After walking across about 1/4 mile of "no man's land" over the Debed River while dragging our luggage, followed by scrutiny of every page of our passport to make sure we hadn't visited Azerbaijan, we officially entered Armenia. Once we entered the country we had a 3-4 hour ride through winding mountain passes to make it to the capital of Yerevan. Along the way we stopped at a rest stop for our first taste of Armenian food and we were hooked!
Armenia Clue #1: Coyle is very excited that tomorrow he is going to be learning about one of the required school subjects in this country!
That subject? Chess! Armenia is a country with one of the highest numbers of chess grandmasters per capita in the world. Chess is a required school subject for kids in Armenia and Coyle was very jealous. We had the chance to visit a Russian bar that Armenians gather at to play chess. Coyle was able to hold his own with some of the Armenians which he was very excited about.
Later that day we experience another famous part of Armenia but this one was much more distressing. We had the chance to tour the museum of the Armenian genocide. The Armenian genocide, perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks, lead to the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians from 1915-1924. Because of the timing of the genocide in relation to World War I, many countries (including the US for many years) have refused to recognize it as a genocide and instead claim that they were war time casualties rather than a systemic state policy of extermination. I was so proud of Coyle and the thoughtful and respectful way that he approached this museum.
We also had the chance to explore downtown Yerevan including the Mother Armenia statue that was built in 1957 to replace a statue of Joseph Stalin and was designed to commemorate the women who took up arms along with their husbands to defend Armenia. The statue was surrounded by decommissioned military hardware that Coyle really enjoyed.
Finally today we got the chance to ride the Armenian subway (no pictures allowed) and visit the Cascade Complex. Coyle was very amused by the story that Yerevan did not meet the 1 million people threshold for the Soviets to build a metro. So the Armenians called all of the people from the surrounding areas to Yerevan to create an artificial traffic jam to trick the Soviets into building it! The Cascade Complex is a massive staircase in the center of Yerevan filled with and surrounded by artwork. It has amazing views over the city and Coyle found his favorite statue here!
Clue for the day: We tried to look for the docking spot of a famous boat but the weather didn't cooperate.
One of the most famous symbols of Armenia is Mount Ararat despite the fact that today is sits in Turkey. Mount Ararat is thought to be the final resting spot for Noah's Ark as described in the Book of Genesis. You can see Mount Ararat from Yerevan in good weather but it was too hazy every day we were there and we never got a good view.
Our last full day in Armenia was our favorite. We started with a visit to the Temple of Garni. The Temple was built around the year 77 as a sanctuary to the Armenian Sun god. When Armenia became the first country to adopt Christianity as a state religion in 301 CE, they destroyed most of the pagan temples. Garni was spared because it became the summer palace for Armenian kings. Unfortunately, the temple was destroyed by an earthquake in 1689 and remained in ruins until it was rebuilt with the original stones in the 1960s. It's a beatiful temple overlooking some amazing views and the famous "symphony of stones".
Then it was on to our favorite experience of the trip...our Armenian cooking class. We traveled to a family home with a large orchard and an outdoor oven where we learned to make lavash. The making of lavash is recognized by UNESCO as an "intangible cultural heritage" and is amazing to watch. Lavash is made of flour, water and salt and is cooked in a large underground oven called a tonir. The dough is rolled out very thin and then placed on a large pillow. The women pick up the dough colored pillow and slap the dough onto the wall deep inside the oven. The lavash cooks for 30-60 seconds before she takes it off with an iron hook. The lavash is ripped into invidual servings where they wrap it around salty cheese and greens. It's absolutely delicious and Coyle got right in there rolling out the dough (and sampling the results!).
Finally we visited the GUM market, a huge traditional market filled with dried fruits, spices and other Armenian delicacies. Everyone is giving out free samples as you walk through and we got some amazing dried apricots - the national fruit of Armenia. The site and smells of this market were amazing and a great way to wrap up our tour of Yerevan.
Clue of the day: We met lots of people here and not all of them had names that start with "K".
I figured anyone up on pop culture would get this clue. Probably the most famous Armenian-Americans are the Kardashians. They are active in the Armenian community in the US and have visited Armenia several times. Many people we met in Armenia were grateful for Kim Kardashian's advocacy in getting the genocide recognized on the world stage.
We absolutely loved Armenia and would like to go back again and travel through more of the country. Preferably when it's not so hot!
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