Armenia — Travel blog

Saghmosavank Gorge, about 100kms from Yerevan.

Before I visited Armenia and before I had done any research, the only thing I knew about the country was that it was (a) The birthplace of Christianity, as in the first country in the world to declare itself Christian, around the 3rd Century and (b) It was one of the fifteen republics of the old Soviet Union. I did have an inkling that the country might be reasonably well developed as I recalled the days when we worked in Moscow in the early 1990’s. At that time, the Soviet Union had just broken up, everything was chaotic, almost nothing worked and there were shortages of everything everywhere. One thing that stood out was a common expression that ‘if something works, there’s bound to be an Armenian involved in it.’ The inference was that these people were very clever.

Having now visited the country, I can subscribe to that belief. For a place that is only one third the size of Ireland, with few natural resources, they are doing quite nicely. Although technically part of Asia, they tend to look to the west. They are members of the Council of Europe and many other European institutions. At the same time, they are still in favour with Putin’s Russia. But enough of politics, this is a travel blog. The Lonely Planet guide I read said that very few tourists visit Armenia. Now I’m not sure how true that is as I visited in January and encountered quite a few, but in any event, I would whole heartedly recommend to people to visit here. It’s a wonderful place and has treasures I never expected to find. As the country is relatively small, everywhere can be reached in day trips — in fact if you plan your route, you can see many of the attractions in one day. I had booked a hotel in the capital, Yerevan, for two nights but I ended up staying for the week and driving to different destinations each day.

The first think to note is that many of the most interesting places have a religious connection, but don’t be put off by that. The main sites: Khor Virap, Noravank, Tatev, Geghard and Saghmosavank, are all centred around ancient monasteries. The beauty of this is that they are all in remote places, almost always high in the Caucasus mountains and the scenery surrounding them, not to speak of the drive there, is wonderful. Khor Virap is actually very close to the capital and is built in the shadow of Mount Ararat, the highest peak.

The highlight for me was Tatev. Now this is a long drive by Armenian standards. Tatev is four hours away through the mountains but the roads are very good so it is quite achievable and is really worth it when you get there. Again, there’s an ancient monastery, but those old monks of long ago knew what they were doing. If they were going to spend their lives in quiet contemplation, they certainly picked the most beautiful places to do it in. I have seen this in many countries around the world — the more remote and the more beautiful, you’ll be sure to find some old church or monastery. For Tatev, think — the Grand Canyon in Arizona, the only difference being that in Tatev, they have built a cable car which crosses it called ‘The Wings of Tatev,’ which is accredited by the Guinness Book of Records as the longest and highest cable car in the world. Not for the faint hearted but crossing the canyon in it is an incredible ride and the scenery can only be described as magnificent.

Garni is an ancient pagan temple also well worth visiting. It was apparently the only ancient temple in the old Soviet Union so has always been a tourist attraction. It is within an hour of the capital so I visited in the early morning. My next stop of the day was to be Geghard, but very close to Garni, I saw a sign for the ‘Symphony of Stones.’ I asked the car park attendant if it was worth visiting. He shrugged and said, ‘it’s not bad.’ If ever someone undersold a place, he did. It’s a huge gorge carved out of the mountain by a fast flowing river but the stones and the patterns on the mountains are outstanding. The only thing I have seen which might compare is the ‘Giants Causeway’ in Ireland, but this display of rocks takes it to a whole other level. I eventually continued to Geghard which is also beautiful but the Symphony was the highlight of the day.

Khor Virap, Armenia's most famous monastery

Noravank is a two hour drive and another great setting, just an incredibly beautiful and inspiring area in which to live and be peaceful and quiet and contemplate life or whatever. Long before there was such a thing as tourists; I guess, many, many hundreds of years ago, the monasteries were built and amazingly are still there. Go to visit the monastery but make sure you see the entire area.

On the way, you pass through Areni, which has its own wonderful rock formations and underground caves. On the return journey, I visited Echmiadzin, which is a small town about twenty kilometres from Yerevan and is the headquarters of the Armenian Apostolic Church, so effectively their Vatican.

