It was raining when we woke up, the first rain we’ve had on the trip. Luckily today was just a transit day, a four hour drive from Goris back to Yerevan.
We had another nice breakfast, with the best fried eggs ever. Our driver, Hamlet, (same driver as yesterday) was at the hotel at 10am and we left for Yerevan.
It was a bit foggy in the passes getting out of Goris. After we passed the high point, we dropped below the clouds and it was better visibility. It didn’t feel like Hamlet was driving fast, but he was way ahead of Google Maps estimates. Maybe that was due to the smooth ride of the older model Mercedes.
We stopped midway for a coffee, one of the better Armenian coffees we’ve had.
We zipped into Yerevan around 1:30pm. Our room wasn’t yet ready so we left our luggage with the front desk and had lunch. We split a halloumi salad and a club sandwich, which as the waiter said, was not small.
The front desk in the meantime had upgraded us to the Executive Suite, which was really nice of them. The room is huge, with a balcony view over Vermissage Market and Khachkar Park.
We quickly washed up so we could squeeze in a visit to the National Gallery of Armenia this afternoon. Museums aren’t open Mondays, and by seeing the art museum today, we avoided bunching up museums on Tue/Wed.
We walked over in the rain, using our little travel umbrellas. The art museum covers seven floors, with floors 3-4-5 featuring Armenian artists. We started on floor 5 and worked our way down.
The museum was quite good. It’s interesting to see what national cultural symbols are featured. For example, the medieval city of Ani came up a few times. It’s now part of Türkiye and on our itinerary for later in the trip. Mt Ararat also appears in a number of paintings; it too became part of Türkiye in the Treaty of Kars in 1921, despite being a national symbol of Armenia.
Anyways we quite liked the museum.
It had stopped raining by the time we exited. Walked over to our hotel, and relaxed in our Executive Suite. I looked it up on booking.com, it’s 540 sq ft! That’s bigger than a floor in our house!
Heather was still full from the not-small club sandwich from lunch, so I just went down to the restaurant on my own. Had a small lamb soup and a glass of Armenian red, and caught up in my blog.
A Travel Blog
by Heather and Eric
Sunday, March 15, 2026
Saturday, March 14, 2026
Goris, Armenia
It was another sunny morning, although somewhat on the chilly side, 0C at 8am. We got down for breakfast at 8:15am and then found out it only started at 8:30 :( so we used the time to pack up for our Tatev Monastery excursion.
Breakfast was quite the spread, given how few guests there are. The eggs to order were really tasty.
Our driver had already arrived and was chatting with the staff and having a coffee. I suppose he’s a frequent driver for the hotel guests.
Our main attraction for today, and the reason we came all the way to Goris, was Tatev Monastery. It’s reached by a 5.7km cable car from Halidzor.
The cable car holds one of those obscure Guinesss records, the longest non-stop double track cable car in a country starting with A. Or something like that.
First I had to update our timed tickets to include the return. Our outbound ride was at 10am, and the ticket people suggested returning at 11:30am. This would allow us just over an hour at the monastery, accounting for the 15 minute ride itself, and being in line 5 minutes before the return. We found it to be the right amount of time.
There was a group of five French-speakers with their guide also in the cable car. The max capacity is 25, which sells out in the summer (thus the timed ticket). 25 people in the car would be pretty packed. On the other hand the eight of us had plenty of room and could take turns at the front taking pics.
There’s beautiful views of the valley and of Old Halidzor below; the fifteen minute ride went by quickly. We disembarked and walked over to the monastery, about 100m away. The monastery is free to enter (all the monasteries have been free so far, although we thought they could charge tourists to help with upkeep).
We walked over to the church to get pics before more tourists arrived. Women require a shawl, of which there some hanging on the wall to borrow. A priest was doing some puttering about and made a nice subject in my pics.
We then exited the monastery grounds and walked 1km along the road to reach the classic viewpoint of Tatev Monastery. We could feel the altitude as we walked uphill. A pack of five friendly dogs joined us on our walk, just like our trek in Bhutan.
It was about 30 minutes round trip to the viewpoint. There’s a bright green tarp or something covering a part of the monastery, which I cropped out later. We were lucky once again with the weather, to get nice clear pics of the valley.
We explored around the rest of the monastery grounds. There’s rooms with some historical khachkars, and others with nice views over the valley.
We caught the cable car back down where our driver was waiting.
Our next couple stops on the excursion actually took us back towards Tatev Monastery, into the valley via the switchbacks we’d seen from the cable car.
First we went to the Devil’s bridge, which is actually just small-ish stalagmites and travertine pools in a cave. It’s an effort getting to them - it’s a rope ladder down about 20’ and then Spider-Man crawling about 10’. There’s a couple entrepreneurial guides who lead the way, for a fee. I went to see them cause we were already there; Heather waited up top. It’s cool enough to see but not worth the effort to get there.
On the drive into the valley we had seen the ruins of the Great Hermitage of Tatev, which was also on the itinerary I had planned. It didn’t look all that great, and definitely not worth getting muddy over. So we skipped it. Also our driver didn’t seem to know about the site as a tourist attraction, maybe i was fooled by travel blogs with carefully cropped pics.
The last site I had included in the Tatev excursion was Old Khndzoresk, where old homes and churches were carved out of the soft rock. The 4km access road to get there was really muddy due to the melting snow and ice. We got about 2km in before turning back, you would need a Jeep or something like that to get through. We’ll see similar stuff in Turkey, just with more tourists.
Also you can see from the transliteration of Խնձորեսկ / Khndzoresk why that monk invented a new alphabet for Armenian. It’s pronounced sort of like schnor-esk.
On the way back to Goris, our driver stopped at viewpoint overlooking the town for some pics. Goris is built into a valley with houses reaching up both sides, just like La Paz. It looks cool and would make a better pic in the spring when things turn green.
We got back to our hotel and had lunch, we both had the chicken soup and then split a large dish of dolmas. Mmm good. We’ve been suitably impressed with the hotel, which punches far above its price point.
We went for a walk after lunch to check out the town. A stray dog followed us, initially trying to jump up on us with its muddy paws, while I frantically tried to get google to translate down boy into Armenian (just kidding). We walked down to Grigor Tatevatsi Square in old Goris, had a hot chocolate from a stall in the square, and walked back.
Dinner was excellent, we had three dishes that were really tasty: stufffed eggplant, grilled/smoked vegetables, and a beef dish with dried fruit and a mushroom pilaf.
Breakfast was quite the spread, given how few guests there are. The eggs to order were really tasty.
Our driver had already arrived and was chatting with the staff and having a coffee. I suppose he’s a frequent driver for the hotel guests.
Our main attraction for today, and the reason we came all the way to Goris, was Tatev Monastery. It’s reached by a 5.7km cable car from Halidzor.
The cable car holds one of those obscure Guinesss records, the longest non-stop double track cable car in a country starting with A. Or something like that.
First I had to update our timed tickets to include the return. Our outbound ride was at 10am, and the ticket people suggested returning at 11:30am. This would allow us just over an hour at the monastery, accounting for the 15 minute ride itself, and being in line 5 minutes before the return. We found it to be the right amount of time.
There was a group of five French-speakers with their guide also in the cable car. The max capacity is 25, which sells out in the summer (thus the timed ticket). 25 people in the car would be pretty packed. On the other hand the eight of us had plenty of room and could take turns at the front taking pics.
There’s beautiful views of the valley and of Old Halidzor below; the fifteen minute ride went by quickly. We disembarked and walked over to the monastery, about 100m away. The monastery is free to enter (all the monasteries have been free so far, although we thought they could charge tourists to help with upkeep).
We walked over to the church to get pics before more tourists arrived. Women require a shawl, of which there some hanging on the wall to borrow. A priest was doing some puttering about and made a nice subject in my pics.
We then exited the monastery grounds and walked 1km along the road to reach the classic viewpoint of Tatev Monastery. We could feel the altitude as we walked uphill. A pack of five friendly dogs joined us on our walk, just like our trek in Bhutan.
It was about 30 minutes round trip to the viewpoint. There’s a bright green tarp or something covering a part of the monastery, which I cropped out later. We were lucky once again with the weather, to get nice clear pics of the valley.
We explored around the rest of the monastery grounds. There’s rooms with some historical khachkars, and others with nice views over the valley.
We caught the cable car back down where our driver was waiting.
Our next couple stops on the excursion actually took us back towards Tatev Monastery, into the valley via the switchbacks we’d seen from the cable car.
First we went to the Devil’s bridge, which is actually just small-ish stalagmites and travertine pools in a cave. It’s an effort getting to them - it’s a rope ladder down about 20’ and then Spider-Man crawling about 10’. There’s a couple entrepreneurial guides who lead the way, for a fee. I went to see them cause we were already there; Heather waited up top. It’s cool enough to see but not worth the effort to get there.
On the drive into the valley we had seen the ruins of the Great Hermitage of Tatev, which was also on the itinerary I had planned. It didn’t look all that great, and definitely not worth getting muddy over. So we skipped it. Also our driver didn’t seem to know about the site as a tourist attraction, maybe i was fooled by travel blogs with carefully cropped pics.
