For the past six months we've been making our slow way through Eastern Europe by bus and train. We've dined on vegan omelettes in Novi Sad, showed my high school besties around Belgrade, lived on a mountain in Sarajevo, drank craft beer in Mostar, and are currently living by the sea in Budva - next up, Podgorica (the capital of Montenegro) and then Albania. But what about after that, we ask ourselves? Well, we've been making plans - short term ones (continue our route along the Balkans to Turkey) and long-term ones... which brings us to Georgia and Armenia.
From Yerevan To Batumi: Our 2022 Travel Plans
Now that summer is here and we've defrosted we're turning our eyes onto our long-term over-landing goals: over-landing to India. But there's a few problems with our plans: Iran for me (a Brit) is hard to get a visa for and over-landing from Pakistan to India is hard at the best of times but post pandemic is apparently near impossible. So what's a pair of bloggers to do? Double back and look at countries we've overlooked on the way. In this case Georgia and Armenia. My original plan was to overland straight from Turkey to Iran, completely missing out on these Eastern European/Asian countries. But considering I only get three months visa free in Turkey it seems a better option to go to Armenia (where I get six months) and Georgia (where I get a year) and work out our next moves from there. Maybe we'll end up having to flying after all (if I can't get that Iran visa). But there's a bonus: Armenia and Georgia are two countries I have just realized I really want to visit!
Two of the places I'm desperate to visit are Yerevan (Armenia) and Batumi (Georgia). In this blog post I will talk about why I want to go there so much, and how to get between the two. Because if I've done my job right, you're also looking for how to get from Yerevan to Batumi and what to do in these magnificent places.
Things To Do In Yerevan
As the capital of Armenia and the largest city in the country, Yerevan has a lot to offer. It's also one of the oldest surviving capitals in the world - dating back from 782 BC! I'm personally initially most interested in two things when I first visit a new city: the architecture and the plant-based food - and Yerevan offers both. After that comes looking at and gathering info about local politics and social issues (that's my partner's, Tamás's job).
Many of the buildings are made of a pink volcanic rock (and I love pink and rocks so this really appeals to me). When it comes to food Yerevan has three totally vegan restaurants - Dr Veggie for Dolma, Future Diner for Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dishes and Life Food for raw and organic international dishes. I was also surprised to learn that many of the world's domesticated animals originated in Armenia, and further shocked to find out that there are leopards in Armenia - perhaps not in Yerevan, but I can hope.
How To Get From Yerevan To Batumi
There are a few different ways to get from Yerevan to Batumi. Of course you might want to break up the journey and go from Yerevan to Tbilisi, spend some time in Georgia's capital and then go from Tbilisi to Batumi. But if you want to go directly from Yerevan to Batumi, it's very easy to overland with a 12go hotel transfer. It takes approximately 12 hours and you can expect to see some beautiful sites a long the way (and if you're lucky, a leopard).
Things To Do In Batumi
I have a question as old (read: ten years) as time itself - do I prefer living in the city or by the beach? My answer is to live by both or at least go from city to beach, which is why I've chosen to go from Yerevan to Batumi.
Batumi is located next to the Black Sea and is the second largest city in Georgia. It has one vegan restaurant: Go Vegan Cafe which serves breakfast, burgers and desserts. Just 50 km (and 50 minutes on the train) from Batumi is Ureki which has black magnetic sands - think Iceland at a fraction of the cost. But back to Batumi, one of the things I'm interested in in Georgia is their unique alphabet and Batumi has an entire 130 metre tall tower symbolising that (it's called, you might have guessed it, the Alphabetic Tower).
Wrap Up: From Yerevan to Batumi
So there you have it, a list of things to do in Yerevan and Batumi, with some tips on how to get between the two. I hope to be updating this post overtime once I've actually been there. Also, in case you're interested, here's a video about Batumi that I've watched to see where we're headed :) Enjoy!
If you have any tips of your own please comment below to help out fellow travellers. Thanks for reading! :)
ABOUTME
We overland. We eat plants and fungi. We live outside as much as possible. We are all connected. A female travel blogger overlanding and writing about ecotourism, ethical and sustainable travel, socially conscious travel and housesitting. An online travel magazine since 2015.
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