and 40 Minutes

Day 3 - Yerevan - Echmiadzin - Zvartnots - Oshakan - Amberd - Yerevan

Total road of the day - 92KM 2 Hours and 26 Minutes Echmiadzin, Zvartnots, Oshakan and Amberd. It is 92 km; we leave early so as not to rush. Road 21KM 0 Hours and 45 Minutes

Echmiadzin

The Armenian Vatican. Echmiadzin, 20 km from Yerevan, is where the Catholicos lives, head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and where the cathedral stands that St Gregory the Illuminator founded in 303, two years after Armenia became Christian, the first nation to do so. What you see is mostly 5th century and later alterations, and the cathedral has spent more than ten years under restoration. In the museum on the grounds are the spear of Geghard and other relics that say a lot to a believer and, to everyone else, at least explain what this place means. An hour for the cathedral and the museum. On Sundays the sung liturgy fills the church and you go in all the same, quietly. Five minutes away are the churches of Hripsime and Gayane, from the 7th century, which are the ones architects like best, and the ruins of Zvartnots. Road 10KM 0 Hours and 5 Minutes

Zvartnots

What is left of Zvartnots is a ring of columns and capitals with eagles, ten minutes from Echmiadzin and next to the airport. In the 7th century, between 641 and 661, Catholicos Nerses III raised here a round cathedral of three tiers and some 45 metres, the boldest of its age; an earthquake brought it down in the 10th century and nobody rebuilt it. It was excavated between 1900 and 1907, and in the small museum there is a model that helps you imagine what it was. A UNESCO site since 2000, together with Echmiadzin. Half an hour. It is a flat, open site with Ararat in the background when the day is clear, which is why photos from here always come out well. Road 18KM 0 Hours and 28 Minutes

Oshakan

Armenians write with their own 39-letter alphabet, invented by a monk, Mesrop Mashtots, in the year 405, and the monk is buried here, at Oshakan, beneath the altar of the church. That is why on the first day of school children from half the country come to leave flowers, and why the railing carries 36 khachkars, one for each original letter. The present church dates from 1875; the tomb, from the 5th century. The village, 30 km from Yerevan, lives off its vines. Twenty minutes. If you are going up to Mount Aragats, the alphabet park is a few kilometres away, with the letters carved in stone at giant size, which children like better than the church. Road 11KM 0 Hours and 18 Minutes

Amberd

Amberd sits at 2,300 metres on the southern slope of Aragats, where two ravines meet. The first thing you see on arrival is the church, of 1026, and behind it what is left of the fortress, which is much older: the oldest walls are 7th century and the Pahlavuni princes enlarged it in the 10th and 11th. Do not expect a whole castle. What remains is the church, the base of the basalt walls, a bathhouse and the outline of the citadel. What makes up for it is the site: from the top you see the valley and, on a clear day, Ararat. A practical warning: the access track is closed by snow for a good part of the year, well into spring, and it is cool at the top even in July. Forty minutes. Road 32KM 0 Hours and 50 Minutes

Day 4 - Yerevan - Saghmosavank - Haghpat - Sanahin - Sadakhlo - Tbilisi

Total road of the day - 301KM 5 Hours and 53 Minutes Border day: 301 km, 5 hours 53 minutes, and Saghmosavank, Sanahin Monastery and Haghpat Monastery. A new car and guide are waiting on the other side. Road 32KM 0 Hours and 45 Minutes

Saghmosavank

On the edge of a hundred-metre cut, the one the Kasagh river opens in the plateau, stands a reddish stone monastery of 1215 called "the one of the psalms": Saghmosavank. The Vachutian princes built it, and what is special about it is the gavit, the entrance hall with its stone vault and reliefs, and the library, because manuscripts were copied here for centuries. It is 30 km from Yerevan, on the way to Aragats, and there is almost never anyone there. Half an hour. The best part is leaning over the canyon from the back wall and, on a clear day, seeing Ararat in the distance above the plain. Road 136KM 2 Hours and 25 Minutes