The last site I had included in the Tatev excursion was Old Khndzoresk, where old homes and churches were carved out of the soft rock. The 4km access road to get there was really muddy due to the melting snow and ice. We got about 2km in before turning back, you would need a Jeep or something like that to get through. We’ll see similar stuff in Turkey, just with more tourists.
Also you can see from the transliteration of Խնձորեսկ / Khndzoresk why that monk invented a new alphabet for Armenian. It’s pronounced sort of like schnor-esk.
On the way back to Goris, our driver stopped at viewpoint overlooking the town for some pics. Goris is built into a valley with houses reaching up both sides, just like La Paz. It looks cool and would make a better pic in the spring when things turn green.
We got back to our hotel and had lunch, we both had the chicken soup and then split a large dish of dolmas. Mmm good. We’ve been suitably impressed with the hotel, which punches far above its price point.
We went for a walk after lunch to check out the town. A stray dog followed us, initially trying to jump up on us with its muddy paws, while I frantically tried to get google to translate down boy into Armenian (just kidding). We walked down to Grigor Tatevatsi Square in old Goris, had a hot chocolate from a stall in the square, and walked back.
Dinner was excellent, we had three dishes that were really tasty: stufffed eggplant, grilled/smoked vegetables, and a beef dish with dried fruit and a mushroom pilaf.
Friday, March 13, 2026
Goris, Armenia
We had a bit of a slow start this morning, and were a few minutes late meeting our driver at 9am to start our excursion to Goris, with a couple stops at monasteries along the way.
It was the same driver that had picked us up at the airport. He gave us a warm welcome. We loaded our luggage and we were off! Not so fast to start, as we inched our way through rush hour traffic.
Once we got out of the city it was easy going. The highway is in great shape, and our driver liked to go fast (he was a safe driver though).
About 30 minutes outside of Yerevan is Khor Virap, a monastery near the base of Mt Ararat (5896m). Our driver stopped on the approach for the classic pic of the monastery with Mt Ararat in the background. We were lucky that it was a clear morning and that the mountains were visible. It’s a spectacular view, one of the reasons I wanted to visit Armenia.
I didn’t remember that Mt Ararat is where Noah’s Ark first ran aground. Per the story, Noah released a dove who came back with an olive leaf, and that’s how Noah determined that waters were receding.
In modern times, locals have trained doves and will rent them to tourists so that you can release them from the monastery, who then fly back to their owners. Anyways we declined.
We spent about 20 minutes exploring around the Khor Virap monastery. Took lots more pics, although the best view was on the initial approach.
Got back in the van and continued onto Noravank Monastery. It’s down a valley with steep rock faces on both sides. It reminded us a bit of the Todra Gorge in Morocco.
Noravank Monastery sits on the edge of the steep rock. There’s a couple churches in the complex. Luckily there were very few other tourists as its offseason. The setting is amazing with the tall rock faces all around, very peaceful. Another spectacular site in Armenia.
We spent about 20 minutes here too, and then were back in the road for the remaining two hour drive to Goris.
The road ascends through the Zangezur Mountains, which were still covered with snow at this time of year. The scenery was stunning. The high point along the route reaches about 1520m before descending down to Goris at 1250m.
Our driver was familiar with the town and drove directly to our hotel, the Mirhav Hotel. It reminded me of a mountain chalet, which I guess it is. Our room was one of the smaller doubles, based on the emergency exit map on the back of the door. We asked if we could switch to another room and the hotel accommodated us.
It was after 2pm and I was feeling a bit peckish, so we quickly cleaned up and went back down to the hotel restaurant. The food was excellent, the winner was the chicken soup that Heather ordered.
We didn’t have any get-up-and-go after lunch (maybe due to the elevation), so just relaxed and went through our pics from the day.
Went back later on for dinner, and more tasty food. It’s a cosy restaurant with lots of plants and local art.
It was the same driver that had picked us up at the airport. He gave us a warm welcome. We loaded our luggage and we were off! Not so fast to start, as we inched our way through rush hour traffic.
Once we got out of the city it was easy going. The highway is in great shape, and our driver liked to go fast (he was a safe driver though).
About 30 minutes outside of Yerevan is Khor Virap, a monastery near the base of Mt Ararat (5896m). Our driver stopped on the approach for the classic pic of the monastery with Mt Ararat in the background. We were lucky that it was a clear morning and that the mountains were visible. It’s a spectacular view, one of the reasons I wanted to visit Armenia.
I didn’t remember that Mt Ararat is where Noah’s Ark first ran aground. Per the story, Noah released a dove who came back with an olive leaf, and that’s how Noah determined that waters were receding.
In modern times, locals have trained doves and will rent them to tourists so that you can release them from the monastery, who then fly back to their owners. Anyways we declined.
We spent about 20 minutes exploring around the Khor Virap monastery. Took lots more pics, although the best view was on the initial approach.
Got back in the van and continued onto Noravank Monastery. It’s down a valley with steep rock faces on both sides. It reminded us a bit of the Todra Gorge in Morocco.
Noravank Monastery sits on the edge of the steep rock. There’s a couple churches in the complex. Luckily there were very few other tourists as its offseason. The setting is amazing with the tall rock faces all around, very peaceful. Another spectacular site in Armenia.
We spent about 20 minutes here too, and then were back in the road for the remaining two hour drive to Goris.
The road ascends through the Zangezur Mountains, which were still covered with snow at this time of year. The scenery was stunning. The high point along the route reaches about 1520m before descending down to Goris at 1250m.
Our driver was familiar with the town and drove directly to our hotel, the Mirhav Hotel. It reminded me of a mountain chalet, which I guess it is. Our room was one of the smaller doubles, based on the emergency exit map on the back of the door. We asked if we could switch to another room and the hotel accommodated us.
It was after 2pm and I was feeling a bit peckish, so we quickly cleaned up and went back down to the hotel restaurant. The food was excellent, the winner was the chicken soup that Heather ordered.
We didn’t have any get-up-and-go after lunch (maybe due to the elevation), so just relaxed and went through our pics from the day.
Went back later on for dinner, and more tasty food. It’s a cosy restaurant with lots of plants and local art.
Thursday, March 12, 2026
Yerevan, Armenia
This morning my phone said the temperature was 3C with a feels-like of 8C. I have never seen that before. We stepped outside the hotel, and yep, with the sun and lack of wind, it was definitely a warm 3C.
We walked up the pedestrian Northern Avenue towards the Cascades. The buildings in the centre are mostly built from the same pink-orange stones and give a nice look to the avenue (and the rest of the centre).
The Opera House sits in the middle of the pedestrian avenue, surrounded by busy road. Took a few crosswalks to get back on track (pedestrians tend to follow the signals here).
The Cascades is a ginormous marble staircase, 572 steps with five open terraces, ascending 78 metres. It includes the Cafesjian Center for the Arts, which has both external and internal art galleries. Most of it was built starting in 1971, the last 20% or so near the top is still under construction.
We walked up the stairs, admiring the art and the view. It was a clear day and we could see Mt Ararat in the distance. On the way back down, we took the escalators and checked out the interior art collection. It’s really well curated and presented.
We were ready for lunch by the time we got back down to the bottom. Ate at the Green Bean café, a student hangout (there’s a number of universities nearby). It hit the spot.
Next up was Matenadaran, a manuscript museum. This didn’t show up on any of the travel blogs I had read, but the Rough Guide raved about it. It sounded cool to us so there we were.
The Armenian written language was invented in 405 AD by the monk Mesrop Mashtots. Armenian didn’t have a written language at the time. He evaluated different alphabets and decided none of them worked for the Armenian language; and created a brand new alphabet (originally 36 letters, now 39).
The museum has both international ancient scripts, and historical scripts in Armenian. It’s quite well done, we both enjoyed it. There were a few school groups visiting while we were there, they seemed quite excited with the exhibits too.
Walked back into the centre towards the Puppet Theatre. We bought tickets to a show on Tuesday afternoon. Possibly we’ll be the only adults, surrounded by school kids.
Across the street is Katoghike Church, a 13th century church that survived various gentrification cycles. It’s okay for a pic.
We walked back to the hotel via a laundromat near the hotel. We sorted out the machines (it took tap) and I returned later to wash some stuff. I’m not sure why it took us this long to start using laundromats, it’s way easier.
That was it for our day. We had dinner at the hotel. I tried an Areni wine, a local Armenian varietal which was quite good. Armenia is one of the oldest wine producing regions in the world, going back as far as 5000 BC. As expected, it went well with all the dishes we had at dinner.
We walked up the pedestrian Northern Avenue towards the Cascades. The buildings in the centre are mostly built from the same pink-orange stones and give a nice look to the avenue (and the rest of the centre).
The Opera House sits in the middle of the pedestrian avenue, surrounded by busy road. Took a few crosswalks to get back on track (pedestrians tend to follow the signals here).
The Cascades is a ginormous marble staircase, 572 steps with five open terraces, ascending 78 metres. It includes the Cafesjian Center for the Arts, which has both external and internal art galleries. Most of it was built starting in 1971, the last 20% or so near the top is still under construction.
We walked up the stairs, admiring the art and the view. It was a clear day and we could see Mt Ararat in the distance. On the way back down, we took the escalators and checked out the interior art collection. It’s really well curated and presented.
