Leaving Armenia

Out of Karabakh, back in Armenia, we still have a long drive ahead of us, past a shepherd wearing an afro wig...

... over the Sulema pass, with a quick stop at a caravanserai...

... and at a volcano ...

... before catching a sunset ...

... at Noradus ...

... and spending the night at a Soviet style hotel, with the following poster...

The following day, we take a quick snap of the church outside our hotel before racing down to see the monastery on the peninsula on Lake Sevan. Afterwards we stop by Dilijan, a town built for tourists; it seems every country has at least one of these restored, polished, overpriced, lack of atmosphere towns with "authentic experiences".

After Dilijan, we visit yet another Armenian church, Makarvank. An elderly woman approaches me at times mentioning she has a museum at the back and found some really things during the excavations and restoration of the monastery and gives an impromptu tour around the monastery. She has no change when I go to pay for her museum, so she lets me in for free, gives me some walnuts and an apple. I decide to adopt her, give her a huge tip and take a photo with her.

The loveliest lady in Armenia, after telling me she had three sons of her own and that I was her fourth, had my heart pounding while Vladimir tried to not look like a third wheel.

The next part is the most dangerous part of our trip in Armenia, driving along a road, I know given the driving style preferred by Armenians, this can be dangerous on its own, however, the reason this is considered so dangerous, is because the road happens to be within sniping distance of Azerbaijan. You may laugh and think it's silly, but the Armenian government chose to build a detour around the stretch considered most dangerous at considerable cost.

The detour takes forty minutes to do what takes five as it goes up and around the back of a mountain. Our driver and guide, Vladimir, who fought in the Karabakh war decides that it's worth taking the extra time to not risk a bullet. Who am I to argue?

We stop at the stop of the detour to take a whiz and snap a photo of Armenia. I put my Azeri sim-card into my phone to text Vladimir - "Our snipers can see your little weiner".

Points are given to those that can state exactly where Armenia (foreground) ends and Azerbaijan (background) begins and whether both countries agree with the borders and whether or not it's fair that even though there is no fence, tourists will face unpleasantries if they try and walk around all of the lake.

Having not been shot at (or at least shot), we stop for lunch (which includes some vodka) before crossing from Armenian to Georgia (where I'd come the other way only a week before) and part ways with Vladimir in Tbilisi, ending the fast-paced tour of Armenia.