Distance: 280km (by car)
The morning started with picking up the rental car. The station was within walking distance. I had booked the second cheapest category and hoped that it would be big enough to fit Rosinante. Indeed, that turned out to be true. The car was Chinese. It was a Geely, a brand that Warren Buffett had invested in. It did not look like much, but it got the job done.
I parked in the old town in front of my hotel. Illegally, but conveniently. Then I disassembled Rosinante. I had never fully taken apart the front wheel of the bike before. There is an adapter where the dynamo connects, and I was not sure how to disconnect it without breaking something. A YouTube video sorted it out. Nothing broke.
After that I washed Rosinante. She was still carrying tons of mud from the day before. The hotel gave me a spot right out front and enough water to get most of it off. With both wheels off and the handlebars tilted, she fit into the trunk. I packed up and drove to the bike shop.
The shop was a 10km ride through Tiblisi traffic. I am used to automatic but this car had a stick shift and it took me a while to get used to the clutch again. I sounded like a beginner from driving school.
Dima, the mechanic had great reviews in the long-distance cycling community. I had already called ahead from Kutaisi. He turned out to be very competent and very kind.
I left Rosinante with him for some repairs. Then the road trip to Yerevan started. Getting there was a small adventure. As I was leaving Tiblisi, Google Maps sent me up into the mountains on what did not look like a access road to a highway. I ended up on a white dirt track overlooking a valley. I was not sure what to do and stopped. Then a 4×4 car came from behind, overtook me, and simply drove down the dirt road without any hesitation. I did not want to backtrack 40 kilometres. So I followed even though my car had zero off-road capability.
I probably should not have. But it turned out to be a construction road, not a dead end. There was a small sign, but it said only “Construction,” not “No Entry.” Over 5km the „road“ got much much worse before it got better. At one narrow point, a dump truck came from the opposite direction. The driver waved at me with a big smile and called me brave. Then an excavator operator waved me to stop, cleared away a large mound of earth with his bucket so I could squeeze through without damaging the car’s underside, and waved me on. I had never experienced anything like that. I was sweaty by the time I got through, despite the air conditioning. But the car and I made it somehow. Actually, I had enjoyed the little adventure.
Eventually I reached a main road. Not a German Autobahn, but a solid two-lane national road with distance signs pointing from village to village and occasional cows.
The border crossing took about one hour. Google Maps routed me to a less busy crossing, which was the right call. There were the usual formalities: checking the trunk, checking the rental car documents, checking the passport. Once across into Armenia, I had to buy local car insurance on the spot. That is mandatory. Without it, you cannot leave the country. It did not take long.
I stopped for lunch at a roadside restaurant and had kebabi with pear lemonade. It did the job. Then I continued toward Yerevan.
The drive was beautiful. Mountains with snowfields, forests, lakes, rivers. A sparsely populated landscape in very good weather. Blue sky the whole way. It was genuinely enjoyable to drive through.
The drivers in Armenia are as crazy as in Georgia. Meanwhile, I was acquainted with the style.
In the meantime, Galina, a friend of my wife, had started connecting me to her family and friends to plan activities for the next day. She was originally from Yerevan. It all happened during the drive.
Getting into Yerevan itself was harder. The traffic was dense and I had trouble finding my location at first. Eventually I found my way to Yeraz Park, which sits at the edge of the city. Yerevan stands at about 1,000 metres above sea level.
There I met Amalya and her colleague Edgar in a restaurant. They run a private college focused on personality development, technology, and vocational training. Students are between 15 and 18 years old. Lessons are taught in both Armenian and English. My friend Kathy in Chicago had pointed me to Amalya. They had met the previous year, and Kathy supports the college financially. It was good to have that connection.
We went for dinner together. We talked about life in Armenia, the economy, politics, the geopolitical situation, relationships with neighboring countries, and what it means to be Armenian — including the sense of identity that comes with having such a large diaspora spread across the world. It was a rich conversation.
Amalya had reserved a guesthouse for me nearby. They walked me over to make sure I was settled. We agreed I would visit the college the following day. The guesthouse was clean and simply made of wood. It sat right next to the park. After this day I did not stay awake long.
Learnings of the day:
There had been zero planning for my trip to Yerevan. I could have planned more. But that is hard when you don’t know what you don’t know.
That is the thing about this kind of travel. The best moments show up on their own. They appear when you leave space for them.
Trust the process. It sounds simple. It is not always easy. But it keeps proving itself right.