Sick of pomegranates, here's some sulguni!
After 5 months of honey moon with Armenia, as every old couple, many of the little things I found so charming at the beginning started irritating me. Luckily though, I found a great cure to the armenian sickness!
That cure is called Tbilisiiii! Tbilisi is the capital of Georgia and is situated a 6 hours ride away from Yerevan. So when we are tired of seeing groups of 15 guys looking all the same and staring unscrupulously every time we walk by, when we can't stand hearing every day that Armenia is the best and that all the good, intellectual and beautiful things of the world come from Armenia, when we are sick of telling everyone that women don't loose their fertility by sitting on the ground, or when we just need a new visa, that's where we go!
There, guys have long hair, they are tall and beautiful (huh Toma? It took some time to convince you!), and they don't stare as much. There, instead of hearing that Armenia is the best, you hear that Georgia is the most by far the most awesome and most beautiful country of the Caucasus (and of the world of course!). Georgia is Europe, or so they say (on the city guide book there is actually written: 'Georgia: Europe started here'). In Georgia, you eat strange and heavy but delicious food (khinkali and khatchapuri), you meet way too many foreigners, and above all, you spend at least an hour a day in Macdonalds.
Georgia is indeed amazing. It has gorgeous landscapes, an explosive culture, and an exciting night scene. The georgians have great music, and know very well how to sing and dance. Tbilisi is a city filled with colourful old bildings and surrounded by mountains at the top of which churches and monasteries seem to be floating in the air. At night, the city becomes even more charming as its monuments are all enlightened. But as armenians say, 'do you know why Tbilisi is so beautiful? Because it was built by an armenian!'
Going from Armenia to Tbilisi is like going from Marseille to New York. It was hard to convince myself that living in Armenia has it's good sides too. Indeed, we don't have Macdonalds here... Things are indeed a little unfair. Georgians have cooler music, cooler guys, and a nicer architecture.
This makes me wonder why I am still living in a country with 97.5% armenians, two closed borders, 100% sovietic architecture and no Macdonalds. Well, everything has it's charm ;)