We were ready for lunch by the time we got back down to the bottom. Ate at the Green Bean café, a student hangout (there’s a number of universities nearby). It hit the spot.
Next up was Matenadaran, a manuscript museum. This didn’t show up on any of the travel blogs I had read, but the Rough Guide raved about it. It sounded cool to us so there we were.
The Armenian written language was invented in 405 AD by the monk Mesrop Mashtots. Armenian didn’t have a written language at the time. He evaluated different alphabets and decided none of them worked for the Armenian language; and created a brand new alphabet (originally 36 letters, now 39).
The museum has both international ancient scripts, and historical scripts in Armenian. It’s quite well done, we both enjoyed it. There were a few school groups visiting while we were there, they seemed quite excited with the exhibits too.
Walked back into the centre towards the Puppet Theatre. We bought tickets to a show on Tuesday afternoon. Possibly we’ll be the only adults, surrounded by school kids.
Across the street is Katoghike Church, a 13th century church that survived various gentrification cycles. It’s okay for a pic.
We walked back to the hotel via a laundromat near the hotel. We sorted out the machines (it took tap) and I returned later to wash some stuff. I’m not sure why it took us this long to start using laundromats, it’s way easier.
That was it for our day. We had dinner at the hotel. I tried an Areni wine, a local Armenian varietal which was quite good. Armenia is one of the oldest wine producing regions in the world, going back as far as 5000 BC. As expected, it went well with all the dishes we had at dinner.
Wednesday, March 11, 2026
Yerevan, Armenia
There’s no good flight options to get from western Europe to Yerevan, the few flights that exist all arrive around 4am. It’s only 2h25 from Athens to Yerevan so it’s not really an overnight flight, just an inconvenient flight time.
We had a late checkout from our Athens hotel, so we did some more shopping for cooler weather clothes in the morning. We ate lunch at 72H again, this time in the restaurant. It was just as good as the previous day.
Got back to our hotel and packed up for the flight. It was just 100 CAD more to book business class, which meant we could have dinner at the lounge and hang out there until our flight at 23:50. Aegean Airlines has their premier lounge in Athens, it’s one of the nicer lounges we’ve been to. Not a bad place to spend a few hours waiting.
It was pretty easy to check in for the flight; the agents didn’t ask to see our Armenian visas which I found odd. The flight itself was good; we tried to nap unsuccessfully.
We arrived in Yerevan around 4:30am, two hours ahead of Athens. It’s the biggest time change we’ll have on this trip, the rest of it I’ve planned out so it’s just one hour at a time.
Another bonus of booking business class is that we were first in line for immigration. There were 20 booths, and agents at each. At 4:30am.
We had to go through immigration separately. I had no issues, the agent had more interest in my ancestry. Heather had a bit more scrutiny due to the Azerbaijan stamp in her passport. (I had to renew mine last year which cleared my stamp cache). The Armenian stamp is at the back of the passport, a vestigial practice from the Soviet days.
Our luggage came out quickly (yet another bonus of flying business). We wheeled our bags through the Nothing to Declare line and exited to the terminal. Quickly found our driver (prearranged through our hotel) and were whisked off to the hotel. The airport is close to the city centre, about 15 minutes by car. Total time from landing to the hotel might have been 45 minutes!
The nightwatch person at the front desk was in a deep sleep in his chair, and it took us a few minutes of loudly saying Hello and knocking on the desk to wake him up. He then woke the night manager who checked us in and we were off to our room.
We set our alarms for 9am, hoping to catch the end of breakfast. When it rang, we decided we could probably make it to lunch without eating and went back to bed.
…
We woke up around 11am, got ourselves together and went down for lunch. We had the lunch special of the day which was excellent - chicken soup, fresh breads, and a beef dish served on rice with a shredded carrot & black olive salad, followed by a muddy coffee.
After lunch we just went for a short walk to orient ourselves. Our hotel is right beside Vernissage Market, so we checked it out. It has really good arts and crafts, it might be the best market we’ve seen quality-wise. Men played backgammon throughout the market. Got some drams from an ATM and then went into the bank to change for small bills. Grabbed a coffee from the Coffee Time vending machine in the market to fit in. It wasn’t the best coffee ever, but when in Rome :)
Across the street is Khachkar Park. As its name suggests, it’s home to khachkars, a medieval Christian cross-stone. There’s a bunch in the park, almost like a museum, with placards of the history of each.
Right beside the park is Republic Square, a grand city square. It has a large fountain which is beautiful according to the Rough Guide, although it’s currently closed for the winter. On one side of the square is a building that houses both the History Museum of Armenia and National Gallery of Armenia. The panels hanging on the outside of the building gave a great summary of Armenian history starting from about 3000 BC.
Also I found interesting the public drinking fountains which are widely used - I’d say over 25% of folks passing by the fountain outside the museum had a sip.
I had no idea Armenia had such a rich history. Based on our little walk, we’re both excited about seeing more of Yerevan & Armenia over the next week.
The hotel’s owners actually got their start in the carpet industry, employing over 1,000 people. They have a gallery and store in the ground floor of the hotel. They also usually have a carpet master course on offer, except the loom is currently being refurbished :(
Got back to our room and planned out the stuff we wanted to see in Yerevan. There’s a puppet theatre which looks really cool and has midday shows.
We had dinner in the hotel restaurant, it was pretty good. We tried one of their salad specials - cabbage, soft crumbly cheese, pomegranate and walnut salad, served warm. We also had their manti - in Armenia, it’s made in smaller nibble-sized pieces, a little different than what we had in Uzbekistan.
For those counting, Armenia is country 108 for me and 69 for Heather.
We had a late checkout from our Athens hotel, so we did some more shopping for cooler weather clothes in the morning. We ate lunch at 72H again, this time in the restaurant. It was just as good as the previous day.
Got back to our hotel and packed up for the flight. It was just 100 CAD more to book business class, which meant we could have dinner at the lounge and hang out there until our flight at 23:50. Aegean Airlines has their premier lounge in Athens, it’s one of the nicer lounges we’ve been to. Not a bad place to spend a few hours waiting.
It was pretty easy to check in for the flight; the agents didn’t ask to see our Armenian visas which I found odd. The flight itself was good; we tried to nap unsuccessfully.
We arrived in Yerevan around 4:30am, two hours ahead of Athens. It’s the biggest time change we’ll have on this trip, the rest of it I’ve planned out so it’s just one hour at a time.
Another bonus of booking business class is that we were first in line for immigration. There were 20 booths, and agents at each. At 4:30am.
We had to go through immigration separately. I had no issues, the agent had more interest in my ancestry. Heather had a bit more scrutiny due to the Azerbaijan stamp in her passport. (I had to renew mine last year which cleared my stamp cache). The Armenian stamp is at the back of the passport, a vestigial practice from the Soviet days.
Our luggage came out quickly (yet another bonus of flying business). We wheeled our bags through the Nothing to Declare line and exited to the terminal. Quickly found our driver (prearranged through our hotel) and were whisked off to the hotel. The airport is close to the city centre, about 15 minutes by car. Total time from landing to the hotel might have been 45 minutes!
The nightwatch person at the front desk was in a deep sleep in his chair, and it took us a few minutes of loudly saying Hello and knocking on the desk to wake him up. He then woke the night manager who checked us in and we were off to our room.
We set our alarms for 9am, hoping to catch the end of breakfast. When it rang, we decided we could probably make it to lunch without eating and went back to bed.
…
We woke up around 11am, got ourselves together and went down for lunch. We had the lunch special of the day which was excellent - chicken soup, fresh breads, and a beef dish served on rice with a shredded carrot & black olive salad, followed by a muddy coffee.
After lunch we just went for a short walk to orient ourselves. Our hotel is right beside Vernissage Market, so we checked it out. It has really good arts and crafts, it might be the best market we’ve seen quality-wise. Men played backgammon throughout the market. Got some drams from an ATM and then went into the bank to change for small bills. Grabbed a coffee from the Coffee Time vending machine in the market to fit in. It wasn’t the best coffee ever, but when in Rome :)
Across the street is Khachkar Park. As its name suggests, it’s home to khachkars, a medieval Christian cross-stone. There’s a bunch in the park, almost like a museum, with placards of the history of each.
Right beside the park is Republic Square, a grand city square. It has a large fountain which is beautiful according to the Rough Guide, although it’s currently closed for the winter. On one side of the square is a building that houses both the History Museum of Armenia and National Gallery of Armenia. The panels hanging on the outside of the building gave a great summary of Armenian history starting from about 3000 BC.
Also I found interesting the public drinking fountains which are widely used - I’d say over 25% of folks passing by the fountain outside the museum had a sip.
I had no idea Armenia had such a rich history. Based on our little walk, we’re both excited about seeing more of Yerevan & Armenia over the next week.
The hotel’s owners actually got their start in the carpet industry, employing over 1,000 people. They have a gallery and store in the ground floor of the hotel. They also usually have a carpet master course on offer, except the loom is currently being refurbished :(
Got back to our room and planned out the stuff we wanted to see in Yerevan. There’s a puppet theatre which looks really cool and has midday shows.
