Blogs from Yerevan, West, Armenia, Asia - page 2

It's a long journey on an uncomfortable minibus with no air-con with a driver who is ken to get to his destination as quickly as possible,a a total of 6 hours including a border crossing that took one and a half hours, we arrived just behind a big tour bus. Immediate impressions of Yerevan are positive, a quiet city that’s easy to walk around. Staying quite close to Republic Square Walked in the centre of the city. From here it's easy to walk to the main sights, our first afternoon that included to the Cascades park which is a big staircase with art installations set up by the philanthropist Cafesjian. From the staircase we could just see Mt Ararat in the background on the Turkish border. The next day we did walking tour around the city ... read more

FACES OF ARMENIA...The Most Beautiful Women in the World. I am so embarrassed...I can't stop shaking my head in disbelief...like a snail hiding from the sun under a leaf...like a chameleon afraid to show his true colours. What made me like this? Is it too much sun? Past my used by date? Silly due to the oppressive heat? Politeness overcoming common sense? An over abundance of self-conscious hormones in my jeans...or is it in my genes? The measure of a man is how he deals with disappointment. OK I'll fess up...missed opportunity after opportunity...not wanting to look like an Ugly Tourist...Yeh that's it. Others would say gutless I reckon. I visit Armenia voted by reliable sources as having the most beautiful women in the World...and I'm too timid to ask if I may take their photo. ... read more

Vormittag Stadtführung. Ich notiere nur kurze Stichpunkte, die vielleicht interessant sind. Seit 1993 kein Grenzuebergang in die Türkei offen. Offene Übergaenge: zwei nach Georgien, einer in den Iran. Freedom Square: am 9. Mai war Nationalfeiertag, deshalb die vielen Blumen. 45 % des Stroms in Armenien kommt von einem Atomkraftwerk, das noch die Russen in der Sowjetära gebaut haben. Es ist also uralt!! Deutsch ist in Armenien eine anerkannte Minderheitensprache. Nach dem zweiten Weltkrieg sind deutsche Soldaten in Armenien geblieben und haben sich hier niedergelassen. Genozid: Die Türken geben als Zahl 800.000 Tote an und behaupten, sie seien einfach im Zusammenhang mit Kriegsgeschehnissen im 1. Weltkrieg umgekommen. Die Armenier sprechen von 1,5 Mio. Wir Deutsche sind auch involviert: Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg schrieb am 7.12.1915 auf eine Depesche: Our only a... read more

Day 149 Wednesday 15th June 2016 – Yerevan to Tatev Early start today as we are off on a long organised tour to South Eastern Armenia. Like a lot of places in this corner of the world, breakfast doesn’t start till 8.30, and we needed to be out of there by then, but we went down to the kitchen anyway where we can get tea and coffee 24 hours a day. The woman working the kitchen saw us and at least was able to put out some cupcakes for us so we got a small feed. Walked the 15 minutes up the road and got settled into our bus for the tour today. Unlike the last tour this one was on a minibus and there were 15 others with us. When we got underway ... read more

July 9, 2015 – Today went pretty well. I woke up feeling much better. No stomach ache, no gastrointestinal problems. Amazing! I took a couple more charcoal tablets and kept drinking that hideous liter of rehydration salts…so disgusting. But it worked. I had some crackers for breakfast and waited to see if it would be ok. Seemed to be. Then I took a walk in town and still seemed ok. So I decided to go for a half day trip to see Garni temple and Geghard monastery, the two main sights I wanted to see from yesterday’s missed day trip. It took some effort, but it was worth it. First I had to walk over to the KFC, and catch a bus to a place called Masivi Market. So I told the driver where I was ... read more