Sanahin Monastery

Sanahin means "this one is older than that one", and "that one" is Haghpat, 10 km away on the opposite slope: the two monasteries were founded ten years apart in the 10th century and have been facing each other for a thousand years. Sanahin, of 966, was above all a school: Grigor Magistros taught here in the 11th century, and the long corridor between the two churches, with its stone benches, was the classroom. Two gavits remain, the library, the bell tower and hundreds of khachkars, the carved cross-stones that are Armenia's national sculpture. A UNESCO site since 2000. Three quarters of an hour. Next door, a surprising detail: the museum of the Mikoyan brothers, born in the village, one a minister under Stalin and the other the engineer of the MiG fighters; there is a MiG-21 in the garden. Road 16KM 0 Hours and 30 Minutes

Haghpat Monastery

Above the Debed canyon, in the region of Lori and almost on the Georgian border, Haghpat has been a UNESCO site since 1996 and, for us, is the most complete Armenian monastery: the Holy Cross church of 991, the gavit with its crossed arches, the bell tower of 1245, the refectory and the library, with jars buried in the floor where the manuscripts were hidden when invaders came. Queen Khosrovanush founded it in 976. In the courtyard stands the khachkar of the Saviour, from 1273, the finest of the thousands there are in Armenia. Sayat-Nova lived and died here, the 18th-century troubadour who sang in Armenian, Georgian and Azerbaijani and has a street named after him in Tbilisi. An hour, and another for Sanahin, 10 km away. It is 180 km from Yerevan; the town below, Alaverdi, is a mining town and ugly, and we say so to spare you the surprise. Road 43KM 0 Hours and 55 Minutes

Sadakhlo, the Georgia-Armenia border

Here you cross on foot: passport control on one side, a few hundred metres walking with your suitcase and control on the other. Between half an hour and an hour depending on the day. On the far side the car and guide of the next country are waiting, so this is where you say goodbye to the ones from this side. Road 74KM 1 Hours and 18 Minutes

Day 5 - Tbilisi - Guided tour in Spanish

No driving Today it is Rustaveli Avenue, Metekhi Square, Narikala Fortress, Abanotubani and Anchiskhati; lunch on the way.

Rustaveli Avenue

A kilometre and a half of plane trees between Freedom Square and Rustaveli Square. This is the street where Tbilisi shows off: the Parliament, the Moorish-looking Opera House of 1896, the Rustaveli Theatre, the Kashueti church, the National Museum and the grand hotels of the early 20th century. It is named after Shota Rustaveli, the 12th-century poet who wrote "The Knight in the Panther's Skin", the book every Georgian can quote. It takes a good half hour on foot, or two metro stops if the heat is on. In front of the Parliament there is a plaque worth stopping for: on 9 April 1989 the Soviet army broke up a demonstration here and twenty-one people died, almost all of them women. That day still weighs on the politics of the country.

Metekhi Square

The king on horseback looking over the city from the cliff is Vakhtang Gorgasali, the founder of Tbilisi according to tradition; the statue dates from 1967. Next to him, the church of Metekhi, from the late 13th century, built by Demetre II on top of another from the 5th. The royal palace stood here for centuries, and in the 19th century and Soviet times the building was a prison: Gorky did time in it. Then it was a theatre, and in 1988 it became a church again. We come here for the view, the best of the lower town: the sulphur baths right below, Narikala opposite and the river running between the two. It is a fifteen-minute stop that almost always runs longer because of the photos.

Narikala Fortress

We take the cable car that leaves from Rike Park and crosses the river in two minutes; it costs the same as a metro ticket and is paid with the same card. At the top is Narikala, or what is left of it: the Persians founded it in the 4th century, the Arabs enlarged it in the 8th and the Georgians in the 12th, and in 1827 an explosion of the gunpowder store took out a good part of the walls. The church of St Nicholas inside dates from 1997, on medieval foundations. The reason to come up is not the stones but the view: the whole old town, the domes of the baths, the river and Metekhi opposite. Careful, the walls have no railings and the rock is polished by so many feet. From here we walk down through the Betlemi quarter to the baths, passing the Mother of Georgia on the way, the aluminium statue of 1958 that watches over the city with a cup in one hand and a sword in the other.

