Day 59 (24 July)

We're on the train to Tbilisi. It's 17.30, and somewhere over there, not actually that far away, is Ani... It's weird to be so near Kars, all these weeks later. The railway line between the Armenian and Georgian capitals does a massive loop west and then back east, following the Turkish border for a long way.

The journey started stupidly hot (the aircon doesn't work unless the train is moving).

But we've cooled down a bit now, and it's more pleasant (at least until we stop, when it rapidly warms up again).

At mid-day we checked out of the Mashtots (whose stalwart aircon we've been really grateful for of late), and took a Yandex cab to the station. Here we had 3.5 sticky, airless, sun-scoured hours to kill until the train departed...



From an outlet across the square, we procured a very good lunch: really nice lavash wraps, and tan (I don't think I've mentioned this drink, but tan is Armenia's answer to Turkey's yogurt-based ayran, and very refreshing).

Then we retired to the station's outdoor cafe for coffee and mineral water. (We might have been able to eat there too -- there was food on the menu, but no-one seemed to be eating, so I can't say for sure.)

The train left on time. We had another chance to see the storks and Mount Ararat, and since then we've been advancing quite rapidly through grand, rolling, open scenery.





The two phases of border control started to happen at about 21.30. This time we didn't have to get off the train, and were stamped on board like everyone else.

After quite a long interval, the Georgian officials followed, first customs and then immigration. Again, there was no necessity to get off, for which I'm grateful. But you'd swear they all timed their visitations to maximally disrupt sleep..

Day 60 (25 July)

If you're bound for Tbilisi, the summer schedule of this night route is inconvenient.

If you're carrying on to Batumi, you're fine: you'll arrive in the early hours of the morning (and presumably this schedule is primarily designed to deliver people seamlessly to the seaside).

But if your destination is the capital, you'll arrive at 12.10, with most of the night still ahead of you (the quid pro quo, of course, is that you get to see some of the fabulous scenery that you missed in the night on the way to Armenia).

Conscious of all this, we'd booked a room at the Hotel Central, which is part of Tbilisi railway station.

We actually arrived at 12.50, and were super-grateful to just have to walk across to our handy lodgings (which offer a decent-size room as well -- I'd stay there again).

We slept a reasonable number of hours, and then had breakfast back in our favourite railway station haunt (always have the mashed potato option).

In addition to all its other fine attributes, this station also has a useful exchange bureau. Here we got rid of our few remaining Armenian dram, and acquired some Azerbaijan manat. (Note, by the way, that outside Armenia you get a terrible rate on dram, so it's best to do the bulk of your exchanging before you leave.)

After all that, it was time to head off again: east to Telavi, which is another wine-country town, but also a staging-post for Lagodekhi, near the border with Azerbaijan.

We took a marshrutka from the same place (round the back of Samgori Metro station) that we'd used to get to Sighnaghi.. (This is not the place everyone recommends for marshrutkas to Telavi, and when the journey took 2 hours and 40 minutes, we wondered if we'd have done better going to Ortachala, as per the general advice. But the following day we met some travellers who'd left from Ortachala, and come via the same route as we had. So it seems as though the departure point makes no difference.)

Anyway, an exceedingly hot and cramped period of time later, we arrived in Telavi -- to discover that our guesthouse is right at the top of the hill...

We toiled our way up, noting that rucksacks feel a kilo heavier with every degree of heat above 35... And we're also at the top of the house, and therefore two flights of steep stairs up. The view is fabulous, though...


We had a late lunch at Restaurant by Plane Tree (this is indeed a restaurant by the historic plane tree, which dates back some 900-1,000 years, and is still very handsome). They served us more of that wonderful Georgian fare we've grown to love: mushrooms and Sulguni on a ketsi (hot plate), corn bread, another of those spectacular tomato-cucumber-and-walnut salads, and a litre of Saperavi between us, which pretty much knocked me out for the rest of the day (but I could just about manage the scenic walk home).







Day 61 (26 July)

It's great to be able to see mountains... They're never the same for five minutes together. And it's cool this morning, with a fresh breeze. Don't know how long that will last...



Nelly, who runs our guest house, does a wonderful breakfast, serving up those boat-shaped Russian potato cakes, fresh and hot from the pan, plus home-made matsoni and plum jam, bread, great slabs of butter, and cake. You eat it out in the shady, flower-filled garden.



You think you'll never want to eat again. But a few jobs later (checking email, getting Nigel's hair cut, checking out our options for tomorrow's travel, stocking up on key toiletries, and other such scintillating but necessary activities), we were sliding downhill towards lunch again. It's our last full day in Georgia, after all. Who knows if we can afford to eat out after tomorrow...?

We lunched at Badia this time, which has a bright, sunny garden and a shady terrace: White, kvevri-made wine (can't remember the grape: maybe Khikhvi?); a stew of veal, herbs, and sour plum; eggplant with walnut paste; traditional bread; and Saperavi cake and ice cream. Yum.




And we had another scenic walk back. Telavi is very pretty, in our view:









So, tomorrow, Azerbaijan... It's a messy bit of travel, and based on what I've read, it's likely to be our trickiest border crossing. But we'll see.

The end of the journey has started to loom large now. I know, because I've started to hanker after pan mee soup, and plan the next itinerary... Inevitable, I guess.

Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to Azerbaijan, and will give it all due attention and respect.