And back to Yerevan

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Friday 28 September 2012

An early start today as we had a few things to see en route to Yerevan, the most important being, the cable car to Tatev. This was being built when I visited two years ago. The drive to Tatev had been one of the scariest of my life and nothing would have induced me to do it again. Rod had a similar experience. Going by cable car was a different story. It is the longest cable car in the world and costs 300 AMD one way. The road has improved and Saro persuaded us that we should come back in the car.

The car we were in was completely full and it was like being on a fairground ride. The ride over the gorge is spectacular and only takes 10 minutes. I'm so pleased we did it. Five minutes after we arrived, Saro turned up in his car. He must have driven like a racing driver which would be no mean feat on that particular road.

We had a good look around. There has been some work on providing information about stuff, for example, the oil press was like a mini museum. Disappointingly, you are no longer allowed to walk around the defence walls as I think someone managed to fall down a hole.

Our return journey was a tale of two halves. The first bit that goes down the gorge has not been tarmac'ed but the surface was better than last time, so still a bit of a white knuckle ride. We stopped briefly at the bottom of the gorge at Devils Bridge. It's where the two mountains meet up with each other to form a natural bridge.

The route on the other side was much, much better. Tarmac and barriers to stop cars from plunging over the edge. We stopped for lunch at the cable car cafe which has fantastic views over the gorge. Yogurt soup, and three salads - bean, carrot & cabbage and a beetroot one.

Our next stop was Shaki falls. The falls can be quite spectacular when the sluice gates of the dam are opened up. Needless to say it was not a dam opening day so instead of a sheet of waterfall, there were several small ones coming down. We walked up to the dam and reservoir which were very small compared to the sort of reservoirs we are used to in the UK.

We decided to give Jermuk a miss to save it for visit number 3. There was still a long way to go to get to Yerevan. Interesting scenery on the way. We had a quick stop at the cave cafe which is on the road to Noravank and then it was full steam ahead to Yerevan. Coming down the pass into the Ararat Valley we had the most amazing sight of the sunset coming down over Ararat. A rather intense photo session ensued.

One last gas stop before our final destination. The flat we have rented is in the centre of Yerevan on Abovyan Street. We have a balcony looking out on the street which is like the Armenian equivalent of Fifth avenue. We found a nice tea house where we ate - our waitress was very sweet. She is studying English and seemed to be keen to practice it with us. We then rounded off the evening with a beer at the nearest cafe to our flat - disappointingly, we don't have wifi in the flat so we are on the continual search for cafes around the city to hook up to.

We've rearranged the flat so that we can sit on the balcony and people watch as well as watch the dreadful parking technique of Yerevan drivers.

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