Abanotubani

Tbilisi means "warm place", and the warmth comes from here. Abanotubani is the sulphur bath district, on the right bank of the Mtkvari just below Narikala: brick domes at ground level with the baths underneath, and water that comes up on its own at 37 to 40 degrees and smells of eggs. Legend has it that King Vakhtang Gorgasali founded the city in the 5th century after seeing a wounded pheasant healed in these waters. Pushkin bathed here in 1829 and wrote that he had never seen anything like it. You can stroll and look, but what is worth it is going in: a private room with a hot-water pool and, if you like, a scrub with a coarse mitt that leaves you like new. Booking is needed in high season, and you bring swimwear and a towel or rent them. The blue-tiled façade belongs to the Orbeliani bath; the others are plainer outside.  

Anchiskhati

It is the oldest church still standing in Tbilisi, and it does not look it: a small three-nave basilica of plain stone, tucked into a street of the old town. King Dachi, son of Vakhtang Gorgasali, built it around the year 530. The name comes from the Christ icon of Ancha, which arrived here in 1664 from an area that is now Turkey and is now kept in the Art Museum. The brick bell tower of 1675 is what you see from the street. If it falls on a Sunday morning, we go in during the liturgy: the Anchiskhati choir sings Georgian polyphony the way it was sung centuries ago, and it is one of the things people remember most from the trip. On other days it is almost empty and takes ten minutes. There are headscarves at the door for women.  

Day 6 - Tbilisi - Ananuri - Kazbegi - Tbilisi

Total road of the day - 321KM 6 Hours and 0 Minutes Today the car is only the means: 321 km to reach Ananuri and Gergeti Trinity Church. Road 67KM 1 Hours and 10 Minutes

Ananuri

The first serious stop on the Georgian Military Highway, 66 km from Tbilisi: a fortress with two churches inside, planted above the Zhinvali reservoir. The turquoise water in all the photos dates from 1986, when the dam flooded the valley; until then the castle watched over a crossroads. It was the seat of the Eristavis of Aragvi, the dukes of the area, from the 13th to the 18th century, and the story you will be told is that of 1739, when a rival lord took it and put the whole family to the sword. The best of Ananuri is the façade of the big church, the Assumption, from 1689: a huge cross carved with vines, lions and angels. You can climb the tower, up a narrow staircase. Half an hour, and at the exit there are stalls selling churchkhela, the strings of walnuts dipped in grape must, which are good here and not expensive. In autumn the reservoir drops and the postcard loses its colour.  

Gergeti Trinity Church

The photo of Georgia: a 14th-century church alone on a ridge at 2,170 metres, with Kazbek (5,047 m) behind it if the clouds allow. You get there from Stepantsminda, the village below, by a 6 km road that was paved only a few years ago; before that you needed a 4x4 or an hour and a half on foot, and in winter you still need the 4x4. For centuries the treasures of Mtskheta were hidden up here when invaders came, because of how remote it is. Two warnings. First: Kazbek is usually covered from midday on, so we go up as early as we can and, if it is hidden, we wait a while, because sometimes it clears. Second: it is cold and windy at the top all year; in the middle of August we have seen people in T-shirts shivering. Headscarf to go in and covered shoulders; there are wrap skirts to borrow at the door for anyone in shorts. An hour for the drive up, the church and the photos.  

Day 7 - Tbilisi - Mtskheta - Uplistsikhe - Gori - Kutaisi

Total road of the day - 267KM 4 Hours and 44 Minutes 267 km and 4 hours 44 minutes in the car in all. Today's stops: Jvari, Svetitskhoveli, Uplistsikhe and Stalin Museum. Road 25KM 0 Hours and 36 Minutes

Jvari, the Monastery of the Cross

From the Tbilisi road you can see a small church on top of a bare hill above Mtskheta. It is Jvari, "the cross", and it is there because, according to tradition, in the 4th century St Nino planted a wooden cross on that spot when she converted Georgia. The present church was built between 586 and 605 and became the model for many others in the country: a cross plan with four apses and a dome in the middle, with hardly any decoration. It is a UNESCO site together with Mtskheta. What you remember is the view: below, the Aragvi and the Mtkvari meet, each a different colour, with Svetitskhoveli cathedral in between. Lermontov set his poem "Mtsyri" here. It is almost always windy, so a jacket is not a bad idea even in July. Twenty minutes, half an hour if the day is clear. Road 13KM 0 Hours and 18 Minutes