We had dinner in the hotel restaurant, it was pretty good. We tried one of their salad specials - cabbage, soft crumbly cheese, pomegranate and walnut salad, served warm. We also had their manti - in Armenia, it’s made in smaller nibble-sized pieces, a little different than what we had in Uzbekistan.
For those counting, Armenia is country 108 for me and 69 for Heather.
Monday, March 09, 2026
Athens, Greece
We had tickets to the Acropolis Museum at 2pm today, so had the morning to tour around. We walked back up towards Varvakios Market, in search of the spice market on Evripidou. It was just a handful of stores, with proper lids over the spices, and not really photogenic. We also looked for the fruit and vegetable market, but didn’t see anything.
We shopped for some clothing suitable for 5-15C. Typically when we travel it’s in hot climates and we have appropriate travel gear; we’re not used to this spring weather. We dropped off our purchases at the hotel, and then zipped over to the museum.
Along the way we grabbed sandwiches at 72H, and walked a bit further to the parkette at the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates to eat. The sandwich was amazing, mortadella with pistachio pesto on a ciabatta. There was also a soft cheese, maybe burrata. Hard to tell with so many soft white Greek cheeses. (Maybe not so hard to tell if you know your cheeses, just hard for me).
Anyways finished our sandwiches and then walked over to the museum. We weren’t sure which side the entrance was; I chose poorly and we walked 270° to get there.
First we accidentally went through the Excavation Museum, ruins of an ancient Athenian neighbourhood from the Byzantine period. It’s included in the Acropolis Museum ticket but it’s a separate entrance, not connected to each other. We didn’t spend much time there cause we wanted to see the main event.
There was no line up to enter the museum proper (it was just after 2pm by now). Scanned our tickets, checked our bags, and we were in! There’s some smaller artefacts on the 1st floor as you enter; we skipped past these for later.
Had an espresso and cake at the café on the 2nd floor. It was self-seating. We chose a random table, and were berated by the waitstaff for not choosing a seat with an amazing view of the Acropolis. We hadn’t even noticed it until the waitstaff pointed it out! So we picked a better seat and enjoyed our espresso with a view.
Onto museum-ing! We had to show our tickets again to exit the café and reenter the museum (I think you can visit just the café). Luckily I hadn’t left my ticket in my checked backpack.
We walked up the stairs to the 3rd floor. This is the best part of the museum, and one of the best laid out I’ve seen in the world. The interior is built to the dimensions of the Parthenon, and contains 40 blocks of the actual Parthenon frieze. Another 56 blocks are in the British Museum, part of the Elgin Marbles. There’s an outer ring containing what remains of the metopes. (Here’s a good diagram from Wikipedia explaining friezes vs metopes).
Visible in the background is the actual Acropolis. There was hardly anyone else at the museum (maybe a couple dozen people on the floor) and it was amazing. One of the best museums I’ve seen.
We took our time checking out the friezes and metopes and other architectural features on display. Overall it took us a couple hours to get through.
Walked back to our hotel, relaxed, cleaned up, and went out for dinner at Karamanlidika. We had stopped by earlier in the day during our search for spices and made a reservation for 8pm. As we walked to dinner, other restaurants looked empty-ish, as would be expected on a Monday in off-season. However when we got to Karamanlidika, it was packed! We would not have got seated without the reservation. It’s a meat and cheese store by day, and a hopping restaurant by night. Our table was in a heated & covered alley between buildings. The food was excellent, homemade traditional Greek food. Another successful day in Athens!
We shopped for some clothing suitable for 5-15C. Typically when we travel it’s in hot climates and we have appropriate travel gear; we’re not used to this spring weather. We dropped off our purchases at the hotel, and then zipped over to the museum.
Along the way we grabbed sandwiches at 72H, and walked a bit further to the parkette at the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates to eat. The sandwich was amazing, mortadella with pistachio pesto on a ciabatta. There was also a soft cheese, maybe burrata. Hard to tell with so many soft white Greek cheeses. (Maybe not so hard to tell if you know your cheeses, just hard for me).
Anyways finished our sandwiches and then walked over to the museum. We weren’t sure which side the entrance was; I chose poorly and we walked 270° to get there.
First we accidentally went through the Excavation Museum, ruins of an ancient Athenian neighbourhood from the Byzantine period. It’s included in the Acropolis Museum ticket but it’s a separate entrance, not connected to each other. We didn’t spend much time there cause we wanted to see the main event.
There was no line up to enter the museum proper (it was just after 2pm by now). Scanned our tickets, checked our bags, and we were in! There’s some smaller artefacts on the 1st floor as you enter; we skipped past these for later.
Had an espresso and cake at the café on the 2nd floor. It was self-seating. We chose a random table, and were berated by the waitstaff for not choosing a seat with an amazing view of the Acropolis. We hadn’t even noticed it until the waitstaff pointed it out! So we picked a better seat and enjoyed our espresso with a view.
Onto museum-ing! We had to show our tickets again to exit the café and reenter the museum (I think you can visit just the café). Luckily I hadn’t left my ticket in my checked backpack.
We walked up the stairs to the 3rd floor. This is the best part of the museum, and one of the best laid out I’ve seen in the world. The interior is built to the dimensions of the Parthenon, and contains 40 blocks of the actual Parthenon frieze. Another 56 blocks are in the British Museum, part of the Elgin Marbles. There’s an outer ring containing what remains of the metopes. (Here’s a good diagram from Wikipedia explaining friezes vs metopes).
Visible in the background is the actual Acropolis. There was hardly anyone else at the museum (maybe a couple dozen people on the floor) and it was amazing. One of the best museums I’ve seen.
We took our time checking out the friezes and metopes and other architectural features on display. Overall it took us a couple hours to get through.
Walked back to our hotel, relaxed, cleaned up, and went out for dinner at Karamanlidika. We had stopped by earlier in the day during our search for spices and made a reservation for 8pm. As we walked to dinner, other restaurants looked empty-ish, as would be expected on a Monday in off-season. However when we got to Karamanlidika, it was packed! We would not have got seated without the reservation. It’s a meat and cheese store by day, and a hopping restaurant by night. Our table was in a heated & covered alley between buildings. The food was excellent, homemade traditional Greek food. Another successful day in Athens!
Sunday, March 08, 2026
Athens, Greece
We were up before our alarm rang at 8:30, the first time this trip. Maybe we’re starting to get over our jet lag? It was just as well, as the bells on the orthodox church next door started chiming at 9am for Sunday mass. I think the bells are literally right outside our window! At least, it sounds like they are. The singer (?) had an excellent voice. The incantations reminded us of call to prayers at mosques where it’s broadcast over speakers.
The Athens half marathon was today, with a few road closures. I had looked up the full marathon when planning to make sure we didn’t hit it (that’s a busier time here) but not every event. I suppose in a city as big as Athens there’s always some event or the other.
We walked over to the National Archaeological Museum, in the Exarcheia neighbourhood. It’s another up-and-coming neighbourhood. The recent opening of new subway stops has kicked-started the gentrification.
The museum is large. We spent about three hours visiting, and could probably return to see the remaining. It was pretty interesting and well-labelled in Greek and English.
I had read up about a sandwich place, The Black Salami, about ten minutes from the museum. It was excellent! It had a very local vibe to it. We had an espresso and a miso cookie after our sandwiches. Mmm good.
That was it for the day. We got home, did some laundry at the laundromat (we don’t trust hotels to not shrink our clothes), picked out a restaurant for dinner with indoor seating. We ate at Athinaikon near the Holy Metropolitan Cathedral. It was mostly tourists but had pretty good food.
The Athens half marathon was today, with a few road closures. I had looked up the full marathon when planning to make sure we didn’t hit it (that’s a busier time here) but not every event. I suppose in a city as big as Athens there’s always some event or the other.
We walked over to the National Archaeological Museum, in the Exarcheia neighbourhood. It’s another up-and-coming neighbourhood. The recent opening of new subway stops has kicked-started the gentrification.
The museum is large. We spent about three hours visiting, and could probably return to see the remaining. It was pretty interesting and well-labelled in Greek and English.
I had read up about a sandwich place, The Black Salami, about ten minutes from the museum. It was excellent! It had a very local vibe to it. We had an espresso and a miso cookie after our sandwiches. Mmm good.
That was it for the day. We got home, did some laundry at the laundromat (we don’t trust hotels to not shrink our clothes), picked out a restaurant for dinner with indoor seating. We ate at Athinaikon near the Holy Metropolitan Cathedral. It was mostly tourists but had pretty good food.
Saturday, March 07, 2026
Athens, Greece
Today was a couple standing itinerary items we have in big cities - visiting the market, and the museum of contemporary art.
Varvakios Central Municipal Market is a short ten minute walk north of our hotel. It’s one of the cleanest markets we’ve seen. First we walked through the meat market, took some pics of the butchers with their giant cleavers, almost as big as A4 paper. The fish market is in the middle, and had no fishy smell at all, pretty impressive given its size. The fishmongers were very artistic about n their fish displays, some even adding vegetables for colour.
There’s a fruit and vegetable market nearby which we missed seeing. Later I also read that there’s a spice market too! It’s close by our hotel so we can return to see it another day.
