Day 30 Armenia - Drive from Yerevan to Areni, Jermuk and Goris

Today we drove to Areni with the transporter. Around Areni is a famous wine-growing region, and in Areni itself, there is a large store where you can see the production process. Very interesting, I learned, among other things, that wine aged in oak barrels is called 'Reserve'. Additionally, it was pleasantly cool there, a welcome change from the outside temperature of over 40 degrees Celsius.

Afterwards, we drove to Jermuk, known for its particularly healthy water. When we arrived there after a long and tough drive, our supposedly fancy hotel, according to Booking, was under construction. There were only rooms available at the neighbor's place, who apparently used them as accommodation for construction workers, including a 'hedgehog' on the table. Somehow, half of the city seemed to be one big construction site, with most buildings being abandoned ruins, closed, or undergoing renovations. We first visited the Jermuk waterfall.

Afterwards, we had to do some improvising because the exhaust system sounded a bit too sporty on the last few kilometers. Normally, there are three studs mounted between the manifold and the exhaust pipe, but one was already missing when we left in May. The second one has now said goodbye, and the third one will surely want to take on the work of the other two for a long time. So, I temporarily secured the exhaust with wire and a metal rod that may have been a shish kebab skewer in its previous life. At least it won't fall to the ground.

Here, this is considered a particularly professional repair method. The average local would simply tear off the muffler and throw it away.

Let's see if and when I will have to take action again here. I already have a chaotic repair method in mind, but I won't reveal it yet.

Since we didn't like Jermuk that much, we continued driving to Goris. Along the way, we wanted to stop at another hotel. However, it looked like it had been closed for years, with the closed entrance gate already overgrown. Sometimes, this internet isn't so up to date after all.

In Goris, we found a small and beautiful hotel and had dinner in the city to end the day.

We covered a distance of 315 kilometers today.