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Published: October 30th 2010
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Yerevan
dinner! Arrived 6am in Yerevan, the airport is busy with a few early arrivals along with us, I took the Air Baltic from Riga.The airport was surprisingly modern and for most, we have to queue to the visa counter, fill up forms then queue for the visa counter, almost halfway through when I realized I have to pay in local money so got out and looked for ATM, there was none in the area and so I have to change $10 which was the exact amount for a 21 day visa. Took almost an hour waiting in line, then at the immigration counter had a chat with a fellow American also from Boston, this dude works here for the American University, after immigration that was the last I saw of him as I gather my belongings and leaving the arrivals hall, a taxi driver approached me right away and quoted 10,000 drams to get to my CSurfing host, Mohammad my host told me at most pay only 4,000 so I declined his offer.
They give away free SIM card at the MTS booth so I availed of it and then topped it up so I can call Mohammad, he gave me
instructions to ask another driver, I walked out the arrivals hall into the street near the parking lot and found 2 taxi driver that quoted me 10,000 but they get it down to 5,000 I was gonna take it but had a second look and they both look like mafia goons so I walked out and hailed one on the road, the old man taxi driver agreed to 4,000 and off we go but he keeps stopping to ask for directions from fellow drivers, that worried me a bit, he was nice and pointed out attractions as we pass them, there's Mt. Ararat, there's Ararat wine factory, etc. He hardly spoke English nor Russian but somehow we found the place, Mohammad went down to pick me up in the street, he told me he had 3 other surfers, 2 from Czech Rep and an Argentine dude.
I was so tired I slept in the sofa for 3 hours then woke up and met the Czech couple and later when he woke up Juan from Buenos Aires. The Czech couple left for Georgia, Juan , me and Mohammad went to town for lunch and walk around to see the city,
very European look to it. We went to this town where there are lots of churches in this huge compound and we witness a baptism rite of a young woman, we thought she was a convert but we dont know for sure. Then back to town by minivans and chilled at Mohammad's apartment. Juan went out to meet a girl he met the night before at a bar and I stayed and rested as I havent slept well in 2 days!
The next day Juan did not come home and Mohammad was a bit worried but I told him he will be fine, so then we both went to Lake Sevan, the minivan dropped us off in the city of Sevan then we took a shared taxi to the Peninsula, there are heaps of Iranian tourists, and restaurants are playing loudly Persian pop music to attract them, Mohammad said they cannot party or dance or even swim in the beach in their swimwear in Iran so they revel here, about 3 to 4 bus loads of them. We went for a swim in the cold water, the beach isn't really nice, its ok and at least its free, lots
of people are jetskiing so I cannot swim far or risk being mowed over by them. We looked for lunch but it was quite expensive, we wanted to try the crayfish from the lake, they dont have them, they told us go to Yerevan, they have it there! We ended up eating some kebabs because its cheap, the hordes of Iranian tourists drive the prices up.
We walked to the main road from the peninsula and took a minivan to Dilidjan a town where there is an old church, the scenery is nicer, lots of forests and winding roads up the mountain but when we arrived in the town it was a shit hole, nothing interesting and the church is about 4km away, we tried to walk it but it was too hot so we ended up going back and just having a look at a war memorial on top of a hill then went back to Yerevan.
Arriving in Yerevan we got off on top of the hill and walked down the cascade, a famous landmark here, lots of people walking around and lovers hiding in nooks making out. At the bottom there are some cool sculptures
but they are replicas apparently, a few from my favorite artist, Botero. We visited Navid, Mohammad's friend and we went home with him, we stopped by the supermarket to buy crayfish, it is so cheap for 2 kgs it is roughly $5 only. I cooked it and we had it for dinner, Juan me and Mohammad ate the crayfish, Navid got scared because it is staring at him so he begged off and ate the claws instead. We finished it in no time then washed it down with good Kilikia beers. Juan and Navid went out again I fell asleep right away.
Another excursion for us the next day, this time to Garni to visit the ancient temple, we have to pay the entrance fee which is only about $1.5, we said we were students. Its a Greek temple, not so big, there is a concert going on inside it, again bunch of Iranian tourists, anyway we decided to walk down the canyon and along the way encountered numerous blackberry shrubs full of ripe fruits so we ended up eating as we walk the trail, so delicious and free! Then we arrived down the bottom where we can view
the unusual rock formations, they look like cylindrical tubes carved out from the mountain, we thought it might be lave flows but we dont know if there are volcanoes here. We had a swim in the river nearby, some locals are having a picnic, it is not picturesque and trash is everywhere, so we crossed the river to the other side where the water is warmer but the green water is not enticing so after a quick dip we went back to the rapids and had lunch and a brief swim again.
Had a siesta then walked up the road to try and get to some old church and in doing so we have to go through Khosrov forest reserve, when we got to the top a ranger found us and escorted us to the main park office and told us to pay 3,000 dram each we refused so we got turned back, we did not think its worth the money, the landscape is not attractive and we just want to see an old church, he escorted us out of the park and we headed to the village and took a minivan back. Its another crayfish night Yehey!when we
came back, we shopped for veggies as well, Juan is a chef and he decided to make soup from the crayfish stock. 2 cooks in the small kitchen but it worked out and we had delicious crayfish once again.
There is a celebration in town as it is holiday the next day so we went out and at the city center there are lots of people sitting by the fountain chilling and milling around we got tired of the scene so went looking for a bar which we could not find so went to another that Juan frequents, after a beer we left as it is not to lively, taxi driver tried to con us, typical but we made it home safe and collapsed to our beds, been a long day.
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Alex Schwaar
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I am happy to find this page, the photos reminded me with our trip on summer 2010 to Dilijan. The crisp air and the wonderful colors make you wish the holiday never ended.. There is no other place like Dilijan, colorful, vibrant, incredibly romantic & simply irresistible. My family and I, we stayed in two different hotels, the first was Dili Villa B&B where it was funny to find the place dirty and kind of strange smell was in the house, we left same day to Tufenkian Hotel where we could find a nice, warm shelter during our 4 day trip in the small swiss Dilijan. We will never forget that trip and we will come again soon. Best wishes Alex Schwaar