Blogs from Armenia, Asia - page 6

Advertisement

Asia » Armenia » West » Echmiadzin October 2nd 2017

Gregory the Illuminator & the Monasteries & Khachkars of Armenia. Punished for the sins of his father...thrown into a pit to die...15 years in that hell hole surviving on scraps from an anonymous woman...removed to pray to heal a mad king...changing the course of history in so doing... me climbing down a skinny hole into that pit where he was imprisoned...they said it was only six metres down...feels like double that...tiny slit in the roof for light and air...am I changing the course of my own history in so doing? We pass Mt Ararat where Noah's Ark is said to have settled after the flood...snow covering its shoulders...the rest of it like a mirage...Ara our guide fervently demanding attention as he tells us a bit of history...or is it legend...bringing the Apostle of Armenia to life. ... read more
Noravank Monastery
Zvartnots Temple
Sevanvank Monastery

Asia » Armenia » South September 29th 2017

Other trips have started better. Due to a"serious incident", the M3 is closed by the police and Winchester is gridlocked. Our coach to Heathrow cannot get in to pick us up! Luckily, a knight in shining armour (Julius) offered us a lift and, after walking the High Street to get out of the gridlock, we arrived at Heathrow on time. Thanks, Julius. Armenia is a complicated place. Their history is one of occupation, always a small country between super powers. Even today, Armenia is at war with Azerbaijan, a stalemate war, and the border to Turkey is also closed. Two borders are open, from Iran and from Georgia where we enter. A large Russian army base protects against NATO aggression. Russian influence ensured that Armenia joined the Soviet free trade area rather than the EU. Armenia ... read more
Monastery
The only way into the church
Restored two storey monastery

Asia » Armenia September 15th 2017

The ARMENIAN GENOCIDE...when the end becomes the beginning. In 1991 the Republic of Armenia emerged from the fragmentation of the Soviet Union...ending a thousand years of subjugation of the Armenian people...lucky...but for their spirit of endurance...to be a people at all. The Romans destroyed Caesaria in Israel "so that no stone stood upon another." History is full of towns and cities and civilisations that have come and gone. This is the story of the recent attempt to wipe any trace of the Armenian people from Eurasia...a systematic ethnic cleansing of everything Armenian...only a hundred years ago...to ensure that once proud people never emerged as a nation again...never ever...that so nearly succeeded...a history this new nation cannot and should not forget. The photos are not pretty...but they are real. Pictures from the Genocide Museum in Yerevan, Armenia ... read more

Asia » Armenia » West » Yerevan August 27th 2017

After an amazing experience lead by the Travel Camel, it was time for another adventure…..this time just in the exclusive company of Dancing Dave and Denise. We’d decided long ago that after spending a couple of weeks in the wonderfully beautiful but rustic environs of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan that a jaunt to a nearby nation was in order to try and shake off the dust and take a good look around at another Asian nation…..Armenia. The Dancing One and Denise had made all the necessary arrangements, so when we landed in Yerevan, we were whisked off to the Grand Hotel to sort of clean up our act……and also some of our clothing. It was simply grand to be basking it a bit of luxury and we took full advantage of the situation by pampering ourselves in ... read more
The Singing Fountains
David feasting on the fish sauce
Rocks with meaning?

Asia » Armenia » West » Yerevan May 11th 2017

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
20170511_094653
20170511_111145
20170511_104248

Asia » Armenia » North May 10th 2017

Über Nacht ist vor dem Hotel ein blauer Mercedes mit FFB Kennzeichen aufgetaucht und ich frage mich,, ob der Besitzer schon weiß, dass sein Auto gestohlen ist, oder ob er tatsächlich auch in diesem Hotel wohnt. Die Abfahrt war erst um 9.00, weil es das Frühstück nicht früher gab..... Die Fahrt zur Grenze war nicht lang, dauerte aber lang, weil die zahlreichen Schlaglöcher einen höchst kunstvollen Slalom erforderten. Es sah aus der Ferne sehr lustig aus, wie die Autos und LKWs in Schlangenlinien dahinkrochen. An einer Stelle war eine Straßenfräse zugangen gewesen, aber statt das herausgefräste Material wegzuräumen, war es zu Haufen aufgeschüttet worden, wie gigantische Maulwurfshaufen. Das machte die Situation noch verworrener, denn nun musste man auch noch diesen Haufen ausweichen, um 11.00 Uhr waren wir an der Grenze. 80 km, zwei Stunden. Die georgische ... read more
20170510_110602
20170510_123143
20170510_123153

Asia » Armenia January 3rd 2017

There seem to be surprisingly few events on the third, most celebrations seem to happen on the first and second, so I may be scrapping the barrel a little, but Armenia has a public holiday to celebrate the days leading up to Christmas, so this is what I decided to focus on today. Նախածննդյան տոներ - Nakhatsenendyan toner (or Pre-Christmas) is celebrated on 3rd -5th January in Armenia and surrounding areas like Nagorno-Karabakh (a disputed territory, ethnically Armenian, internationally recognised as part of Azerbijan but mostly governed by the Nagorno-Karabakh Repuiblic). There don't seem to be any particular traditions for each of the days (at least none I could find in English or Russian - Armenian is a beautiful looking language but it's not one I can pick up in a day, sorry). So, I had ... read more

Asia » Armenia » West » Yerevan October 14th 2016

Douce Arménie, La chaleur Irannienne sous toutes ses formes est maintenant derrière nous. Le Caucase nous laisse entrevoir les prémices de son immensité et nous laisse pénétrer au coeur d'un peuple vieux de plusieurs milliers d'année. Nous découvrons un peuple fort, triste et fière. Sous la protection du mont Ararat qui avait veillé sur Alexandre Le Grand 2000 ans auparavant, nous vivons au ryhtme de sa capitale Erevan. Le contact est difficile, surtout après un séjour en Iran, mais il reste vrai est sincère. Tout au long de ce dernier mois, nous découvrons la culture arménienne, que ce soit au fond des villages, à l'opéra ou encore en plein centre de la ville, la danse et la musique sont omniprésent pour notre plus grand bonheur. Nous voilà maintenant en route pour la Georgie. Sweet Armenia, The ... read more
Chuch Shadow
Sepan Lake
Wine Festival

Asia » Armenia » West » Yerevan June 18th 2016

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
Holy Treasury - Echmiadzin
Zvartnots Cathedral
Tatev

Asia » Armenia » West » Yerevan June 14th 2016

Day 144 Friday 10th June 2016 – Tbilisi to Yerevan A new morning, a new country and a new adventure. Before getting to the new country we needed to exit the old one, and today was to be one of the fastest exits we have ever had. The alarm went off at 6.30 and we did our now very professional and fast pack and check out and were out the front of our hotel hailing a taxi by 7.15. The taxi driver couldn’t speak English but we had the bus terminal written down in Georgian so he knew where to take us and quoted us a reasonable 5 Lari to get there. As always we prepare ourselves for the inevitable argument at the other end about the price but today the guy was happy ... read more
Outside Yerevan
Yerevan
Garni Temple




Tot: 0.107s; Tpl: 0.007s; cc: 15; qc: 48; dbt: 0.05s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.2mb