Svetitskhoveli

For a Georgian this is the cathedral, full stop. It stands in Mtskheta, the old capital, 20 km from Tbilisi, and the present building went up between 1010 and 1029 on the site of the 4th-century church of King Mirian, the one who converted the country to Christianity. Beneath it, according to tradition, lies the robe of Christ: a Jew from Mtskheta brought it from Jerusalem, his sister Sidonia died clutching it and they were buried together; a cedar grew from the spot, and from its trunk came the pillar that gives the church its name, "the life-giving pillar". Kings were crowned and buried here; the slabs of Vakhtang Gorgasali and Erekle II are in the floor. A UNESCO site since 1994, and at weekends the weddings follow one another, so sometimes you wait at the door. Headscarves for women and covered shoulders for everyone. Half an hour inside, another in the lanes around it, which live off tourism but keep the feel of a village. Road 61KM 1 Hours and 5 Minutes

Uplistsikhe

A whole town cut into the rock, 10 km from Gori above the Mtkvari river. People lived at Uplistsikhe from the first millennium BC until the Middle Ages: first a pagan centre, then a Christian one, and always a stop for the caravans. What remains are carved streets, a hall with a ceiling imitating wooden beams (they call it "Queen Tamar's hall"), wine presses, a tunnel down to the river and a 10th-century brick church planted on top of it all. The Mongols emptied it in the 13th century and it never recovered. One piece of advice: in summer there is no shade and the rock burns, so go early or late in the day, and wear shoes with grip, because the polished stone is slippery. An hour is enough to climb up to the church and look down at the river. Road 14KM 0 Hours and 20 Minutes

Stalin Museum

Gori is the town where Iosif Dzhugashvili was born in 1878, and the museum dedicated to him in 1957 is still open much as it was then. It is three things: the little wooden house where he was born, protected under a pavilion of columns; the main building, a Soviet-style palace with his personal belongings, photographs, gifts from heads of state and one of the bronze copies of his death mask; and the armoured railway carriage in which he travelled to Yalta and Potsdam, because he did not like flying. Let us be plain: the museum tells the kind version. There is a small room on the repression, added late, and little else. We tell the rest on the road, and the one-hour visit usually ends in a long conversation in the car. Road 154KM 2 Hours and 25 Minutes

Day 8 - Kutaisi - Okatse - Martvili - Kutaisi

Total road of the day - 130KM 2 Hours and 40 Minutes In the morning, Okatse Canyon; in the afternoon, Martvili Canyon. 130 km in all. Road 50KM 1 Hours and 5 Minutes

Okatse Canyon

If you have a fear of heights, read this first. Okatse canyon, back in Imereti, is not visited from the water but from above: a 700-metre metal walkway bolted to the wall of the gorge, some 50 metres above the river, with a grid floor that lets you see the bottom, and a final platform that juts a few metres out over the drop. From the car park in the village of Gordi it is 2.5 km through the forest of the old Dadiani park to the start of the walkway; you do it on foot or in the locals' 4x4s, which charge extra [DATO: precio del 4x4 en 2026]. Two hours in all. We usually walk there and come back by 4x4 if the group prefers.

Martvili Canyon

The water of the Abasha river is a turquoise that looks edited. It is not: this is Martvili canyon, in Samegrelo, three and a quarter hours from Mestia and the most visited canyon in western Georgia. It has two sections. In the upper one you take a boat ride of about fifteen minutes between walls 20 to 40 metres high; in the lower one there are walkways and a waterfall. It was the bathing place of the Dadiani princes, whose palace was in Zugdidi. Since it was developed in 2016 there is a ticket office, a car park and quite a crowd; on July and August weekends there is a queue for the boats [DATO: precio de entrada y de la barca en 2026]. We do the boat as soon as we arrive and then the walkways, half an hour without hurrying. If the river is swollen after rain, the boats do not go out and the water loses its colour; on those days we swap the order with Okatse.

