Personal Tour of Central Armenia

Brace yourselves for about 100 photos, folks.

http://picasaweb.google.com/ndbrown1701/PersonalTourOfArmeniaOct102010#

Absolutely Perfect Tour of Central Yerevan

Monday, 11 October

Back again, everybody.

Let’s pick up my heading out to a concert Saturday night by Daniel Decker, billed as a German of Armenia heritage.  Since it was billed as a pop concert I left with low expectations…and those were barely met.  The dude couldn’t speak Armenian, so he used a translator, but he phonetically sang several songs in Armenian.  But, his style was like watching Jack Jones or Steve Lawrence 40 years ago.  At the intermission, I drifted outside and, dang nab it, totally forgot to return.

Still early, I drifted into the locally-famous Mahklas Jazz Club, and had a most pleasant pepper steak dinner while listening to a local trio.  Resurrected a failed evening.

Up this morning and out the hotel door at 11:00 for my personal tour of a good chunk of Armenia, hosted by my three friends in the bank’s training department and the 2 YO daughter of one.

From downtown Yerevan we first headed south and slightly east through the fertile Ararat Valley, the prime cropland of Armenia.  There were major fields of wheat, and some corn, with many roadside stands of veggies and melons.  I was told that the valley typically hits about 110 degrees F during the summer, so life is not all that easy.  In addition, some pockets of soil are tainted with salt concentrations – I’m guessing that the valley used to be an inland sea that has since dried. 

We quickly drove through the small city of Artashot, which was one of the old capitals of Armenia in past eras.  It was also the site of the first theatre in Armenia, dating back to a couple of centuries B.C.  The drive outside of there was replete with fruit (apple) orchards and grapevines.  The harsh weather seems to make perfect grapes for brandy.  We literally saw a farmer an average of every 100 meters, some with build roadside shacks and some just sitting in a chair with a few baskets of produce to sell.  From the human activity in the fields immediately behind, it was obvious that many offerings were only minutes from being picked.

The next leg took us up a major hill (part driving, part walking) to the monastery at Khor Virap, dating back to 301 A.D. (309 under the current calendar).  The monestary was founded by St. Gregor upon being released from 13 years in captivity in a stone room some 4’ x 4’ x 7’ (yes, the room was available for viewing and fitting).   We happened upon a Sunday mass being said in the chapel, so I couldn’t take pictures.  Interestingly, the practice was to exit the chapel door backwards, so as not to turn one’s back on the altar.  Outside, on the ramparts of the monastery, we also viewed the Turkish border less than 200 meters away.  I could have crossed the border without a problem.  Armenian citizens, however, must enter Turkey by first flying to Georgia….they cannot directly enter Turkey because of the lingering dispute over the Turkish genocide of several million Armenians near the end of WWI.

The next few kilometers took us past the village of Ararat, noted for having the largest (only?) cement factory in Armenia.  Shortly beyond that lay the village of Rasdan, with numerous small lakes in which fish are naturally raised.  My hosts, of course, had to stop at a roadside store where live fish were being vended from ersatz vats made from converted small dump truck beds.  I made friends with a Russian kingfish that was supposed to weigh 50 kg.  We opted not to buy any such souvenirs.

My hosts also noted that a good proportion of  the autos in the country run on natural gas, instead of petroleum.  In this petrol-poor country, natural gas tends to have a more stable supply.

The next photo is of the large village of “Dream”, notable only because the road alongside also abuts the hills that form the Azerbaijani border (totally closed along the Armenian border, of course).  That particular road only recently reopened…I am told because Azerbaijani snipers made it too dangerous.  Cease fires CAN be good.   

We then headed north past Tigronashen into the Kyarki Mountains.  For those of you following this on a map, the route took us through Vardashot village, the Vyotsdvor region, and the Chiva village.  The latter is particularly known for the quality and quantity of peaches and grapes, both of which were in full harvest on this delightful Sunday afternoon.

Just outside of Areni, we stopped at one of the larger roadside stands to sample some homemade wine….many farmers brew it themselves and sell it along the road, pouring it from 20-liter jugs into 1-liter reused soda bottles.  The sweet wine offered by one vendor was OK, while the dry red was quite good.  I bought a liter for $2.78.  While sipping yet more Armenian coffee, I also sampled a snack of ghavrma, the local winter food.  It is prepared in autumn by boiling any meat for several days in salt water, which preserves it throughout the harsh winters (elevation at this time was close to a mile).  The meat is wrapped in lavash for easy eating.

Just a few kilometers we climbed a beautiful, steep road leading to the Noravank (New Church) monastery, sating back to the 1300.  Here, we were also fortunate to encounter a christening, attended by perhaps 20 of the newborn’s relatives.  Houses and farmsteads are few and far between in those parts.  Most of the activity I saw was sheepherding….given how thin and rocky the soil is, I cannot imagine anything growing there.

We departed the monastery along the same road (OK, the ONLY road) and stopped at some Paleolithic caves.  The caves supposedly go back some 1.6 km which has been explored, but your claustrophobic writer had no intention of confirming that.  Signs of civilization dating back 16,000 years have been found in the caves.  Elsewhere, remains dating back 40,000 years have been found here.

From there, we tailed the Arpat River towards Lake Seva, the only large lake in the country and the source of most of Yerevan’s water.  For you geographers here, we then stopped in the village of Hagavauadzdor for lunch, which consisted of:

-          tomatoes (grown on the premises)

-          cukes (ditto)

-          Greek olives

-          Cilantro

-          A bitter local lettuce

-          Hot and sweet peppers

-          Lavash

-          White bread (both breads baked on the premises)

-          Homemade dry red wine

-          Pear juice

-          Pomegranate juice

-          BBQ pork

-          BBQ beef

-          BBQ fish (from a Russian fish that was introduced 20 years ago, and has now devastated the local lakes because it eats all of the other baby fish)

-          And, of course Armenian coffee

We killed about 90 minutes over lunch.  The locale, as you will see when I upload the pics, was by a pretty mountain stream.

We’re nearing the end of the trip, and our endurance.  My next photo is of the switchback we were about to challenge to get to the highest part of the land around here (Caravangerai), about 6600 feet.  It is typical for cars to encounter problems navigating this road, between the low oxygen and poor maintenance on most autos.  Due to a lack of good communication, my host did not stop at the apex, so you will not enjoy the panorama that I did.  Eat your hearts out!

From the high point, we trailed down among another switchback towards Lake Seva, to the city of Nortvok.  This city is noted as the wealthiest (per capita) in Armenia because most residents work in Russia, sending their earnings back home for years before returning and retiring.

This last village reminded me that I hap passed (probably) a dozen signs on the tour indicating bird sanctuaries.  I found this notable and commendable in a relatively poor country.  Someday, if I am fortunate to return, they will bear checking out. 

By this time, we were really burned out.  So, my hosts headed back along the highway to Yerevan, skirting the villages of Martun and Vardadzov, and we burned back into home about 8:00 at night after a glorious 9-hour personal tour.  The celebration of Yerevan’s 2,792^nd anniversary was still going on, but I chose to stay in my room and avoid the crowds.

So, that is the story of my Sunday.  One could not hope for better hosts, a more beautiful countryside, or more perfect weather on any day of life.

Thanks for reading.