Travel blog by Päivi & Santeri Kannisto

Update 2016-12-17: Added Yerevan airport bus information.When heading to Yerevan from Tbilisi, you can choose between train and marshrutka (minibus). Trains go only every other day, which did not fit our schedule, so we took a marshrutka. The trip was a bit of a hassle, but at the same time culturally interesting.

Päivi fell in love with Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. It is romantically decadent, situated between hills and the river Kura (which, funnily enough, means 'mud' in Finnish). Architecture is stunning and Tbilisians are generally friendly, they speak English and — judging from the number of theaters and cultural institutes — they have other values in life besides money.

There are a couple of options for crossing the border between Russia and Georgia. The most direct route goes through Abhazia but requires a visa, which we didn't have. Instead, we went to North Ossetia and crossed the border from Vladikavkaz to Tbilisi via the famous Georgian Military Road AKA Invasion Highway that Russian troops have used since 18th century. The scenery was breathtaking and worth the detour.

The previous time we visited Russia was in 2006, when we were still omnivores. Having been vegans since 2010, we were a bit skeptical of what the Russian kitchen could offer us now when mettwurst, grilled chicken, smetana, and caviar were out of the question. Veganism is only emerging in Russia, and it is generally regarded as a folly. It raises eyebrows and wonder: "What do you eat then?"