We then walked through the Monastiraki and Plaka neighbourhoods on our way to the National Museum of Contemporary Art (ΕΜΣΤ). The neighbourhoods are more gentrified than Psiri (where our hotel is) and are filled with pedestrian streets, cool cafés and restaurants, and clothing stores. We prefer our location for a hotel as it’s a little less touristy.
We wound our way through the non-grid streets using Google Maps. There were very few other visitors at ΕΜΣΤ, we had most of the exhibits to ourselves.
The theme of the current exhibition is about respect for animals, which was ironic given that we started our day at the fish and meat market. The exhibition was well-curated.
The bonus was the restaurant on the 5th floor of ΕΜΣΤ, with great views of the Acropolis. We split a club sandwich and a salad which was okay, but you’re really here for the view.
Our route home took us past Philopappos Hill, so we took the ten minute detour to walk up to the top. It’s a cobblestone road all the way up. The pic of the Acropolis from the viewpoint is the best one in my opinion, as you get the Parthenon, Propylaea and Odeon of Herodes Atticus all in the frame. We had the viewpoint to ourselves for part of the time we were up there!
Walked back home along the familiar route around the south side of the Acropolis.
We ate at Aesop Fables, very close to the hotel. It was okay, we much preferred the other places we had tried.
Varvakios Central Municipal Market is a short ten minute walk north of our hotel. It’s one of the cleanest markets we’ve seen. First we walked through the meat market, took some pics of the butchers with their giant cleavers, almost as big as A4 paper. The fish market is in the middle, and had no fishy smell at all, pretty impressive given its size. The fishmongers were very artistic about n their fish displays, some even adding vegetables for colour.
There’s a fruit and vegetable market nearby which we missed seeing. Later I also read that there’s a spice market too! It’s close by our hotel so we can return to see it another day.
We then walked through the Monastiraki and Plaka neighbourhoods on our way to the National Museum of Contemporary Art (ΕΜΣΤ). The neighbourhoods are more gentrified than Psiri (where our hotel is) and are filled with pedestrian streets, cool cafés and restaurants, and clothing stores. We prefer our location for a hotel as it’s a little less touristy.
We wound our way through the non-grid streets using Google Maps. There were very few other visitors at ΕΜΣΤ, we had most of the exhibits to ourselves.
The theme of the current exhibition is about respect for animals, which was ironic given that we started our day at the fish and meat market. The exhibition was well-curated.
The bonus was the restaurant on the 5th floor of ΕΜΣΤ, with great views of the Acropolis. We split a club sandwich and a salad which was okay, but you’re really here for the view.
Our route home took us past Philopappos Hill, so we took the ten minute detour to walk up to the top. It’s a cobblestone road all the way up. The pic of the Acropolis from the viewpoint is the best one in my opinion, as you get the Parthenon, Propylaea and Odeon of Herodes Atticus all in the frame. We had the viewpoint to ourselves for part of the time we were up there!
Walked back home along the familiar route around the south side of the Acropolis.
We ate at Aesop Fables, very close to the hotel. It was okay, we much preferred the other places we had tried.
Friday, March 06, 2026
Athens, Greece
Panathenaic Stadium is built entirely out of marble, and was used for the first modern Olympics in 1896. It’s possible to tour the stadium so that’s where we headed this morning, about a 25 minute walk from our hotel.
On the way there, we passed by the Holy Metropolitan Church of the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary, so stopped to check it out. It’s the preeminent church in Athens, used for state funerals and the like. It’s worth a stop to check out.
Carried on along the pedestrian street to the National Garden. We walked through the well-maintained park to reach the stadium. We could see the marble seating as we approached, it looked pretty cool.
Today was Melina Mercouri Day, where a lot of national sites are free. Unfortunately the stadium was not one of these :( We started by climbing up to the top of the stands. There’s a great view of the Acropolis from the midpoint of the stands. It was a bit breezy today so the flag was flying too. (Yesterday Heather waited a few minutes for the flag to show for her pic but there was no wind).
The marble bleachers made for great pics. There was a group of school kids on the field participating in relay races, they looked like they were having lots of fun.
We circled around the stands to the other side (it’s horseshoe-shaped, open on one end). Then we descended to field level, and explored the access tunnel, I guess this is where athletes would enter from. At the other end of the tunnel is a mini-museum of The Olympics, including relay torches and posters from every Olympics. It was pretty cool, and we didn’t even know it was there!
Next we walked over to the Arch of Hadrian. It’s close to the Acropolis Museum, and gets lots of spillover guided tour traffic. Right around the corner is the Temple of Olympian Zeus. It’s mostly under scaffolding, and right now not worth the 20 EUR entrance fee, except it was free today (see Melina Mercouri Day above). So we got our free tickets and entered. It will look nice once it’s restored.
We crossed over the street into Plaka, a trendy neighborhood, in search of a lunch place. Tried the souvlaki and gyros at The Greco’s Project, it was good. We get great Greek food at home in Toronto so maybe that’s why we’re not as excited :) it hit the spot though.
We got back to our hotel and relaxed until dinner. It was chillier this evening so preferred a restaurant with indoor seating (lots have only patio seating). Our hotel suggested Via Maris, about 100m around the corner from the hotel. It was a Friday night and a lot busier than the previous two nights, luckily we still got seated. We shared a number of small plates, they were all excellent. Our favourites included a Moroccan-inspired ceviche, a coppa dish and a sashimi dish.
After dinner we walked around Psiri (our neighbourhood). It was really hopping on a Friday night!
On the way there, we passed by the Holy Metropolitan Church of the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary, so stopped to check it out. It’s the preeminent church in Athens, used for state funerals and the like. It’s worth a stop to check out.
Carried on along the pedestrian street to the National Garden. We walked through the well-maintained park to reach the stadium. We could see the marble seating as we approached, it looked pretty cool.
Today was Melina Mercouri Day, where a lot of national sites are free. Unfortunately the stadium was not one of these :( We started by climbing up to the top of the stands. There’s a great view of the Acropolis from the midpoint of the stands. It was a bit breezy today so the flag was flying too. (Yesterday Heather waited a few minutes for the flag to show for her pic but there was no wind).
The marble bleachers made for great pics. There was a group of school kids on the field participating in relay races, they looked like they were having lots of fun.
We circled around the stands to the other side (it’s horseshoe-shaped, open on one end). Then we descended to field level, and explored the access tunnel, I guess this is where athletes would enter from. At the other end of the tunnel is a mini-museum of The Olympics, including relay torches and posters from every Olympics. It was pretty cool, and we didn’t even know it was there!
Next we walked over to the Arch of Hadrian. It’s close to the Acropolis Museum, and gets lots of spillover guided tour traffic. Right around the corner is the Temple of Olympian Zeus. It’s mostly under scaffolding, and right now not worth the 20 EUR entrance fee, except it was free today (see Melina Mercouri Day above). So we got our free tickets and entered. It will look nice once it’s restored.
We crossed over the street into Plaka, a trendy neighborhood, in search of a lunch place. Tried the souvlaki and gyros at The Greco’s Project, it was good. We get great Greek food at home in Toronto so maybe that’s why we’re not as excited :) it hit the spot though.
We got back to our hotel and relaxed until dinner. It was chillier this evening so preferred a restaurant with indoor seating (lots have only patio seating). Our hotel suggested Via Maris, about 100m around the corner from the hotel. It was a Friday night and a lot busier than the previous two nights, luckily we still got seated. We shared a number of small plates, they were all excellent. Our favourites included a Moroccan-inspired ceviche, a coppa dish and a sashimi dish.
After dinner we walked around Psiri (our neighbourhood). It was really hopping on a Friday night!
Thursday, March 05, 2026
Athens, Greece
I had just planned for us to see the Acropolis this afternoon, in case we were jet lagged and just wanting to relax. We had timed entry tickets to the Acropolis for 3pm, which according to the internet was the best time to beat the crowds.
We had breakfast and felt energized, so decided to head out in the morning to see Odeon of Herodes Atticus, the amphitheater on the south slope of the Acropolis.
The Acropolis sits about 70m above the city, a bit of an uphill walk. It was pleasant as the weather was perfect again, 17C and sunny.
It wasn’t clear where the entrance was to the amphitheater. We first walked to back of the stage, peering through the gates at the theatre seating inside. Walked back up to the ticket booth. Turns out the amphitheater is only open for performances in the offseason :(
So instead we walked along Apostolou Pavlou, the pedestrian street south of the Acropolis, to the Ancient Agora of Athens. We had seen the Agora yesterday from the outside on our random walks; today we bought tickets (20 EUR each) and entered the ruins.
First we checked out the Temple of Hephaestus, one of the better preserved temples in Athens. It’s not that big, about 14m x 32m, so that took us about five minutes.
We then went wandered through the agora, strewn with unrestored marble blocks. The ruins are impressive from their vastness. Probably they are super interesting if you’re into archaeology.
The ticket also includes entry into the Stoa of Attalos museum. It contains artefacts from every day life, arranged in chronological order from the Neolithic to the Post-byzantine and Ottoman periods. Probably super interesting if you’re into archaeology.