Day 9 - Kutaisi - Bagrati - Gelati - Promete - Borjomi-Akhaltsikhe

Total road of the day - 240KM 4 Hours and 55 Minutes First Bagrati Cathedral, then Gelati Academy, Prometheus Cave and Borjomi. 240 km, 4 hours 55 minutes; lunch on the way. Road 2KM 0 Hours and 9 Minutes

Bagrati Cathedral

You can see it from half of Kutaisi, so you arrive already knowing what it is. What you cannot see from below is the controversy: Bagrat III consecrated it in 1003, the Ottomans blew it up in 1692 and it stood in ruins for three centuries until, in 2012, it was rebuilt in full, with concrete and a glass lift stuck to one side. UNESCO took it off the list in 2017 for that. Some people see it as a botch job. We still like it, mostly for the site: the terrace has the best view of the city and the Rioni valley. Ten minutes uphill from the centre and a full circuit of the building to find the original carvings left on the walls. Road 10KM 0 Hours and 20 Minutes

Gelati Academy

David the Builder asked to be buried in the floor of the south gate, so that everyone who came in would step on his grave. He has been there since 1125, and the monastery of Gelati, which he founded in 1106, was for centuries the great school of the kingdom: in its academy Greek philosophy was translated and copied at a time when Georgia looked to Byzantium. A UNESCO site since 1994 and, unlike Bagrati, still on the list. As soon as you enter the main church, the 12th-century mosaic of the Virgin in the apse; then frescoes on every wall, from different centuries. We give it almost an hour between the church, the tomb, the academy (a long hall with stone benches) and the church of St George. The domes were under repair for years because of leaks [VERIFICAR: estado de la restauración del tejado en 2026]. Road 29KM 0 Hours and 41 Minutes

Prometheus Cave

Inside it is 14 degrees all year round, which is welcome in summer and in winter too: bring a jacket. Prometheus Cave is at Kumistavi, 20 km from Kutaisi, next to the spa town of Tskaltubo. It was discovered in 1984 and opened to the public in 2011 with a route of just over a kilometre through six of its 22 halls, on concrete walkways with coloured lights that some people like and others do not. The name is for the titan who, according to the Greeks, ended up chained in these mountains; Georgians call him Amirani. The visit takes a good hour. At the end, if the underground river has enough water, you can leave by boat along a stretch of about 300 metres, paid separately; when the level drops, you walk out. The floor is damp and slippery, so closed shoes are better. Road 151KM 2 Hours and 50 Minutes

Borjomi

The fizzy water drunk all over the former Soviet Union comes from here, and it has been bottled since 1890. Borjomi was the spa of the Romanovs, who built themselves a palace at Likani, at the entrance to the town, and what remains of that is the air of a spa town from another age: wooden villas, a central park of 1850 with the spring where anyone can fill a bottle (it comes out warm, salty and fizzy, and not everyone likes it) and a cable car up to a viewpoint with a Ferris wheel. An hour for the park and the spring; for walkers, the 3 km path to the sulphur pools in the forest starts at the far end of the park. The town is the gateway to the Borjomi-Kharagauli national park and the last stop with shops and banks before Vardzia. Road 48KM 0 Hours and 55 Minutes

Day 10 - Akhaltsikhe - Vardzia - Khertvisi - Bavra - Gyumri

Total road of the day - 193KM 4 Hours and 5 Minutes Today we change country. Vardzia; allow an hour for the border. 193 km in all. Road 60KM 1 Hours and 20 Minutes

Vardzia

A rock face 500 metres long riddled with 19 storeys of openings: that is Vardzia, the cave monastery Queen Tamar finished around 1185 in the Mtkvari valley, 60 km from Akhaltsikhe. It once had thousands of rooms; the earthquake of 1283 took the whole front off and exposed what you see today, some 600 rooms including cells, wine cellars, refectories, a pharmacy and irrigation channels cut into the stone. In the Church of the Dormition are the 12th-century frescoes, with one of the few portraits of Tamar made in her lifetime. It is still a monastery, with a few monks, so some areas are closed. The visit takes an hour and a half, almost all of it on stairs and through narrow tunnels: not for bad knees or claustrophobia, although there are routes that avoid the passages. In summer the sun hits the wall from mid-morning; we go as early as we can.  

Bavra, the Armenia-Georgia border

The northern crossing, at 2,000 metres on the Shirak plateau: passport control on one side, a few metres on foot with your suitcase and control on the other. It is quieter than Sadakhlo and usually takes half an hour. On the far side the car and guide of the next country are waiting. In winter it snows seriously here; we take that into account when setting the time.

