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

Geo: 40.1596, 44.509Hot all dayAfter brekkies, we got in the van and drove to the hill behind Yerevan, where stands Victory Park, with a giant statue of the Mother of Armenia … she has a sword and shield and is facing Turkey with a "if you want it, try to take it" expression. There is an abandoned amusement park at the top as well. Crossing the major street, we came to another large square with a very tall stellae shaped a bit like a sword. From here, we had the view all across Yerevan.We then walked down the "cascade" which is part art museum and part way to get from upper Yerevan to the main city. While the very top layer was halted in the middle of construction, and so looks a little sad, the other ... read more

Geo: 40.1596, 44.509We had our brekkies upstairs, consisting of coffee and omelets and homemade jams. Very tasty.We drove up to Haghartsin monastery up in the hills, which has been recently renovated with money from a sheikh from Sharjah, UAE. The complex consists of several churches and chapels. We learned about the triangular niches in the walls, which help make the churches more resistant to earthquakes (which are common in this region). One of the churches is designed to resemble a peasant house … except huge and made of stone. Another has a large narthex. Unlike in Georgia, we seem to be allowed to enter the church without a scarf or skirt. (We learned that the scarf symbolizes that the husband is above our head, with God above him. We women cannot, apparently, be exposed directly to ... read more

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

July 7, 2015 – *Disclaimer – be warned that this entry has disgusting bodily functions mentioned* The train ride to Yerevan from Batumi went quite well, actually. I left the guesthouse at 2:30pm, giving myself an hour to get to the train station before my train left. It is about 25-30 mins, so it should be fine, right? Well, the traffic was crazy on my street and I had to wait about 10 minutes for the right number minivan to come by, and then we barely moved for a while. I was getting a little nervous, but of course it worked out fine. I gave my ticket and passport to the ladies checking and they studied it and studied it. I think one was learning the job, but not sure. Either way, we didn’t speak the ... read more

Niedzielę zaczęliśmy od wizyty w meczecie. W Erewaniu działa tylko jeden; odbudowany i zarządzany przez Irańczykow. Nazywa się Blue Mosque i miałam nadzieję, że będzie przypominał choć trochę struktury z Esfahanu. ale choć leży na cichym dziedzińcu z (suchą) fontanną, to brak w jego wykonaniu delikatności i finezji spotykanych w Iranie. Bardziej wygląda na wersje soc-real. Po drugiej stronie ulicy jest centrum handlowe, które kiedyś było lokalnym bazarem i ono juz ma bardziej dystyngowana konstrukcje. W ogóle z bazarami w Erewaniu jest średnio, w centrum tylko sklepy spożywcze albo ewentualnie duże warzywniaki, czasami zdarza sie na rogu babcia sprzedająca jabłka z wiadra, ale nie zaobserwowalam nic z naszej kultury straganu zieleniaka. Z meczetu pojechaliśmy na weekendowy pchli targ o dumnej nazwie Vernissage. Mam jeszcze w pamięci taki targ (i kupione... read more