It was time for lunch, so we looked up a place on google maps. It was okay, they did have excellent espressos.
Walked back uphill to the Acropolis. The internet said we could enter up to 30 minutes before our timed entry, but the ticket folks were having none of me doing my own research. So we sat in the shade and people watched for a few minutes.
It wasn’t busy at all today at the Acropolis; if we hadn’t pre-booked, we could have just walked right up to the ticket booth, bought our tickets, and entered. Oh well.
Finally we were allowed to enter using our timed-entry tickets. We walked up through the Propylaea (monumental gateway). The limestone floor and steps are really slippery from the thousands of visitors. The main attraction, the Parthenon, is under scaffolding so my pics are all just partial views.
We spent about 30 minutes atop the Acropolis. It wasn’t crowded at all - it was even possible to get tourist-less pics!
We took care walking back down the steps towards the South Slope. There’s some stuff to see on the slopes, nothing to write home about.
Overall we were underwhelmed by the Acropolis and Parthenon. If you’re in Athens, you have to visit here, but I wouldn’t suggest planning a trip around it.
We walked back to our hotel, had a shower, and headed out for dinner. It was still early but we thought our jet lag would catch up to us if we didn’t keep going.
We tried Tavern Klimataria for dinner, another recommendation from the hotel. It was really busy. We had a Greek salad, a roasted red pepper dish, slow cooked leg of lamb, and baked halloumi. It was quite good.
We were both pretty tired so just got back to the hotel and crashed.
We had breakfast and felt energized, so decided to head out in the morning to see Odeon of Herodes Atticus, the amphitheater on the south slope of the Acropolis.
The Acropolis sits about 70m above the city, a bit of an uphill walk. It was pleasant as the weather was perfect again, 17C and sunny.
It wasn’t clear where the entrance was to the amphitheater. We first walked to back of the stage, peering through the gates at the theatre seating inside. Walked back up to the ticket booth. Turns out the amphitheater is only open for performances in the offseason :(
So instead we walked along Apostolou Pavlou, the pedestrian street south of the Acropolis, to the Ancient Agora of Athens. We had seen the Agora yesterday from the outside on our random walks; today we bought tickets (20 EUR each) and entered the ruins.
First we checked out the Temple of Hephaestus, one of the better preserved temples in Athens. It’s not that big, about 14m x 32m, so that took us about five minutes.
We then went wandered through the agora, strewn with unrestored marble blocks. The ruins are impressive from their vastness. Probably they are super interesting if you’re into archaeology.
The ticket also includes entry into the Stoa of Attalos museum. It contains artefacts from every day life, arranged in chronological order from the Neolithic to the Post-byzantine and Ottoman periods. Probably super interesting if you’re into archaeology.
It was time for lunch, so we looked up a place on google maps. It was okay, they did have excellent espressos.
Walked back uphill to the Acropolis. The internet said we could enter up to 30 minutes before our timed entry, but the ticket folks were having none of me doing my own research. So we sat in the shade and people watched for a few minutes.
It wasn’t busy at all today at the Acropolis; if we hadn’t pre-booked, we could have just walked right up to the ticket booth, bought our tickets, and entered. Oh well.
Finally we were allowed to enter using our timed-entry tickets. We walked up through the Propylaea (monumental gateway). The limestone floor and steps are really slippery from the thousands of visitors. The main attraction, the Parthenon, is under scaffolding so my pics are all just partial views.
We spent about 30 minutes atop the Acropolis. It wasn’t crowded at all - it was even possible to get tourist-less pics!
We took care walking back down the steps towards the South Slope. There’s some stuff to see on the slopes, nothing to write home about.
Overall we were underwhelmed by the Acropolis and Parthenon. If you’re in Athens, you have to visit here, but I wouldn’t suggest planning a trip around it.
We walked back to our hotel, had a shower, and headed out for dinner. It was still early but we thought our jet lag would catch up to us if we didn’t keep going.
We tried Tavern Klimataria for dinner, another recommendation from the hotel. It was really busy. We had a Greek salad, a roasted red pepper dish, slow cooked leg of lamb, and baked halloumi. It was quite good.
We were both pretty tired so just got back to the hotel and crashed.
Wednesday, March 04, 2026
Athens, Greece
Every trip has a point at which it feels like ‘okay, now I’m on vacation’. On this trip for me it was when we boarded the plane to Athens after our four hour layover in Cairo. We took a Cobus from the terminal, and it was 17C as we walked on the tarmac to board the plane. After one of the longest winters in Toronto, the warm breeze made it feel like our vacation had officially started.
A bonus was the ride on a Cobus, which long-time readers will recognize as my favourite brand of specialized transport. I find it funny at how they overly-brand their buses.
It took about 30 minutes to get through immigration in Athens. While waiting in line, we tracked our AirTags and saw that our bags had made it safely here as well.
We took a local taxi from the airport to our hotel. Our driver was familiar with Toronto and had visited Greektown on The Danforth! Although I’m suspecting many folks here have some connection to Toronto.
We arrived around 2pm at our hotel in Psyri, a gentrified neighbourhood near the historical sites in Athens. We unpacked and cleaned up, and then headed out to explore, trying to ward off our jet lag.
It was a perfect day for traveling - 18C and sunny. We walked around the narrow streets and alleys in Psyri, overflowing with cafés and restaurants. It felt like a movie set for a European street scene. It also didn’t feel overtaken by tourists, although I’m sure it’s different in peak season.
Scouted out a restaurant for dinner for later (Εστιατόριο Αυλή) that our hotel had recommended. The entrance is just a metal graffiti’d door to an alley, so not easy to recognize.
We then walked towards the Acropolis and other ruins. Every turn we took was another lively street scene with some ruin on a hill in the background. We have tickets to see the ruins in detail over the next few days (and also learn the names of each of the ruins), but as a first view, it was quite impressive. The relative lack of tourists was cool too. Heather said it reminded her of Kotor and Dubrovnik after the cruise ship passengers departed.
Anyways we spent a couple hours randomly wandering around. The Acropolis is high on a hill and made it easy for us to keep our bearings, so our wandering was just random and not aimless.
Around 6pm, we got back to our hotel, washed up and headed back out for dinner. Our homework paid off as we looked like we knew what we were doing as we opened the door to the restaurant. It was a really atmospheric place. We split a bunch of dishes, including the two specials, lima beans in tomato sauce, and an eggplant dish. It was all very tasty. They also had a very good 0% beer.
We were stuffed, so walked around a bit after dinner. The Acropolis and other ruins are all lit up at night and it’s really beautiful. It hardly seemed like we had just arrived this afternoon.
A bonus was the ride on a Cobus, which long-time readers will recognize as my favourite brand of specialized transport. I find it funny at how they overly-brand their buses.
It took about 30 minutes to get through immigration in Athens. While waiting in line, we tracked our AirTags and saw that our bags had made it safely here as well.
We took a local taxi from the airport to our hotel. Our driver was familiar with Toronto and had visited Greektown on The Danforth! Although I’m suspecting many folks here have some connection to Toronto.
We arrived around 2pm at our hotel in Psyri, a gentrified neighbourhood near the historical sites in Athens. We unpacked and cleaned up, and then headed out to explore, trying to ward off our jet lag.
It was a perfect day for traveling - 18C and sunny. We walked around the narrow streets and alleys in Psyri, overflowing with cafés and restaurants. It felt like a movie set for a European street scene. It also didn’t feel overtaken by tourists, although I’m sure it’s different in peak season.
Scouted out a restaurant for dinner for later (Εστιατόριο Αυλή) that our hotel had recommended. The entrance is just a metal graffiti’d door to an alley, so not easy to recognize.
We then walked towards the Acropolis and other ruins. Every turn we took was another lively street scene with some ruin on a hill in the background. We have tickets to see the ruins in detail over the next few days (and also learn the names of each of the ruins), but as a first view, it was quite impressive. The relative lack of tourists was cool too. Heather said it reminded her of Kotor and Dubrovnik after the cruise ship passengers departed.
Anyways we spent a couple hours randomly wandering around. The Acropolis is high on a hill and made it easy for us to keep our bearings, so our wandering was just random and not aimless.
Around 6pm, we got back to our hotel, washed up and headed back out for dinner. Our homework paid off as we looked like we knew what we were doing as we opened the door to the restaurant. It was a really atmospheric place. We split a bunch of dishes, including the two specials, lima beans in tomato sauce, and an eggplant dish. It was all very tasty. They also had a very good 0% beer.
We were stuffed, so walked around a bit after dinner. The Acropolis and other ruins are all lit up at night and it’s really beautiful. It hardly seemed like we had just arrived this afternoon.
Tuesday, March 03, 2026
Toronto, Canada
We’re off on an extended trip again! We have about two months in Türkiye, Athens, Armenia, Tbilisi, Egypt, Malta and the Azores.
It’s a bittersweet trip for us, as Heather’s Dad, Kevin, recently passed away. He’s always been really keen on the details of our travels, with all sorts of questions about the history or the food we ate or about the uniqueness of places. Years ago, after my Mom had passed away, we had a trip through Bhutan where we raised prayer flags on a trek in honour of my Mom. I’m hoping we’ll come across some local custom on this trip where we can commemorate Kevin.
