Yerevan: Day 24-25

Day 24

Yerevan is surprisingly a modern city. We had a rather relaxed day as it had been strenuous toll on my friend who did all the driving, who had some nosebleed instances although I think the beautiful Armenian girls are the cause of it :p

So the city is very nice, I had thought Armenia's capital would be a poor dirty city but the big leafy boulevards, and urban planning is astounding,thanks to the work of Alexander Tamanian. It actually felt as though I was walking in an American city and I've never even been to the USA but watching a lot of television series help to lend that feeling.

 

Komitas, the first ethnomusicologist who travelled through Armenian villages collecting folksongs.

He represents the "Loss" during the Armenian genocide as he was one of the 250 people that was rounded up in Istanbul. The horror of the genocide broke his mind and he was intern at an asylum until his death. Allthe chorales and songs died with him.

However the day proved to be blistering hot so we went back to our hostel, a new cosy little place right beside the Cascade Stairs. In the evening when we came out to grab a bite and we saw a crowd gathered in front of the steps. The people were folk dancing to Armenian music! We then went up to catch a bird's eye view of Yerevan by taking the escalators which are behind the stairs, how neat!

The Cascade is a wonderful building that acts as a park and art gallery. At each level you could step out to the middle grounds and enjoy the works of art and sculptures. At 8pm however, they closed before we could reach to the top, so we took the stairs all the way. Am happy to report that we don't get so easily winded now and have gotten fitter from all the little hikes and stairs we've had to climbed up :D

For dinner, we went back to the place we found earlier in our walkabout in town,we had marked it into my phone's map. However the night ended with Dion having to go to the hospital as the curry special contained his kryptonite, an extremely close call but he's now safe and sound. 

Day 25

On this day we set out to visit either Echmiadzin or Gerghard but due to my lack of preparation and getting differing information on how to get to the monasteries,we went on a big loop through the city. We realised  later that we went too far out already so we had to get off the bus to U turn back. We finally got to the bus station, since it only had mashrutkas serving the route to Etchmiadzin we went there instead. While inside the mashrutka, an older lady asked where I was getting off and I told her the monastery, "ah Manastir" so she indicated that I could follow her and get off at the right place. 

As we entered the little town, she started talking to me but it was all gibberish to me until another church came into view and she pointed to it then I understood "aah Hrip-si-me Manastir! Dah dah"

Etchmiadzin is the first cathedral to be built . Going to Geghard would have been the better choice as Etchmiadzin was under renovation. The complex has many new Church buildings surrounding Etchmiadzin. Ater that we thought to walk all the way to the next monastery as it proved to be an unexciting visit.

While at Hripsime, we stumbled upon another wedding about to take place.

Then the photographer came over, 

"You like Armenia?"

"Yes, Armenia very beautiful"

"What you think of Armenia?"

"Armenia is special, first country to be Christian"

"Ya! We have many monasteries"

His colleagues were looking at him as the wedding was about to begin and he ran off to cover it. I went quickly inside to get pictures before more people came in. Inside I saw the trio of travellers ,who had also walked all the way from St Etchmiadzin to Hripsime. I asked where theyw ere headed to next and tagged along after them to check out Zvarnots temple. Dion wasn't feeling well and headed back home to rest.

But the travellers, Portugese and French,decided they had enough walking and stuck out their thumbs. So we managed to hitch a ride for all four of us to the entrance of Zvarnots Temple. Luis and Claire are travelling long term so they didn't want to pay for the entrance fee. I was gamed to go along with them to circle around and find another way in without paying. However the ticket attendant and security noticed this and didn't give up in chasing us and hollering at us to pay for our entry. We realised why they were so insistent on us paying because there really was a hole at the side. We got in but some fat man came shouting and shoving at Luis not letting us in so we all left.

Once again we stuck out our thumbs and one car passed us but it reversed and came to give us a lift, we were four people however and there were two passengers already so I got the ride first to Yerevan but not before I got a little piece of them.

"See you again in the city, there's a free concert tonight do you want to go? you have our paper yes?"

"What paper?" So Luis runs of to his bag to give me his travel blog contact.

"Ok i'll go online and contact you"

"Yes we'll be on later!"

As we got into the city the driver asked where to drop me off so I pointed at all the places in the map and then blurted out Vernissage or Sayat Nova str. He nodded and I got dropped off just before this market place, Vernissage.

I thought maybe I could find some postcards but I found some nice magnets (3 times cheaper than the souvenir shop in Echmiadzin!) This is an antique collector's or a vintage decoraters dream shopping stop. You can find porcelain dolls, pots and ceramic from yesteryears, and old cameras

After my own bit of souvenir shopping I made my way back to the hostel and came across North Avenue. Finally I found the place the hostel receptionist had mentioned, and here the Key to the City of Yerevan. Just before crossing the big street I met another friend from Kutaisi, Georgia. So we hung out a bit and caught up with each other on what we had done in Yerevan. It's really nice to meet again someone you met earlier in your travels.