Talk to me about Georgia and Armenia (crime, best, country)

[monique74]

Planning summer vacations to those places summer 08, so talk to me about them, i want personal experiences tell me if they're child friendly, safe, prices etc...

[RuralCoastalGuy]

Monique:
Try this link as a starter. Best you rely on facts and not other folks' opinions as they tend to be biased one way or the other.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenia
Armenia is a Christian, democratic country amid all the other muslim countries. As the first country to adopt Christianity (circa 301 A.D.) they also suffered the first genocide of the 20th century in 1915, committed by the Turks.

[wastina]

I live in Tbilisi, Georgia and find it to be an incredibly do-able country. Beautiful scenery, interesting, outspoken people. I'm happy to provide more recommendations, if you want to provide more specific questions. For a general approach to what it's like here, you might want to check out http://www.talesmag.com, a website for expats who live overseas.

Depending on how you "do" Georgia, you'll find it very reasonable pricewise. Depending on your travel experience, I would recommend renting a car and driving out into the countryside (Gori for Stalin's museum, David Goreji and Udabno -- unREAL moonscape, Kakheti and the Caucuses mountains, Kazbegi). Lonely Planet doesn't really do much justice, but if you triangular between that and a good road map (from amazon.com, bring with you) you can find a good two weeks of travel. The country is child-friendly, and crime is overrated (unless you walk around with money hanging out of your pockets). I've been here 9 months, and reall like it!

Passport stamp (no visa) upon arrival for Americans, good for 90 day visit. Fairly good English spoken (especially in center).

And go rent "Since Otar Left," a great foreign film shot in Tbilisi.

Enjoy your planning!

[bklynchapin]

I visited Armenia for two weeks in the summer of 06. My brother and a good friend were filming a documentary there. We were staying with a family in a very tiny town called Argats at the base of the mountains. Yerevan had it's cool sights, but I would definitely recommend spending most of your time in the countryside. Yerevan was very hot in the summer, but this town had coller weather. I know everyone says this, but the people were seriously the nicest people I have ever met, and I have travelled through about 25 countries. We would go on hikes and any group of people that were picknicking would insist that you join them. We could not communicate at all but they called you until you came and offered bread, tomatoes, cucumbers and vodka. That was most of what we ate there, and it was fantastic. My family is from Guatemala, so I have absolutely no bias here. My friend just arranged to stay with a family, but I'm not sure how practical that would be for you. I would definitely go again, though.