Travel thread: The Caucasus

by **Seamus** » Fri Jan 12, 2018 10:40 pm

I've got three weeks to spend in the Caucasus, tips welcome.

This trailer makes it look fun but I'm pretty sure this is all just Russia

by **Seamus** » Sat Jun 16, 2018 8:33 pm

by **Seamus** » Sat Jun 16, 2018 8:48 pm

i fly into and leave from kutaisi so i'm thinking batumi > svaneti > tbilisi and then using tbilisi as a base for baku and yerevan but it seems like i need a few more places to flesh it out

there's this ancient cave city in georgia but it seems pretty similar to cappadocia

by **Seamus** » Sat Aug 25, 2018 7:58 pm

k this is tomorrow

i think svaneti will be cool as hell, look at the dogs there

think i am going to spend most of my time in georgia (kutaisi, batumi, tbilisi, svaneti, kazbegi, telavi) with a few nights each in yerevan and baku and day trips to the main surrounding sights. if anyone has been let me know if there's a better way.

i know nobody is paying attention really but i just wanted to post the dogs tbh

by **waldojeffers1** » Sat Aug 25, 2018 8:01 pm

georgia is fun as hell but I'e only been to tblisi and kutaisi really. I spent more time in armenia because my friend is armenian and showed us around

yerevan as a city is cool but pretty small, i would recommend you get out and do some nature stuff in armenia

going to nagorno-karabakh is also cool but you won't be able to ever visit azerbaijan on the same passport

by **Seamus** » Sat Aug 25, 2018 8:07 pm

oh also in svaneti the people don't speak georgian, they speak svan, which is their own (unwritten) language. the area is famed for blood feuds and until like 2008 bus travel to the region was dangerous because local bandits would hold-up the bus. even now it's best to know the name of your host when you arrive to avoid blood feud madness. in villages like ushguli every home has an ancient defensive tower where the family could hide from invaders / blood feuds. because of the remoteness of the area a lot of georgian artefacts were moved here during times of war for safekeeping and plenty never went back, so normal families will have museums of treasures in their homes like ancient golden icons, gospels, etc. the area is home to the highest inhabited village in europe, borders the highest mountain in europe and is full of glaciers and canyons and stuff. it sounds completely badass.

by **Seamus** » Sat Aug 25, 2018 8:10 pm

waldojeffers1 wrote:georgia is fun as hell but I'e only been to tblisi and kutaisi really. I spent more time in armenia because my friend is armenian and showed us around

yerevan as a city is cool but pretty small, i would recommend you get out and do some nature stuff in armenia

going to nagorno-karabakh is also cool but you won't be able to ever visit azerbaijan on the same passport

did you go to nagorno-karabakh? my insurance won't cover it and it doesn't really seem that there is much there to make it worthwhile?

by **Ferrous Bueller** » Sat Aug 25, 2018 8:11 pm

godspeed

this is an area I really want to check out at some point

by **Ferrous Bueller** » Sat Aug 25, 2018 8:30 pm

I'd love to eat a bunch of stone fruits, hike through some hills, and pet those dogs

by **Seamus** » Sun Sep 16, 2018 8:18 pm

so yeah this trip was a lot of fun but tibilisi has destroyed me

kutaisi is a very nice and very cheap and very chill city
batumi is shit
mestia is a tourist trap but ushguli is still really beautiful
yerevan is cool as shit and i wish i had longer there. armenia has a lot of remote, beautiful monasteries
baku has the makings of a great city and the old town is nice, but didn't connect to me as much as tibilisi or yerevan
khazbegi is all about magnificent views and the drive up
tibilisi has a ton to do but also the best nightlife and i ended up staying an extra 4 or 5 nights more than expected there, to the extent that i took a private cab to kutaisi airport at 6 am so i could stay out in tiblisi the night before

highlights include drinking homemade cacha for hours with some old local men on the streets, partying in bauhaus, the drives to ushguli and khazbegi, partying with some wild iranians in yerevan, the streetdogs, georgian food, fresh produce, tibilisi breaking me

oh and these are possibly the most attractive people in the world. might post some pics of the trip tomorrow when i am more alive for anyone who doesnt have me on instagram

by **sadville** » Sun Sep 16, 2018 10:49 pm

dude so that's you on IG, i never made the connection

<3 your posts, it's looked like you've had a blast

by **deep blue meanies** » Mon Sep 17, 2018 1:01 am

Seamus wrote:khazbegi is all about magnificent views and the drive up

yeah this was insane.

think i might go again next month and to armenia this time. haven't stopped thinking about georgia for four years, best place.

by **lunatic96** » Tue Sep 18, 2018 1:45 am

oh yeah your instagram photos have been amazing. i was wondering who the fuck was going to all these cool places.

by **Seamus** » Tue Sep 18, 2018 6:24 pm

Thank you

I'll also be travelling around Colombia soon so should be throwing a bunch more pics up. I don't think I'll post any more caucasus pics up here actually because I've posted most of my favourite ones to IG but my username is in the members if anyone is curious about the caucasus, and I'm happy to answer any questions about the places I went by PM or w/e

Travel thread: The Caucasus

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