Back in the capital, Victory Bridge, Republic Square and the Cascade Complex are the highlights. The Cascade is definitely, to use that much abused word, unique. I mentioned that Armenia was part of the Soviet Union. Well, back in the 1970’s, the city fathers had this idea of building the perfect city. So they built wide sweeping boulevards and a magnificent central square. But the coup-de-grace has to be the Cascade. Yerevan is built on hills and there is one in particular right in the city centre. The plan was to hollow out the hill and build it up to the top with concrete staircases, each about fifty metres high, which open out on to platforms on each level. All levels contain fountains and sculptures and there are museums, art galleries and theatres built in at different levels. When viewed from above or below, it gives the appearance of a very long and large cascade. A local told me they wished to emulate Rome’s Spanish steps. Well they succeeded — I think it is at least twenty times higher than Rome’s version and probably three times as wide. Now it is a beautiful structure but the only flaw is that it was never finished. The Soviets got funding from Moscow but that eventually ran out. The post-Soviet Government tried to continue construction but it too has failed to complete the project. The result is that you can walk up about eighty per cent of it but the final twenty per cent is an open dangerous chasm. There is a walkway which goes round it which enables you to get to the large Soviet monument at the top but the shame is that there’s a gap. The problem with such a huge construction undertaking is that it must have been very expensive. Hopefully it will be completed some day but I doubt it will be any time soon.

Lake Sevan is the largest body of water in the country and is pretty but not spectacular. Nearby, Saghmosavank is another ancient monastery and beautiful mountainous region and well worth the additional fifty kilometres. My final day trip was to Amberd Fortress, an ancient fort, constructed two and a half thousand metres up the mountains. It gives a magnificent view across to Mount Ararat but don’t do what I did and visit it in January. I was told the road to it was open but I got stuck in a snowdrift and had to be rescued. Probably best to go in spring or summer.

So, what are Armenian people like? Previous blogs assured me they were friendly. I found them to be a little bit uncertain at first, and then when they get to know you, or when they when they realize you are a tourist, and are no threat, they warm to you and are most helpful. This is not at all surprising, given their history. I am not going to revisit that here but suffice to say they are a small nation surrounded by very large neighbours to the north, south and west. They were part of the U.S.S.R. and as most people would know, during the Soviet Union, you didn’t know who to trust, anywhere. So you didn’t trust anybody. You were not open with anybody, and you didn’t smile at anybody because you didn’t know who was going to report you to whom or who was talking to whom. So, most people had a very, very, limited circle of friends or acquaintances, and just kept to that, and wasn’t open or friendly with anybody else. The Soviet Union lasted for 80 years, so that’s more than two, almost three generations embedded into the culture. So it must be rather difficult to get rid of it. Now I know the Soviet Union has gone 30 years now, but there are a lot of people around still who lived through it, and it’s deeply embedded in the culture. But to be fair, the Armenians are friendly, and I did see acts of kindness from them.

The country seems well developed with excellent roads and transport links. You will see some old Soviet Ladas and Volgas on the roads but the vast majority were modern cars. That said, drivers tended to be aggressive and speeding was prevalent. I have never seen a country with so many petrol stations. In a mile of the road, there could be ten of them, and they all seemed to do business. The other thing I noted is that every town, village or conurbation of any sort has a cemetery right on the main road, sometimes on both sides of the road. I asked Armenians why but no one seemed to know. Perhaps they hope that people passing by will pray for the people buried there?

The capital city Yerevan is very clean, bright, modern and well developed. The country villages were a little more old fashioned and probably haven’t changed in generations. In terms of prices, Armenia offers excellent value. I stayed in a four star hotel with a good breakfast for eighteen euro per night. Dinner with wine costs about thirty in the capital but much less outside. On average, prices are about one third of what you pay in Ireland. To summarise — beautiful scenery, friendly people and very reasonably priced. I will be back.