Day 11 - Gyumri - Gyumri city walk - Casco Antiguo Dilijan - Sevan - Yerevan

Total road of the day - 195KM 3 Hours and 10 Minutes A day with 3 hours 10 minutes at the wheel, which is not nothing, and in return a walk around Gyumri and Dilijan. Road 0KM 0 Hours and 0 Minutes

A walk around Gyumri

Gyumri is Armenia's second city and the one that has suffered most: on 7 December 1988 an earthquake killed more than 25,000 people in the region and flattened the city; there are still empty lots and people who lived for years in containers. What survived is the Kumayri quarter, of black and red tuff houses from the 19th century, from when it was Alexandropol, the Russian garrison town; in Soviet times it was called Leninakan. The church of the Saviour on the square took thirty years to rebuild. People from Gyumri are famous throughout the country for their humour, and it is true that you end up talking to people. Two hours: Vardanants square, Kumayri, the Dzitoghtsyan museum in a merchant's house and a coffee on Rizhkov street. It is 120 km from Yerevan and at 1,500 metres: colder than the capital.

Dilijan

After the dry, pink Armenia of Yerevan, Dilijan is green: a spa town at 1,300 metres in the middle of a forested national park, in the province of Tavush, which the Soviets filled with sanatoriums and rest houses for composers. They call it "little Switzerland", as they do every place with pines and fresh air; no need to believe it. What there is is a restored stretch of old street, Sharambeyan, with 19th-century houses of wood and stone, craft workshops and a couple of cafés, and mineral water coming out of the street fountains. An hour for the town is enough. Its value is elsewhere: it is the perfect base for the forest monasteries, Haghartsin and Goshavank, and for sleeping cool in summer when Yerevan goes over 35 degrees.

Day 12 - Yerevan - Khor Virap - Areni Cave - Noravank - Yerevan

Total road of the day - 239KM 4 Hours and 23 Minutes We leave after breakfast. On the programme, Khor Virap, Areni Cave and Noravank Monastery; 239 km in short stretches. Road 44KM 0 Hours and 48 Minutes

Khor Virap

The photo of Armenia is taken here: the monastery on its knoll, the green plain and behind it the whole of Ararat, only 4 km away, with the Turkish border in between. Khor Virap means "deep pit", and the pit exists: according to tradition King Tiridates III kept Gregory the Illuminator locked in it for thirteen years, until the king fell ill, Gregory cured him and the king made Armenia Christian in the year 301. You can climb down a vertical six-metre ladder; it is narrow and not for everyone. The church dates from 1662 and is nothing special; you come for the pit and the mountain. Ararat is seen best early in the morning, before the haze rises; in summer, at midday, sometimes it cannot be seen at all. Forty minutes, and in spring, storks on the poles all over the valley. Road 77KM 1 Hours and 20 Minutes

Areni Cave

The oldest shoe in the world came out of here: a leather moccasin 5,500 years old, now in the History Museum in Yerevan. And the oldest winery: a press, vats and grape pips 6,100 years old, found between 2007 and 2010 in this cave at the mouth of the Noravank canyon, by the village of Areni. In other words, wine was made here a thousand years before the pyramids. The cave itself is small and dark, and what impresses is the explanation, not the stones. Half an hour with the keeper of the site, who knows it well. Afterwards, if the timing allows, a winery in the village: Areni is still Armenia's wine country, with the local grape of the same name, and in October there is a wine festival in the street. Road 3KM 0 Hours and 5 Minutes

Noravank Monastery

Eight kilometres of canyon between red walls, and at the end, on a ledge, Noravank. What sets it apart is the two-storey church of 1339, Surb Astvatsatsin, with two narrow external staircases without railings climbing to the upper chapel; you can go up, carefully, and it is the obligatory photo. Almost everything good about the place was made by one man, Momik, a 14th-century architect and sculptor: the reliefs over the entrance are his, with a bearded God the Father who is not depicted in other traditions. An hour. The good light is in the afternoon, when the sun hits the red rock. It is 120 km from Yerevan and is almost always combined with the Areni cave, which sits at the mouth of the same canyon. Road 115KM 2 Hours and 10 Minutes

Day 13 - Transfer from Yerevan to Zvartnots airport

Last day: transfer to the airport with whatever margin your flight needs. Road 13KM 0 Hours and 25 Minutes