A wee side trip from my time in Georgia, Yerevan was a lovely place to spend a few days! I didn’t pre-plan much for my stay there, and didn’t really know what I could expect from the visit, but I soon found myself quite enjoying this part of the world.
I arrived on the train from Georgia at around midday, and headed straight to my hostel. They were kind enough to let me in early, so I got myself settled and started my research on what the city had to offer! I signed myself up for the free walking tour that started at 4pm that afternoon, then went and found myself some lunch at a lahmacun place just around the corner.
There was quite a big group of us for the walking tour. I’ve come to quite enjoy them as an introduction to the city, and a good way to help me get my bearings and figure out what I want to see more of.
The tour guide himself was an unusual man, and I didn’t initially like his style very much, as he seemed abrupt and, well, a bit rude, but his quirkiness grew on my over the next couple of hours. We learnt about why Yerevan is called the Pink City (it’s due to the colour of the stones used in many buildings), about how the local government is managing the extremely high population of stray dogs (vaccinating and spaying them and waiting for them to die out naturally), and a bit of the history of Armenia and its relationship with its neighbours.
The next day, my first full day in Yerevan, I explored the city more in depth, seeing places the walking tour hadn’t taken us, and visiting places the guide had recommended.
I visited the Cascade, which is like an art centre, with various sculptures and what not in and around the area. I also walked through the pedestrian tunnel to get to the children’s railway, which is an old abandoned kid’s attraction. Now there’s just a couple of train carriages beside the abandoned station, but you can explore the area and it’s quite nice and peaceful. Finally, I went for a walk through one of the central neighbourhoods which has had a whole lot of street art painted on the walls of the alleyways. I got a little lost wandering down all the wee streets but it was fun to explore without a destination in mind.
The next day I took a day trip to see one of Yerevan’s neighbouring provinces. Our first stop was at Geghard Monastery, a monastery complex that has been built by carving caves into the side of a cliff. It’s most famous for supposedly being one of the places that the lance used to wound Jesus with was stored for a time. We then visited a place called the Symphony of Stones, which is an area with a huge number of basalt columns. It was very impressive. Finally, we saw the Temple of Garni, a pre-Christian temple dedicated to the sun god. While there, a small choir came out to sing, which was a lovely unexpected surprise!
On the day trip I met a couple of Spanish speakers and a couple of Italians who spoke a little Spanish too. we had a nice chat and afterwards they invited me to join them to go to the memorial museum about the Armenian genocide. It was very interesting but also terrifying how planned out and how systematic it all was. Obviously this is being told from the Armenian point of view, but I didn’t really realise the extent of what had happened.
My last day in Yerevan, I didn’t do too much. I had a wander around the city and also some quiet time back at the hostel in the evening. While wandering around I saw a poster advertising the opening of the opera and ballet season, showing that they had a different performance on every night of the month! It just so happened that that day’s performance was Swan Lake, so I found myself at the ballet for the second time in a week! There was a group of Australians sitting behind me because of course they were – Australians are everywhere!
And with that my little excursion to Armenia was over and I was back the next morning on the bus to Tbilisi to continue my Georgian adventures. Fun fact to finish it off: Schools in Armenia teach chess as part of their curriculum!
emilyonearth 
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