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Far Europe and Beyond: Introducing Yerevan
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.
Check out other blog posts in the Far Europe and Beyond series.
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.
Check out other blog posts in the Far Europe and Beyond series.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
David Nov 1st 2011 4:19PM
You mention Armenia orderly, many things worth seeing, so on and so forth but you described Georgia bus station and the driver who took you to Armenia (most likely Armenian himself) as a shady place. Albeit because of an initial culture shock you obviousely experiences and projected only on Georgia. You report is biast and full of redicules. Tbilisi is more safe then London and many neighbourhoods in London are much worse then in Tbilisi. Not to mantion you can buy drugs next to a police station in London :( I feel lot safer in Georgia then I have ever felt in London. A city of Criminals, all you need to do to see this is to go to youtube and watch last protests in London, you will see the quality of people that inhabits your so called "modern western city". It is the motherland of Criminals like you who should be checked for writing crap about Georgia, the kind of crap you are the kind of Negative human being you are. You project it on Georgia and I am sure any other place you visit that does not fit the parameters that you have created in your illusive mind. Happy reading, from Georgia!
Alex Robertson Textor Nov 1st 2011 4:44PM
Woah David! A lot of explosive rhetoric from you here, not to mention projection. There is neither bias nor ridicule in my first few paragraphs. I was merely reporting on what I experienced in my efforts to arrange a taxi to Yerevan.
I invite you to check out several posts I wrote on Tbilisi and surrounds here at Gadling the week before last, all of which highlight my enthusiasm for Georgia. Among other subjects, I addressed the friendliness of Georgians, some delicious local culinary items, the Orbeliani Baths, and Mtskheta. I also did a Q&A with the terribly charming Nino Andjaparidze, the Director of the Tbilisi International Film Festival. http://www.gadling.com/tag/fareuropeandbeyond
I loved Georgia and I plan to return next spring. Let me know if you'd like to meet for a drink.
David Nov 1st 2011 5:31PM
I am glad that you enjoy Georgian culinary, I totally understand it from someone like you, after all you are Enlish and everyone know how Enlish food tastes. If you loved Georgia you would have not written in the beginning of your "story" (self projection really) about Armenia by trashing Georgia or what you called: "merely reporting on what you experienced in your efforts to arrange a taxi to Yerevan". You didn't discribe Yerevan in a similar way even though I am dead certain that Tbilisi is Manhatten comparing to Yerevan in every imaginable way. What you did is projected youself and how you felt when you were at the bus Station in Tbilis. I can smell fear, resentment and negative emotions in your so called story. You had an image on how things should be, how cars or buses should have been arranged, how drivers should have walked, or spoken or treated and then when it did not sink with your image you have created in your head, you decided that it was wrong and felt the need to write it in your story which deep down will never be liked by any Georgian. I gar-own-ty it.
About going out with you for a drink. Why would I want to do that? First of all, I do not drink. Second of all, I see you as a person with delusions, fears, negative emotions, who was fortunate enough to come to Georgia and perhaps learned a few things. Why would I want to spend my time with someone like you? What would I gain from it? IS this going to be an opportunity for me to learn something about Georgia I already know? OR perhaps learn something about England (believe me I know enough, more than I want to), Or perhaps teach you something about Georgia (why would I want to spend my pressiouse time on that)?. Based on your story or article or whatever, you are exactly the type of person I am trying to avoid comming in contact with so my conciouseness and clarity of things doesn't get infected by some of your delusions. You are pretty lucky you had the chance to explare Georgia. Many from the place you are from does not get that chance. So use your chance wisely and stop wining about the Country and than say you love it. You love it? Good for you. I guess you are not a complete looser but if you want to say something nice about a place say something nice...
Tornike Nov 1st 2011 5:58PM
David I think you need to chill out a little bit. You obviously had hard time in London and yes London has its negatives but so does Tbilisi.
Alex did not intend to be malicious or defamatory of Tbilisi and if you read his/her previous articles he/she seems to have had a great time there.
Even if Alex had been "wining over nothing" it is his problem but you seem to be over-reacting and giving wrong impression of rest of us (Georgians).
SABA Nov 3rd 2011 7:28AM
David, don't waste your time on them. Believe me, they are not worth it.
