From Yerevan we took a bus tour to Garni temple and Geghard monastery. We stopped off for a Lavash bread making demonstration and tasting. The oven is a hole in the ground. The bread is made only with flour and water and a little egg. The bread can be stored for a...

We took a tour to the outstanding Tatev monastery and the mysterious Karahunj standing stones . We really didn't expect the earth-shattering discoveries to come... For a little background, that will be important later, Armenian people believe themselves to be decended...

We took a trip to Stepantsminda (formerly Kazbegi) in the north of Georgia. It's at 1,740m so there is quite a climb up twisting mountain roads with scary cliffs. It's the only road from Iran to Russia. We stopped at various sites on the way up. Valley flooded to...

Tbilisi, the capital city is saturated with churches. We took a walking tour to learn about the basics. There is a foundation myth that the king was out hunting and his eagle caught a pheasant. The pheasant was covered in warm water. The explanation was that there are...

We took a shared mini-bus (Marshrutka) to the Georgian border and then shared a taxi with a kiwi woman to Sighnaghi in the Khakheti wine region. The taxi was a beat-up old Mercedes and the taxi driver was constantly crossing himself which didn't inspire confidence......

Confirming our re-invention as backpackers, we took the overnight sleeper train to Şəki (Sheki in English). Cooler, greener, and wetter in the mountains after the heat and desert of Baku. We visited the UNESCO World Heritage site of Shaki Khans Summer Palace. A very...

We landed in Baku, Azerbaijan and took the airport bus and metro towards our hotel in the Old City. A Bakupacker Baku was developed because of oil. The first oil wells were constructed here, and in the early 1900's, Baku was producing over 50% of the world's oil. Baku...

We took a day trip to see some of the sites around Baku. At Gobustan, ancient rock carvings were discovered at the site of a quarry. They were carved many thousands of years ago by the cave dwellers here. They show many animals like horses, donkeys, deer, and boar...

It's been a while since we returned from our last trip in February. There have been a few changes since then! The primary reason for travelling now has been re-inforced even further - if that was necessary. We have also moved house. That was a huge project after 18...