Georgia

So here is my assessment of the trip I was on, let the commenting begin!

Tblisi

The good: Very nice pre-Soviet architecture which would be at home in Krakow or Budapest, with some Caucasian touches, plus a river and nice hills. Great (and cheap) sulphur bathes right next to the Armenian church.

The bad: HUMID! CRIME! Yes, the humidity was brutal, and you had a hard time staying dry. And after all the crime stories I'd heard, I get there to find a young Japanese guy staying at the same place as me had been attacked by two big guys bashing him with stones to rob him. Also must say (though I might be biased) there was not a lot of love at all for the Armenians there. Whenever I introduced myself, I was automatically American, not Armenian, just like the Armenians in Georgia were being convinced they are Georgian, not Armenian. This might not be something other tourists would pick up on, but as an Armenian I was paying close attention, talking to many Georgians and Georgian-Armenians and that was my take.

Other than that it was just in general interesting to observe the differences/similiarities. They really have one main drag, with no other street seeming to come close to it. The had McDonalds and a decent English bookstore. They were renovating many old building incredibly well, and even giving some Soviet buildings a face lift. Lots of construction and infrastructural work. Cops were in general better, though at the border I did see some suspect behavior.

Batumi

Again, some nice architecture in this small city, a lot of renovation and infrastructure work, and unbelievable humidity. It was rainy most of the time (it is subtropical after all), but it was still easy to walk around a lot, see some sites close-by, and meet some of the local Armenians. Many of the Armenians have lost their language skills, but their church was recently renovated and reopened, hopefully breathing new life into the community. There was a huge botanical garden nearby, where I bought some young hardy kiwi plants that will survive in Armenia. These will compliment the ones I've grown from seed. I gave a couple away in Lori Marz, and if anyone knows someone in Armenia/Karabakh who has a nice garden and would enjoy such a plant, let me know.

My New Yerevan Tourism Theory

So having now seen a fair number of Eastern European cities, from Tblisi to Zagreb to Krakow, and talking to many travellers, this is my decision on how to market Yerevan... as having fantastic SOVIET ARCHITECTURE! Yes, I know some people will say it's crazy, but that's what we have, and that's what is unique and cool for a tourist. We can never come close to the old architecture of any of these cities, but they can never match our city's Soviet heritage, much of which is extremely nice. From Republic Square and Opera, to Sasuntsi Davit train station and the Hamalir Complex, we have loads of cool Soviet buildings, and we need to revel in it. We need to preserve it, highlight it, advertise it, and show people what "good Soviet" can mean. I heard a few people say that they couldn't see much difference between Zagreb, Krakow or the others, and though that might be a slight exaggeration, it is true that the architecture in the entire region - including Tblisi - is quite similiar. What we have is something different, and not only that but Soviet, both of which are things that travellers love. We can build a small neighborhood of "old Yerevan" if we like sometime. We can market the regional architecture of Dilijan, Lori, Goris, Meghri, Shushi, Hadrut and other areas as well, but we should not feel ashamed of the Soviet, we should not automatically condemn it, but rather we should study it and revel in it!