Armenia – the first thought about it is… deficiency. Unfortunately, we were not lucky enough and the weather was bad, that is why we could not accomplish our trip 100% but people we met on our way compensated that!!!!
I will start with the fact that while writing and thinking about Armenia we have in mind also Górski Karabach – territory inhabited by Armenian which is subject matter of litigation between Armenia and Azerbaijan. This area is controlled by local Armenians supported by Republic of Armenia. Despite the separateness which is strongly highlighted by habitants of Karabach, for random people like us it is not visible at all. To get to Karabach we needed visa for which we applied in half an hour while being in Yerevan. Habitants of Karabach speak Armenian, use Armenian currency and it is easy to communicate with them in Russian (as in Georgia) While talking about Russian language (if you are Polish), even if you did not learn it at school, if you try hard, listen carefully and smile a lot, you should manage to communicate. What is really interesting is the fact that Armenia is the oldest Christian country in the world. Did you know about it? We didn’t.
The whole Armenia is inhabited by 3 mln people, most of them live in the capital city – Yerevan. In Yerevan we started our Armenian adventure. The love to street art is really visible here – paintings made our wanderings pleasant and they also decorate entries to the backyards We paid attention to “tuff” buildings which differ a lot from grey, classic blocks of flats. We are its fans Moreover, the city is really calm as for the capital city and it is also really clean !!!
We did not get to the museums or churches in Yerevan, we did not checked off classic “must see” places but we explored it our way. We went to Chess House. In the Chess House take part international chess games and many events connected to this sport. We met there a guard who offered Maciej a game. After that we went to the main hall where suddenly appeared a group of kids, dressed up for the beginning of school year. A teacher make all of them sit down and reminded a few of the game rules. Accidentally we have seen a demonstration game (in Armenia Chess is an obligatory subject in primary school!!!) Later, we got to the place which is probably mecca for everybody who loves gold and silver. This place is a collection of everything that is connected with articles from gold, its transforming, designing or purchasing (Gold Market). It is situated in one, big, multistory building full of people. I wished I could buy something there but our budget for sure does not let me to do that. 😉 :p an interesting place which we managed to visit is Magerian Carpet Factory. You can see there women who in a traditional way weave carpets. Carpets’ producing process is really long – depending on carpet’s size it can take even till a few years but the effects are amazing!!! We were impressed. We wanted so much to see also the training of the original Armenian sport – kokh (Armenian substitute of wrestling) but we were late. To feel a bit better we photographed a hall where the training takes place We were impressed also by cascades, especially by night! Cascades are an architectonic complex that from the outside looks like huge white stairs decorated with flowers, sculptures and fountains. Inside, on 3 floors, you can find a museum. Around the cascades you can take a rest in a real nice park with modern sculptures of world-wide well known artists!! 😀 The whole object is really well guarded.
When it comes to cuisine…. Let me cut the long story short : vegetarians have a small problem here, it is hardly possible to find something tasty, nourishing and vegetarian here. But you will not die starving in Armenia Very popular is a variety of bread rolls with different stuffing. They are baked in roadside, small bakeries and it is easy to buy them warm. The biggest surprise for us was something that was similar to our sweet doughnut but with the….. potato stuffing – a bit surprising but tasty. We had also the opportunity to try in Karabach classic pancakes full of herbs – zhangaliow. I have no idea what kinds of and how many kinds of herbs they use but the pancakes were delicious despite their intensity! Totally accidentally we got to a bee yard where we had awesome honey with honey bread! Maciek was stung by a bee but it was worth it. We also found out that as in Poland, Armenians like to pickle different kinds of vegetables. They pickle them in jars pouring with solutions. They also make tasty homemade compotes and alcohol! Before we started our trip, we were reading blogs and other travelers’ reports and it was unbelievable for us how those travelers were describing Armenians’ hospitality but we felt it after our visit here. We asked a boy in a small town about the directions and he invited us for a dinner to his home and he offered us accommodation!!!! We had an opportunity to meet his big family who treated us like royal family 😉 The next example is help from a driver who took us from the street, gave us a ride where we wanted (despite the fact that he was going in opposite direction), send some driver to take us back when we finished sightseeing and invited us for a dinner, coffee, tea, cognac, sweets, fruit and gave as a goodbye gift – UNBELIVABLE!!!! ;D What is more, Maciek had a real grenade in his hands. I do not know why did we deserve all those goods and entertainments )? Maybe thanks to prayers and visits to Armenian monasteries??
Finishing, I would like to add that Karabach is not as bad as they say. It is true that there are a lot of servicemen but it is just like in Żagań, my hometown . Taking into consideration bad weather which accompanied us for the whole time, we are sure that with a bit of sun Armenia has even more charm and uniqueness which we of course admired.