Day 17 was a preparation day. Tomorrow I leave for Armenia — a 6:45 AM bus, a new country, a new currency, a new chapter. But before any of that, I needed Armenian Dram. And that turned out to be harder than expected.

💸 The Dram Hunt

I went to several banks to exchange Georgian Lari for Armenian Dram. No one had any. I tried the exchange houses. Same answer. In a city with no shortage of currency exchange kiosks — you can swap dollars, euros, rubles, lira at any corner — the Armenian Dram was apparently an exotic request. Lesson learned: some currencies need to be ordered in advance, or you pick them up at the border. I’ll figure it out when I arrive.

🧦 Dezerter Bazaar — The Sock Re-up

With the currency mission unresolved, I pivoted to a more tangible errand: socks. I’d lost another pair to holes in the soles — all the walking, the canyon hikes, the metro explorations. The Dezerter Bazaar, which had served me well on Day 6 with the great sock arbitrage of 2026, called again. This time I negotiated a bulk deal: 5 pairs for 21 GEL. 4.20 per pair. Not the 2.50 steal from Day 6, but a solid volume discount. My feet are now provisioned for Armenia and beyond.

While there, I grabbed an ice cream cone — 5 GEL — because the bazaar in September is still hot and because some purchases don’t need a deeper justification.

👅 Palate — Chicken Pho at Last

I took the subway back to Liberty Square and walked to Carrefour Market. Upstairs, there’s a food court, and there I finally found what I’d been longing for: chicken pho from Pho Bo — 26.80 GEL. A proper chicken noodle soup. Clear broth, tender chicken, rice noodles, herbs on the side. After seventeen days Georgian food — which I love — this Vietnamese bowl hit a different register entirely. The kind of meal that doesn’t just feed you; it resets something. I’ve been craving a good chicken noodle soup for weeks, and this delivered.

🧳 Packing for Armenia

After lunch, I headed back to my Georgian home and started packing. The bus leaves at 6:45 AM — a 20-minute walk from my apartment in the Tbilisi dawn. It’ll be an early start. The kind where you set two alarms and still wake up before the first one, your brain already in transit mode.

Seventeen days in. This city has given me khinkali lessons, rainbow mountain windstorms, metro adventures end to end, sock arbitrage, Georgian polyphony, Persian shashlik, Brazilian bossa nova, Mexican menu consulting, and a hand-painted coffee cup that starts every morning right. I’ve watched old women feed pigeons and old men sweep plazas on pensions that don’t cover the month. I’ve sat in rose gardens that smelled like history.

And the best part? I’m coming back. Armenia is a weekend trip — two countries, one Caucasus. The apartment will still be here. The coffee cup will still be here. Tbilisi isn’t going anywhere, and neither am I. Not yet.

By the Numbers

Item	GEL	EUR (≈)
Socks (5 pairs, Dezerter Bazaar)	21.00	€7.14
Ice cream (Dezerter Bazaar)	5.00	€1.70
Chicken pho (Pho Bo, Carrefour)	26.80	€9.12
Metro	—	—
Total	52.80	€17.96