It was a bit of a jigsaw puzzle planning the trip, trying to avoid religious and cultural observances such as Lunar New Year, Tet, Ramadan, Easter, Orthodox Easter and Holi. The resulting itinerary isn’t optimized from a weather standpoint (for example it would have been better to go to Egypt before Armenia and Georgia) but it’ll still be better than the -10C that we left behind in Toronto.
There’s a lot of ruins to see on this trip: the Acropolis in Athens; Tatev Monastery in Armenia; Abu Simbel in Egypt; and Ephesus Ancient City, Ishak Pasha Palace, Ani ruins, and Sümela Monastery in Türkiye.
We’ll soon touch down in Athens to start our adventures!
It’s a bittersweet trip for us, as Heather’s Dad, Kevin, recently passed away. He’s always been really keen on the details of our travels, with all sorts of questions about the history or the food we ate or about the uniqueness of places. Years ago, after my Mom had passed away, we had a trip through Bhutan where we raised prayer flags on a trek in honour of my Mom. I’m hoping we’ll come across some local custom on this trip where we can commemorate Kevin.
It was a bit of a jigsaw puzzle planning the trip, trying to avoid religious and cultural observances such as Lunar New Year, Tet, Ramadan, Easter, Orthodox Easter and Holi. The resulting itinerary isn’t optimized from a weather standpoint (for example it would have been better to go to Egypt before Armenia and Georgia) but it’ll still be better than the -10C that we left behind in Toronto.
There’s a lot of ruins to see on this trip: the Acropolis in Athens; Tatev Monastery in Armenia; Abu Simbel in Egypt; and Ephesus Ancient City, Ishak Pasha Palace, Ani ruins, and Sümela Monastery in Türkiye.
We’ll soon touch down in Athens to start our adventures!
Friday, October 03, 2025
Georgetown, Guyana
There was the same white noise machine in the room that we have at home, so we had a good sleep even though we were facing the rather noisy Rupert Craig Highway.
We had breakfast (they had excellent pancakes!) and then organized our taxi rides for the rest of our stay. For today, we booked a taxi and driver/guide for a couple hours to tour around Georgetown.
First stop was along the seawall. It’s recently been restored, with mangroves planted to protect from erosion. Our driver said the seawall gets pretty busy on the weekend, with families and friends out for a stroll.
Next we drove to St George’s Cathedral, which at 43.5m is one of the tallest wooden churches in the world. [citation needed] Walked around the perimeter and took our pics. Unfortunately it wasn’t open, as the interior is supposedly just as stunning, with the sun streaming through the stained glass windows. My friend Ram (who’s from Guyana) said he’s never see it open.
Drove by city hall, another example Gothic Revival architecture. There’s some really beautiful buildings in the centre of Georgetown. Parked outside Stabroek market, took a pic of the famous clock tower, and then wandered around the bustling market for a bit.
Our last stop was Bourda Market, a fruit and vegetable market. Took a million pics - the markets are really photogenic. I think it’s cause the vendors take a lot of care to arrange their fruits and vegetables in colourful baskets.
Ram had suggested we try guinep, which is a bit like a lychee. It wasn’t in season, so instead had a coconut. Our driver walked us over to a popular coconut vendor. He asked if we wanted it with jelly. We weren’t sure what that meant, but gave it a go. The vendor used his machete to slice off the top of the coconut and we sipped the coconut water. Then he split the shell into thirds, carved out a small triangle piece, which we used to scoop out the coconut flesh, aka jelly. We hadn’t seen that step in other parts of the world! It might depend on the type of coconut and how scoopable the flesh is, I guess. It was really refreshing, for 300 GYD each (about 1.50 CAD).
We walked back to the car, and drove back to the hotel. Along the way we stopped at a roadside stall to pick up some doubles for lunch. Grabbed a coke at the bar, and then ate in our room. It hit the spot.
We then got a WhatsApp from the agency about our Kaieteur excursion - the Kaieteur airpspace was being closed to all flights on Saturday and so all the excursions were cancelled :( We figured it was for some VIP - later we read in the paper that France had just opened their embassy, and it was probably closed for the French delegation to visit. Our agency people suspected the same. Oh well, at least we were able to get a good tour of downtown Georgetown today.
Looked at other things to do on Saturday, but we were feeling a bit lazy, plus the Jays had their first ALDS game scheduled.
Just relaxed the rest of the afternoon. Went down to the bar and had a virgin mojito which was excellent. (We had read good things about the bar staff here). Later we had dinner - it was pretty busy in the restaurant, our hotel is a local hotspot.
We had breakfast (they had excellent pancakes!) and then organized our taxi rides for the rest of our stay. For today, we booked a taxi and driver/guide for a couple hours to tour around Georgetown.
First stop was along the seawall. It’s recently been restored, with mangroves planted to protect from erosion. Our driver said the seawall gets pretty busy on the weekend, with families and friends out for a stroll.
Next we drove to St George’s Cathedral, which at 43.5m is one of the tallest wooden churches in the world. [citation needed] Walked around the perimeter and took our pics. Unfortunately it wasn’t open, as the interior is supposedly just as stunning, with the sun streaming through the stained glass windows. My friend Ram (who’s from Guyana) said he’s never see it open.
Drove by city hall, another example Gothic Revival architecture. There’s some really beautiful buildings in the centre of Georgetown. Parked outside Stabroek market, took a pic of the famous clock tower, and then wandered around the bustling market for a bit.
Our last stop was Bourda Market, a fruit and vegetable market. Took a million pics - the markets are really photogenic. I think it’s cause the vendors take a lot of care to arrange their fruits and vegetables in colourful baskets.
Ram had suggested we try guinep, which is a bit like a lychee. It wasn’t in season, so instead had a coconut. Our driver walked us over to a popular coconut vendor. He asked if we wanted it with jelly. We weren’t sure what that meant, but gave it a go. The vendor used his machete to slice off the top of the coconut and we sipped the coconut water. Then he split the shell into thirds, carved out a small triangle piece, which we used to scoop out the coconut flesh, aka jelly. We hadn’t seen that step in other parts of the world! It might depend on the type of coconut and how scoopable the flesh is, I guess. It was really refreshing, for 300 GYD each (about 1.50 CAD).
We walked back to the car, and drove back to the hotel. Along the way we stopped at a roadside stall to pick up some doubles for lunch. Grabbed a coke at the bar, and then ate in our room. It hit the spot.
We then got a WhatsApp from the agency about our Kaieteur excursion - the Kaieteur airpspace was being closed to all flights on Saturday and so all the excursions were cancelled :( We figured it was for some VIP - later we read in the paper that France had just opened their embassy, and it was probably closed for the French delegation to visit. Our agency people suspected the same. Oh well, at least we were able to get a good tour of downtown Georgetown today.
Looked at other things to do on Saturday, but we were feeling a bit lazy, plus the Jays had their first ALDS game scheduled.
Just relaxed the rest of the afternoon. Went down to the bar and had a virgin mojito which was excellent. (We had read good things about the bar staff here). Later we had dinner - it was pretty busy in the restaurant, our hotel is a local hotspot.
Thursday, October 02, 2025
Georgetown, Guyana
Today was a transit day, flying from St Lucia (UVF) to Georgetown (GEO). Our flight wasn’t until 4pm so we had lots of time to have a leisurely breakfast. We packed up, which was a bit more complicated than our flight to St Lucia as we were allowed only one checked bag, and the rest had to be carry-on safe.
Drove through the cute village of Choiseul one last time, and continued past Vieux Fort. Filled up at the Rubis just outside the airport. Didn’t need the gas receipt per the attendant - the rental folks just looked to make sure the tank showed as full.
We had trouble finding the car return entrance, so stopped outside arrivals and asked the Sixt folks. They just processed the return there, which worked out great for us as we didn’t have to haul our luggage from the rental lot.
Heather had checked earlier that the airport was air conditioned. We’ve previously been stuck waiting outside terminals in some hot countries, so wanted to know before showing up three hours before our flight. It was nice in the terminal, however we had to wait 30 minutes for the British Airways counter to open. Used the time to catch up a bit on my blog.
Once through security, the departure area was super crowded. The departure boards showed all five flights for the day leaving between 2:15pm and 2:43pm. (It was similar for arrivals - five flights in the day, landing within 30 minutes of each other). You’d think they would try to spread it out, even just a little.
Had a roti in the food court upstairs, it was pretty good. Figured that would tide us over until we got to our hotel in Georgetown.
It was slim pickings for souvenir shops, there were only three, outnumbered by liquor shops. For our souvenir case, we bought a mini hot sauce by Baron, (the brand I really liked, it’s served in most restaurants) and a little St Lucia parrot.
Our flight was the last of the five to depart, so we waited upstairs in the food court, which has a nice view of the runway and surrounding hills. Watched our British Airways plane land. The flight originates in LHR and most of the passengers stayed onboard, continuing on to Guyana. There were only ten or so of us that boarded in St Lucia. The flight was about 75% full, so we had no issues finding space for our carry-on, albeit a couple rows behind our seats.