I've met many these kind of guys full of cynicism and arrogant attitudes towards anything, because they have this kind of smell in their minds that everything should be presented in a negative and neglecting way, and right now I don't mean only our region or Georgia itself. Take a look how did he even presented Tbilisi, just check it out. Trashed pictures on the main page, trashed neighborhood. And then he says he enjoyed Georgia and Georgians. It's like smiling in face and bad-mouthing behind your back.
Here's how Tbilisi looks like for him:
http://www.gadling.com/2011/10/18/far-europe-and-beyond-introducing-tbilisi/
Who the hell would meet you for a drink after this.
Person who cannot see any good in life, who divides countries into a elite ones and not-so-elite ones, and speaks himself with arrogancy towards any country or nation presenting it like a piece of shit, eventually presents his way of low understanding generally and arguing with them is just waste of time.
Saba.
Will - Gap Daemon Nov 1st 2011 6:52PM
The question still goes begging: how can someone with one leg successfully drive a car?
And another:
Are all drivers in Yerevan missing limbs?
Amelli Nov 2nd 2011 12:26AM
David, you are complaining how a tourist described his unpleasant experience on getting a taxi but do you realize how disrespectful your post is? You trashed Alex as a person without knowing him, England, its cousin and Yerevan. How dare you? Sorry to say but your post is full of negativity, self-absorbance and arrogance. I guess you are pissed off that he said a few positive things about Yerevan. Let me ask you this what Tbilisi has got to do with Manhattan? You are dead wrong, in million years Tbilisi can have no relation to Manhattan. You are Georgian so it is natural that you like Tbilisi likewise Armenians like Yerevan. Your posts are a disgrace to all Georgian people.
Richard Nov 2nd 2011 2:37PM
After reading David's comments I went back to read all of Alex's posts on Tbilisi expecting them to be hyper-critical. In fact they are very complementary.
Having been to Tbilisi last summer I can confirm that the city has a lot of charm, the city is being nicely renovated, and the food and wine are excellent.
We did find some negatives - for example I was accosted by very aggressive child beggars (egged on by their mothers) at the cathedral at Mtskheta, I was chased out of St. Sioni Church very brusquely by a Georgian Orthodox priest (there is a religious revival going on in Georgia which is part nationalistic, part fanaticism).
Also Georgians tend to be somewhat conflicted about their history. A visit to Gori (an hour from Tbilisi), Stalin's hometown, to the huge museum devoted to him was an eye-opener.
Yerevan has a different flavour but well worth visiting. There is a definite buzz about the place especially in the summer months when the Diaspora comes to visit and party. It may not be Manhattan but it holds its own.
Alex Robertson Textor Nov 2nd 2011 2:54PM
Thanks everyone for all the comments. A few points...
@Amelli: My point was never to cast my experience traveling in a taxi from Tbilisi to Yerevan in an unpleasant light. I was really just aiming to describe an experience that I'd never had before. Frankly, I'd prefer to repeat this journey many times than board a single domestic flight in the US.
@Tornike and @Richard: You're both right. I had a great time in Tbilisi. Glad you were both able to see this.
@Will: I'm not sure. He had a cane as well.
clive crotty Nov 3rd 2011 4:36PM
David,
I have been travelling regularly to Georgia for over ten years now, & for a Londoner, I think I know Tbilisi pretty well; guess what? both cities have their pros & cons.
As a Londoner I am used to people from every corner of the globe giving me their opinion of my city, both good & bad.Unlike you, however, I do not freak out at their comments, but accept it as debate & opinion which people are free to express.
I understand that this Georgia is a young country & perhaps sensitive to criticism, but there is no excuse for your fascistic rant at Alex's very gentle article.
sabaman Nov 9th 2011 4:32PM
@ All
Starting with David, you are wrong about Alex talking garbage about Tbilisi and Georgia in general. I have read most of his posts about Georgia, and i would say its more or less accurate. I have lived in UK for almost 11 years and now im back in Tbilisi working as a graphic designer, and i have to say London is one of my favorite places in UK and in Europe. Tbilisi I love, not because its my birthplace, but because its so different from all other cities I have seen in my travels, not to mention food, history and traditions. I know lot of people who have traveled in Yerevan and Armenia, and most if not all of them prefer Georgia for many reasons. Im sure Armenia is a great country to travel, but Georgia has more diverse landscape from sea to mountains to deserts to pine forests, etc.
Anyway, I enjoyed reading articles on Gadling.com. Would like to see more post from Georgia and Caucasus in general. Good work.