ARMENIA ON A MAP? BEN LERWILL COULDN'T

[Yervant1]

It's a good read except for the bolded at the end!

 

 

 

TRAVEL - COFFEE IN THE CAUCASUS: COULD YOU POINT TO ARMENIA ON A MAP? BEN LERWILL COULDN'T ... UNTIL HE VISITED ITS CAPITAL AND FOUND A LAIDBACK BUT LIVELY WORK IN PROGRESS

by Ben Lerwill

 

Time Out

September 15, 2011

 

I spent most of my first morning in Yerevan taking a long stroll up

a work in progress. It's called Cascades and comprises a contemporary

art museum and sculpture garden, recently integrated with an immense

flight of stone stairs and flower gardens.

 

The project, according to a plaque placed at the summit of the

stairway, symbolises 'the beginning of a new era of cultural

resurrection and progress of the Armenian people'. The open-air

works on display, from abstract bronze figures to merrily obese cats,

succeed in lending the area a grand but contemporary feel. Judging by

the many pairs of sauntering lovers, the locals have warmed to it too.

 

The £20 million needed to build Cascades was coughed up by

American-Armenian businessman and philanthropist Gerard Kafesjian

- a member of Armenia's huge diaspora. From the hilltop location,

I had excellent views over the capital's almond-coloured cityscape,

the skyline punctuated by imposing civic buildings. In the distance,

green plains stretched to snow-capped mountains.

 

Is Armenia Europe's most disregarded nation? It's certainly ignored by

the travel media. It has brandy, canyons and heritage sites but lacks

the kind of cachet that gets the glossies trumpeting. Half a million

visitors come each year, some of them religious-minded folk drawn by

old monasteries set in tumbling landscapes. But the vast majority are

'roots tourists' - members of Armenia's diaspora. As a proposition

among the wider travel community, it hasn't found its niche.

 

Yerevan, the capital, barely bumps the tourism radar. Until quite

recently, I probably couldn't have told you it was in the Caucasus.

 

And when I started reading up on it, I wasn't sure it was for

me. A post-Soviet metropolis tucked away on the furthest fringes

of the continent? It sounded trying. It has the novelty factor and,

inevitably, a good range of Stalinist edifices. But a decent cultural

city break? Doubtful.

 

But Armenia celebrates 20 years of independence on September 21, and

two decades is enough time for a city to define itself. I was buoyed

too by the dawning realisation that Armenia's location in the Caucasus

region - hemmed in by three broad-shouldered neighbours (Turkey, Russia

and Iran) - made it a genuine geopolitical and cultural crossroads.

 

More than a million people call Yerevan home, and the immediate feel

was of a far more Continental, brightly buffed destination than I'd

expected. It was busy - crowded even - but full of life being lived

slowly. Boulevards stretched between civic squares, the fashionable

heel-clacked their way to ice-cream stalls, and a river valley

formed a green belt around the city centre. It had a character that

wasn't easy to place, being Middle Eastern in its unhurriedness but

resolutely European with its opera house and cafe terraces. Both sides

of the socialist-capitalist divide were very much in evidence too,

with boxy Ladas trundling past Gucci, Mothercare and Burberry stores.

 

Armenia's claim to fame is that it was the first country in the world

to officially adopt Christianity - in AD301. I got my fill of heritage

at the city's museum of ancient manuscripts, the Matenadran. Hundreds

of medieval parchments and intricate documents expound on everything

from geometry and cosmology to religion and poetry. One of the

showpieces of the museum, a heavy thirteenth-century tract known as

'The Homilies of Mush', had been made from the skins of 660 calves.

 

Elsewhere in the galleries were letters, bibles and philosophical

works, all beautifully embellished with painstaking calligraphy and

hand-mixed natural colours. Were it to come to London, it's the kind

of priceless, mind-blowing collection that would have commentators

crowing. Yerevan also has some princely little churches and, within

day-trip distance, a set of stupendous Unesco-listed religious sites,

but you'd be wrong to expect a city full of overbearing devotion.

 

To take its secular pulse, in the evening I found myself a prime spot

at the southern end of Hyusisayin Poghota, a broad, Ramblas-style urban

strollway. I watched as the fountains on Republic Square turned into

focal points for families, couples, balloon-sellers and backgammon

players. Not for the first time, I could see why Yerevan had earned

its reputation as the most relaxed of the Caucasus capitals. The mood

persisted when I went out to dine. Centuries before Turkish or Soviet

intrusions, the country was on a key Silk Road route, resulting today

in menus full of grilled meats, lightly spiced pastries, fresh salads

and oven-warm flatbreads. Some restaurants aim for the visitor dollar

by dressing staff in traditional garb, but at Our Village there was no

compromise on the food. Homemade apricot vodka rounded off a generous

meal of vine-wrapped rice and barbecued lamb. By 11pm, I was ensconced

in the smart-and-smoky Malkhas Jazz Club, where owner and 'father of

Armenian jazz', Levon Malkhasian, still performs several nights a week.

