The word is a very exciting place

Hello again! This is part 3 about the Georgian capital Tbilisi. On top of a hill very close to the reservoir (or as the Georgians call it the sea of Tbilisi) is one of the most spectacular monuments ever created. The Georgian chronicles. Huge metal clad concrete pillars stretch high into the sky, with the history of the Georgian nation cast upon them. The thing that got me wasn't just the amount of detail on it, but the sheer scale of it. I have never seen such a extensive and enormous monument, and let's be honest, I've see probably more than my fair share! You can see in the second and third pictures just the sheer scale of the sculpture!  I've never seen something so huge! It's not very clear, but the 4th picture shows Queen Tamar, Georgia's most revered and well known woman. She ruled the Georgian empire a thousand years ago, and brought in a golden age of Georgian culture. For your reference, Shota Rustaveli is Georgia's most famous...

After my disappointing visit to the Yerevan ballet, I decided to splash out and see something better. Luckily for me, swan lake, was being performed by the Polish National Ballet. It had rave reviews, and so I decided to give it a go. Wow, what a show it was. Aside from one curious and slightly lumpy part, it was phenomenal. As you all probably know, it's incredibly expensive to see ballet in England, so when I saw a ticket for just 50 Lari (about £17!) I had to have it. And I was only a few rows from the front as well! The opera house was stunning. Every little detail was thought of, and I'm disappointed I only got to see one show there! I want to go back and visit Tbilisi one day again. The other part of this post is about the Ethnographic museum. After a terrifying cable car ride to the top of the hill, it's just a short walk down, and my god I am I glad I went. According to the sign at the front of the entrance, no photos allowed, but since a ...

Tbilisi.  Oh where do I even begin. Quite possibly, my favourite city. I spent nearly 2 weeks in Tbilisi, and it never stopped exciting me!  Like Yerevan, Tbilisi is a paradise of public art, sculpture and green space. The city is filled with incredible sculptures, and you find them, dotted around as you explore deep into the city. Tbilisi really is the full package. (Don't get too close!!) Funnily, I followed these painted paw prints in the amusement park, and bizzarely enough, led me straight to a cat who was very interested in my ice cream! The city really is, a joy to be in! More coming soon!

Without a shadow of a doubt, Yerevans more cheerful and beautiful sights is the singing fountains. A large water pool in Republic square delights everyone with sprays of water with lights and music. It's starts at every night at 9 (except Tuesdays). Its free and really worth a visit :) 

Gyumri is the second city of Armenia, and let's be honest, no where in Armenia could ever rival Yerevan's zest, culture and good fun. And to be frank, Gyumri dosnt even try to. It has a couple of things to see, but it's utter lack of pavements and it's rather suspicious inhabitants put you off expelling too much effort. I think it's an Armenian thing. But people constantly staring at you got to me, I ended up skipping Lake Sevan and northern Armenia because of how uncomfortable it made me. Here's a few pics of Gyumri: And that's pretty much it! The place I staid in, Gyumri Guest house was really nice, unless they pounced on me the night before I was due to check out and stood there until I had written feedback for them on booking.com

Yerevan is surrounded by one of the most dramatic of landscapes. One side has a spectacular view of Mount Ararat, while the other has Erebuni castle towering above it. The castle has quite a lot of modern replications, as well as repairs, so it's a little tricky to see what's original in places. One of the must see museums in Yerevan is the Armenian Genocide museum. It is a haunting and powerful museum, which you can't help but be immersed in when you visit. It serves as a stark warning of what can happen, and, as we saw during the holocaust, at Srebenica and in Rwanda in the 90s, how humanity never learns its lessons. OK a more cheerful note, there's the remains of a quaint little settlement, clued the Shengavit culture, it's a little out of the city, but it's rather interesting. When you arrive, the curator will ring for an English speaking guide for you. And finally, the other museum in Yerevan that is worth visiting is the manuscript museum....

So the first day in Yerevan was a bit of a write off, after getting to the hostel at 4am, I woke up around midday,  absolutely exhausted from two nights of no sleep. Yerevan should be called the city of sculpture. Everywhere, sculpture and artwork graces the city, some of it odd, some of it thought provoking, and the rest was absolutly fabulous. My personal favourite, is the big blue kiwi, right near the cascade art gallery. It's fantastic, and if I can ever get a replica, I will do! He's just some of the amazing art of Yerevan : The city is just a delight to walk around in, there is artwork hidden across the city, and you have to do a little bit of exploring to see it all! 

After my week on Crete, I took another night ferry back to Athens, and spent the day doing little things I needed to catch up on, laundry, backpack sorting, that kind of thing. The bin at the laundry was pretty full by the time I left. While in Athens for the day, I went and saw the last museum I wanted to visit, the Benaki museum, and just sort of spent the day chilling out.  I made my way to the airport, treated myself to dinner, and waited for my flight to Yerevan. By this point, I was exhausted, having been awake since 8am the day before, as I didn't get any sleep on the night ferry. So I was sat in the departure lounge nearly nodding off as I phoned home and chatted for a while. Then I was called to the gate, and the biggest jump of my travels began. As the plane was taking off, I looked out the window to see Athens disappearing away from me. It was perhaps the most amazing sight I have ever seen, and it made me realise just how lucky the cosmonauts are, bring able to see t...

I'd first heard about the island of Spinalonga from my Gran, who had read about it in a book by Victoria Hislop. Since it had interested me so much, I decided to pay it a visit. Now to visit Spinalonga by yourself is quite a challenge, particularly from Heraklion, so I ended up going on one of those tours. You know the ones, where the coaches roll into a historic place, windows liked clean as the hoards of unadventurous tourists slather at the idea of being let loose on a island. Genuinely, I always (except for Mostar) make my own way there. For a start, at €40, it was my entire days money gone in one go, secondly, you never get enough time there, and thirdly, you miss out on a wonderful experience travelling and finding somewhere new for yourself. As it happens, Spinalonga was an 11 hour day as a round trip, so it was better to bite the bullet and become a proper tourist. We first visited Spinalonga, then they gave time to everyone to swim and relax on a beach (why? That's ...