There were so many other places we visited in Armenia but before that, one last surprise from MIR, cocktails in the first floor Art Gallery of the Parajanov Museum. Sergei Parajanov Museum was founded by the Government of Armenia in 1988. The collection consists of more than 600 of his art works, childhood home furnishings [...]
“Travel Tips & Advice on Caucasus”
Farewell, Caucasus
July 26th, 2006 
Sheila Simkin 
Posted in Caucasus 
Tags: adventure, Caucasus, culture, destination, event, food, information, log, nature, sightseeing, travel 
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We Came, We Saw, We’re Almost Done in Armenia
July 25th, 2006 Sheila Simkin Echmladzin is the center of the Armenian Church. The holiest place for the Armenian Apostoli Orthodox faith. The Cathedral was built in 480 and located in a walled compound with gardens and other structures. The highlight of our trip there was meeting a Priest from Indiana who got special permission for our group to visit [...]
Posted in Caucasus Tags: adventure, Caucasus, culture, destination, event, food, information, log, nature, sightseeing, travel Armenia No Comments »
A Day Spent in Yerevan, Armenia
July 24th, 2006 Sheila Simkin There was still a lot to see in Yerevan before the trip ended. First up was the Matenadoran, one of Armenia’s most historic museums, filled with thousands of manuscripts, fragments of books, ancients records and documents in Georgian, Greek, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Hebrew and Latin. And a visit to the Armenian Genocide Memorial and Museum. [...]
Posted in Caucasus Tags: adventure, Armenia, Caucasus, culture, destination, event, food, information, log, nature, sightseeing, travel, Yerevan 1 Comment »
Haghbat and Haghartsin Monasteries, Armenia
July 23rd, 2006 Sheila Simkin We stopped to visit Haghbat, a World Heritage site, built in the 10-13th centuries. Haghbat is a complex of cathedrals and basilicas on a plateau. … View image… This was one of the prettier sites. Honestly, I was getting a little “churched” and “monasteried” out but each time I thought…”I’ve had it”…the next place we [...]
The Road to Yerevan, Armenia
July 22nd, 2006 Sheila Simkin We left for the border crossing at the Georgian/Armenian frontier. Customs and a transfer to an Armenian bus (along with new Armenian guide) for the remainder of the trip. Armenia is an unusual country. The only reason Armenia isn’t as desperate as its neighbors is that millions of Armenians live in other countries and send [...]
Posted in Caucasus Tags: adventure, Armenia, Caucasus, culture, destination, event, food, information, log, nature, sightseeing, travel, Yerevan No Comments »
A Day in Tbilisi, Georgia
July 21st, 2006 Sheila Simkin As far as the various big cities visited in the Caucasus, Tbilisi was my favorite. They have a great “antique” flea market on weekends. Tons of military medals including some very rare ones (one of our group was a collector), old silver belts, ethnic jewelry (very expensive), china, glass and other assorted objects. (I do [...]
Posted in Caucasus Tags: adventure, Caucasus, culture, destination, event, food, Georgia, information, log, nature, Republic of Georgia, sightseeing, Tbilisi, travel No Comments »
Uplis Tsikhe and Gori, Georgia
July 20th, 2006 Sheila Simkin En route back to Tbilisi, we stopped at the cave town of Uplis Tsikhe, a trade route that linked Byzantium with India and China. The Silk Road (the major trade route) had many different ways through the Mideast (Yemen), China (the famous Silk Road), the various “Stans,” Turkey and other countries. The entire town of [...]
Posted in Caucasus Tags: adventure, Caucasus, culture, destination, event, food, Gori, information, log, nature, Republic of Georgia, sightseeing, Stalin, travel No Comments »
On The Way to Gudari, Georgia – Hats, and More Hats
July 19th, 2006 Sheila Simkin Some of the more interesting sights along the way to Gudari along the Georgian Military Highway were: – Electrical/power lines in towns. They were a sight to behold with hundreds of wires strung from every pole, leading to the houses and buildings. Our electricians would have heart failure, definitely not up to code and it [...]
Posted in Caucasus Tags: adventure, Caucasus, culture, destination, event, food, information, log, mountains, nature, Republic of Georgia, sightseeing, travel No Comments »
David Gareja Monastery and Tbilisi, Georgia
July 18th, 2006 Sheila Simkin The next day was a visit to the David Gareja Monastery, revered as the holiest place in Georgia. Many faithful believe the visiting the monastery three times is equal to visiting Jerusalem. It is a cave complex, with a main monastery and 12 adjacent monasteries. There are also frescos. ( I know it’s very famous [...]
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Crossing the Border from Georgia to Armenia
July 17th, 2006 Sheila Simkin Each border crossing meant changing tour buses, a new local guide, and lots of formalities. MIR handled everything smoothly and off we bused into another country. The route took us through the important wine-growing areas of the country with beautiful forested mountains as a backdrop, and little villages. Georgia’s main borders are: the Peaks of [...]
Posted in Caucasus Tags: adventure, Armenia, Caucasus, culture, destination, event, food, information, log, nature, Republic of Georgia, sightseeing, Tbilisi, travel, Yerevan No Comments »