 

The most iconic image of Armenia - present on everything from its

coat of arms to its souvenir T-shirts - is Mount Ararat. The mountain

actually lies within the modern borders of Turkey, but such is its

enormity that it's visible from most parts of Yerevan. On the one sunny

morning of my trip, I woke to see it glowing majestically above the

rooftops, every bit as mighty as its Biblical status would indicate.

 

Swayed by the sunshine, I got a taxi to the pilgrimage site at its

base, the Khor Virap Monastery, which sits just inside the Armenian

border. It's 30 kilometres south of Yerevan, making it the most

accessible of the out-of-town sights. It was in a snake-filled pit

below this monastery, they say, that St Gregory the Illuminator,

bringer of Christianity to the region, spent 12 years. It's a shame he

wasn't able to enjoy the view, which stretches over vineyards and up

Ararat's volcanic slopes to the mountain's 5,137 metre-high apex. I

arrived an hour before the tour buses, and spent most of that time

just sitting and staring.

 

Ownership of Ararat is just one of several issues that strain

relations between Armenia and Turkey. Back in Yerevan, the most

talked about visitor attraction is the Tsitsernakaberd, the Museum

of the Armenian Genocide. Turkey still denies the G-word, but the

experience of visiting the museum is no less affecting for that. Set

on a hilltop, it commemorates the death of some 1.5 million Ottoman

Armenians between 1915 and 1923. An underground gallery displays the

facts baldly - there is no attempt to sensationalise the tragedy, an

approach that serves to heighten the horror - while outside, a memorial

stands over an eternal flame. There is also a garden of trees planted

by representatives of international states who recognise the genocide,

including the UK, US, France and Russia. It gave my last day in Yerevan

a profoundly sobering tone, but made the trip even more worthwhile.

 

As a cultural break, the Armenian capital offers an original weekend

away, with enough of an infrastructure to take the stress out of a

visit and sufficient rough-edged, under-touristed charm to keep things

pleasingly unpredictable. I was welcomed as some sort of dignitary

when I chanced to wander into the city chess club during an all-ages

competition, and later spent an impromptu sunset hour listening to

my home-stay hostess playing old jazz tunes on her piano.

 

When it comes to little-known destinations, the people are often the

biggest selling point. The Armenians I had the chance to meet were warm

and hospitable - but this isn't just somewhere to come for smiles and

brandy shots. Yerevan, particularly when combined with other parts

of this tiny nation, is a lot more notable than its international

status would suggest.

 

Unesco a gogo

 

Three World Heritage Sites to visit in Armenia

 

Cathedral and churches at Echmiatsin

 

A short drive from Yerevan, Echmiatsin is the country's spiritual

heart. Its cathedral and churches had a deep architectural influence

on the wider region. The archaeological remains at nearby Zvartnots

are also recognised by Unesco.

 

Haghpat and Sanahin Monasteries

 

These two Byzantine monastery complexes sit close to each other on

the lip of the Debed Canyon in the north of the country. Both were

founded in the tenth century.

 

Geghard Monastery

 

Reachable as a simple day trip from the capital, Geghard Monastery

sits in the glorious Upper Azat Valley and is considered to represent

the high point of Armenian medieval architecture.

 

For more details about Armenia's Unesco World Heritage Sites visit

whc.unesco.org.

 

GET PACKING

 

Fly: Bmi flies from Heathrow to Yerevan with returns from £685.

 

www.flybmi.com

 

Stay: The Armenia Marriott Hotel Yerevan enjoys one of the best

locations in town. Doubles from £180 per night. www.marriott.com

 

Anahit Stepanyan offers home stays in an art-filled apartment

overlooking the Opera House. The flat is up several flights of stairs.

 

£12 per night. +374 1 052 75 89

 

Eat: Our Village (5 Sayat Nova Ave; +374 1 054 87 00) combines

home-style cooking with live music and trad decor. Meal for two plus

wine: £25.

 

Drink: Malkhas Jazz Club (52 Pushkini St; +374 1 053 17 78) is a

classy music venue with two nightly performances. It's open until 3am,

and there's a £5 cover charge.

 

Info: Visit the Armenian Tourism Development Agency

website. www.armeniainfo.am.

Edited September 17, 2011 by Yervant1