The flight was 20 minutes quicker than advertised - we landed at GEO after 1h15. I was too engrossed in watching the start of John Wick / The Ballerina that I didn’t even realize we were approaching until the wheels touched down.
We were amongst the first passengers in line for immigration. Unfortunately we hadn’t filled out the online arrival form (I hadn’t found that during my research), so we had to go back in line. Awkwardly completed the rather lengthy form on our phones while moving forward in the line with our carry-on.
It was mostly automated once we submitted the form. Scanned our passport, had a pic taken, the doors opened, and then a final review (and stamp) by a human, and we were in! Actually it was just me that had the automation - there were no VIPs so Heather and few other passengers got routed through the VIP line, which is a fully human process.
We waited about 30 minutes for our luggage. We could see in the app that it was here in Georgetown, so weren’t panicked. Finally we realized our luggage had brought in separately, not around the conveyor, probably all the St Lucia baggage was the same. Oh well.
It was quick through customs (they just asked how long we were staying and then waved us through). We exited the arrivals area and found our driver with our name on a sign.
We completely forgot about our plans to get cash (Guyanese dollars) in our eagerness to get on the road. Fortunately we didn’t need any this evening.
It was a long drive to the hotel, over 90 minutes. The oil boom in Guyana has fueled a huge infrastructure build-out in the country. In a few years there will be highway all the way from Georgetown to GEO. Currently though, the first half from the airport towards town is a big construction area. Felt like home in Toronto. Once we got to the highway, it was smooth sailing. Our taxi driver was excellent, really friendly and informative.
We arrived at the Grand Coastal Hotel around 8:30pm. Checked in, quickly freshened up and then went down for dinner. From what we had read, the kitchen here is excellent. Both our dishes were tasty - Heather had the house fried rice, and I tried the grilled trout.
It felt like a long transit day, maybe cause both the drive to the airport in St Lucia and the drive to our hotel here in Georgetown were longer than the actual flight.
For those counting, (Gerry and Tanya), it’s country 107 for me and 67 for Heather.
Drove through the cute village of Choiseul one last time, and continued past Vieux Fort. Filled up at the Rubis just outside the airport. Didn’t need the gas receipt per the attendant - the rental folks just looked to make sure the tank showed as full.
We had trouble finding the car return entrance, so stopped outside arrivals and asked the Sixt folks. They just processed the return there, which worked out great for us as we didn’t have to haul our luggage from the rental lot.
Heather had checked earlier that the airport was air conditioned. We’ve previously been stuck waiting outside terminals in some hot countries, so wanted to know before showing up three hours before our flight. It was nice in the terminal, however we had to wait 30 minutes for the British Airways counter to open. Used the time to catch up a bit on my blog.
Once through security, the departure area was super crowded. The departure boards showed all five flights for the day leaving between 2:15pm and 2:43pm. (It was similar for arrivals - five flights in the day, landing within 30 minutes of each other). You’d think they would try to spread it out, even just a little.
Had a roti in the food court upstairs, it was pretty good. Figured that would tide us over until we got to our hotel in Georgetown.
It was slim pickings for souvenir shops, there were only three, outnumbered by liquor shops. For our souvenir case, we bought a mini hot sauce by Baron, (the brand I really liked, it’s served in most restaurants) and a little St Lucia parrot.
Our flight was the last of the five to depart, so we waited upstairs in the food court, which has a nice view of the runway and surrounding hills. Watched our British Airways plane land. The flight originates in LHR and most of the passengers stayed onboard, continuing on to Guyana. There were only ten or so of us that boarded in St Lucia. The flight was about 75% full, so we had no issues finding space for our carry-on, albeit a couple rows behind our seats.
The flight was 20 minutes quicker than advertised - we landed at GEO after 1h15. I was too engrossed in watching the start of John Wick / The Ballerina that I didn’t even realize we were approaching until the wheels touched down.
We were amongst the first passengers in line for immigration. Unfortunately we hadn’t filled out the online arrival form (I hadn’t found that during my research), so we had to go back in line. Awkwardly completed the rather lengthy form on our phones while moving forward in the line with our carry-on.
It was mostly automated once we submitted the form. Scanned our passport, had a pic taken, the doors opened, and then a final review (and stamp) by a human, and we were in! Actually it was just me that had the automation - there were no VIPs so Heather and few other passengers got routed through the VIP line, which is a fully human process.
We waited about 30 minutes for our luggage. We could see in the app that it was here in Georgetown, so weren’t panicked. Finally we realized our luggage had brought in separately, not around the conveyor, probably all the St Lucia baggage was the same. Oh well.
It was quick through customs (they just asked how long we were staying and then waved us through). We exited the arrivals area and found our driver with our name on a sign.
We completely forgot about our plans to get cash (Guyanese dollars) in our eagerness to get on the road. Fortunately we didn’t need any this evening.
It was a long drive to the hotel, over 90 minutes. The oil boom in Guyana has fueled a huge infrastructure build-out in the country. In a few years there will be highway all the way from Georgetown to GEO. Currently though, the first half from the airport towards town is a big construction area. Felt like home in Toronto. Once we got to the highway, it was smooth sailing. Our taxi driver was excellent, really friendly and informative.
We arrived at the Grand Coastal Hotel around 8:30pm. Checked in, quickly freshened up and then went down for dinner. From what we had read, the kitchen here is excellent. Both our dishes were tasty - Heather had the house fried rice, and I tried the grilled trout.
It felt like a long transit day, maybe cause both the drive to the airport in St Lucia and the drive to our hotel here in Georgetown were longer than the actual flight.
For those counting, (Gerry and Tanya), it’s country 107 for me and 67 for Heather.
Wednesday, October 01, 2025
Anse L’Ivrogne, St Lucia
We were debating what to do our last full day here in St Lucia, whether to go on a hike, snorkel, or take a chocolate-making class. It was a quick decision once we stepped outside for breakfast and felt the heat and humidity - snorkeling it was.
We got our snorkeling gear together after breakfast and sorted out directions to Anse L’Ivrogne, about a five minute drive from the hotel. We had read that the access road to the beach was in terrible shape, but it wasn’t bad at all. There’s a resort under construction near the beach, so we had to park about 200m away and then walk in.
It’s the first time we’ve gone out snorkeling on our own - I had bought a small dry bag to hold our car key and other valuables. I had to google earlier on how to close it properly.
Anse L’Ivrogne was a bit choppier than the sites we snorkelled on Sunday, as the beach is less sheltered from the Caribbean. We snorkelled for about 30 minutes parallel to the beach. Saw lots of fishies, similar to what had seen previously. There was minimal amount of coral though.
We returned back to our hotel, quickly showered and rinsed out our gear, and then drove into Soufriére for lunch. It was one of our last chances to try a couple local dishes, Green Figs and Saltfish, and fish cakes.
We parked in town and walked over to Belle Vue and ordered. ‘Green Figs’ is actually green bananas, served with a mixture of shredded salted cod, lentils and cooked diced vegetables. Both dishes were excellent, the best fish cakes we’ve had traveling. The fish cakes reminded me of a battered eggplant dish my Mom used to make. It was well worth the 20 minute drive into town. Did some quick sightseeing about town after lunch - it’s a cute little place with a vibe to it.
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped in at Project Chocolate for a coffee and dessert. We saw the chocolate making class in progress. It looked like hard work grinding beans in the heat. We were glad we went snorkeling instead. We had an iced coffee from local beans, and some dessert. It was tasty.
Drove the rest of the way back to the hotel and called it a day. It turned out to be a pretty fun day considering we weren’t sure what we wanted to do at the start.
We got our snorkeling gear together after breakfast and sorted out directions to Anse L’Ivrogne, about a five minute drive from the hotel. We had read that the access road to the beach was in terrible shape, but it wasn’t bad at all. There’s a resort under construction near the beach, so we had to park about 200m away and then walk in.
It’s the first time we’ve gone out snorkeling on our own - I had bought a small dry bag to hold our car key and other valuables. I had to google earlier on how to close it properly.
Anse L’Ivrogne was a bit choppier than the sites we snorkelled on Sunday, as the beach is less sheltered from the Caribbean. We snorkelled for about 30 minutes parallel to the beach. Saw lots of fishies, similar to what had seen previously. There was minimal amount of coral though.
We returned back to our hotel, quickly showered and rinsed out our gear, and then drove into Soufriére for lunch. It was one of our last chances to try a couple local dishes, Green Figs and Saltfish, and fish cakes.
We parked in town and walked over to Belle Vue and ordered. ‘Green Figs’ is actually green bananas, served with a mixture of shredded salted cod, lentils and cooked diced vegetables. Both dishes were excellent, the best fish cakes we’ve had traveling. The fish cakes reminded me of a battered eggplant dish my Mom used to make. It was well worth the 20 minute drive into town. Did some quick sightseeing about town after lunch - it’s a cute little place with a vibe to it.
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped in at Project Chocolate for a coffee and dessert. We saw the chocolate making class in progress. It looked like hard work grinding beans in the heat. We were glad we went snorkeling instead. We had an iced coffee from local beans, and some dessert. It was tasty.
Drove the rest of the way back to the hotel and called it a day. It turned out to be a pretty fun day considering we weren’t sure what we wanted to do at the start.
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