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Tourism: Far Europe And Beyond: Introducing Yerevan

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  • Tourism: Far Europe And Beyond: Introducing Yerevan

    FAR EUROPE AND BEYOND: INTRODUCING YEREVAN
    Alex Robertson Textor

    Gadling
    http://www.gadling.com/2011/11/01/far-europe-and-beyond-introducing-yerevan/
    Nov 1 2011

    It took around five hours to get from Tbilisi to Yerevan, in a taxi
    organized along a rather mysterious logic. I made it first to Ortachala
    bus station, the appointed place in Tbilisi for hiring long-distance
    taxis for Yerevan, and was introduced to a portly gentleman who
    moved like a head honcho. He ushered me into his minivan to wait. He
    paced, smoking furiously, occasionally asking question of the other
    idle drivers. Everything seemed to move in slow motion for a few
    minutes. I looked around his vehicle. A single syringe rested on his
    dashboard. Diabetic or addict? I wasn't crazy to find out.

    After about ten minutes the macher of Ortachala found me a driver,
    a sullen one-legged fellow wearing an ill-fitting suit. He didn't
    talk to me at all at first, and never smiled. He did shout "money
    money money" as we were approaching the Georgia-Armenia border. I was
    charmed, but if he thought I was turning over a single lari before
    he dropped me off in Yerevan he was sorely mistaken.

    Still, it was a beautiful drive. After crossing from Georgia into
    Armenia, we skirted the border with Azerbaijan and motored through
    the densely forested mountains of Tavush Province, already in an
    autumnal state in early October. It was a cinematic few hours. The
    skies were full of dramatic clouds and it rained intermittently.

    At the end of what seemed like a never-ending journey was Yerevan, the
    capital of Armenia. London's Georgian establishment paved the way for
    me in Tbilisi; in Yerevan, by way of contrast, I knew nobody at all.

    I'd received no tips and neither was I furnished with the email
    addresses of friends of friends. I would be forced to revert to old
    school urban exploration, as if Twitter had never happened.

    Yerevan is ordered and calm. There are no twisting alleyways or
    hilly warrens in the city's center. The city was established on
    a true Soviet blueprint, with one central ring road more or less
    encircling the city and a few outer roads following this arch around
    the city's inner core. Yerevan feels Soviet in lots of ways. There
    are ambitious monuments commemorating the Ottoman genocide of ethnic
    Armenians and the 50th anniversary of Soviet Armenia, both massive
    and dramatically modern. Leading up to the latter is a broad stairway
    called the Cascade, with neatly tended shrubs and flowers.

    These features of central Yerevan are impressive for their sheer
    ambition. They make dramatic modernist marks on the urban setting
    and fit the post-Soviet context perfectly. Planned Soviet cities
    are often good for parks and pedestrian zones as well as monuments,
    and Yerevan doesn't disappoint here, either. Areas for strolling and
    relaxing are plentiful. Yerevan is so pleasant that one wonders why
    post-Soviet cities have such uniformly bad reputations and why the
    planned Soviet cities are so seldom positively catalogued.

    Though the charms of Yerevan might not be immediately obvious to
    attraction-focused visitors, there are lots of interesting things
    to do and see. A very appealing chaos (along with many delicious
    things) can be found in the city's covered food market, and there are
    other surprises nestled here and there, too: the explosively baroque
    aesthetic of filmmaker Sergei Paradjanov, which reigns at his former
    house, now a museum; the National Gallery of Armenia, packed with an
    outstanding and wide-ranging collection; and amazing Syrian-Armenian
    cuisine, which can be sampled at Lagonid Bistro-Cafe. Many of the
    city's churches are worth a visit, as well. Other sites of interest
    include the ornately tiled Blue Mosque and the central Republic Square.

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